jaclaz

Figured out WHAT? jaclaz

Over the time a few apps have been developed to allow better chances of "universal" booting from USB. RPM is allright, of course, guess what I was using at the time?: http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...B/USBstick.html but why not tring the newer apps: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9460 RMPREPUSB or BOOTICE allow, besides "plain" (and "balanced" CHS/LBA partitioning) some more "tricks" that may come as useful, including the "ZIP-like" formatting. jaclaz

NOWHERE. You DO NOT need grub4dos in your intended setup. Mind you not that it is not good, but would a good bicycle be more useful to a fish than a normal one? If you are so preoccupied about the security of your setup, you should completely change your approach, and use a cloned image in a crypted container or any of the alternatives DigeratiPrime listed. If you want to use grub4dos nonetheless, you will probably want to install grldr.mbr to the MBR (and few subsequent hidden sectors) AND copy grldr to any of the partitions. As always there are trade-offs, with grub4dos you can have more choices, but you give a more powerful tool theoretically accessible on the machine. jaclaz

ilko_t Just a few days ago there was a thread on boot-land for a seemingly completely unrelated topic, (boot-land is offline right now). EDIT: it is very, very slow right now, but working, here is the thread: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=10169&hl= There exist two other tools, mountstorPE: http://www.kare-net.de/plugins.html (yes it works on a "full XP" also) and a Chinese little tool, showdrive.exe: http://cafe.naver.com/ArticleRead.nhn?arti...clubid=17324811 Both automatically map any unmapped HD partition to a dos letter, with a slight difference (examples): MountStorPE.exe J: = \Device\HarddiskVolume14 [Fixed] showdrive.exe: J: = \Device\Harddisk3\Partition1 [Fixed] Maybe it's useful. jaclaz @cdob, sorry, cross-posting

@qwerty ...and check GROUNDing of the drive and interface. jaclaz

Good to know it works. I would have thought that the minisetup would have found a trace of the given key (I am not at all familiar with sysprep). jaclaz

Yes, in Opera it looks fine. Even using the +/- "zoom" keys. I would vote for the Codebox being "right" and IE and Firefox being not..... Very quick possible workaround : @echo off IF EXIST "%~dp0BIN\REG\*.reg" ( FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('DIR /B "%~dp0BIN\REG"') DO ( start /wait regedit /S "%~dp0BIN\REG\%%A" ) ) IF EXIST "%~dp0BIN\VBS\*.vbs" ( FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('DIR /B "%~dp0BIN\VBS"') DO ( start /wait %SystemRoot%\system32\cscript //nologo "%~dp0BIN\VBS\%%A" ) ) IF EXIST "%~dp0BIN\MSI\*.msi" ( FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('DIR /B "%~dp0BIN\MSI"') DO ( start /wait %~dp0BIN\MSI\%%A /QN ) ) Does the above look allright on the "other" browsers? ....ducking, very, VERY quickly... jaclaz

Generally speaking, the RAM is there so that the OS can use it. Windows 7 is (or thinks it is ) a "smart" OS and will use as much RAM as it thinks fit, proportionally to the total amount available. If you take one or two sticks of RAM off the board, it will idle at less, if you add some, it will idle at more, very roughly at 30% of available RAM: http://www.msfn.org/board/windows-7-all-hy...79-page-25.html As MS would put it , it is "by design". jaclaz

SP3 should have a "feature" that allows to install without a key: http://www.tipandtrick.net/2008/install-wi...with-retail-cd/ but is it "skippable" from unattended? Unfortunately, some bad news : http://www.msfn.org/board/thought-xp-sp3-a...ll-t117204.html And a few further questions (hints for a workaround). Why don't you give it a "real", "good" key, and later change it? The MS method: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874/en-us seemingly only works with multilicense versions, but there are other key-changers, what I don't know is if there is any scriptable one. Here it is said that the MS script works for any version: http://www.intrepid.com.au/how-to-change-y...t-reinstalling/ Or is it obsolete? jaclaz

Which means that the "risk" is more in the places you go than on any local exploitable vulnerability. But if you go to "some place" with another browser, you need to have it triggering the NOT used IE 5, 6, 7 or 8, in order for the vulnerability to be exploited, everything is possible, but it is not likely, as I see it. Personally, I like playing safe and have connected to the Internet 2K boxes with IE removed alltogether, but you know I am a dinosaur.... jaclaz

It could be any of four things (in my personal order of probabilities): "badly" slipstreamed SP3 however modified "improperly" SOURCE SP3 Russian Can you try a Russian "standard" SP2 to eliminate the SP3 and modified source variables? jaclaz

@cybercover The point is that: IF the drive is under warranty Seagate will EITHER: revive it give you a replacement In case #1 they WON'T guarantee that your data will be accessible (the DATA should get accessinble after the Fix, but they won't take any responsibility about this) In case #2 obviously you WON'T get your data back and since the drive you get back is another refurbished or new one you do not have a chance to recover the data. Otherwise they will try and recover the data (for a fair-to-expensive amount of money) through their connected Data Recovery firm, I365. It is entirely up to you, and of course it depends on the value you attribute to your data to: ask for recovery to I365 ask for recovery to another firm (usually you can find lower prices), and possibly you can find a recovery firm in your city, avoiding the risk of sending the disk drive back and forth try doing it yourself As a reference, this guide: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html is very clear and complete. jaclaz P.S.: the 3.3V is OK

