jaclaz

Problem is that XP will only be able to create a 1.44 floppy with "Bootable MS-DOS" in it's "Format" dialog. In Winimage: Options->Settings->Image->Uncheck all check boxes and set compression to None File->New->Format 2.88 File->Save As->288.ima Image->Bootsector Properties->Windows 95/98 ->OK Image->Inject-> (Inject FIRST, and in this order: IO.SYS MSDOS.SYS COMMAND.COM CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT) theln all other files File->Save OR, open a copy of your floppy image, then: Image->Chnage Format->2.88 Save as Otherwise get these: http://www.nu2.nu/mkbt/ http://www.nu2.nu/bfi/ In IMdisk: Mount New Input 1474560 Bytes in "Size of Virtual Disk" set "device type" Floppy Input Letter "B" Select drive Format->Check "Create bootable MS-DOS" Select drive -> Save Image->C:\bootfiles\144.img Open a Command prompt: mkbt -c B: C:\bootfiles\bootsect.bin bfi -v -t=288 -b=C:\bootfiles\bootsect.bin -f=C:\bootfiles\288.img In IMdisk: Mount New Select C:\bootfiles\288.img set "device type" Floppy Open the mounted drive and copy files to it Unmount both drives This way you will have the 288.img with the "XP MS-DOS" bootsector (please read as "DOS 8.0/Windows Me"). You can use mkbt on "another" floppy image (like the one you already have in your hands) to get it's bootsector. jaclaz P.S.: However you are right, there is something that looks like "not right" when you try to format/extend a floppy image in IMDISK, I'll submit the issue to Olof.

2K seems just right to me also. If you only have XP, if you remove some of the fluff with nlite and remove the unneeded services, it should run (let's say conventionally "walk" ) decently as well. It's a bit "asymmetric" IMHO, slow CPU/plenty of RAM, machines of that period usually have a 600 Mhz CPU and 128/256 Mb of Ram. jaclaz

It seems like down. Since it is still in google cache, it may be a temporary problem. Wayback Machine: http://www.archive.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bhashaindia.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.bh...com/Downloads/* Zip: TBILConverter05122006.zip giving data retrieval error right now. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.bh...egory.aspx?ID=4 Maybe these help: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_hindi..._type_font.html http://rajbhasha.nic.in/unicode_solution.pdf http://www.ildc.in/ jaclaz

That's exactly what you think, which can (or cannot) be accurate . As long as you don't want the partition anymore and you are sure about it, you don't need to read the given thread (which theme is actually the opposite, how to recover a recovery partition after the user had botched the original MBR with PM or Acronis). If you trust Acronis, go on and remove the recovery partition. jaclaz

You can make a 2.88 Mb floppy image allright. Maybe there is some error in the procedure you are following. You can use IMDISK allright: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk Maybe easier would be if you create your 2.88 Mb image with this: http://www.nu2.nu/mkbt/ http://www.nu2.nu/mkbt/#buildimage http://www.nu2.nu/bfi/ Or with the Shareware WinImage: http://www.winimage.com/ Which actual type/release of DOS would the image use? What is the "dos-prog" ? Can you name it and possibly provide a link to it's home site? jaclaz

