jaclaz

Yes, I mis-wrote my thought, if you copy an already made install on a CF card, the latter must be formatted and bootable BEFORE. If you install directly to the CF card, the formatting is done during install, so it is NOT needed before. jaclaz

VERY interesting. Did you succeed with the above on real hardware, not a VM? Can you post details on the hardware you tested that on? Can you confirm that a USB stick with a CDFS filesystem is seen by BIOS/setup as a CD-ROM drive? jaclaz

You did use the or parameters, right? http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/arti...qNum=6&rl=1 jaclaz

Oh, come on, it was just a way of having a laugh, nothing against you, the Author or German people. Unfortunately not as good as I would like it to be, I have been living for a period in Berlin, but never got a real solid knowledge of it. As said, the program is nice. Yes, my English is good enough to get that, since it cannot be called "news": http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=53747 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=55924 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=58242 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=75436 jaclaz

Nice app, though! jaclaz

If i recall correctly, if you start XP install from the already unstalled Win2k using the WINNT32.EXE command, drive letters assigned by Win2k will be kept. No, it won't work drive letter assignments are in the Registry, so that changing them under Win2k will only have effect on its Registry, the XP one will remain unaffected. For the record, it is possible to change boot volume letter, though it is STRONGLY advised NOT to attempt it: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=90495 jaclaz

Sorry, you got the wrong impression... http://www.48bitlba.com/ http://www.48bitlba.com/enablebiglba.htm You need (at least) SP3 on Win2K. jaclaz

Wouldn't a .cmd autostarting do? Something that issues a MOUNTVOL command with appropriate parameters? However it seems like a problem in the Mountmgr database, i.e. MountedDevices in HKLM\SYSTEM\ MountedDevices that are not kept between reboots: http://book.itzero.com/read/microsoft/0507...10lev1sec3.html Another possibility is some kind of problem related to dmio.sys, like it happened with win2k with mount points: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896260 jaclaz

Actually you can save the phone call. ALL MS OEM Licenses are "binded" to hardware, since Window 95. The mere fact that until XP there was not an effective "preventive measure" to make difficult or impossible for people to install the OEM files on different machines, does not mean you were not breaking the EULA when you installed a OEM OS to other hardware. If you "often change hardware" you need to have a FULL (not OEM) license, or buy each time a new OEM one bundled with hardware. Why do you think that OEM is so much cheaper than FULL? Quite simply if you get FULL you pay more at the beginning but you have more "freedom", if you get OEM you pay less at the beginning but you pay more in the long run (unless you take the resolution of breaking the EULA). jaclaz

I guess it all depends on how much "powerful" your hardware is. If you have a very fast processor, plenty of RAM, etc., probably difference wouldn't be so great. On the other hand, if you have a PC that barely meets minimum requirements for the games you play, difference will be VERY notable. jaclaz

BEFORE doing the actual install, you need to make sure you can boot from the CF card, the error you are getting appears to be coming from either BIOS or MBR. How did you partitioned (fdisked) and formatted the card? Which programs you used, which filesystem did you choose? jaclaz

You're welcome. jaclaz

I don't have a direct experience with Sony recover CD's, so take the following advice as a simple "attempt" at an explaination: From what you posted it seems like the Recovery CD is (more or less) made as following: 1) A PE build (probably WinPE, not BartPE) that accounts for the 93 Mbytes in the /i386 folder of the CD 2) Some kind of imaging program (cannot say if Ghost or a similar app), probably present in the \SONY or in another directory 3) a number of images or however compressed setup The general idea of the working should be that system boots the PE in 1) that loads autmatically the app in 2), which copies the image or files in 3) to the hard disk. So the CD is NOT an easily usable source for making an install CD. They don't seem like it.The files in \i386\win9xupg\ are files needed for upgrading from Win9x, you won't need them. The files in .\valueadd\ should not be mandatory and could however be present in the \VALUEADD directory on the CD \setup.exe is the file which is invoked by the AUTORUN.INF file on the original windows CD, since you are using this as a bootCD, you can do without it. .\readme.htm are release notes which should be not necessary. 1) Filedate (04/08/2004) ? 2) Check either SMSS.EXE or NTDLL.DLL in \I386\SYSTEM32 properties, if they are Version 5.1.2600.2180 should be SP2 However it is possible that you have some "post SP2" hotfixes in there.... Yes, I would try sliptreaming them, if SP2 is already applied should not make any difference. Cannot remember if it matters, however EVERYTHING on XP CD's is in CAPITAL LETTERS, so you are fine, it is probably a "feature" of the CD compare app tacktech used. About the error you get, it is possible that one or more of the setup files, i.e. TXTSETUP.SIF, UNATTEND.TXT (if present) or one of the .ini files are "custom" made for the Sony setup and point to an additional application, driver or what not, that actually is somewhere in the Recovery CD and on Hard disk, but that it is obviously missing in the nlited CD... jaclaz

