jaclaz

NO! There is NO "boot file" written to the bootsector. A bootsector is written to the bootsector . The XP CD is a no-emulation El-Torito Boot CD. It uses a bootsector that is 2048 bytes in size, sometimes called "Arnes Boot Record" or "Microsoft Corporation.img". This CD bootsector invokes: \I386\bootfix.bin (the thing that shows on screen "press any key to boot from CD" \I386\SETUPLDR.BIN (the actual "boot file") Quick reminder of booting sequence: "Full" XP on any device: (MBR ->)bootsector->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NTDETECT.COM->rest of XP XP install on ANY device BUT CD: (MBR->)boosector->SETUPLDR.BIN->NTDETECT.COM->*.SIF->rest of install XP install on CD/DVD: bootsector->\I386\bootfix.bin->\I386\SETUPLDR.BIN->\I386\NTDETECT.COM->*.SIF->rest of install *.SIF means both: WINNT.SIF (if present) TXTSETUP.SIF @morguex A bootsector is NOT a "file", just like you don't see (unless you use an hex/disk editor) the bootsector of a partition or of a floppy. (but it doesn't mean it's not there). You need to extract the bootsector from your original bootable CD and provide it to the burning app. A suitable tool is, besides the already cited ones, Bart's BBIE: http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/ Another small tool is here : http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12406 jaclaz

I don't want to seem more grumpy than I usually am, but this: DOES NOT mean: Which is what you seem like having understood: Now that we are beyond the USB driver problem (BTW first point in the list): Can you re-partition it from partition logic EXACTLY as I suggested you to: And post how it is seen in RPM and freeFDISK (please note that we need to also see the "inside" of the Extended partition if FDISK/freeFDISK). Right now there is something "wrong": first partition seemingly is out of cylinder boundary RPM shows a second Primary partition FreeFdisk shows an Extended (but the inside of it is unknown) I need to see what happens with the sizes/types I suggested, there are REASONS for them. jaclaz

For that kind of price I think I can hire someone to type for me . A few nice keyboards (and NO, not that many custom keys): http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm this might just do : http://www.usermode.org/photos/munich2008/p34.jpg These are actually available: http://www.umd.com.au/itd/products/tipro_free.html jaclaz

Yep , waiter come taste this soup.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094898/crazycredits Ahaaa... jaclaz

Really? Should someone post it under "News"? http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=110814&st=20 jaclaz

@dencorso Partition logic uses LBA, first sector is sector 0. @piikea With all due respect, it's not like being "brain surgery". Boot the partition logic. Select the right disk. Delete all. You should see ONLY one line with written in it "empty space" selected. Create. Choose primary. Strating sector: 0 Ending: 1000m Partition type 06 (FAT16) Write changes. Format (FAT 16). Set active. Write changes. First line will look like 1 FAT16 fat 0-127 1004 primary/active Select second line (empty space). Create. Choose Logical Starting sector : 128 Ending: 3000m Partition type 0c (FAT32) Write changes. Format (FAT 32). Now you have THREE lines, select last one, (empty space). Create. Choose Logical Starting sector : 511 Ending: 50000m Partition type 0c (FAT32) Write changes. Format (FAT 32). You now should have: a primary around 1 Gb FAT 16 an extended partition (which you don't see in partition logic listing) containing: a logical volume around 3 Gb FAT32 a logical volume around 50 Gb FAT32 What happens now when you look at in in FDISK? Do the three volumes above get a drive letter in DOS/Win9x? Can you (re-)format each of them from DOS/Win9x? If everything is OK, re-do with more senseful sizes for the partitions (I personally ALWAYS have a primary FAT16 - which I can also hide - and one primary ONLY) on ANY hard disk I use, as it may become useful, but of course you can create everything FAT32, up to 4 primaries or only logical volumes. jaclaz

Not really. Just for the record: http://www.docx.net/ http://www.docx.net/how-to-convert-docx-to-doc docx has NOTHING to do with doc, it's basically XML inside a zipped container. Just in case: http://www.nativewindsofmontana.com/software/docx2rtf.html jaclaz

I thought you were doing a PXE install (RIS). What you are doing is PXE booting a PE then start a "normal" winnt32.exe install from the PE (which is another thing). Which EXACT winnt32.exe command line are you using? Which EXACT kind/type of PE is it? jaclaz

A word of caution. BE VERY, VERY cautious when using "OLD STYLE" software with newish Vista or 7 natively partitioned hard disks and/or using more thanone OS on those drives... See here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21186 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9897&hl= There are CONCRETE possibilities to mess things up. There is NO difference WHATEVER if the OS is 32 bit or 64 bit, the actual OS may make a difference, besides, obviously, the MBR vs. GPT partitioning scheme. jaclaz

Actually, it's not like a laptop CD/DVD drive works "wireless"! . Expecially since the CD has been replaced, it could well be the cable or a contact. BUT from what the OP describes I would rather suspect a "botched" Windows install, or, to be more exact two different players/codecs/whatever attempting to access the CD/DVD at the same time (and YES, I have seen this happening and NO, I haven't the faintest idea HOW it could happen - I suspect a "queer" combination of autorun+file association - but really cannot say, as the user in his simplicity wiped disk and reinstalled from scratch before there was the time to understand WHAT caused the issue) How much RAM has the PC? You can try using a RAMdisk only kind of Linux like DSL: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ that has such an option (though it supports audio cannot say if it supports video) or a more "full" RAM release such as Wolvix: http://wolvix.org/ that has a "copy2ram" "cheat code": http://wiki.wolvix.org/CheatCodes jaclaz

