jaclaz

The Servers have been shut down, as announced, : https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/farewell-to-microsoft-internet-games-on-windows-xp/035d5144-6c1b-49bb-b3d5-37f6355fec39 and as reported above by member win32. jaclaz

Well, actually (for the record) there is a very good free tool that can be used for the conversion between GPT and MBR: https://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/ but - basically - it is just a matter of using a hex viewer/editor (knowing where to look for). The difference between GPT and MBR styles is ONLY in the way the partition(s) are "indexed" or - even more accurately - where and how the addresses of the extents of the partitions/volumes are stored, the actual volumes are exactly the same so (unlike - to make an example - a file system conversion) there is no actual "conversion" of data, it is simply a matter of reading an address and write it in another place in a slightly different notation, even if a lot of references (and of course those making Commercial software) make it look like rocket science or brain surgery, it is not, things may become more complicated if there are more than four partitions (as in GPT you can have *as many* partitions as you want and they are all "primary" whilst on MBR you have max 4 partitions - primary - or three primaries and all the other ones must be logical volumes inside extended) but on a SSD like yours (and actually most "normal" disk devices) with just two partitions/volumes it is straightforward: https://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html jaclaz

Good (which actually means "bad" ). The issue is that the booting mechanism is different (but it can be solved, don't worry, only it isn't exactly "simple"). A UEFI based computer is - generally speaking - compatible with the "old" (and "good") MBR style of partitioning (most UEFI based computers have a CSM or Compatibility Support Module, aka BIOS) but the reverse does not apply. The BIOS booting sequence (for a Windows NT 6+): BIOS->MBR (first sector of hard disk)->Active partition in partition table->PBR (or boot record of partition)->BOOTMGR.EXE->\boot\BCD->Winload.exe->Windows the UEFI: UEFI->a partition with a given GUID, usually FAT32 formatted->a file BOOTMGR.EFI->\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD->Winload.EFI->Windows The GPT style of partitioning includes a so-called "protective MBR partition table" to avoid issues, so all your BIOS can actually see in the MBR (that has NO code) is a huge single partition with ID 0xEE. Now there are two approaches to solve the problem (for the moment only the booting one): 1) leave the disk//SSD "as is" and boot from another device (the USB stick) then boot (in BIOS mode) the existing install on the SSD and see what issues (if any) come out 2) convert the disk/SSD (connected to another computer) style from GPT to MBR, add the relevant files and then attempt booting from it The #1 is "safer" in the sense that the SSD isn't touched at all but until the conversion to MBR is made it won't boot without the USB "helper", the #2 is more risky in the sense that if something goes wrong during the conversion you are stuck. There is actually a third way (adding a booting mechanism to the SSD that remains GPT style but allows booting on BIOS) but - while doable - is a bit complex. You will need anyway a few files from an original Windows 10, ideally if you have a Windows 10 DVD (or image) it would be better, and even better if you have another PC running Windows 10 to which you can connect the SSD, which I believe you have since you posted that screenshot. The generic idea is to make (conceptually) a "Vista boot floppy": http://www.multibooters.co.uk/floppy.html only that it will be "Windows 10" and not a floppy but rather a USB stick. We need to make the USB stick bootable (I would suggest something that boots to grub4dos as it offers a few features that might come handy), a good tool might be RMPREPUSB: https://www.rmprepusb.com/documents/rmprepusb-beta-versions and then run BCDBOOT, copying creating the needed files on the USB stick *like*: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/bcdboot-command-line-options-techref-di jaclaz

What about a more modest "Somewhat slightly less than perfect"? Naaah, it is too long .... jaclaz

Is/was (new/old PC) it BIOS or UEFI? Is the SSD MBR style or GPT style? Can you boot the new machine from a USB stick? (and have you got a spare USB stick to use)? Generally speaking, to troubleshoot a non-booting machine (in the very early stages of booting) one needs to boot from an alternate media and check what is actually on the SSD. Then, there will likely be BSOD's issues with non-matching drivers due to the very different hardware, but let's start with the non-booting issue. jaclaz

... unless a NTFS UEFI driver is used (but one would need to disable "Secure Boot"): https://github.com/pbatard/uefi-ntfs jaclaz

