jaclaz

How would UNIATA for Win9x fit in the equation? http://reboot.pro/2384/ jaclaz

Well NO, this is not "more" info, it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, (most probably RIGHT this time ) info. It is more probable that the chip is SMI. It is likely that one of these two may be the "right" tool: SMI MPTool V2.03.34 v12 [sM3255AB] SMI MPTool V2.03.34 v12 [sM3257AA] Besides the already given link, here is another page: http://tagievara.narod.ru/pages/programs/flash.html via google translate: http://translate.google.it/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftagievara.narod.ru%2Fpages%2Fprograms%2Fflash.html&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8 jaclaz

Very strange. 04FC should be "Sunplus Technology Ltd.", which does not produce AFAIK memory sticks, and HP should be 03F0. Please describe that stick, brand, is it this one? http://www.pny.com.tw/pny_en/products_info2.asp?idno=97&pidno=41&pidno3=81 that is from PNY (HP v175w) PNY should have Vid 154B. though there are reports of using different Vid's. The PNY's I have seen use Phison chips: http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=Files&op=cat&id=6 but I have also seen references to some of them using SMI chips: http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=Files&op=cat&id=10 You may want to try some of the apps listed above, but first check if the PNY software: http://www.pny.com.tw/pny_en/download.asp has any reference to the actual chip manufacturer. jaclaz

Yes , I mean you are posting here, so you do have another computer where you can prepare from scratch the USB device using this method: Try using the "stable" 0.2.3 AND NOT the 1.0 beta7 version on first attempt. jaclaz

There are 2 (two) ways to have multiple partitions accessible on a USB stick on NT based systems: flip the removable bit install a filter driver To flip the removable bit you may find - besides the "Lexar" utility, the manufacturer's "Mass Production Tool" for the USB controller used in your USB stick. You can install the filter driver "on the fly", but this is considered "advanced" and requires a good understanding of the procedure and of English. I am sorry for your English (or lack of it), but this is an English forum, and it is unlikely that you will find here help in your native language (whatever it is), You may want to: find a suitable technical forum in your language or find a friend that better understands English that can help you In other words, you are trying to do an "advanced" something without the needed tools (basic English knowledge), it will take you some time and a lot of efforts, maybe it would be easier if you buy a "Lexar compatible" new USB stick. If you want to try finding the appropriate Mass production tool, get chipgenius: http://reboot.pro/4661/ fint the Vid/Pid of your stick see if you can find a suitable tool here: http://flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash or post an EXACT description of the stick AND it's Vid/Pid, and I may try helping you in the search. jaclaz

If we are allowed to go Commercial , here: http://www.dosusb.net/ (the "original" home page is sort of botched): http://www.georgpotthast.de/ I missed if these also were tried : http://bretjohnson.us/ (same info on the page given by dencorso direct links for the record) jaclaz

Read the read-me-first AND the FGA's: leave the disk alone, try a loopback test. (this won't be affected by the "wrong" TTL levels -if any) Take into account to try powering the adapter at 3.3v (NOT with a 3V battery), but it "looks" like a 5V level TTL only ("wrong"). About the adapter, this one: http://cgi.ebay.de/FTDI-USB-UART-seriell-Adapter-AVR-PIC-TTL-RS232-/280604136107?pt=Wissenschaftliche_Ger%C3%A4te&hash=item41554f52ab jusdging from it's manual: http://www.sigma-shop.com/manuals/ftdi_manual.pdf is of the "right" kind. jaclaz

You can use a filter driver. See here (please read the WHOLE thread): jaclaz

Again, no. Well, actually it is a PE 3.x (i.e. it is a Pre-installation Environment), you can think of it as a minimal, portable OS that is used to actually run the installers, and yes, of course it can be modified/customized. The general idea is given in this topic (sticky): (which is however seemingly abandoned by original Author and might use new ideas/contributions) ...hint, hint... jaclaz

Well, no. Most of what you wrote is ALREADY written (and the possible betterings been linked to - for people that needs an alternative), and we ALREADY have a nice, automated app to do that (actually more than one - for those too lazy to attempt manual methods). AGAIN, if you want to boot a Microsoft system or install, the choice is grub4dos, NOT GRUB, NOT GRUB2. (as grub4dos, besides supporting NTFS allows for DIRECT CHAINLOADING - i.e. bypassing the bootsector - of most MS system files/bootloaders and is MUCH more "flexible" than the other two). You did an excellent job with your tutorial , and people can have it "as is" or - if they are curious/not lazy - experiment with the alternatives. And JFYI, I am also in the construction field, as a free-lance consultant, project coordinator and project manager. jaclaz

It sounds like a DEAD interface , see also the homepage of the specific adapter: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/126 BUT, try first making a loopback on just the USB to RS232 adapter, in order to make sure that THAT part is working. AND/OR try the Pololu adapter on a PC WITH an actual RS232 port (I mean, don't you have a friend from which you can borrow one for a few minutes in order to test the adapter?) jaclaz