Someone called? As I see it we have a number of variables, most of which have UNKNOWN values. We don't know: if the USB support of the OS is working as it should if RPM can actually manage 1 Tb size disks if Swissknife supports 1 Tb disks if Diskman4 supports 1 Tb disks (and ANYWAY it is too difficult to use program for the end user) To which you add a (no offence whatever intended ) a non-expert user and the result of the equation CANNOT but become "a suffusion of yellow". At this point I would try (for free) the partition logic approach: http://partitionlogic.org.uk/ this way we remove any problem that might be caused by the Win9x + the USB support added to it. The alternative being parted magic. Instead of using the latter "directly" I would rather suggest the UBCD: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ which includes, besides parted magic, more tools, including the "SuperFdisk" (which I never used BTW) that could be yet another alternative tool. jaclaz

The same WHAT ? CLUF -> Contrat de Licence Utilisateur Final = EULA -> End User License Agreement http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_de_logiciel jaclaz

Sure, it is possible, but: it's not easy has nothing to do with WinSetupFromUSb (which this thread is about) You can: try the "automated" way (assuming we are still talking of XP): http://www.usboot.org/tiki-index.php post a new thread in the appropriate forum google a bit jaclaz

So does "stable". I think that everyone should try and learn, and if you do think you understand something more than another peep, instead of sporting your (assumed) superiority , you should try and help him. At 19 posts you are not in the condition (yet ) to be annoyed by posts of a newbie. Everyone has been a newbie (and still is in some fields) so let's not demoralize newcomers, OK? jaclaz

Well, try with "latest stable". The general idea is that a "beta" is an evolution of the "stable", reserved to people already familiar with the "stable". Or, if you prefer, "stable" is for "normal users", "beta" is for "beta testers" , a club which you can join allright , as soon as you get the hang of the program and become familiar with the procedures . jaclaz

Have you downloaded it? Have you READ the "readme.txt"? And the contents of the "\Docs\" directory? jaclaz

Please note how there is also an "iso master" which is Commercial (for Windows), and it has a home page allright http://www.littlesvr.ca/isomaster/ http://www.littlesvr.ca/isomaster/faq/ I hate to have to say this once again, but apart trivial modifications, editing .iso files (and expecially BOOTable .iso files) is NEVER a good idea. If anyone is interested in doing it the "right" way (i.e. recreating the .iso with mkisofs) here is some info and a batch that may be of help: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12406 Also please note how 7-zip can normally access the contents of a .iso and extract it's contents allright (without any need to mount it) and instead of a simple, only "Virtual CDROM driver" there is IMDISK: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=59 that has many other uses besides virtual CD/DVD driver (ramdisk, virtual floppy driver, virtual partition driver) jaclaz

NO. That was a JFYI for dencorso. Diskman4 is well above the head of the average user. jaclaz ALREADY posted (on post #14) that an app to try was SwissKnife, which is GUI and more friendly: jaclaz

You first READ the read-me-first: Point #8 might interest you particularly. jaclaz

This is "normal". This should also be "normal". Unless I am mistaken, a standard 2K (or XP/2003) install from CD does: boots the CD (through BIOS) runs text mode part of the setup (which is done using still the BIOS "handles") which copies (or should copy) the relevant files to the HD. reboots the PC boots this time from the internal HD (the C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT folder) runs GUI mode part of the setup (which NEEDS the actual SATA drivers in the case of a SATA disk, least will produce the 0x0000007b) The only explanation at first sight is that somehow the USB drivers conflict with the SATA ones? Some questions: Which machine is it? (desktop/laptop) How much RAM? How big is the actual .iso? Have you not a setting in BIOS to set the SATA to "IDE compatibility mode" or something like that? jaclaz

Basic disambiguation. Backup or file based imaging is Filesystem Dependent. Cloning or sector based imaging is Filesystem Independent. first one is NOT "properly" an "imaging" solution. ANY actual "cloning" or "imaging" solution (sector based) will be able to image the actual sectors, NO MATTER the filesystem used. Obviously the "target" (i.e. where you store the image) needs to have a filesystem accessible by the actual imaging utility. Here is a list among which you can choose: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299 jaclaz

The relevant part is this one (on the guide by CarterinCanada): http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html This non-issue is also detailed here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=2999 jaclaz

Yep, usual mistake betweenLBA and numerals, my bad. Right are of course LBA 0 and LBA 6 or 1st and 7th. There is (AFAIK) NO relevant info about cluster size ANYWHERE but on those two sectors, , so, since as you know I am very cheap I would first try blanking just LBA 0, then LBA 0 and LBA 6, then LBA 0÷6 (and nothing more). http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/MSWIN41.htm To really overdo it, you can wipe LBA 0÷8...., a neat "saving" of 23 sectors Edit: Before I forget, you may be interested in playing a bit with good ol'diskman: http://www.diskman.co.uk/ http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299&st=16 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=141335 jaclaz

Yes, I do understand, but from experience, NOTHING is less read that the actual "read-me-first" or documentation for a program, and nothing is less searched for than the ALREADY available aswers on a board. Look at what I found in a 3 (three) minutes google search on MSFN: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=142396 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=142793 jaclaz

Please take your time reading Forum Guidelines (particularly #2a): http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules Also, read the READ-ME-FIRST, particularly point #1: yours appears very like a non-target. You also, please read the READ-ME-FIRST, particularly point #1: yours appears very like a non-target. Please DO NOT POST on this thread ANYTHING that: is not 7200.11 related Even if 7200.11 related: is not LBA0 or BSY You can start a new thread here in the Forum: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/169-hard-drive-and-removable-media-issues/ jaclaz