jaclaz

WHEN are you inserting the USB device? Normally a PE will autodetect devices already connected at boot time AND NOT devices connected after boot. jaclaz

I understand: this particular BIOS map a 16gb USB stick to a 1.44mb floppy drive. Windows setup use BIOS to access boot media. This fails at such mapping: biosinfo.inf not found. Almost all BIOS map a 16gb USB stick to a hard disk. Windows setup does work. cdob having a hiccup? drive 0x80(LBA): C/h/S=1024/255/63, Sector Count/Size=31342815/512 Partition num: 0, active, Filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x07 drive 0x00(CHS): C/H/S=80/2/18,Sector Count/Size=2880/512 geometry (fd0) returns a floppy, that's normal. geometry (hd0) returns a hard disk allright. jaclaz

Please define "cutomized" I have the doubt that "customized" is in this case a synonym of "unauthorized redistribution of modified copies" jaclaz

Where? Here : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299 jaclaz

Hey, wait a minute, I mistook your for a grub4dos error 2 Maybe it's some kind of RAM related error (specific to that machine) . If this is the case, if you use the 0.2.3 "stable" (that uses NOT the .iso mapping) it should work. Check also (though it should NOT be related) with the modified NTDETECT.COM: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=112630 The grub4dos mapping is allright, so I don't think that re-partitioning/formatting with fbinst would do any good, but it's another semi-random attempt woth a shot. jaclaz

jaclaz

Another happy bunny in the basket! http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128727&st=10 jaclaz

I would hope than in the last 8 months OP solved the problem, one way or the other. jaclaz

Hmmm . Try with [TAB] autocompletion, i.e. map --mem (hd0,0)/WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff) map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook root (0xff) and then: chainloader / [TAB] etc. until you complete the line, maybe there is a problem with the CaSe of the filenames? But it should not give error 2, but rather error 15... and it shouldn't print: Seem like a problem of the .iso, but it's strange... The only time I have seen error 2: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21756 it was a filesystem issue (on EXT2/3 FS, so completely unrelated) jaclaz

Well, if I may , if an OS is supposed to be used to have various fonts and is actually used for this scope (typography, desktop publishing, etc.), the fact that traditionally MS os (and Linux and MAC ) have not an "official" working method to manage a large number of fonts (and you need to use a third party utility) is not a good reason to say that Win 7 is perfect. We can conclude that Windows 7 sucks at font management exactly like all previous Windows version did (and Linux and MAC do ). @caston81 This kind of info is not exactly hidden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_management_software A list of apps is in this article: http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2007/10/win_font_mgmt.html jaclaz

pborut, please edit your post removing the WHOLE Quote from Gradius' initial post, it makes no sense and only contributes to make the thread less readable. There is nothing wrong in the procedure. You shouldn't even THINK of booting from that drive. Your next step should be to image that drive to another one and then attempt to recover the DATA you may have on it (if of value). jaclaz

NO. You are evidently missing some basics. If you see the drive as having a filesystem as RAW it is actually GOOD news. (it means that the drive is at least partially working) Now it's time to attempt IMAGING the drive contents. (you will need another drive bigger than the failng one - a 640 Gb drive would do). Then, we can try recovering the data from the image. The procedure may work, may completely fail to , it can be an easy and straightforward one or a complex one. We can also try an in-place recovery, but it is STRONGLY UNadvised. jaclaz

Right now what should be running is: title Windows XP/2000/2003 Setup map --unmap=0:0xff map --unhook savedefault find --set-root --ignore-cd /usbdrive.tag #configfile /winsetup.lst #winsetup.lst #title First part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup from partition 0 map --unmap=0:0xff map --unhook map --mem (hd0,0)/WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff) savedefault 2 checkrange 0x00,0x01 read 0x8280 && configfile /BOOTWS/fd.lst #geometry (hd9) && configfile /BOOTWS/10.lst #geometry (hd8) && configfile /BOOTWS/9.lst #geometry (hd7) && configfile /BOOTWS/8.lst #geometry (hd6) && configfile /BOOTWS/7.lst #geometry (hd5) && configfile /BOOTWS/6.lst #geometry (hd4) && configfile /BOOTWS/5.lst #geometry (hd3) && configfile /BOOTWS/4.lst #geometry (hd2) && configfile /BOOTWS/3.lst #geometry (hd1) && configfile /BOOTWS/2.lst #geometry (hd0) && configfile /BOOTWS/1.lst #boot #map --unmap=0:0xff #map --unhook #2.lst map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook ls (0xff)/ && root (0xff) ls (0xff)/ && chainloader /I386/SETUPLDR.BIN ls (0xff)/ || rootnoverify (hd0) ls (0xff)/ || chainloader (hd0)+1 #boot So, try on command line the actual needed sequence (simplified for your setup with USB+1 internal hard disk): map --mem (hd0,0)/WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff) map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook root (0xff) chainloader /I386/SETUPLDR.BIN boot grub4dos will give you some feedback, at some of the lines entered, please post these output. jaclaz

I guess you can workaround the limitation : http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Barracuda-XT-Barracuda-and/It-is-not-updated-Firmware-with-CC38-on-CC3E-on-HDD-ST3500418AS/td-p/52066 but would it be wise? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes Also check: http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Barracuda-XT-Barracuda-and/st3500418as-cc38/m-p/56107 jaclaz

