jaclaz

Just for the record and to finalize the present thread. After some more research, I went for #6 (almost ): Switched Server ON. Pressed Ctrl+M to enter SCSI RAID BIOS utility. Scanned bus. Failed drive was A0-01, working drives were A0-00 and A0-02 Added "new" disk drive. Re-scanned bus. Formatted newly added drive. (it does take some time) Newly added drive gets "READY" status. Set it as "HOTSPARE". Let the thingy do it's magic. (it does take LOTS of time) WAIT... WAIT... WAIT some more time... During the process the drive is shown as "RE-BLD". When the process is finished the new drive is shown as A0-01 and the old one is set as "READY" (though the latter is a lie ) Check consistency (still some more time) Status of Array changes from "DEGRADED" to "OPTIMAL". Boot OS. Everything works allright. All in all, a piece of cake, , but, as always better be safe than sorry. jaclaz

Not really-really. ngine.de method is derived form Dietmar's Tutorial 4: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...mp;#entry101631 which allows installing directly to USB devices. Emanuel simply integrated the "F6" step in the Source CD. As well, normally Tutorial 8 does NOT require pre-installing Vista to a IDE/SATA drive: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...mp;#entry118931 So I guess that the scope would be to automate the otherwise complex "fixing steps" that at the moment need another bootable system to be carried on. The USBbootwatcher service: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=22473 should already be the missing step, or is it not enough in itsef? jaclaz

YES . (meaning that it DOES sound noobish). Hmm, not exactly: it's blue it's NOT nice it's NOT "a" blue screen it's a blue screen with STOP ERROR 0x0000007b (there are several tens if not hundreds of "blue screens") NO. (meaning it is NOT possible now, unless you use a RAMDISK and the source .iso is relatively small, 512 Mb for the 2003 SP1 or R2 files or 640 Mb for the free/trial version of Diskless Angel wdsys.sys driver, and you have at least 1 Gb of memory ) Your initial newbie error is the "any" you put near "iso" , and, unfortunately, it's not even a "new" question: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6896 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2936 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8026 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7761 This is a very complex topic, definitely not for a newbie, however if you want to learn about what is possible and what it is not, start from here (hopefully an understandable explanation): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=2692&st=26 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=3287&st=52 Something is in the works: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8168 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8415 but DO NOT expect anything soon. No prob. jaclaz