@chinbender The linked to .exe is nothing but a "self-burning" .iso image, El-torito floppy emulation DOS 2.88 Mb image. I creates an 8 Mb ramdisk, and unzips to it: brnkmoos.cfs FDL.bat fdl.exe flash.BAT HP26CE2D.bin HP26CE3D.bin HP2ACE2H.BIN Contents of flash.BAT are pretty much straightforward: cls Echo off set model=%model1% Echo ************************************************************ Echo * * echo * WARNING! F/W update will take approximately 1 minute! * echo * DO NOT REMOVE POWER DURING THIS TIME!! * echo * * echo * You will see the command prompt when it is safe * echo * to remove power. * echo * * echo ************************************************************ echo Seagate Firmware Download Utility v4.71 set softrst=none fdl -s -b -x -v -h BrnkMoos.cfs if errorlevel=9 goto ALREADY if errorlevel=4 goto error if errorlevel=2 goto WRONGMODEL if errorlevel=0 goto done :done echo. echo **************************************************************** echo * * echo * Eject the CD and power down your PC. * echo * * echo * After you power down the firmware update will be complete * echo * and you can restart your PC. * echo * * echo **************************************************************** goto end :ALREADY cls echo. echo ()========================================================() echo () () echo () You drive already has correct firmware version. () echo () () echo ()========================================================() goto end :WRONGMODEL cls echo. echo @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ echo @ @ echo @ Specific hard disk model not found or not a Seagate drive @ echo @ @ echo @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ goto end :error cls echo. echo ************************************************************ echo ************************************************************ echo ** ** echo ** DRIVE NOT DETECTED ** echo ** ** echo ************************************************************ echo ************************************************************ :end Which ultimately sums up to: echo Seagate Firmware Download Utility v4.71 set softrst=none fdl -s -b -x -v -h BrnkMoos.cfs if errorlevel=9 goto ALREADY if errorlevel=4 goto error if errorlevel=2 goto WRONGMODEL if errorlevel=0 goto done It seems to me quite obvious that if - for any reason - the drive is not detected, you get the "error". Is this what you get when you run it? The CD seems to me like pretty much "portable", in the sense that it doesn't *look* like making any check about running on HP hardware, so the easiest solution is: buy, rent, borrow, steal ANY other PC which has in it's BIOS a "IDE compatibility mode setting and flash your drive on that PC The HP tool in other words, seems very like the "normal" Seagate ones: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...&NewLang=en (I mean the .iso's there) JFYI, and in case of further problems: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/messag...ssage.uid=37144 An alternative would be getting the Seagate .exe and modify it's contents (look into "config.xml" ), but it is however risky business, and I would not personally update the firmware of anything under Windows, as there are more things that can go wrong than those that can go right, unless you have a very, very clean system disconnected from anything, etc., etc. jaclaz

IMHO: The KB977165, yes. Microsoft hosing a number of PC's with a wrong update, and the phone support sucking, NO, these are not "news". jaclaz

What the heck! Good morning Monsieur de La Palice : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_la_Palice That is EXACTLY what the menu.lst entry Lonecrusader used does (and that most probably creates the error), and that I suggested avoiding, (having command prompt working as a result) jaclaz

Uh-uh!!! (Probably) Won't work!!! Original is only (proabably) good for CD's. Have you tried the Bart's JO.SYS Replacement? Not sure if this will work, but hey (and I believe it WILL work)... Have any of you considered the possibility that JO.SYS (whichever version) is ONLY working on a "direct" floppy-emulation booting CD and that it won't work with grub4dos mapping, and that I intentionally gave the commands to bypass it? Besides, with grub4dos it is ALSO unneeded: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...=16980&st=5 jaclaz

Be careful I have seen lots of sledgehammer soundtracks go: BAM BAM BAM OUCH!! No more right foot!!! AHIAAHIAHIAHIAHIA jaclaz

Yes, if the problem is the volume serial, you can get the old one from the image. Even less people, including yours truly , have the habit of saving the MBR and ALL PBR's. A strategy, that at the cost of a handful of wasted space in backups (a MBR+ 5 PBR - one for each partition on my "standard machines") compress to a whopping 1,800÷2,400 bytes .zip archive, has proved on the long run to be pretty much useful: "Better safe than sorry" B) jaclaz

By now OP should already be blind , since he reported this episode to have happened several months before he posted in AUGUST 2009.... jaclaz

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=22313 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...=22313&st=3 http://forum.oszone.net/post-851576.html jaclaz

Also: http://activexperts.com/admin/wmi/ http://www.activexperts.com/activmonitor/w...t/adminscripts/ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee156560.aspx http://www.robvanderwoude.com/wmistart.php http://www.robvanderwoude.com/wmigen.php http://www.robvanderwoude.com/wmiexamples.php jaclaz

Sure, you are perfectly correct in calculating chances, but I have a slightly different point of view , first price in the lottery being "a good, working, stable OS with a bugfree integrated browser". Over the years I bought quite a lot of tickets for that MS lottery, but never won. jaclaz

