jaclaz

Please do refrain from double posting. Discussion continues here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=136394 jaclaz

Three wrong things in a ROW : using WAREZ putting the blame on WinSetupfromUSB assuming drive to be dead The device may have: simply died after "several" years been detected wrongly by Windows but not being dead Usual things to try, AFTER checking that the stick behaves the same on another computer to which it was NEVER connected before AND that the HP formatting tool or one of the apps listed here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...87993&st=17 : try running Chipgenius against it if it doesn't detect the VID/PID numbers, check to find them in the Registry get (if available) the Manufacturer's Tools for the specific device try diagnosing/fixing/resetting the stick jaclaz P.S. actually 4 things, counting double posting: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...0444&st=581

I think that's correct, Well, if you can show me an example of a case where %Hello% will be different from %Hello%.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology_(logic) jaclaz

With all due respect to dencorso something like this seems to me a bit more "modern" (and readable) : @ECHO OFF SET USERS= Bob Kim John Gwen :loop ECHO Good, What's your name? SET /P Hello=Type Your Name - FOR %%A in (%users%) DO ( IF /I %%A.==%Hello%. GOTO :user_%Hello% ) ELSE ( ECHO User %%A Not Found!&GOTO :loop ) ) GOTO :EOF :user_Bob ECHO So you are %Hello%, right? GOTO :EOF :user_Kim ECHO So you are %Hello%, right? GOTO :EOF :user_John ECHO So you are %Hello%, right? GOTO :EOF :user_Gwen ECHO So you are %Hello%, right? GOTO :EOF jaclaz

NO. And you also have some probabilities to break BOTH drives. jaclaz

SET /P does not exist in MS-DOS. It exists in NT based systems, starting with Windows 2000. In MS-DOS you had choice.com or one of the various replacements for it: http://ss64.com/nt/choice.html Where would you put the "ELSE" statement? Check this: http://ss64.com/nt/set.html http://ss64.com/nt/if.html See this also: http://ss64.com/nt/syntax-conditional.html Read on this site: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ http://www.robvanderwoude.com/batchstart.php http://www.robvanderwoude.com/userinput.php jaclaz

It's not at all a dumb question , this kind of things is not usually written in BIG FRIENDLY letters on the cover of the XP manual (the one that MS completely fails to provide ). Just for the record, I keep dearly an old DOS manual that came with Compaqs several years ago, it is a nice 300+ pages manual with all commands in detail: ahhh, the good ol' times you got something in exchange for the price you payed when you bought a PC/OS license.... In DOS there were THREE distinct "phases": FDISK would partition the device, i.e. write the MBR CODE and DATA FORMAT (after a reboot) would create the filesystem on it, i.e. write the bootsector DATA and filesystem structures (but NOT make the filesystem bootable) SYS would make the filesystem bootable by writing the bootsector CODE and transfer to it the System files: IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM (same could be done with FORMAT /S) In NT based systems this is done in TWO "phases" Disk Management partitions the device, i.e. write the MBR CODE and DATA FORMAT (no reboot needed) creates the filesystem on it, i.e. write the bootsector DATA and filesystem structures AND make the filesystem bootable by writing bootsector CODE also, BUT without transferring the system files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI The whole problem with USB sticks is that the device is seen by Windows as "Removable", and Disk Management won't allow partitioning it, and besides, only one partition will be mounted to a drive letter even if the stick has been partitioned in several partitions. By flipping the "Removable" bit and making the device seen as "Fixed" (or using a Fillter driver like cfadisk.sys or dummydisk.sys - but this only works within Windows NT builds), you effectively transform the USB stick in a Hard Disk, and Disk Management works allright, exactly as it would for a "real" hard disk (USB connected or not). The flipping may hopefully also make your motherboard BIOS detect the device as a HD, and let you boot from it with the "from HD" setting. (this is the scope of the experiment) No prob. Any device connected to a Windows NT based system will get a (let's call it for simplicity) "low-level" name or address, in the form of \\.\PhysicalDriven. If the device is partitioned or formatted or both, Windows will also assign a LogicalDrive to each partition/filesystem it can find (what you normally see as drive letters) http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/physical_drive.html http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/logical_drive.html In other words: the PhysicalDrive is ALWAYS the "whole thing". the LogicalDrive(s) is/are part(s) of it. In the case where the device is a floppy or "super-floppy", i.e. it has no partition table PhysicalDrive and LogicalDrive are the same thing, as they BOTH start form the first sector of the device. In the case of a partitioned device (assuming with just one Primary partition for simplicity), you have: PhysycalDrive |-MBR (one sector) |-Hidden sectors (usually 62, sometimes on "bad" Vista partitioned 128) |-LogicalDrive (read Partition) |---Bootsector (1 sector for FAT16, usually 6÷12 sectors for FAT32-this can vary, 16 sectors for NTFS) |---filesystem structures (FATs or NTFS structures) |---actual DATA (files you can normally see and access) Have a look at this: http://www.ranish.com/part/primer.htm By accessing the PhysicalDrive (thus at offset 0), and wiping (by filling with hex 00's) the first 200 sectors, you effectively wipe anything the partitioning/formatting program may read and try to "understand", and that in some case fails to understand correctly. A command line is given here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...22975&st=21 Be very, VERY careful to choose the RIGHT "n". A good idea is to run beeblebrox WITHOUT the USB stick connected, take note of the LAST PhysicalDrive, then re-run after having connected the stick: LAST PhysicalDrive should have been incremented by one, and THAT is the RIGHT "n" to use. jaclaz