Good , now, depending on the amount of hard disks you have connected to that PC, you have to find out which among the 10.lst, 9.lst ... 1.lst is actually used (most probably it's 2.lst) and post it's contents. (what I am trying to find out is the sequence of grub4dos commands that are actually issued on that machine, and recreate a single menu.lst entry with them, that we can later experiment with/modify) jaclaz

Good, everything seems "cool", you have the usbdrive.tag allright, then the only part that is interesting is this: title Windows XP/2000/2003 Setup map --unmap=0:0xff map --unhook savedefault find --set-root --ignore-cd /usbdrive.tag configfile /winsetup.lst So you need to post also contents of winsetup.lst . jaclaz

Let's start with some order. Remove any menu.lst from your USB stick (this way you get to command line automatically). Make a copy of it somewhere AND post here it's contents. If you simply run root [ENTER] and you get (hd0,0) as reply , it means that the USB stick (boot device, and automatically root when booted in grub4dos) is seen correctly as first hard disk. (so you are NOT in the situation where the USB stick is detected as floppy) now, type: find / [TAB] you should have a list of the files/directories you find in the root of the stick, please post these filenames/directory names listed. Now some details. What are your Sources? (like XP English/Chinese/Whatever, SP1, SP2 SP3, etc.) Which exact version of the WinsetupfromUSB are you testing with? There are TWO valid versions to try, 0.2.3 (traditional) and 1.0 beta6 (new method). How big is the stick? Which app did you use to partition/format it? Also connected to the above question type in grub4dos: geometry (hd0) {ENTER] and post results. jaclaz

Where the original problem was actually solved. Hmmm , compare with this : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=140479&st=56 YES. http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/questions-with-yes-or-no-answers.html Can you try the suggestion already given on that thread? Or have you already tried them all and nothing came out of it? In any case you need to provide some more details. jaclaz

Have you actually TRIED nirsoft nircmd.exe? (cannot say if this particular command works on 98/Me) Or is it another thing (like how to write a program that do this?) jaclaz

Another possible option: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html win min command. jaclaz

fackeid, you seem like thinking you are in a production environment of some kind and in a frenzy to do something, STOP fidlling with the other drives until you have success with the two you ALREADY messed with! For all we know, the procedure you attempted, UNDOCUMENTED and UNbacked up by ANY supporting theory might be killing those disks for good. I'll try again. The set of commands you applied are documented to be a way to "reset" the board of 7200.11 drives (and NOT any other model) affected by a problem derived by a mis-setting in the firmware that results with two specific symptoms, the BSY and the LBA0 (and NOT any other problem). More generally, it is a sort of "general reset" of the disk logs. Resetting these logs is a proved effective way to solve the TWO mentioned symptoms. (and NOTHING else) It is well possible that the same procedure is useful in reviving a disk that suffers from other problems, but we DO NOT know which problem your hard disk had before and we don't know if this unknown problem can be solved by this procedure. It is as well possible that this procedure while APPARENTLY reviving the disk, puts it in a condition where nothing else can be done (in other words instead of having a theoretically functional HDD not detectable by BIOS - i.e. bricked - you get a hard disk that is detectable by BIOS but that is NOT functional anymore because some data - calibration, alignment, whatever is LOST forever). So, there is no point in applying this procedure blindly to ALL specimens you have in your hand, you are experimenting, and you should do it bit by bit. WHAT commands/addresses did you use? WHICH errors? Try with a small chunk of sectors, first. Report exactly the error you have. Consider the VALUE of the DATA that is on the disk(s). It is probable that you are going to NOT recover ANY data during these experiments, have you considered this possibility? We don't have till now ANY evidence that the drive is functional again. Have you checked it with a tool like Victoria, MHDD or ? http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.03-Victoria/ http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/ http://hddguru.com/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/ http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_hdd.html jaclaz

Not me. All I can tell you is that on Seagate site there is CC3E still available: http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/downloads/firmware/Barracuda12-ALL-CC3E.exe Which DOES NOT mean that it may be useful, nor that applies to your disk, nor that it is a good idea. jaclaz

Not really. It is possible to install Vista on a FAT32 filesystem, and I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be possible with Windows 7 (though untested/unreported): http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=102556 The problem is that the BOOTMGR (or the NTLDR) knows nothing about exFAT, so they cannot possibly initiate the booting from it. Maybe (and I am saying maybe) it would be possible to create an "XP Kansas City Shuffle" kicker, but it's another untested/undocumented thing: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21242 jaclaz

It is very strange that scandisk starts by itself. Maybe the NTFS filesystem was left with the "dirty" bit set. You should NOT run scandisk on that system, until you find out what has happened. You should NOT run HDD Regenerator. What happens in Disk Manager? How is the partition(s) seen? You NEED another media big enough to image that disk drive and later work on the image. (in your case a suitable media is a a 640 Gb disk) The general idea with a drive that has had problems is to get the DATA out of it as soon and with as little fiddling with the device as possible. Take your time to read and learn basic usage of TESTDISK and try running it on the image AND NOT on the original drive: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Image the drive using any "dd like" Windows or linux utility, a list is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299 In your particular case, since we have NO idea of the health status of the drive, using one of the apps mentioned here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=144418 is recommended. (do it in chunks, if you have problems). Mind you: data recovery is about recovering data , NOT about doing things quickly or fast, it will take time and patience to image the drive, and time and patience to (hopefully) retrieve the data from the image. jaclaz

No, VGA to HDMI! Of course SATA to USB (if your drive is SATA ). Get ANY el-cheapo adapter, example: http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180542259328 jaclaz