Apart the fact that you have a "queer" idea of what "super-deluxe" means , happy you are once again in the happy bunnies basket : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...28727&st=10 To have an idea, THESE: http://www.datamancer.net/projects/optitran/optitran.htm http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/ergo1/ergo1.htm http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm are actual "super-deluxe" About i365, it seems to me like they plainly LIED : I don't think they can have done a "mirror" or analyzed bad sectors WITHOUT "unbricking" the drive, which would consequently mean that they "re-bricked" it on purpose before sending it back to you. Unless they exchanged the drives, are you positive it is the "right" drive and it does contains your data? 532 errors (presuming that 1 error=1 unreadable sector) means 532x512=272,384 bytes unreadable or missing from your whole set of data, which I guess can be recovered/rebuild through software/differential backups or also re-written form scratch for far less than 900€+VAT. jaclaz

Please define the "any" : any OS any MS OS and MS NT based OS Since #1 is unlikely to have happened, and probably also #2, I guess that the defintion is #3, in which case I would quickly try a Linux based LiveCD, just to make sure is somethng really "hardware dependant". jaclaz

@Ponch No, it used to work for re-install also. I seem to remember one of the SP made it invalid, SP2 I think. but I am not sure at all. @IrnBruKid Did you follow this one to the letter? http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/12/14/b...activate-again/ More info on WPA: http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm it is possible that the use of a different Volume number (please read as "format") "triggered" the reactivation. jaclaz

Just as a general reference, the PCB and it's components should be able to "resist" a few minutes at 170°, which is a "normal" pre-heating cycle for reballing/reflowing BGA components: http://www.zeph.com/pap1.html http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=6102&st=22 and several seconds to temperatures up to 240°. If you strip the PCB off, first thing that you cosmetically will see melting will probably be the actual head and motor connectors plastics, and these will probably stand up to 250÷280°. jaclaz

Yes, they "look" similar, but a CardBUS Card WON'T FIT in PCMCIA Slot, there is a notch (actually two of them, one for the 3.3V and one for the 32 bit) AND the 32-bit CardBUS ones have (or should have) the additional grounding strip: http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#cardbuscard There is a lot of confusion about these stoopid PCMCIA thingy. Old PCMCIA PC Card were 16-bit and 5V. <-please read as ISA BUS Later PCMCIA PC Card were 16-bit and 3.3v <-please read as ISA BUS (I guess they were used for a short period only) Latest PCMCIA CardBUS are 32-bit and 3.3V <-please read as PCI BUS Card 1) above will fit in PCMCIA 5V Slot 1). Card 2) above will fit in PCMCIA 3.3v Slot 2) BUT NOT in PCMCIA 5V Slot 1) Card 3) above will fit in CardBUS 3.3v Slot 3) AND in PCMCIA 3.3v Slot 2) - where it WON'T work - AND NOT in PCMCIA 5V Slot 1) This link: http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#cardbusslot should be useful to help OP identify the slot that laptop has. PCMCIA connector: http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_Connector_PCMCIA.html CardBUS connector: http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_Connector_Cardbus.html Slot 1) above will accept ONLY Card 1) above. Slot 2) above will accept ONLY Card 2) above AND Card 1) above, but these latter ones WON'T WORK. Slot 3) above will accept BOTH Card 2) and 3) above AND also Card 1) above, but these latter ones WON'T WORK. Notch and grounding strip: PCMCIA PC card (the 3.3v ones) are (or should) be working as 16 bit devices in a Card BUS slot: http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/qa.jsp#12 I hope the above to be, if not clear, at least correct, Corrrections fixes are welcome. jaclaz

No Ponch, you cant put a 32-bit CardBus Type II in that machine, physically it fits but electronically it won't work. Are you sure? Anything after 1997 or 1998 should be CardBUS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card And actually CardBUS is NOT physically compatible with PCMCIA slots: http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#slot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card#CardBus jaclaz

AND the Microwave oven! We could propose this as a technologically updated version of: jaclaz

No ideas right now. Have the drivers beein copied to BOTH targets (\I386 AND \Drivers\SATA\)? Can you try with a F6 floppy or CD? Just to make sure that the problem is only in the RIS setup and not in "wrong" drivers- jaclaz

Sorry, cross posting. 0x0000007b means "inaccessible boot device", which translates nicely into "wrong or wrongly integrated SATA drivers" in your case. Has the BIOS the option to set the SATA hard disk in IDE compatibility mode? jaclaz

Sure , most BSOD end with a fading "Technical Inform". Maybe it's the LCD What happens if you connect an external display? jaclaz