Winimage is a very good app, but it's ONLY apparent simplicity may deceive, from what you report you did something "wrong" with it. JFYI, a good way to "re-assemble" the 6 boot XP floppies is given here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2254 http://tips.vlaurie.com/2006/05/23/recover...out-an-xp-disk/ jaclaz

Just throwing a shot in the dark, but it is possible that the "name" is not parsed correctly? i.e. is it maybe that: "LSI PCI Fusion-MPT Miniport Driver (XP 32-bit)" is too long or the parenthesis "confuse" the parser? jaclaz

It's strange, that appears as a USB to RS232 converter, TTL does not appear in the product manual, on the other hand it seems like having TX and RX ports both for 3.3 and 5V level. If it's only a USB to RS232, it would ADDITIONALLY need a RS232 to TTL converter. This is a "normal" USB to TTL converter, it seems to me that this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PC-USB-Serial-to-RS...=item4147957318 was already used successfully Or one of the "Nokia" cables discussed at length in the thread. jaclaz

And out of the blue, and JFY: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16754 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=623 (several links that may be useful) jaclaz

Check the "enhanced" VBE Video Drivers from Scitech (courtesy of the Wayback Machine): http://web.archive.org/web/20071130040216/...om/sdd_win.html http://web.archive.org/web/20080120054601/...ft.com/ftp/sdd/ Check this also: http://www.betaarchive.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2902 jaclaz

Doesn't your rock has integrated LED lighting? Are you using last year's model? jaclaz

Notice that it says "can" and not "will." "Can" implies that the problem may or may not occur. So the contradicting reports kind of make sense. Just for the record, in the Italian version of that kb, it is even clearer: re-tanslated back in English it would sound as: Summed up: MS knows that it happens, doesn't know why or however has no intention to fix the issue. jaclaz

Good. If the device is now "Fixed", you shuld be able to use "normal" Disk Management to partition/format it. I would anyway clear the first, say, 200 sectros with dsfo or another tool, just to "start from scratch". If you are using Disk Mangement under Vista, make sure you have the Registry Fix for proper boundaries, see here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21186 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...21186&st=18 jaclaz

Did what for a reason? Dropped 9x, and without even adding .zipx browsing! jaclaz

Is it a SATA hard disk? Did you integrate in your source the correct drivers? jaclaz

Try this: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-202 jaclaz

OT, but not much, but almost completely unhelpful , I do have a friend that has that exact behaviour on a Windows XP (SP2) with IT keyboard. But on that PC it only happens in some apps, not, say, in notepad or in the Command Prompt. We never went all the way to try finding and troubleshoot the problem. jaclaz