About Unicode: Since the original text is "plain" it should be simply that "normal" text, with 00's as separators, see here: http://rishida.net/tools/conversion/ Input in "Mixed Input" Check output as "Hexadecimal code points" But there are endless types of encding that can be called "UNICODE".... There are several CRC32 conventions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclic_redund...putation_of_CRC Now which CRC-32 is used? And is it to be applied on a file containing the hex values? Or to what? And WHICH "Unicode" are we talking about? Using: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/reha...x?display=Print on a .txt file containing "plain" "USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_LEXAR&PROD_JD_LIGHTNING_II&REV_1100\AA04015900000158&0": 0001 0203 0405 0607 0809 0A0B 0C0D 0E0F - 0123456789ABCDEF ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0x00: 5553 4253 544F 525C 4449 534B 2656 454E - USBSTOR\DISK&VEN 0x10: 5F4C 4558 4152 2650 524F 445F 4A44 5F4C - _LEXAR&PROD_JD_L 0x20: 4947 4854 4E49 4E47 5F49 4926 5245 565F - IGHTNING_II&REV_ 0x30: 3131 3030 5C41 4130 3430 3135 3930 3030 - 1100\AA040159000 0x40: 3030 3135 3826 30 - 00158&0 , I get: (rehash -none -crc32 originalascii.txt ) CRC-32 : BAA13B1F if I use this: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic10796.html http://ringtail.its.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/uniconv.zip As follows: uniconv ASCII originalascii.txt Unicode11:big-endian test.txt getting a file in UNICODE as described before: 0001 0203 0405 0607 0809 0A0B 0C0D 0E0F - 0123456789ABCDEF ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0x00: 0055 0053 0042 0053 0054 004F 0052 005C - .U.S.B.S.T.O.R.\ 0x10: 0044 0049 0053 004B 0026 0056 0045 004E - .D.I.S.K.&.V.E.N 0x20: 005F 004C 0045 0058 0041 0052 0026 0050 - ._.L.E.X.A.R.&.P 0x30: 0052 004F 0044 005F 004A 0044 005F 004C - .R.O.D._.J.D._.L 0x40: 0049 0047 0048 0054 004E 0049 004E 0047 - .I.G.H.T.N.I.N.G 0x50: 005F 0049 0049 0026 0052 0045 0056 005F - ._.I.I.&.R.E.V._ 0x60: 0031 0031 0030 0030 005C 0041 0041 0030 - .1.1.0.0.\.A.A.0 0x70: 0034 0030 0031 0035 0039 0030 0030 0030 - .4.0.1.5.9.0.0.0 0x80: 0030 0030 0031 0035 0038 0026 0030 - .0.0.1.5.8.&.0 I get: CRC-32 : 28FD18C3 If I do it via batch: @ECHO OFF ECHO.>result.txt FOR %%A IN ( Arabic ASCII big-endian Big5 BMP ChineseAutoDetect CNS-11643 CNS-11643-1986 cp1251 cp1252 cp437 cp850 cp932 EBCDIC EBCDIK EUC-J EUC-KR GB2312 Greek Hebrew HZ ISO-2022-JP ISO-2022-KR ISOLatinCyrillic JapaneseAutoDetect Java JIS_X0201 JIS_X_0208 KoreanAutoDetect Latin1 Latin2 Latin3 Latin4 Latin5 Latin6 little-endian Shift-JIS Thai UCS2 Unicode11:big-endian Unicode11:BOM:big-endian Unicode11:BOM:Java Unicode11:BOM:little-endian Unicode11:BOM:UCS2 Unicode11:BOM:UTF7 Unicode11:BOM:UTF8 Unicode11:Java Unicode11:little-endian Unicode11:UCS2 Unicode11:UTF7 Unicode11:UTF8 Unicode20:BOM:Java Unicode20:BOM:UTF7 Unicode20:BOM:UTF8 Unicode20:little-endian Unicode20:UCS2 UTF7 UTF8 ) DO ( ECHO %%A>>result.txt uniconv ASCII originalascii.txt %%A test.txt rehash -none -crc32 test.txt>>result.txt ) with ALL available formats in UNICONV, I cannot find ANYTHING similar to "16f722a4" NOT even changing: rehash -none -crc32 test.txt>>result.txt into: rehash test.txt>>result.txt (i.e. using ALL hashing algorithms in rehash) jaclaz

Sorry Victor, I completely forgot. Find attached: the output of ddlistw on my system "as is now" (which is different from last report) the exported MountedDevices the output of the MBRFIX version the output of the DISKPART version Apart from the problem reported, you SHOULD NOT allow the batch to actually attempt reordering drive letters WITHOUT and explicit confirmation by the user. Using the batch as is may botch the setup of an unexperienced user. It happened to my system, though of course I know how to fix it. In this: the ¡¡ are A1A1 hex the ¡ú are A1FA hex jaclaz report.zip

Try getting grub4dos running, instead. http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/Grub4dos.htm http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/ Easier to chainload from XP: http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/...all_windows.htm Happy it was easier than expected, after all this is the best of all possible worlds. jaclaz

This is an entire new question. If you RUN the batch from the SAME USB drive where the files to be copied are, you DO NOT need to hardcode the USB drive letter anywhere. Please post/attach your batch. And/or search about variable expansion of the 0 (zero) parameter of batches (the name of the batch itself). I.e. make a batch with : ECHO %~d0 ECHO %~dp0 ECHO %~dpn0 ECHO %~dpnx0 and run it from the USB stick. jaclaz

Yes and NO. What do you mean by "any pc", "any pc running any OS" or "any pc running same OS, say XP"? In any case on first connection of the USB HDD each system will assign a letter automatically, see here also: http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html What you can do, once windows has assigned it's "automatic" drive letter, is to detect which one is it and change it to "your" default one (provided it is not already occupied). A batch should be able to do this, by using MOUNTVOL and some small third part utility, like dd for windows, or internal diskpart/WMIC. A "drive detecting" batch is given here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...;showtopic=8219 another couple ones by victor888 is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=123929&hl= http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=124539&hl= Just to give you some ideas. jaclaz

