jaclaz

It is possible, but you can re-map them in grub4dos allright. The issue is however "strange", in the sense that if a "serious" problem in disk mapping happens, it should "show itself" long before loading the Spanish keyboard driver, which is - more or less - a finishing step. From what you report, it seems like it is NOT that your computer cannot boot from USB, but rather that it cannot detect properly the USB disk. I would check if it is possible to correct this behaviour. How is the hard disk partitioned/formatted (meaning how EXACTLY)? How big in size is it? Try booting the same hard disk on another working PC. Go to grub4dos command line (press c). Issue the command: geometry (hd and press [TAB] to autocomplete before pressing [ENTER] - presuming you have just the USB disk and the internal one, you want to run: geometry (hd0) [ENTER] and geometry (hd1) [ENTER] then try the same on the "bad" PC and see if the disks have the same order. Winsetup from USB does use a rather complex re-mapping mechanism, so it is possible that it is this latter that gets somehow "confused". To troubleshoot this, you can *try* : rename NTLDR to NTLDR.OLD make a copy of grldr rename it as NTLDR Re-check disk mappings after having chosen the menu.lst entry (on second instance of grldr). jaclaz

This one should do anyway : http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-Foundation-releases-blueprint-for-UEFI-Secure-Boot-1368401.html https://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/making-uefi-secure-boot-work-with-open-platforms jaclaz

I think that you should check this thread first: (you are basically venturing in UNexplored ground) jaclaz

Seemingly (and *somehow*) you are now using a non-ACPI kernel/HAL. Try switching kernel and HAL through BOOT.INI: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23553 Skip to "5. Universal XP - Support in boot.ini menu for Multiple Hal and Kernel" (adapt to your local paths) More: jaclaz

NOT an answer, only "general advice". WHICH set of contacts are you insulating? (try the "other" set) http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html jaclaz

I will quote - just in case - Mikhail Kalashnikov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47#Design_concept jaclaz

Yep, it uses instead a "versioning" system, which is actually IMHO better (as the filenames remain unchanged): http://evacopy.sourceforge.net/30-screenshots.html#LaRVe but sure, that is just an example. jaclaz

@allen2 Actually, if we are going "external" (i.e. it is possible to download and/or "install" something) there are pre-made apps that can do that, many of which freeware. Just as an example, this may do: http://evacopy.sourceforge.net/ @gunsmokingman VBS should be also "better" than batch to manage date/times .... jaclaz

Maybe you are asking too much for a batch. You may use SCHTASKS to make it run periodically: http://ss64.com/nt/schtasks.html About the "silently", you will need anyway a "third party" program to hide the command console window. That is a good question. Easier would probably be writing a log at each run, then re-parse the log and compare it to the current "source" DIR contents. jaclaz

The snippet is "localized" to "C:\main\". Change the line: FOR /F %%A IN ('DIR /B C:\main\*.*' ) DO ( to: FOR /F %%A IN ('DIR /B *.*' ) DO ( if you want to try runnning it on the same directory the batch is. jaclaz

I presume XP or later. The real problem is IMHO not to get the data, but rather to find out if the date/time has changed. When you are using batch files for dates time there is a "random variable" that is your "international" date/time settings, Check: and: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntcall.php Try quickly this batch example: @ECHO OFF FOR /F %%A IN ('DIR /B C:\main\*.*' ) DO ( ECHO %%A ECHO %%~A ECHO %%~dA ECHO %%~pA ECHO %%~nA ECHO %%~xA ECHO %%~dpnxA ECHO %%~tA ECHO %%~zA ECHO %%~aA ECHO. PAUSE ) What do you get as output? jaclaz

The site you mentioned is nothing but a "fake" site trying to promote the use of a Commercail software - BTW of doubtful quality (at least judging on the way they attempt to promote sales) - to fix *any* probelm you may have. It's one of thos sites that "pollute" the internet by publishing nonsense but containing keywords likely to be searched for (common Windows errors/issues) and that regularly propose to do nothing but using the "universal" Commercial tool "xxx" or "yyy". You should: NOT panic describe with some detail the problem you are having, the OS/environment you are working in, etc., etc. This way it is possible that someone can help you specifically on the specific problem you are having. jaclaz

No. I am implying (actually plainly saying ) that When you change in the BIOS from "IDE emulation" to "AHCI" you effectively change the device ID. So, IF the driver is already there, it will be installed. BUT this won't happen on an already installed XP, only during Setup. BUT, you can "force" the new driver by "injecting" it, besides driver injection GUI , already mentioned by allen2, you can use this "manual" technique: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831 jaclaz

IMHO using a SATA CD/DVD drive only adds a layer of complexity to the tests. Please review this: http://reboot.pro/9540/ it is very possible that by hitting the F12 you alter the boot device priority "temporarily", so when the bootfix.bin tries to inspect the hard disk MBR it cannot "find" anymore the CD/DVD to get back to it. And is possible that your particular motherboard BIOS behaves strangely, maybe because you have two optical drives? It is not explicitly mentioned there (and I really cannot recall exactly ) whether the test on the MBR is performed on having a partition Active as I suggested before of if some other tests are performed. jaclaz

And what do you think this is? And this: http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adsacf.asp I cannot "recommend" these particular items, I can only say that hardware I got from those guys has always been up to the expectations. Generally speaking this kind of stuff is easier to find on sites specialized in mini-itx/micro-itx thingies. Another one: http://www.e-itx.com/sata-cf-mini-adapter.html jaclaz P.S.: On second thought, a IDE to CF adapter is a "passive" adapter, as the CF card is pin compatible with IDE and includes an IDE controller. So you could use one of the "tested to be good" SATA to IDE adapters together with an IDE to CF connector adapter: This site lists a few different SATA to CF adapters: http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=16 but from the way they highlight the "non-hot-swap-ability" of the devices, it sounds like there might be problems (i.e. the hot-swap is seemingly not "default" on these thingies). Maybe HotSwap!: http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm might help, but would it run on 2k? Just for the record, some info not very "widespread" about CF cards can be found inside this document: http://www.acscontrol.com/pdf/Products/CF/IDEtoCF/IDE_to_CF_Adapter_Users_Manual.pdf

