jaclaz

You see, XP is VERY "hardware dependent", moving an already installed system to a different PC is NOT straightforward. Read this: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html You "could" try booting from a Windows XP CD and select a "Repair install". jaclaz

The drive is probably defective. Read this: http://www.accurite.com/FloppyPrimer.html You should try it on another motherboard, if it still does not work, you can try cleanng it: http://dawn.thot.net/cd/149.html jaclaz

Just an idea, but you could setup a "burning server" with an app like this one: http://www.samspublishing.com/articles/art...p?p=389719&rl=1 The CD image is generated on the client machine, then transferred to to the server. I a not sure about this, as I never used this app, but surely it is possible to keep on HD the sent image for later review.... jaclaz

Yep, really good job, biohazard. And a good job by Xpero as well, the dancing kitten is really nice.... ....but I did some searching as well, and, though I did not find anything related to XPero's original question, I found this : WARNINGS: 1) LINK CONTAINS MUSIC (you need your speakers ON) 2) POSSIBLY COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC 3) UNDOUBTEDLY ADDICTING If you read the disclaimer, go here : http://www.unknown.it/materiale/titipa/tititipa.html The original italian text, approximately translated in English goes like this: ...now as I see it, the original culprit is XPero, I would never have found it otherways..... Have a Merry Christmas, mates! jaclaz

...willing to help me in contacting the author or translating into English this nice program: http://www.crsky.com/soft/4032.html http://www.foroo.com/ http://www.foroo.com/ USBOOT v.1.68 It seems like it works very well, as a replacement for the HP USB formatting utility.... Unfortunately the interface is in Simplified Chinese only, and it seems like it is not possible to copy text from the attached PDF file with help to use some translation tool.... Also.... if anyone is able through baidu.com or some other Chinese search engine to find a download link for the version 2.8.5.5 (or later) of the OTI "Productiontool Multi Device": http://www.51made.net/readnews.asp?newsid=204 Best I could find was release 2.3.49.1 here: http://www.nqa.cn/blog/article.asp?id=71 Thanks in advance. jaclaz

Yep, I thought that, just trying to make some humour. Well nothing compared when they gave away the Win2k 120 days trial disk, that once installed on dual-boot on a NT4 system, changed the NTFS FILESYSTEM, upgrading it, with NO warning and the NT4 chkdsk did not work anymore! Here is an article of the MS knowledgebase, though maybe it is useless, probably even the second copy of the bootsector has been changed by VISTA: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;q153973 A test you could try, (only if you have a backup) is trying a Repair install from the XP CD. jaclaz

I didn't know that Recovery Console had FDISK. You can TRY to use this nice utility MBRFIX: link is on my page http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.net/ together with my small GUI for it Though I suspect that VISTA does NOT change just the MBR, but also the BOOTSECTOR of the C:\ partition. If that partition is FAT, you can use bootpart to repair it: http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm Try foolowing the instructions here: http://www.tech-recipes.com/microsoft_vista_tips1040.html Also read this: http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about66468.html Otherwise you will probably need to hexedit your bootsector, NOT a nice chore. jaclaz

Ditto as above. Nice find! jaclaz

Cannot say, maybe yes, maybe no. I remember once I made an error connecting an internal (PS/2) trackball to a notebook. The chip on the treckball microboard went rapidly hot as hell, but after I (promptly) disconnected it and let it cool down, it worked. I suspect that mice are less "fragile".... jaclaz

What kind of USB devices do you want to prevent detection on plugin? ie Camera device which requires drivers to work or Disable USB Storage Devices with Group Policy Nice find! jaclaz

Hey, take it easy man, you could wear prematurely the ! and ? keys on your keyboard if you go on like that. Read here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...122120121120120 http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=354149 http://www.tburke.net/info/reskittools/topics/expand.htm (Google is your friend) jaclaz

Yes, it is well possible. See here the connections for USB port: http://www.networktechinc.com/technote.html Internal -> External +5 Volts -> Pin 1 -> +5 Volts - Data -> Pin 2 -> - Data +Data -> Pin 3 -> +Data GND -> Pin 4 -> GND If the internal connector has been shifted like this: +5 Volts -> Pin 1 -> NOT CONNECTED - Data -> Pin 2 -> +5 Volts +Data -> Pin 3 -> - Data GND -> Pin 4 -> +Data the key should have gotten NO damage, but if it was shifted like this: +5 Volts -> Pin 1 -> - Data - Data -> Pin 2 -> +Data +Data -> Pin 3 -> GND GND -> Pin 4 -> NOT CONNECTED it is quite likely that the key has been "fried" jaclaz

