jaclaz

I see. ...but I miss some more details to try and understand what happened... Drive lettering in general, and expecially with multiple drives depends also on the type of partitions (i.e. Primary vs. Logical Volume inside Extended) and filesystems used, not only type of filesystem but also types of partiion (CHS vs. LBA), usually depending on size of partition. This is the way it "should" be: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/51978/en-us and is consistent with your report if the second partition on your first drive is a logical volume inside an extended partition, and all other drives have not primary partitions, or if all partitions on all drives are primary ones. Since it is quite rare to find a setup with drives having only Logical volumes inside Extended, it is more probable the second idea, that you have all Primary partitions, which, in the case of first drive having two primary partitions visible by DOS/Win 9x/ME, is a "non-standard" situation. Where the meaning of "standard" is what FDISK would let you do. See this thread for some reference: http://www.msfn.org/board/Drive-letters-sh...d-H-t85729.html and particularly this post: http://www.msfn.org/board/Drive-letters-sh....html&st=20 where a possible explanation for different "drive lettering" order on different OS's is attempted. Most probably the patched files do "correct" this situation along the referenced MS KB also with multiple primary ones. jaclaz

Here is a quick comparison table: http://stream.uen.org/medsol/dvd/pages/dvd...at_DVDvsCD.html I guess that since after all it's an install procedure rather than a mere file copy, lots of other factors come into play, like bus, processor speed, quality of the media and accuracy of recording, etc. jaclaz

Try using IMGBURN for burning the .iso: http://www.imgburn.com/ Select LOWER available speed. jaclaz

Badly burned CD? Can you test the .iso file in a Virtual Machine? Which app did you use to actually burn the CD? At what drive speed did you burn the CD? Are you using CD media (make/brand/type) that you already used successfully on the same burner? jaclaz

Could you please post how your Hard drive is partitioned and how letters were before and after using the patched files? FYI, though unrelated: Letter Assigner: http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/ jaclaz

What I would try to do: 1) use ycopy: http://www.ruahine.com/ycopy-file-copy-utility.html or Roadkol's Unstoppable Copier: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29 to copy contents of first cd (the original one) to a directory on hard disk, say C:\1stcd 2) save the log 3) repeat the copy with contents of second cd (the non-scratched copy) to another directory on hard disk, say C:\2ndcd 4) save the log 5) compare the the two logs and see if you have in one of the two created directories the "copied OK" files, and add them from one to the other, as to try and create a "complete" \i386 directory 6) try slipstreaming to the most complete \i386 directory you have latest service pack jaclaz

No prob, no hurry , IO.SYS has stayed like it is for almost ten years...... jaclaz

Yep, someone did think about that. Some links here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4774 jaclaz

If you still have that disk, and it has a "readable" \I386 directory, it's easy to make a bootable CD out of it, possibly also slipstrreaming to it latest service pack You can extract the boot image from your "scratched" disk, or get one searching around. Tool to extract boot image: http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/ Tutorials: http://web.archive.org/web/20050318033100/bink.nu/bootcd/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894950/en-us jaclaz

Just for the record, since you have to re-burn the CD anyway, this method initially devised by d4vr0s: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20543 works very well, at least for a limited number of machines, eliminating the actual USB floppy drive. Basically you re-create the CD using a bootloader (I use grldr directly) instead of the "standard" "Microsoft Corporation.img" or "Arnes Boot record", and you add to the CD the needed floppy image(s), which can also be gzipped and thus will occupy a very small amount of space on cd. jaclaz

Can I try and make it four-dimensional? Since I see there are still men doing their bytes "the old way" : http://tinyapps.org/weblog/misc/2007022507..._in_my_day.html Can you check my report on this patch for "better" LBA compatibility: http://www.msfn.org/board/Patched-IOSYS-fo...ME-t118119.html scrumpyjack jaclaz

Happy the problem is solved. For the record, migrate.inf is a file normally used by 2K/XP setup when run from another NT/2K/XP install by running WINNT32.EXE where the information about drive letters of the other (already installed) NT/2K/XP are kept, so that the new install uses the same drive letters. FYI: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234048/en-us http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 jaclaz