What you describe seems like connected with BOOTFIX.BIN. At least on I386 - but I cannot see why x64 would be different - the CD/DVD bootsector invokes BOOTFIX.BIN before passing control back to the CD booting IF the hard disk(s) is bootable. The BOOTFIX.BIN is the thingy that displays "press any key to boot from CD". (if the hard disk is not bootable the BOOTFIX.BIN is NOT invoked, but it should be enough to set NO partition as Active ) It is possible that you have some "strange" CD/DVD or that your particular BIOS somehow cannot properly manage the little program. (maybe the actual optical drive is SATA and this creates the problem?) <. only a shot in the dark You can try to burn a copy of the CD/DVD but excluding BOOTFIX.BIN. jaclaz

The topic is not dead. No "real" news on the Excel thingy, I have found (on another board) a willing member that proposed to correct/better/refine it. Unfortunately, although he produced a very good work, expecially in correcting a few formulas that were wrong, he changed it so deeply (and in some cases IMHO senselessly) that the final result (which is not actually final anyway) has diverged from the original goal I had set (in my perverted mind) and is IMHO as-is UNusable/UNuseful. Due to the divergencies between us the development has stopped abruptly. In the meantime and as "side-apps", I have developed two pretty much useless spreadsheets. One is the (hopefully) final version of the thingy discused here: http://www.forensicfocus.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2134 And the other one is simply a calculator for Volume Serial. I wish to thank for the insights Craig Wilson, Author of this nice .pdf: http://www.digital-detective.co.uk/ http://www.digital-detective.co.uk/documents/Volume%20Serial%20Numbers.pdf In the tradition of my half-@§§ed spreadsheets, they are protected (to avoind unwantingly typing where you really shouldn't) but with blank password and there is NOT any actual instruction on the use of them, basically if you cannot figure out what they are for and how they work it means you don't *need* to use 'em . An interesting side-note is that I wasn't able to enter the (rather complex) formula in cells B17 and B33 of "volser.xls" in Excel (Office "XP") and as well I cannot actually edit it in this version of Excel. Using Spread32, in all the beauty of it's 1,458,176 bytes, I had no problems whatsoever. jaclaz date_from_volser.zip Volser.zip

Why not an IDE adapter? http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/AEUDMACF.asp http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adidecf.asp I mean nowadays (IF your motherboard still has an IDE/PATA port) it is likely it is unused and you can use it for the CF card. Or meet this thingy here: http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/udd2.asp jaclaz

colore, you seem to miss the basics on how drivers in XP are installed. Basically XP when installed/booted makes a quick check of the hardware. Every hardware (including the SATA Disk Controller) is identified by a device ID. Then XP looks among the drivers available to see if it can finds a driver for that specific device ID it has detected. If such driver is found, the corresponding driver is installed, no other device driver (for different device ID's) is ever installed. jaclaz

Or maybe the solution would be simpy to provide the actual redistributable utilities ONLY? And rest assured there are already some - IMNSHO completely out of their mind - but otherwise very good guys - that do support in strange ways that WAREZ release. jaclaz

What is the EXACT name (and full path of it) of the file you are having problems with? It may well be an invalid filename. jaclaz

NO. The "removable" bit is a flag set in the USB stick or hd controller. DOS and Linux will simply ignore it. Windows NT family of OS will use it and decide whether the device is "Fixed" or "Removable". There are NO ways to have a Windows NT family OS detect the thingy as "Fixed" if the bit in the controller is SET as "Removable" if not the suggested ways: a filter driver flipping the bit in th econtroller through it's "Manufacturer Production Tool" or utility jaclaz

Besides distributing a mini edition of XP (actually a pre-built PE 1.x) . (which still is a Copyright infringement or however an infringement of the MS EULA) Until there are UNredistributable files inside it, that will remain WAREZ, IMNSHO. jaclaz

Not with the available Freeware Sysinternals version, which is READ ONLY. @JorgeA JFYI you can also have a grub4dos (or isolinux/memdisk) based CD holding as many Floppy images as they fit inside it and boot them as memory (or directly) mapped floppies. jaclaz

DO NOT use WAREZ. If the disk has a "semi-stuck" spindle or anyway the motor using too much amperes, connecting it to a desktop SATA (actually to the desktop PSU) may help BUT, once it is connected to the SATA it may as well prevent the Desktop from booting. I have seen often laptop disk drives not being able to spin-up in a USB case if a Y USB cable is not used. (2x500 mA instead of 500mA) Also if a semi-stuck spindle is the case, sometimes putting the disk drive in a vertical position may lessen a little bit the initial force needed to spin-up, this has proved more useful than you might think. If you have the disk drive in your hand it is usually easy to feel if it is spinning or not, thanks to the slight gyroscopic effect it creates, see here: In this case it would be better to use the SATA connection as if it was an e-sata (there is no actual difference between SATA and e-SATA if not the connector) and connect it after the OS is booted. Generally speaking a SATA connection is more "direct" than a USB-SATA one and this may provide some enhanced access to the device (as an example the possibility to read the SMART data, but since that S.M.A.R.T. data makes NO sense whatsoever/has no practical use - I personally call it D.U.M.B. instead ) but I don't think it will make a difference, if the device is not detected through the USB converter/adapter. jaclaz