jaclaz

Unfortunately it seems like the WHOLE image is made of 00's. I am scanning it right now, but in about first 2/3 of it I couldn't find but zeroes. This is NOT "normal". To get to this condition one of the following cases applies: stick has been (accidentally or intentionally) wiped (to wipe a flash memory means writing 00's to it, which for an 8 Gb stick should take several minutes, so you should have noticed it) stick has been "zapped" or "fried" by some overcurrent or overvoltage (but usually when this happens it is the controller that gets fried, see below) something is wrong in the hardware (the controller seems OK, as the stick is recognized by Windows, so it should be the actual flash, but if you are lucky it could also be a "real hardware" failure, such as a cold or broken soldering) I guess that your only remaining thing to try is to "crack" open the stick enclosure and inspect both visually and with a ohmmeter the continuity of tracks and chips's pins. If this check reveals no problems, depending on the value you attribute to the data on the stick, it may be the case to ask a professional to try and take off the stick the flash and mount it on another (identical) stick/controller. Of course you can do this attempt by yourself, but managing surface mounted components (as stick chips usually are) is not that easy for a non-expert and with "rudimental" tools, I guess it depends on your manual skills and experience. jaclaz P.S.: For the record and for other users, the image once compressed, resulted in a 4.7 Mb file, not as initially posted 4.7 Gb.

Well, for a "general search and replace" tool the "reference app" should be gsar http://home.online.no/~tjaberg/ (as opposed to "line oriented" tools like Fedit) jaclaz

NO. (AFAIK) Maybe if you post an example of the FOR loop that you have in mind there could be some workaround. .unsure: jaclaz

Wouldn't Fedit do? Check these: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=51337 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=48200 jaclaz

To be very accurate Maxwell Equations DO NOT "govern" anything. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/govern Maxwell theories and equations on electromagnetics are the best known today explanations about the behaviour of EM. EM (like everything else) "governs" itself pretty well. (and did so a loong time before Maxwell was born) jaclaz

the 4.7 GB size of the compressed image is (besides being "huge" ) a good sign that at least some data is still on the stick. jaclaz

Hmm. I wonder what it could be the problem. In the MBR there are these as messages in case of Error: Invalid partition table Error loading operating system Missing operating system In the "normal" FAT bootsector there are these: Invalid system disk Disk I/O error Replace the disk, and then press any key or these: NTLDR is missing Disk error Press any key to restart So it seems like you are erroring out with the latest, which should mean that the bootsector data does not "match" the MBR one. This does not make much sense, unless somehow the stick is seen with a weird geometry, but even then, it shouldn't behave like this. I tried creating an image with your stick data and as expected it boots allright in Qemu, both with 0E and 06 as Partition ID. A further check on your MBR shows some "garbage" between 0x180 and 0x199, and again from 0x01AB and 0x1B8, but I don't think that can be the reason. Could it be because of the non-standard cluster size? I doubt it as well. Can you try using a MBR I prepared on your stick? You can use HDhacker to save it on your stick. Procedure: extract from tulert.zip first1.dat, first64.dat and first315.dat use hdhacker to write it to the MBR of the stick eject and re-insert stick format the stick as FAT16 check with beeblebrox the values copy to the partition the files listed on post #33 try booting from it if it doesn't work, try again with 0E instead of 06 If still it doesn't work, try copying the whole first64.dat file to the stick. You will need to use dsfi (part of the dsfok toolkit): http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/ unzip in C:\dsfok copy to C:\dsfok\ first64.dat use as the right N is the same as the one seen in hdhacker or beeblebrox eject and re-insert stick try booting from it if it doesn't work, try again with 0E instead of 06 (at least the error message should change) If still it doesn't work, try copying the whole first315.dat file to the stick. eject and re-insert stick copy to the partition the files listed on post #33 try booting from it if it doesn't work, try again with 0E instead of 06 Right now the attachment system is not working for me, please get it from here: http://rapidshare.com/files/250483422/Tulert.zip.html jaclaz P.S.: Though possibly a bit premature, can you try running ChipGenius on that "MicroCenter 4GB" and post Vid/pid and manufacturer: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4661 Latest should be v3.01: http://dl.mydigit.net/2009/0406/chipgenius.html http://dl.mydigit.net/down.php?a_k=LnppWmp...BQAdQN2dg%3D%3D

