jaclaz

The blinking cursor is typical of: wrong data in bootsector (PBR) conflicting CHS vs. LBA (that also causes the above) on some BIOSes The "loading PBR for descriptor" is NOT a message in standard MBR (meaning NOT a standard 2K/XP one), it should mean that original user has installed a "custom" MBR of some kind, like a bootmanager of something like it. The problem is usually fixable but I will need to see BOTH the MBR and the PBR of the boot partition. HDhacker is handy to make such images: http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/ See here for a quick howto for HDhacker use: jaclaz

http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/l/life-stinks-script-transcript-brooks.html You are welcome. jaclaz

JFYI there is NOT EVEN any consensus about the actual utility of having a pagefile on modern hardware and big amounts of RAM and, if yes, how big it should be AND if it should be "fixed sized" or "windows managed". It usually turns out in a FAT32 vs. NTFS, Mickey Mouse vs. Dracula, Godzilla vs. King Kong kind of discussion.... (and yes, if you really want to know, IMNSHO the good ol'reptile can kick a§§ of the grown monkey with BOTH hands tied behind it's back ) jaclaz

NO. The NIC itself has "nothing" to do with PXE booting. "OLD" motherboards (that had NO integrated NIC/LAN card) used ISA (very old) or PCI LAN cards or NIC's. These cards can have: NO ROM on board (and no socket on it) NO ROM on board (BUT a socket on it) a PXE ROM on it Boards of type #2 and #3 operate with a mechanism (like SCSI cards usually do) called BIOS extension or "expansion ROM": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS#BIOS_boot_specification In practice the BIOS reads the whatever is in the ROM and "appends" it to the booting options. If the ROM contains PXE code, you have PXE booting added. "New" motherboards have the PXE code already in the main BIOS. But the ROM can contain also "something" else, as said. The used ROM's are (rare or old) actual ROM chips, or EPROM (old) or EEPROMs (new). The general idea is (in order of difficulty): if you have a motherboard with integrated LAN and PXE, OK if you have a motherboard without integrated LAN, BUT with a NIC with a PXE ROM, OK if you have a motherboard without integrated LAN, BUT with a NIC without a PXE ROM BUT with a socket for it, you can TEST with a floppy or CD, then "burn" the PXE code to an EPROM or EEPROM chip if you have a motherboard without integrated LAN, AND a NIC without a PXE ROM BUT without a socket for it, you can use a a floppy or CD In other words: provided that you have enough money to buy a NIC complete with PXE ROM, you can add PXE booting to *any* desktop. failing that, if you have a NIC with a ROM socket, and an EPROM or EEPROM (and you may also need a programmer for them) and have enough time to do the DIY job, you can test the PXE booting through floppy or CD and then burn the ROM, thus PXE booting to *any* desktop. if you have no money and a NIC without ROM socket, you are stuck to using a floppy or CD all the times (an interesting alternative being using grub4dos or syslinux on the internal har ddisk, either to directly PXE boot or to map a floppy or CD image) Just as an example, these: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=763637&CatId=200 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3981752&CatId=200 are NIC's with a socket These ones: http://argontechnology.com/pci-fast-ethernet-10100mb.html http://argontechnology.com/pci-gigabit-ethernet.html include the ROM jaclaz

Well, not really the "scope" of a "Install Windows from USB" forum However, see if this fits: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11808 (unresolved/unfinalized, AFAICU) But seemingly the new version hasn't any problem as a "direct" boot: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12380 Putting it in a multi-boot something seems like not having been documented, though you can probably work out a suitable way by mimicking the steps taken here: http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/wiki/doku.php?id=multiboot jaclaz

It sounds like a perfectly working hard disk that has serious partitioning/filesystem issues. Just open Disk Management, take a snapshot of it and post the screenshot. Open a command prompt and try running in it CHKDSK (without ANY command parameter BUT the drive letter) example if the three partitions on that disk are E:\ F:\ and G:\ try running: CHKDSK E:\ repeat with F: and G: Post what chkdsk says. Please also, start a NEW THREAD about your issue, it seems like having nothing to do with this thread scope. jaclaz