A reply with the solution was made here : http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=4754&st=10 (though I don't seem to find the address in order to try and replicate it) jaclaz

Installng from CD or DVD or installing from USB device (stick or hard disk) is different. Check the "historical" thread here: http://www.msfn.org/board/Install-XP-from-USB-f157.html http://www.msfn.org/board/How-to-boot-inst...key-t61384.html to see how the problem of drive letter assigning was solved (for a "normal" install), maybe there is something in there that you can use, like migrate.inf. jaclaz

Just for the record, you could use WUBI allright: http://wubi-installer.org/ The ubuntu is installed within a virtual disk file, with only minor drawbacks: http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php jaclaz

Apart the Chewbacca Defense, which was a nice read , I see nothing that makes no sense : 1. A user posts a question 2. Noone is able to give him a simple and working solution 3. He finds the solution himself, the hard way (hexediting a system file) The only thing he did I wouldn't have done is to post on three different forums the same question. jaclaz

Fixed. jaclaz

JO.SYS is the file that allows for "press any key to boot from CD" (or something like that) on Windows 9x 98/Me CD's. There is an "original" one and a "free" version by Bart Lagerwej. Read the referenced thread on boot-land. jaclaz

for the record, scrumpyjack seems to have found a way to solve his problem by patching IO.SYS: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4754 jaclaz

Just stumbled on this: http://home.exetel.com.au/phelum/w98.htm Maybe mdgx or any of the other W9x/Me gurus can comment/confirm? jaclaz

"strange noises" do not fit well with the "problem in motherboard" theory. Try this: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/ Victoria: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.03-Victoria/ MHDD: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/ jaclaz

I see it more as a lack of "google-fu". Look at what you can find by searching for " site:www.msfn.org nlite disable pagefile" (without quotes): http://www.msfn.org/board/Option-to-disabl...le-t106761.html http://www.msfn.org/board/Disable-pagefile...-f-t109566.html As you can see, there are different feelings about having the pagefile enabled or not enabled, and curiously enough, this particular topic tends to become often a debate, of the type 98 vs. XP, NTFS vs. FAT32, Mickey Mouse vs. Godzilla, etc. In the first of the given links there is nuhi's reasons for why it is not an option in nlite. About the communication problem, this: though it might be your sincere take on the way any user of the forum should behave, it can be easily considered unpolite and unneededly hostile or authoritative. If anyone goes astray from how you planned the thread should evolve, it is basically your problem, you can create your own board, proclamate yourself supreme moderator of it and thus manage the topics in it as you wish, or hire a consultant to which you may be able to ask questions and possibly give him orders on how he should reply. If you ask a question on a public forum, you will get: 1) some good replies 2) some bad replies 3) some out of focus replies If you ask the same question on the same forum, telling what the would-be-repliers should do, you will get: 1) some good replies (same as before) 2) some bad replies (same as before) 3) some out of focus replies (same as before) ADDITIONALLY, you will get: 4) some replies (like mine ) trying to tell you where you might be wrong in your approach 5) some hostile replies from people simply offended by your attitude Everyone here tries to his best to contribute something in terms of knowledge, experience or even speculative ideas, and within the limits given by the Rules of the board, there is total freedom, if anyone has "time to waste" it should not be a concern for you. Simply skip or ignore the replies not relevant to what you asked and take it easy.... ...don't post your own "rules" about what people should do.... .... and I would guess your 90% statistics will drop..... jaclaz

A list of apps is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/Disk-Imaging-Software-t100299.html jaclaz

(hd0) means First drive (Drive 0) (hd0,0) Means First Partition (Partition 0) of First drive (hd1,0) Means First Partition (Partition 0) of Second drive (Drive 1) (hd1,1) Means Second Partition (Partition 1) of Second drive (Drive 1) ..... About the Fedora thing, what ilko_t suggested is to assign a LABEL to the partition: http://www.ss64.com/nt/label.html http://www.ss64.com/nt/vol.html http://lissot.net/partition/ext2fs/labels.html What you see in an Explorer window beside the drive letter. jaclaz

Most probably 90% of people that reply are rude or simply not at your same level. You could try stepping down a bit, or try to educate this 90% of people. My guess is that first of the two options is easier to put in practice. jaclaz