yes, there are a few ways, some established, some yet to be finalized. Here are the main threads about them: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=81537 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=81788 Start from here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=81788&st=6 And see which method might better suit you. jaclaz

Very interesting find, though I wonder how you managed to get up to 9999. It seems like those keys are referenced here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\STORAGE\RemovableMedia HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\STORAGE\Volume The first ones should probably be USB sticks/devices (and thus safe to remove the corresponding entries). The latter ones appear to be your fixed disk drive(s) including their MBR signature. I guess you can remove all but the ones corresponding to your actual disk drives signatures. Making a small batch to list all entries and checking them should be easy. To check HD MBR signature use this tool: http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.htm http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.zip pseudo GUI: http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.net/ http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...X/mbrfix0.2.zip You might want to change values in ControSet00x rather than on CurrentControlSet.... And, as always, no guarantee of any kind.... jaclaz

Though I am not going to upgrade to Vista ANY soon, I just found this, that appears like a nice little thingie, for all of you that already are Vista users: http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/commandpromptgadget.asp (and it should work under XP too) jaclaz

It seems to me as TWO different problems: trying to build from the C:\Windows\i386 directory and failing should mean you are missing one or more files. Have a look at this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=70301 and links therein trying to build from recovery CD appears like better, but again you have to check the contents of f:\I386 (i.e. make a DIR /S) and compare as per above it looks like some additional files are packed in archives.... Check this also: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16381 jaclaz

If you PM me your e-mail address I can send you the "improved" version of the file, so that you can have another try with it. jaclaz

Hmmm, black magic needed? I would check (comparing them) the USBSTOR.INF file on both machines to the one on another (working) one, then would try on those two machines some other sticks, and try THAT stick on other machines, to see if the problem is on the machines by themselves, is related to just the Corsair stick or it belongs to THAT stick on THOSE TWO machines... jaclaz P.S.:also double check that those machines have exactly the same "Windows Update" and Hotfix level...

UPDATE (public, for private part check your e-mail) jaclaz

Well, I cannot say, check this: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000725.htm It is possible that your sound card drivers "catch" all audio and sends it to the sound card, you can try disabling the sound card and see if the internal speaker beeps.... If only Microsoft would stop moving pages around.... via Google cache: http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:NaS-M...a_apd_zdyx.mspx jaclaz

Well, as I see it, rules in these kind of matters are: #1 DON'T PANIC #2 NEVER GIVE UP Game is not over yet DL. are you still with us? I got to the point where the file "almost" (but not quite) works, your idea was correct, the file besides the 00/20 substitution is encrypted, or to be more exact it is password protected for opening. I am still working on it..... jaclaz

Got it, unfortunately, it seems like the file you sent me has been "tampered with". Basically all occurrences of 00 (binary 0) have been replaced with 20 (space), cannot say if other modifications have occurred. Are you sure that the file you sent me is the one you got from the CD, without ANY attempt to open it in any application? If you are not, please, re-save the file from CD and re-send it to me. jaclaz

Yep, but you see, when POST takes place the speaker is "driven" DIRECTLY by the Motherboard hardware. Once NT/2K/XP has booted, the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) effectively separates the hardware from the Operating System, UNLESS a proper driver has been loaded. Please do check the before given links: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n1014826767 http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/t1014826767 by trying to have it BEEP for "exclamation" event.... jaclaz

Happy problem is solved. However it is very interesting, I use that utility normally, I would have never thought it had that "side effect"....but again, I have Admin credentials and am on Win2K.... jaclaz