No, it's allright. In some cases, actually I cannot really remember when and why, FORMAT changes the already present: 0E -> FAT16 LBA mapped partition to: 06 -> FAT16 CHS mapped partition or viceversa. Empirically, 06 has been found to be "more bootable", but when you have correctly balanced CHS and LBA data, it shouldn't make much difference. I.e. you can read my previous: the accent is on "if it doesn't boot on the laptop", it is possible that any given BIOS: - boots from both "06" AND "0E" - boots with "06" BUT NOT with "0E" - boots with "0E" BUT NOT with "06" compare with this: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21049 On a "good" "wide minded" motherboard BIOS, once CHS and LBA data is "balanced" you can change 06 to 0E at will, but this does not happen always. jaclaz

J.Singleton is not new to this particular topic: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.js...thDecision=-203 My guess is that Einstein Theory is not particularly affected by this, at the most an extension to it will be needed: http://www.rp-photonics.com/superluminal_transmission.html jaclaz

And, if I may, a couple of possible fields/projects in which to express your newly acquired knowledge/experience (the following would actually be useful ): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2343 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=623 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4353 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2293&hl= and more generally: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=53 even if you are not interested in any of the above, the threads do contain some interesting/useful links related to VXD's. About the Win 98 DDK: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=86312 it appears to have been cached by the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20000823113036/...EN-US/98DDK.EXE jaclaz

Since this topic was once again "re-vamped", I guess it may be of general use some newish achievements on related matters: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2798 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7964 jaclaz

OK. The MBR is a "standard" 2K/XP one, with the "HP hack" and with unbalanced CHS/LBA data. First thing let's correct the unbalanced data. Get beeblebrox: On the laptop: Access the stick with it. You should see these values: #0-0E-80-0-1-1- 490-254-63-63-7897025 change them as follows: #0-0E-80-0-1-1-490-254 -63-63-7887852 Use Hdhacker (or the same beeblebrox) to make a backup of the modified sector. Eject and reinsert the stick. Format it as FAT16 with "normal" 2K FORMAT command. Eject and reinsert stick. Copy to it (from the C:\ partition of your laptop): NTLDR NTDETECT.COM BOOT.INI grldr (from latest grub4dos) menu.lst (as well from latest grub4dos, the "standard" one will do for the moment) Edit the BOOT.INI on the stick 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 (dummy entry)" C:\grldr="Grub4Dos" Try booting on the laptop. You should be able to see the two choices in BOOT.INI and, when you choose the second one (grub4dos) you should be able to see the choices in "standard" menu.lst. If it doesn't boot on the laptop, re-open the stick with beeblebrox and change: #0-0E-80-0-1-1-490-254 -63-63-7887852 to: #0-06-80-0-1-1-490-254 -63-63-7887852 Use Hdhacker (or the same beeblebrox) to make a backup of the modified sector. Try again booting the laptop from it. If it works, try booting the ASUS desktop from it. If you get to the second screenshot of post #15 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...35364&st=14 try issuing the grub4dos commands detailed in post #18: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...35364&st=17 Please report. jaclaz

Freshbie, I split the topic so that we can discuss your problems at length without "polluting" the main thread. I cannot make head or tail of your posts, you seem to me like you are trying to do many (too much) different things all together, trying to introduce variations before having got "full" familiarity with the methods and tools. None of the proposed solutions is "universal", each one has it's own "better" and "worse" features, describe WHAT you are trying to do (just ONE thing), then, oncce we will find a way to do THAT thing, try another one, and so on. For motherboards that do not support USB booting in their BIOS a generally working solution is using a "kicker" floppy or CD with PLoP: http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html http://www.plop.at/en/bootmngrusblog.html jaclaz