Not necessarily. I have seen Recovery DVD's that have anyway, INSIDE the HDD image, a \I386 structure. Accessing the image to extract it (IF it's there) might be tricky. Often a special tool or same Commercial software manufacturer used is needed. Some references of past cases: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127624 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120423 http://www.msfn.org/board/Cannot-access-CD...P-i-t91907.html jaclaz

What was different before when it wasn't "a HDD" but did boot on a laptop? When did it happen? Even if it wasn't seen as "Fixed" it was PARTITIONED (by using the HP utility) and had a MBR. Quick reminder: if first sector on the device is a MBR, BIOS sees it as "HD-like" if first sector on the device is a MBR, Windows sees it as "HD-like", BUT it won't let you re-partition it, unless ADDITIONALLY the "bit is flipped" and the device is seen as "Fixed" if first sector on the device is a bootsector, BIOS sees it as "superfloppy" if first sector on the device is a bootsector, Windows sees it as "superfloppy" Let's go to "plan D": jaclaz

I guess that the one with the blinking Red Light on it (and shown in SCSI BIOS as FAILED) should give me a hint. The question was a bit different, I have found reports on the net about different suggested procedures: hot-swapping the drive and let the **** thingy do it's business (through the Windows software) adding the spare drive in another tray with Server ON, set it as hot-spare (through the Windows software) and let the **** thingy do it's business (through the Windows software) hot-swapping the drive and start a manual rebuild (through the Windows software) adding the spare drive in another tray with Server ON, set it as hot-spare (through the Windows software) start a manual rebuild (through the Windows software) cold-swapping the drive and let the and let the **** thingy do it's business (through RAID BIOS extension) adding the spare drive in another tray with Server OFF, set it as hot-spare (through RAID BIOS extension) and let the **** thingy do it's business (through RAID BIOS extension) cold-swapping the drive and start a manual rebuild (through RAID BIOS extension) adding the spare drive in another tray with Server OFF, set it as hot-spare (through RAID BIOS extension) start a manual rebuild (through RAID BIOS extension) Since I trust very, very little the Windows Software, not even knowing if anything in the (at the moment booting) system is gone beserk, I would instinctively go for #6 or #8, as they appear to me as the least "invasive" approach. Or would it be better to go for #5 or #7? Or the above does not make sense at all? .w00t: jaclaz

Let's start from the beginning all right? WHERE is that BOOT.INI? (I mean are you talking about the BOOT.INI on the USB device or on your internal hard disk)? And if the latter, on WHICH partition is it? (i.e. on First, Primary, Active partition)? Are you using a bootmanager of some sort? (I mean before NTLDR) A BOOT.INI with this content: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect is a "perfectly normal" one, and, since it has ONLY 1 entry, it WON'T allow you to see any choice (as there is actually NO choice). To make sure you are looking at/editing the same BOOT.INI that is actually loaded during the boot process, add a "fake" entry to it, i.e. change it as follows: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect c:\somefile="Fake menu entry" Can you choose now between "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" and "Fake menu entry" ? If not, you are editing ANOTHER BOOT.INI, that is not loaded during booting. Report what happens. jaclaz

OHH... I thought it was BOB.... http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html jaclaz

Check the GROUND connections: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...807&st=1685 jaclaz

Yep. Evidently the utility did not "flip the bit". Quick check: Open Regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices Find the key that identifies your USB stick Drive Letter, say "L:", i.e. \DosDevices\L:, does it's values look something like: 1C AE 1C AE 00 7E 00 00 00 00 00 00 or something like: 5C 00 3F 00 3F 00 5C 00 53 00 54 00 4F 00 52 00 41 00 47 00 45 00 23 00 52 00 65 00 6D 00 6F 00 76 00 61 00 62 00 6C 00 65 00 4D 00 65 00 64 00 69 00 61 00 23 00 37 00 26 00 32 00 63 00 34 00 30 00 63 00 38 00 32 00 34 00 26 00 30 00 26 00 52 00 4D 00 23 00 7B 00 35 00 33 00 66 00 35 00 36 00 33 00 30 00 64 00 2D 00 62 00 36 00 62 00 66 00 2D 00 31 00 31 00 64 00 30 00 2D 00 39 00 34 00 66 00 32 00 2D 00 30 00 30 00 61 00 30 00 63 00 39 00 31 00 65 00 66 00 62 00 38 00 62 00 7D 00 If the first, the device is seen as "Fixed", if the second, the device is seen as "Removable". This: is another hint, if the device is seen as Fixed, you should have NTFS as an option too. If the device is seen as "Fixed" in disk management you should be able to create a new partition: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000/en-us BEFORE formatting it. jaclaz