Very good! JFYI, grub4dos can access NTFS partitions allright, since a few years: http://reboot.pro/forum/66/ Your post is however very interesting (apart the nice info about Windos 7 ) as you are basically saying that GRUB 2 can use menu.lst (which is the typical configuration file of GRUB legacy and grub4dos) besides it's "proper" grub.cfg file (which uses a different syntax): http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Shell_002dlike-scripting Again JFYI, there is a more "generic" way to install the Filter Driver, see here: I am confused about the reasons why you use cfadisk.sys on XP and dummydisk.sys on 7, BOTH drivers should work on BOTH OSes, see here: Another thing you may be interested in is the newish project, grub24dos: http://reboot.pro/13282/ (which would avoid the need of Ubuntu) I presume that with the above info you may be able to simplify a bit your nice tutorial, avoiding the need of three different OS to prepare the stick. Finally, you may want to explore this app (and optionally my batches for it): http://nativeex.boot-land.net/Programs/WimCaptEx/WimCaptEx.htm http://reboot.pro/9765/ that allow access to a .wim from XP wiothout need of the WAIK. I am editing the topic title to specify that you are using GRUB2 (and not GRUB, intended as GRUB legacy, to reduce disambiguation needs) jaclaz

Oww, comeon ..... 2.5 was a multiplier used in times RAM was really low. With 4 Gb a multiplier of 0.50 to 1.05 is more realistic. I would personally set it as 512 Mb fixed size, but you know how cheap I am. BTW, absolutely not wanting to start yet another pagefile size flame war. jaclaz

...or simply edit the boot.ini removing the entry you don't need and leaving only one (the default). I seem to remember that this is documented in the files coming with USBmultiboot.cmd. jaclaz

Not really-really: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=147618&st=6 jaclaz

And Reatogo still is a PE (and NOT a nlited XP), BTW the project has been abandoned since some time, and PEtoUSB has been superseded by "better" apps. Currently advised tools to make USB sticks bootable: http://reboot.pro/9460/ reasons why (JFYI): http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23696 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23696&st=3 jaclaz

Sure, but of course it won't work on the new hard drive, as it will probably have different size of partition or whatever, you need to change suitably the "dynamic" part, READ the post by natan on the given links, (and all the rest), the idea is to change the CODE (or "static" part) leaving UNTOUCHED the DATA (or "dynamic" part), or at least this is what you asked and what the bootsect utility actually does. jaclaz.

You can use dd allright., See here: http://www.winimage.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=163 http://www.winimage.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=276 jaclaz

I fixed the link to Wimb's approach (glitch in the matrix on the "new" board): http://reboot.pro/9830/ you can find it also here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23553 jaclaz

Also, maybe, something worth trying: http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/usbdrv.html at least to "borrow" the driver loading scheme. jaclaz

Disambiguation: you can have a MUCH lited "full XP" on a USB stick anything that is called "Live XP" or something simialr is actually a PE 1.x You need to make a choice. Are you wanting to make a "Full XP" on USB OR a PE on USB stick? If #1 there is now a mostly automated way, that is also almost "universal": http://reboot.pro/9830/ For #2, the "standard" project is either UBCD4WIN: http://www.ubcd4win.com/ or the LiveXP Amalux's "frozen builds": http://reboot.pro/index.php?showforum=112 http://reboot.pro/4111/ jaclaz

Also, you could contribute, see here: /page__st__25 In a nutshell UNLIKE all other AV vendors, McAfee appears to ONLY take action if one of their customers reports a false positive. Since VERY FEW (AFAIK) expert computer users and programmers use McAfee as an antivirus solution, this creates a nice loophole. (about the smartness of such a policy I won't spend any time on commenting such astonishingly stoopid behaviour - surely it doesn't help the already lousy reputation McAfee has) Out of the blue, a nice image of a cat: jaclaz

Happy that your data was recovered. About Seagate, your decision - with all due respect - is pure nonsense. Seagate managed in the worst possible way the problems created by this "series" or "model" of hard disk drive. But every and all HD manufacturer has had one (or more) series or model that sucked big and they will probably have one or more in the future. Remember the Maxtors a few years ago: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/hard-drive-support/59502-maxtor-failure-symptoms.html and the DeskStar DeathStar some time before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Deskstar The issue is not with the brand it is with the series, the good guys that design these things are forced by the laws of the market to create senselessly BIG drives inside a "standardized" size/volume. This leads to higher density. To this you add the competiition for always greater speeds (at a needed higher precision level) and you complete the recipe for disaster. The same 7200.11 series but 250 or 320 Gb in size have NOT shown similar trend as the 500 and 750 Gb ones, AFAIK. It may be a coincidence, but I believe not very much to coincidences. jaclaz

Read this very similar successful experience: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8758 You need to INTEGRATE the Mass Storage drivers to your source BEFORE preparing the stick. jaclaz

Additionally, if instead of "an old laptop" you post EXACT make and model, it is likely that someone may be able to tell you whether it is Sata or Pata/IDE. jaclaz