Unfortunately the whole file you sent is made of 00's. No problem with .rar, the good (or bad) thing is that if the whole image is made of 00's the compressed file will be very, very small. So, try compressing the image in a "monolithic" .zip or .rar, if the result is very small, it means that it contains mostly 00's, on the other hand, if the resulting archive is "biggish" it means that some data is still there, and then you can re-create it in splitted .rar files. Is there any chance that the \\.\PhysicalDrive2 may be "wrong"? I don't think so as if the device does not exist dsfo should throw an error. Which size is the "full" image (without compression)? Is it compatible with the "label" size of the stick? It could be that simply something in the controller or in the flash memory has gone "beserk". jaclaz

First thing, try a loopback test without the HD connected, see here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...mp;#entry832183 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...mp;#entry851176 jaclaz

Just for the record, there are formatting utilities available capable of formatting FAT32 volumes, here: GUI: http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/index.html Command line: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm GUI: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm This said, there are REASONS why Microsoft self-limited FAT32 volumes to 32 Gb: http://www.allensmith.net/Storage/HDDlimit/FAT32.htm a 32KB cluster size is a bit (read very) large, when you have to deal with small/medium sized files. So, unless you know what you are doing and you have an actual need for it, FAT32 volumes are better sized below said 32 Gb. jaclaz

LiveXP is a kind of PE 1.x build (XP based) and needs some files from Server 2003 or SP1 or R2 (NOT "gold", NOT SP2) to be able to boot from an image through RAMDISK. If you have available a PE 2.x build (Vista/Server 2008 based), like "standard" WAIK WinPE or VistyaPE you can use a .iso image "directly" (i.e. with no need for "special" additional files) You may also used a PE 3.x (Windows 7 based), though obviously experiences on this latter Environment are still scarce/preliminary: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7250 As well something that needs experimenting but may ultimately become the "better" solution, could be a "full" Windows 7 installed to a .vhd virtual disk image: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6982 Sure that's the whole point of booting to a 32 bit OS and install FROM it running. jaclaz

You are right, my bad. No, it was just an example, from another non-math guy. Well, yes , but not exactly. Hex [x] FFF6 +/- -> -FFF6 Number is somehow "parsed" and put in the stack only now. (but the value of the stack is actually "A", which then converts nicely to "10") Dec [x] -> 10 +/- -> -10 Hex [x] ->FFF6 Number is already into the stack. +/- -> A Dec [x] -> 10 +/- -> -10 Hex [x] ->FFF6 etc. etc. It seems like calc.exe "autoconverts" negative hex values to positive ones. Try the following: Hex [x] 0 - A = -> FFF6 +/- -> A Dec [x] -> 10 +/- -> -10 and loop as per above. In other words, when you know that you are dealing with a negative hex number you need to press twice +/-, once in Hex[x] and once in Dec[x], when converting to Dec. jaclaz

You can tell grub4dos almost everything you want, and it will probably do what you told it to do, but the problem remains with the HARDCODED paths and more generally NOT FLEXIBLE way the Windows Setup works. In other words, I doubt that you will succeed with your idea. migrate.inf is only needed/useful to assign letters to a drive partition (differently from wht setup would do automatically). If all your USB hard disk are shown as "Removable", there are two possibilities: all your USB hard disks are "Removable" somehow you managed to have installed/running the "reversed" dummydisk.sys Filter Driver I haven't handy any install on which the rdummy.sys is installed/running, but it should be in the Registry in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\rdummy] (or somethng similar) jaclaz

Yes, it would be advised. jaclaz

Only up to a certain extent. For complex/multiversion setups, I guess this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446 or a similar approach, running the actual setup from an already booted PE of some kind is easier/better. Good Read these: http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/ http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/ptedit.htm and this only partially unrelated thread, that may however give you some ideas: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=7138&hl= jaclaz