No, that one is fine, it has "full" 40 A on the12 V rail. Yours is a "non-standard" PSU with a more beefy 12 V power output expressly designed for high end graphic cards, it is "just right". It must be "something else" (i.e. either the power supply is defective or the card, or the motherboard, etc.), You will need anyway to troubleshoot replacing (temporarily) the components . jaclaz

Are you really sure-sure that the PSU provides 500W? I would personally use (rule of thumb) a 650 or 750 W PSU if the requirement is 550 W for the graphic card (even if they are often higher than real, they are not so much off AFAICR). The issue might be not so much on the total power, but rather on how much power on which rail/connector. 500 W @12V are like 40 amperes (and it seems like those are actually "required" that is a lot of "juice"): https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/evga-geforce-gtx-275-1792mb-review,6.html A 500W PSU is more likely to have only 30-32 A on the 12 V rail, still only for booting there shouldn't be issues. jaclaz

Question 1: You are not providing enough information for a "simple" answer. You need to specifiy if partitions are primary, which one(s) is normally active, how exactly (and in which order) you installed the various OS's, etc., etc. Are you sure-sure you want PC-DOS (which is not MS-DOS): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_DOS Also, exact version of the DOS (whichever is it) is important, a "normal" DOS+Win98 machine is usually a DOS 7.1 machine with Windows 98 on top of it (or, if you prefer, it is viceversa a Windows 98 install with a DOS 7.1 command line only booting mode) if you want to have other versions of "full" DOS, such as 6.22 or PC-DOS (or FREEDOS, etc. ) things might soon become complex and you might want to use different approaches (usually involving more "complete" bootmanages such as grub4dos). Question 2: See question 1, XP normally puts in the Active, Primary partititon of first disk: NTLDR BOOT.INI NTDETECT.COM on some machines only (SCSI, usually) a NTBOOTDD.SYS Usually, in a simple setup such as yours, the mechanism provided by XP (NTLDR+BOOT.INI) is enough to make multiboot, you will need anyway good ol' Bootpart: to manage the options and add what you are missing more easily: https://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm NTLDR is at the same time the NT LoaDeR and a (primitive) bootmanager, but it is enough, on a properly installed/setup system you shouldn't ever need to change which one is the active partition, Gilles Voillant's advice (the Author of bootpart above) has been since the dawn of time (bootpart was developed for WINNT 3.5) has always been to have a smallish primary FAT partition for DOS and for the NTLDR/BOOT.INI, then you might have lots of variations for "all the rest". jaclaz

I would call that surely, totally, and utterly irrelevant, but it doesn't really matter, You are welcome , and - at least where I live, central Italy - it hasn't been as bad as it is depicted on the news, thankfully. jaclaz

Well, the F12 on some BIOSes simply doesn't work You need to try entering the BIOS setup and change disk drives order there (supposedly the F12 should do the same, but on a temporary basis, only that often enuogh it doesn't work). NO drivers are needed to "boot" a stick missing (or wrong or both) drivers come into action much later and may cause a BSOD or - if you prefer - a halt in the booting of the OS. Normal booting sequence of a Windows NT (simplified) : BIOS->MBR->PBR of active primary partition->bootloader/bootmanager (either NTLDR or BOOTMGR)->configuration file (either BOOT.INI or \boot\BCD)->choice->chosen OS Any issue on the right (after) the bootloader/bootmanager step is the OS not booting (and produces an error, usually a BSOD), Any issue on the left (before) the bootloader/bootmanager step is (while still having the effect of not booting) totally independent from the OS and its driver(s), and still there are usually printed on screen error messages (coming from either the MBR or PBR code or a flashing cursor or a g or j in the top left of the screen. What you report seems more like the USB stick being not recognized as media or not accessed at all. jaclaz

Title: Contents: And likely it is not. Well, you are describing the behaviour of a database with fixed size/fixed number of records, they are not unheard of, particularly on old DOS progams that ran from floppy. I doubt you can modify the behaviour without modifying the executable that uses it. jaclaz