Cannot say what happens on XP, on 2K you could try different using the BOOT.INI switch /HAL http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249694 http://www.sysinternals.com/Information/bootini.html I presume that the same is possible in XP as well... jaclaz

Actually from your post it seems like you did NOT do that. It seems like you: 1) deleted the cdrom.sys file 2) at next boot Windows File Protection recreated it Some releases of Roxio (DirectCD) are known in a few occasions to generate conflicts. have a look at these: http://www.winportal.com/chat_sin.asp?ObjectID=7611 http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.php Cannot say more, without knowing more details, (version of Roxio, how it was installed, etc.) jaclaz

Things to do (in this order): 1) see if any BIOS update is available for the motherboard 2) check the hard disks with the manufacturer's testing utility 3) wipe them clean with Darik's Boot and Nuke 4) try re-formatting them 5) report progress jaclaz

You can try denying Permissions to System on the involved Registry hive, as hinted in Dietmar's posts here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14181&st=43 (point #8) jaclaz

They could have been "burned". There are two possibilities: 1) the device is NOT detected at ALL 2) the device is NOT detected "properly", i.e. the USB bus "senses" a device attached but does not load any driver for it as it cannot identify the said device Try using this program: http://www.c1tech.com.tw/Dload/i_disk/UsbIDCheck.zip And report if the USB bus can see the device (case 2 above), if it cannot (case 1 above), I think that nothing can be done. In case 2) it just "might" be possible to re-flash the controller with the proper deviceID (PID and VID), or at least it is worth a try. jaclaz

If I get it right, Venator wants to INSTALL winXP from a stick. Booting an OS from it is just a first step. Here is a similar thread, where I posted some hints: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384 Anyone willing to test it? jaclaz

Well, I like OPERA because it's still the FASTEST BROWSER ON EARTH See this nice comparison: http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html But on my USB stick I have OFFBYONE, because it is the SMALLEST BROWSER ON EARTH (and needs no install, can even work from INSIDE a zipped file) http://www.offbyone.com/ I used to find FIREFOX slow, UNTIL I found this: http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/index.html that made it decently fast, but still a bit slower than OPERA ...and I hate IE and ALL other browser based on the IE engine as it is BLOATWARE. I even have a Win2k install where I completely removed ALL IE components (with the help of the great Fred Vorck) jaclaz P.S.: This is a "Opera vs. Firefox" thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=54256

I take for granted that you already set in device manager that particular HD as "Use UltraDMA". http://www.hdtune.com/faq_2.html#PIO On some motherboards (actually very few, but VIA Mini ITX are an example) it might be needed to update the BIOS. Also, it is possible that the chipset driver has to be updated. Download and use this HDTUNE: http://www.hdtune.com/ You will see at what Speed your HD is capable of working and at which one it is currently working. Read this also: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61123&st=14 jaclaz

Read this nice article: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm Personally I would set it to 500 Mb fixed. jaclaz

Yes, it is possible to start an XP install from DOS and hard disk based files (WINNT.EXE), problem is HOW you put the XP files on the hard disk? jaclaz

Well, you are STRONGLY advised NOT to do so, (I mean making Format work with NO confirmation) as it could lead, if you or any other people boots from that CD, to automatically format the hd! But if you really want to do so, you need to insert the line: ECHO Y | format C: if you want to keep the confirmation, all you need is format C: it does not matter where you put the line, as long it is AFTER your PATH statement (if the format.com file is not in the root directory of the floppy image) If you also want to run a fdisk, you could use the FREEDOS fdisk, which is completely scriptable: http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/ Please note that this applies ONLY to a "custom made" bootable Windows 98 install CD, normal CD's work as K e n suggested, you should look for "Unattended install", like here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=40303 and linked to other threads jaclaz P.S.: If you post YOUR autoexec.bat, I will be happy to show you where it is better to insert the command

...for the hmmmth time: Sysinternals NTFSDOS is READ only Datapol NTFS4DOS is read/write and much smaller: http://www.datapol.de/dpe/freeware/ You will probably have some problems with long filenames, though. Alternatively there are COMMERCIAL programs. Search the forum for "NTFS4DOS" to find more comments and related topics. jaclaz

...and, if you need RAID drivers (the one normally installed with F6 during install) a FOURTH file: NTBOOTDD.SYS i.e. a copy af the drivers renamed to NTBOOTDD.SYS jaclaz