Sure , but you CANNOT, and I mean CANNOT boot an XP based PE .ISO (i.e. WinPE 1.x) if not with the RAMDISK approach, while this is possible with a Vista based PE (i.e. WinPE 2.x). You seem to me like thinking that WinPE 1.x and 2.x behave the same, which is NOT the case. I know I am a bit "touchy" on this particular topic, but I have seen literally hundreds of posts about people wanting to boot XP based builds from a .iso, and probably as much of people failing to see the differences between PE 1.x and PE 2.x. And with all due respect , the winnt32.exe way is a rather known one, see item #2 here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=81788&st=6 wimb actually developed a semi-automated method, using the RAMDISK approach, to better the procedure: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446 Should you want to take the red pill , start here : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=133309 Of course, if you have available a PE 2.x of some kind, and apart form the bootsector change and partitioning, things are rather straightforward. I am not so sure about the align=16065 being a good choice, I've always preferred the Registry change, workaround #2 here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=88083&st=5 as the align=16065 command leaves a "hole" in the disk, that some partitioning/re-partitioning/imaging programs might not "like". jaclaz

I see. And you cannot have a worksheet, like Excel/OpenOffice.org/Spread32 too? I usually do all my "hex thingies" in one of them. However, first two are easy: On calc: Hex [x] Word [x] Dec [x] 2 5 7 +/- Hex [x] Result=FEFF (which is "plain" or "Motorola" or "Little Endian") you just exchange the bytes and you get ->FFFE (which is "Big Endian" or "Intel") Again: Hex [x] DWord [x] Dec [x] 2 5 7 +/- Hex [x] Result=FFFFFEFF (which is "plain" or "Motorola" or "Little Endian") you just exchange the bytes and you get ->FFFEFFFF (which is "Big Endian" or "Intel") This seems easier to me : Hex [x] Word [x] FFF6 +/- Dec [x] +/- (you just need to remember to press twice the +/-, once when you input the negative Hex and once when the (positive) result is displayed) For floating point, you should take notes/study these: http://babbage.cs.qc.edu/IEEE-754/Decimal.html http://babbage.cs.qc.edu/IEEE-754/32bit.html http://babbage.cs.qc.edu/IEEE-754/64bit.html jaclaz

@Freshbie This guide, though still largely valid, is a bit oldish. Newer releases of grub4dos have added features, and solutions/workarounds were found for most problems. BUT, you seem to have started, just like all "freshbies" do , with a very ambitious project, without having (yet) digested the needed background knowledge. There is NO way you can have more than 4 Primary partitions on any hard disk, for the simple reason that there are 4 entries in the partition table in the MBR. You can have a standard setup: 1 primary partition + any number of logical volumes inside extended partition OR a maximum of 3 primary partitions + any number of logical volumes inside extended partition OR a maximum of 4 primary partitions The above is NOT negotiable, though there are a couple of (relatively complex) workarounds to do that, but the whole point is that you need NOT more than 4 primary partitions. Another thing that you may want to note is that you simply won't be able to install XP from a USB harddisk unless you use one of the apps in the dedicated forum (or replicate manually what they do). What you should do is browse, search and READ both here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=157 and here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=66 (start from the pinned topics in both forums) Using this app: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444 you will have most of the things you asked for, then you will need to integrate the results with the other items. jaclaz

Yup, this is an exceedingly important tip. Never leave your File Manager (Explorer, PowerDesk, XYplorer, Total Commander, etc) as the visible active Window on an unattended computer. Never! Because if there are cats around, they will merrily trot onto the keyboard somehow avoiding every key except for ENTER and DELETE. If the focus was on a folder/directory ... you're in a world of hurt. JFYI: http://tk.ms11.net/ and of course: http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/ jaclaz