Hmm. I wonder what went wrong. I'll have a look at the files and see if I can create a MBR for "plan C". jaclaz

New kid on the block: CLONEDISK, by Erwan L., FREEWARE http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8480 http://erwan.l.free.fr/clonedisk/ under development, a number of added (useful) features, like converting from RAW to: VMDK (working) VHD (will be added shortly) VDI (in the works) (several other nice apps on his site) jaclaz

I can see some good progresses , it is possible that WINNT.EXE cannot "automagically" find the "right" partition to copy files and install, try with command line options to "force" the right targets: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...372(WS.10).aspx http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winntcmd.htm I don't want to confuse you introducing "new" additional things, but since you seem like one willng to exeriment , have a look at this (AND links within) : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=129454 jaclaz

A couple of small corrections, if I may: No, unfortunately it is NOT as "universal" as that. The CD needs to be slipstreamed to the SAME Service Pack as the installed system. Again, unfortunately it is NOT as "universal" as that. There are Registry settings that prevent the "full" operational capabilities of the RC: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...20983&st=25 Just FYI, besides the above thread: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20983 Here are possibly interesting things about RC: http://commandwindows.com/recovery.htm http://tips.vlaurie.com/2006/05/23/recover...out-an-xp-disk/ http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2254 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5316 And, just for the record, wimb has added an option for it in his multiboot USB thingy: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...21446&st=24 Yep , wonder why on the page you linked to: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm writes using colours and bolding?: jaclaz

Please don't take this as an offence, it is not meant to , but I really cannot make head or tail of your reports. It seems like you tried everything all together, mixing up things from various sources, introducing a number of variations to different otherwise known-to-be-working methods. Dietmar's thread on 911CD is where it has always been: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14181 The various versions of his Tutorial are linked to in his signature. Version 3 and 5 are also pre-packaged on his site: http://www.winusb.de/download_en.html 1) About the ngine.de guide, I have seen reports of failure in copying and pasting the configuration files, just in case see here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...19963&st=23 2) I simply cannot understand what you did and what you wanted to do. About Server 2003 SP1 files, trditionally three files are used: SETUPLDR.BIN NTDETECT.COM RAMDISK.SY_/RAMDISK.SYS But further research has shown that: SETUPLDR.BIN is NEEDED NTDETECT.COM can be substituted with any XP/2003 one RAMDISK.SY_/RAMDISK.SYS can be substituted by SOME other XP versions. All in all, and to be on the safe side use SETUPLDR.BIN and RAMDISK.SY_/RAMDISK.SYS from Server 2003 SP1 or R2, NOT from SP2. 3) I simply cannot understand what you did and what you wanted to do. Of course the modifications to txtsetup.sif are sufficient. 4) This simply makes NO sense whatsoever. DOS cannot access NTFS, it is possible to add NTFS capabilities to DOS, through the NTFS4DOS package from Avira, but it would represent yet another variable that could cause problems. Read here about the "old" method to install via DOS and WINNT.EXE: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 I have the feeling that a probably working method you should look into is this one: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446 (using a booted PE to install the XP) Ideally, you should try explaining in detail, but without being verbose, what you are trying to achieve, and we'll try to suggest you a hopefully working method. Try using as reference the "common sense advice" you can find here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?act=boardrules jaclaz

Could you expand on your requirements? I am not sure to have understood what you need to do. A virtual hard disk image can be mounted outside the Virtual Machine (but usually NOT when the VM is running and viceversa). Instead of VMplayer (which .vmdk hard disk images can be mounted through VDK.EXE by Ken Kato or with the VMmount utilities by VMware) you may want to try using Qemu, which is a bit slower than VMware, but uses RAW disk images, i.e. byte-by-byte copies of an actual hard disk, that can be mounted with a number of Virtual Disk drivers. Particularly, I seem to remember that an image mounted with IMDISK can be booted with Qemu 0.9.x in a kind of "non-persistent mode", I could see if I can reproduce the setup if this is what you need. jaclaz