Even from a "complex" man point of view, rest assured. See if these fit : http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/clean_after_me.html http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html or the good ol' way: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539/en-us http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/504/how-to-...s-and-services/ jaclaz

Basically, windows tries to "remember" the drive letter that was assigned to a given stick. To do this, some info is also related to which BUS (not port, unless I am mistaken) of the motherboard it was connected to (typically ports on the back and ports on the front of the case are under two different BUSes or USB controllers). After a lot of inserting and removing sticks, the Registry gets cluttered and should be cleaned. About values in MountedDevices, Fixed disks are identified by MBR signatures+offset to the partition beginning: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 whilst Removable disks are linked through their ParentIdPrefix, and other data that is "pendrive specific". Open the key \\DosDevices\\M in Regedit. Select all the data in it, right click, COPY. Open Tiny Hexer. Create a new file, PASTE. Save the file. File->Export->Plain Text Save the file, open it in Notepad, you will get something similar to this: 0001 0203 0405 0607 0809 0A0B 0C0D 0E0F - 0123456789ABCDEF ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0x00: 5C00 3F00 3F00 5C00 5300 5400 4F00 5200 - \.?.?.\.S.T.O.R. 0x10: 4100 4700 4500 2300 5200 6500 6D00 6F00 - A.G.E.#.R.e.m.o. 0x20: 7600 6100 6200 6C00 6500 4D00 6500 6400 - v.a.b.l.e.M.e.d. 0x30: 6900 6100 2300 3700 2600 3600 3600 3700 - i.a.#.7.&.6.6.7. 0x40: 3400 3000 6400 3000 2600 3000 2600 5200 - 4.0.d.0.&.0.&.R. 0x50: 4D00 2300 7B00 3500 3300 6600 3500 3600 - M.#.{.5.3.f.5.6. 0x60: 3300 3000 6400 2D00 6200 3600 6200 6600 - 3.0.d.-.b.6.b.f. 0x70: 2D00 3100 3100 6400 3000 2D00 3900 3400 - -.1.1.d.0.-.9.4. 0x80: 6600 3200 2D00 3000 3000 6100 3000 6300 - f.2.-.0.0.a.0.c. 0x90: 3900 3100 6500 6600 6200 3800 6200 7D00 - 9.1.e.f.b.8.b.}. Again in Tiny Hexer, Find/Replace 00's with NOTHING. Select all the data. Scripts->Tools->Copy to clipboard as raw text data Paste in a Notepad opened file you will get something like this: \??\STORAGE#RemovableMedia#7&66740d0&0&RM#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} Now search in registry (in "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet") for string {53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} (or whatever you got). You will likely land, sooner or later here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}\##?#STORAGE#RemovableMedia#7&66740d0&0&RM#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} with a key DeviceInstance STORAGE\RemovableMedia\7&66740d0&0&RM Now, search in Registry for last part 7&66740d0&0 (minus the "&RM") You'll land (sooner or later) here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\STORAGE\RemovableMedia\7&66740d0&0&RM then, you'll land here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_USB&Prod_DISK_2.0&Rev_1219\O29OXXJDI4BOBM6F&0 with key ParentIdPrefix=7&66740d0&0 Search for last part :O29OXXJDI4BOBM6F (minus the "&0"), you will find these: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}\##?#USBSTOR#Disk&Ven_USB&Prod_DISK_2.0&Rev_1219#O29OXXJDI4BOBM6F&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{a5dcbf10-6530-11d2-901f-00c04fb951ed}\##?#USB#Vid_090c&Pid_1000#O29OXXJDI4BOBM6F#{a5dcbf10-6530-11d2-901f-00c04fb951ed} HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\Vid_090c&Pid_1000\O29OXXJDI4BOBM6F You'll also find it here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk\Enum HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PartMgr\Enum HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor\Enum Take your time browsing around the given keys/hives, you should be able to get the hang of it, try doing similar actions for a USB device which is seen as "Fixed". Try doing it with the cfadisk.sys or dummydisk.sys installed or uninstalled. jaclaz