Would you accept the opinion of a (hopefully) credible amateur? VirusTotal is a tool, like an antivirus or ANY other tool. It's how you use it that makes the difference. If a single (or two) antivirus programs do not detect Anything on a given file it DOES NOT mean that it is clean. If VirusTotal has something like 4/43 AND the 4 out of the 43 are such well reputed - ahem - antivirus programs such as (example ): Kingsoft Norman Panda McAfee http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/false-alarm-tests (mind you the listed above are the WORST possible AV solution when it comes to false positives, but the may have other features superior to other compatitors) it DOES NOT mean that the file is infected. (actually it means that it is highly probable that the file is NOT infected) All such tools can give you very easily "false positives" and "false negatives". It is only up to you (or whoever is actually "in charge" of the security of a set of PC's) to believe one or the other report and take - or fail to take - further initiatives in order to ascertain the reliability of the specific "warning" or of the complete lack of such a "warning". Expecially when we are talking about heuristic detection, results are very often "a suffusion of yellow": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaheuristic And detection of a given malware may be different based on the "kind" of such malware, example: http://research.zscaler.com/2010/09/best-and-worst-antivirus-against-fake.html jaclaz

IF there is something, it is likely to come out of blackwingcat's sleeve , see if this applies to your hardware: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=131421 @wela NO need to put down another member by stating how difficult is something that you seemingly don't know a solution for. jaclaz

univibe or univbe? YES/YES. http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/questions-with-yes-or-no-answers.html UNIVBE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniVBE http://www.dosdriver.de/graph.php jaclaz

If you power THAT adapter at 5 V it won't probably work with the Seagate drive, as CLEARLY stated in the read-me-first point #11, where there is a note about that particular adapter. If you power that adapter at around 3 V it may work (make sure that the batteries actually give 2.9V or 3.0 V and nothing less). You should better use power from an Orange cable of a normal PSU (3.3 V) as suggested there. When you ground together several devices, you create a (low) equipotential line, if the voltage from the batteries is a little below "target" specs or if any of the other devices have a slightly negative potential it is very possible that the adapter does not get an adequate voltage to work properly. The fact that as soon as you connect the ground you don't get anymore anything on hyperterminal suggests this is likely cause of the problem. Appropriate voltage levels of the TTL signals (please re-read points #6 and #7 of the read-me-first AND liks in them) is VITAL. jaclaz

You still missing the general concept. MANY NIC's are sold with a ROM socket (but some without the actual EPROM). PXE in this case is simply a BIOS extension. Most modern motherboards have a NIC integrated (and the PXE capability in the "main" BIOS). If you buy a NIC without the (programmed) EPROM, you can program an EPROM or an EEPROM by yourself and put it in it. You can even put in the EPROM or EEPROM something else, like a bootmanager (there is a special grub4dos version for it, as an example) or even a "real" OS, see here: http://rayer.ic.cz/romos/romose.htm If you don't have the Eprom, or have a NIC without the socket for it, you can use a boot floppy or .iso image. jaclaz

It doesn't work like this. WHICH adapter are you using? You don't throw "random" power voltage to the adapter. You give the one appropriate for the adapter. You make sure the adapter is of "the right" type. The Seagate 7200.11 wants the lower TTL level (the one around 3 volts max). You don't ground "anything in sight", you ground what should be grounded. Read carefully (again) the read-me-first: From what you report it is likely you are using a 5 V TTL adapter (which won't work). jaclaz

I seem to remember that on some USB stick controllers it is possible with the manufacturer tool to: enable USB 1.1 ONLY enable USB 2.0 ONLY enable BOTH protocols/speeds It is very possible that newish sticks have been set infactory to "USB 2.0 ONLY" jaclaz

Well, no. You can use - as an example - a BOOT CD that boots grub4dos or Syslinux/Isolinux and from it PXE boot. PXE "assumes" that you have a PXE booting option in BIOS AND a ROM containing the actually PXE booting code in the actual LAN card. But obviously this can be replaced by a PXE booting floppy, which actually is the "right way to experiment": Q: why do you think that rom-o-matic was made: http://www.rom-o-matic.net/ A: As a nice way to have an Etherboot or gPXE: http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php image built automatically You can have, among others: http://www.rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-1.0.1/contrib/rom-o-matic/ floppy CD Rom jaclaz

..and since Intel re-brands computers as well, what you probably have is a MPC E09E16 http://www.blisscomputers.net/mpc-e09e16-laptop-lcd-screen-8-9-wsvga-glossy-led.aspx Guess why I used the "re-re-brand" term to describe MDG activities? MPC is dead : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPC_Corporation http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050188/mpc-computers-closing But still alive in the memory of the Wayback Machine : http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.mpccorp.com/ Here may seem like a nice place to have a look/ask for help: http://www.mpcdrivers.com/ http://mpctechsupport.com/ jaclaz