Yep, but apparently it has a dramatic effects: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/sh...ead.php?t=48309 More here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...88984&st=47 jaclaz

Yep , the point I was trying to make is that if galahs doesn't use IE for browsing it is unlikely that any of the unpatched vulnerabilities (no matter which IE versions) will affect him. jaclaz

I guess it all depends on how one reads data. http://secunia.com/advisories/product/21625/ Unpatched 50% of vulnerabilities (IE8) doesn't sound that much "safer" than: http://secunia.com/advisories/product/11/ Unpatched 17% of vulnerabilities (IE6) Of course "only" 4 vulnerabilities unpatched are much less than 24. But it all depends which actual vulnerabilities are left unpatched, and the actual probability they can be triggered by NOT using the app. What about 5.0? http://secunia.com/advisories/product/9/ It is unlikely that given it's current usage it is targeted anymore: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-ma...re.aspx?qprid=2 jaclaz

More loosely switching your PC on and connecting it to anything exposes you to attack/infection. IF the vulnerability(ies) affect exactly that area (of interdependence between OS and IE), which is NOT as yet clear, it may happen. But if we follow the official MS reply (at least the ones for the recent German government warning) all is needed is to set to HIGH the security level for browsing. And I haven't seen anywhere - and definitely not "certified" - that IE8 is invulnerable (or even safer than an updated 5.x or 6.x). Not to say that the MS guys are right (it would be the first time I would affirm this ) but maybe there is a bit of hype on this thingy right now. jaclaz

Isn't it a bit "drastic"? jaclaz

Possibly an unneeded "bump", but things have evolved and a brand new project for Windows 98 on Cd has started, right here: http://www.msfn.org/board/3-t140391.html&hl= Since the present thread comes out often when googling, I find cross-linking to the new thingy might be useful. jaclaz

Just for the record, not on the DOS/Win9x bootsector, and should not on any apps, but the NT bootsector does use some of the CHS data, on bothe NTFS and FAT32 partition type: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...1702&st=129 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=8528&st=21 However nothing of the above seemingly "justifies" the different number of used space , at the most it can explain why the scandisk warning/error. jaclaz

I am more coonfused than you when it comes to the commas, but there is the possibility to add a number of filenams to "validate" the Source. You should use this feature adding the names of the .cab files that you need as source. It seems like right now you have it "hardcoded" to <driveletter:>\Win98\ .... Also I see that you are using both IMDISK and VDK, which I find to say the least, "peculiar". Right now VDK is failing on my machine, as it happens from time to time if different issues of VDK are used. I will try after a fresh boot. jaclaz

But the project isn't , at least for me. FileRename - Failed to rename file: [%BaseDir%\Target\WIN98LIVECD\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KOMMCTRL.DLL] to:[%BaseDir%\Target\WIN98LIVECD\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\COMMCTRL.DLL] :Impossibile trovare il file specificato Maybe there are some pre-requisites that I completely fail to see anywhere. The: should mean that it is completely foolproof, possibly it isn't or I am more "fool" than you might expect. jaclaz

To be picky : #1), the CA-42 and similar cables are not "COM1" and not "RS-232" they are simply USB to TTL that simulate a "RS-232" by creating a "virtual" only COMn port. #2) can be bought allright, instead of "home made". As well, #3) an RS-232 to USB converter cable (from ebay or other source) is NOT useful alone. The HD needs a TTL interface. If you have a "real" RS232, i.e. a real COM port, you can use a RS-232/TTL converter. If you have only USB you can use a USB/RS-232 converter AND a RS-S32/TTL converter. If you have only USB, you can use a USB/TTL converter (like the Nokia CA-42). jaclaz

Why? jaclaz

Another proof that my crystal ball is out of tuning: http://web.archive.org/web/20020824011356/...t/dossierNS.asp It has a SIS 630 128 graphic card. It is actually a Clevo: http://hemmerling.free.fr/html/en/table10.html http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/index.asp IF the video card is on a module you may try finding a replacement (or a whole working board) on e-bay or similar. Attempting a repair is probably beyond normal DYI possibilities and normally not worth it from professionals (example): http://www.clevoweb.co.uk/repairs%20and%20...oards/2200T.htm If your screen and hinges/chassis is ok, looking for a functional notebook with broken screen, example: http://cgi.ebay.it/Notebook-Clevo-Gericom-...=item1c0f6fcd56 could be the easiest solution. jaclaz

The MBR is a non-bootable one. (containing the string "Pen Drive Without Operating System.Remove Pen Drive And Reboot. "). The partition is a FAT32 0C type, NOT Active, with really "weird" CHS/LBA data Entry Type Boot bCyl bHead bSect eCyl eHead eSec StartSector NumSectors #0 0C 00 0 3 4 242 121 58 192 15673152 The CHS/LBA data is NOT "balanced", AND it breaks any known "standard" or "convention". If we give as "good" the CHS, the LBA should be 192/3.895.219. If we give as good the LBA, the CHS should be 0/3/4 975/158/15. The "right" values should be: 0/1/1 974/254/63 63/15663312 The PBR it's a "normal" FAT32 bootsector invoking NTLDR, but it uses a geometry of 128/63 instead of the "usual" 255/63. It is not strange that any tool/utility reports "something wrong" in the boot DATA. jaclaz