Attached. Well, NO. The file you posted contains FAT16 bootsector CODE and DATA, not a MBR. If you got it from first sector of the device (which seems plausible, since the number of hidden sectors in the DATA is 0) it means that you formatted the device as "superfloppy", thus there is NO surprise it doesn't boot as HDD, and that it doesn't boot on the laptop. You must have totally skipped: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...35364&st=58 or I completely failed to explain the difference between a HD-like device and a superfloppy one. We are exactly back to square one. Let's try again, OK? Instead of: DO this: As an alternative: confirm that you are using one particular stick run dsfo on that stick as detailed here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=5000&st=1 post the exact number of bytes tranferred And I'll create manually a valid MBR for you. jaclaz

You must be joking, right? jaclaz

Today had started as a really nice day, what is the reason to spoil it? You can try "ch", "cha", "chai", "chainl" and also "load", "run" and "call", they ALL won't work. A program has a sintax, you learn it, you do not guess it by making random attempts! I'll try again: jaclaz

chain is not a valid command. chainloader is. It may or may not work with LOADER.BIN. Read the guide: http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/Grub4dos.htm http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/basics.htm http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/cli.htm ALWAYS use command line, NOT a pre-made entry of menu.lst when experimenting. Post feedback grub4dos gives in command line mode. jaclaz

Not easily, NO : I guess that it can be done with the "XP Kansas City Shuffle" trick, though it won't probably be useful in your case, and however I have never seen anyone reporting it, firewire is a less than "common" interface, I guess. About EFI booting, I guess you should read these: http://homepages.tesco.net./J.deBoynePolla...ot-process.html http://homepages.tesco.net./J.deBoynePolla...ot-process.html but I don't think it exists a bootmgfw.efi for 32 bit : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...040(WS.10).aspx This remained unsolved/unfinalized: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=104629 But you can boot a Linux Kernel allright with the elilo EFI loader.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface Grub2 may in the feature support EFI architecture AND integrate grub4dos features, but cannot say if that will be enough to boot a Windows on EFI: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=995704 jaclaz

I am about to try re-setting up a HP Net Server after a move of a company office (actually the company was closed and I am supposed to keep the DATA archive). It is an oldish Netserver LH3000 from HP, OS Windows 2K Server. When re-switching it on after the move, one of the three 18.2 GB SCSI disks of the RAID 5 array on the machine had a red light. Sure enough, checking it from the BIOS RAID utlilty gives me that the array is degraded. I managed to talk to the ex IT guy (actually a girl) of the closed company and she said: "Sure, don't worry, it wasn't the move, it has been like that for a couple of years, never found the time to change the faulty HD". I backed up everything attaching another SCSI drive to the "other" controller, an Adaptec which has "normal" 68 pin connectors, just to be on the safe side. Then I got a couple used 80 pin SCA drives from e-bay. Now the question is: Which is the "right" procedure to rebuild such a Raid array? Connecting an additional drive setting it as "hot-spare" and let the machine do everything by itself? Or manually starting a re-build? If the latter is the right thing to do, anyone familiar with the Symbios controller that could spare some advice on how to do it, or any pointer to specific docs/procedures? Thanks in advance for any advice/link. jaclaz

The GOOD news are that the contents of your pockets do look extremely GEEKish. The BAD news are that the contents of my pockets are extremely similar The even SADder news are that I ADDITIONALLY found in them, beside a small torch: - 2 steel washers - different sizes, Ø8 and Ø10 mm - 1 inox nut, M6 - - 1 brass screw, M5 - 1 bent wood screw All items that I either picked up from the street or that were "not-needed-anymore" when re-assempling something I had disassembled to fix it. jaclaz

No, that happens for ANY "Mass Storage Device" connected to the USB bus, no matter if "Removable" or "Fixed". See here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=34987 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...34987&st=53 Check also: http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html http://www.uwe-sieber.de/drivetools_e.html http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html AND: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127729 http://mysite.verizon.net/kaakoon/hotswap/index_enu.htm jaclaz