It's that the specific model? If not, post EXACT name/model, maybe something can be found nonetheless about it. If we are talking of this MDG: http://www.mdg.ca/content/support/ it seems like it has not even *a* driver or Bios or technical related stuff download page. They do have a lousy Word document : http://www.mdg.ca/content/support/pdf/supp_download_web_page.doc that tells you to go to Intel site: http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/gendrive.htm where the page is obviously a 404 and with this warning: They seem a lot more like a financial/commercial company than a computer manufacturer. It seems like they re-re-brand some products and sell them in Canada: http://laptopadvisor.blogspot.com/2009/11/intel-classmate-goes-on-sale-as-mdg.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classmate_PC Is this the one you have? http://www.mdg.ca/mini/ According to Wikipedia page above it is actually an "Intel Clamshell second generation". Can you try running USBview or SIV: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12845 and post their screenshots? (from the everest screenshot it seems like more things than usual are connected to the USB bus) If you can only run device manager, please selest the view "by connection" and open the relevant (USB) part of the tree. jaclaz

Isn't it queer that on that page: That brings you here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349350(WS.10).aspx jaclaz

With all due respect, that is a very "old" way to install XP from flash (by running DOS, and from it WINNT.EXE, which forces to use FAT/FAT32 filesystem) The "base" instructions for that method are given here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 In the meantime, a number of "other" ways were found/feveloped. Mainly, you can use grub4dos to re-map drives and starting the DOS from a floppy or .iso image (i.e. avoiding the drive letter problem) but, better than that use "native" XP install from USB device, several methods listed here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=157 jaclaz

Well, that's a problem, with no solution if not that of learning how to use one . Maybe the "random" hashcode is not that "random", but is the actual hash of the image. Anyway, when you save a file like that, typically it has a main .html and a subdirectory where the actual linked files and images are saved. Usually the directory entry is near the actual .html file, both in the actuall filesystem index and in it's LBA position. Yes, you should assume that sometimes you win , sometimes you lose in the Data Recovery field, but if, say, 10% of the images can be identified by their EXIF data it is still 10% more than nothing. jaclaz

An interesting use of a little brother.... ... and a few people are still convinced they are only a nuisance.... Happy to know there is another happy bunny in the basket : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128727&st=10 jaclaz

Could it be a SIZE of the stick problem? Otherwise it may mean that you have NOT a "generic" USB Mass Storage driver, but rather a "specific" one, (only compatible with a given controller) and by chance "old" sticks have that controller and "new" ones have it not. Can you test the sticks on another computer (running 2K, XP or later) run on them chipgenius: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4661 http://www.mydigit.cn/chipgenius.htm and post Vid/Pids and details of each stick (both the working and the non-working ones)? jaclaz

Maybe http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/ Just for the record, original MS KB is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175500/en-us A confirmation for Firefox : http://www.beatingbonuses.com/scriptwarning.htm jaclaz

It's most probably a "lead-free" solder related problem (but cannot say without more details). In a nutshell: Most video processors use a BGA (Ball Grid Array) as means of connection to the actual motherboards. They are (tiny) balls of solder that are actually soldered by heating the "whole thing" for a certain period of time. At a certain point, in order to comply with environmental laws, the "old" lead based solder was replaced by a new "lead-free" alloy. Typically this has a lower melting point AND tends to crack if overheated. The practical outcome is that devices that generate lots of heat (like a video card processor), expecially if in tiny spaces (laptops) and with no or poor cooling (playstations and the like) tend to overheat the solder, thus causing irregular (more common) or NO contact at all IF this is the case, since "proper" "reballing" is out of questions for it's cost, the only possible way out is to re-flow it. It is a maybe 50% probability, in any case. Here there is some (sparse) info about the procedure: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6102&st=0 In any case DON'T EVEN THINK of running the candle/alcohol trick : http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/726/diy-obsolete-ibook-logic-%20board-repair Cannot say if this particular problem did affect the Playstation "1". Check this first thing: http://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/PlayStation_Troubleshooting http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Repairing-PlayStation-Logic-Board/1596/1 To disassemble the stoopid thingy properly, and see if here: http://www.eserviceinfo.com/index.php?what=search2&searchstring=Play+Station you can find a suitable service manual for the model you have. jaclaz

Good. Now consider these: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192322/en-us Basically, and in a nutshell, the bigger you make a FAT (in this case FAT32) volume, the more wasted space and decrease of performance you will have. Strangely enough XP has limited creation of FAT32 volumes to 32 Gb not ONLY to push NTFS. Mind you I'm not in ANY way trying to start (yet another) Religion war of the NTFS vs. FAT32 or Godzilla vs. King Kong type, we had enough of them, only you need be aware of the limitations of the FAT32 filesystem and be able to choose a partitioning scheme in an informed way. jaclaz

You mean this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874/en-us http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-Simple-File-Sharing-in-Windows-XP-Home-Edition or this: http://www.ehow.com/how_2169456_off-file-sharing-windows-xp.html jaclaz