The issue is likely the machine, quoting cdob elsewhere "It's a DELL!". But it may be *something else*, it is not particularly difficult to troubleshoot, but you will need some patience. It is not clear (to me at least) if the machine actually starts booting (and then it fails with a BSOD or similar, which is what cdob posted a possible solution to if you are attempting to boot an XP ON the USB stick) or if it is a generic issue (which is what I can understand from your attempt with Rufus). On the other hand, your reference to having "formatted it" makes me doubt that you actually partitioned it (you cannot normally partition a USB stick under XP unless you use a trick or two or a dedicated tool) it is possible that you made a "super-floppy" like device, and that won't boot on most BIOSes, let alone a DELL one. Possible other (common) issues: 1) "wrong" geometry of the USB stick detected/adopted by the BIOS 2) "too big size" of the USB stick 3) "too little size" of the USB stick (leading to #1) Try the following: 1) get the Easy2boot program: http://www.easy2boot.com/ 2) go here: http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/wizard/primer and follow the simple instructions in "Make an E2B drive" 3) Check the "List of tested ISOs/payloads page" to see if your tool is among those tested (there isn't, I just checked) 4) the Macrium Reflect Free is (should be) however a "normal" WinPE .iso, so it can boot just fine in Easy2boot 5) in any case it can be made working manually; https://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/macriumreflect Report what happens, and please describe it, "doesn't boot" or "won't boot" is not descriptive enough to understand what the issue can be. jaclaz

The issue is drive numbering. When you boot from USB usually disk drives numers are switched and USB becomes first disk, shifting the internal disk to second disk. Dos will assign C:\ to the first disk primary, active partition, i.e. if you boot from the USB, but I seem to remember that the SYS C;\ D:\ (say) command should work. See (only as a reference): https://web.archive.org/web/20090319045034/http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 At the time the procedure was tested, double tested and triple tested, so it did work. So maybe it is something else. Are you sure-sure that the internal disk has a primary, active partition? And that that partition is the one that gets D:\ in your setup? If you use (as suggested earlier) grub4dos, you can remap the drives, then boot from floppy and the internal disk will become C:\ and this will bypass the issue. You need to get an image of a DOS/Win9x floppy, let's call it mydosfloppy.ima and grub.exe. Get the latter from *any* grub4dos no earlier than 0.4.4 16-10-2009, this one (latest of the 0.4.5c series) would do: http://grub4dos.chenall.net/downloads/grub4dos-0.4.5c-2016-01-18/ http://dl.grub4dos.chenall.net/grub4dos-0.4.5c-2016-01-18.7z and put them in the root of your USB stick booting partition. Example: Boot the USB stick to DOS or FreeDOS. Run grub.exe. At the prompt issue: map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --mem /mydosfloppy.ima (fd0) map --hook root (fd0) chainloader /io.sys boot When you boot this way, it will be exactly as if you were booting from a real floppy, with the internal hard disk that remains first disk and - provided that there is on it a primary, active partition, that partitin will be "first hard drive" i.e. C:\ jaclaz

If I google for win9x1361.exe I find (among other links) the link I posted (without the "?product=81530" at the end), it is porbably as you say, different location= different servers, but it remains "queer". jaclaz

Good. @GoodManeuver I don't know, if I use your link (with the "?product=81530" at the end) I land to a 404 page: However no problem, shockchargeIV's is solved. jaclaz

Is it this one? https://www.cnet.com/products/gateway-500s-mdt-p4-2-ghz-128-mb-40-gb-lcd-17/ The board is seemingly an Intel 845G, so these: https://www.techspot.com/drivers/driver/file/information/1170/ via Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20040409055856/http://aiedownload.intel.com/df-support/4773/eng/win9xe114.exe should be the suitable drivers. Check the VEN&DEV , as an example with one of the programs here https://msfn.org/board/topic/179593-alternative-device-manager-for-win98/ Should be: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562 jaclaz P.S.: @Goodmaneuver For some reasons your link doesn't work This one works: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/7005/Intel-R-Extreme-Graphics-2-driver should be latest-latest version : https://downloadmirror.intel.com/7005/a08/win9x1361.exe

Try posting EXACT make/model, maybe something can be done. Anyway most probably you can get away with the UNIVBE/VBEMP: https://bearwindows.zcm.com.au/vbe9x.htm but if a manufacturer driver can be found it would be probably better. jaclaz

The issue(s) is/are twofold: #1 is with "old 98SE backup". The EXACT way the backup was made might make a difference as it may contain (or fail to contain) some data useful for the restoring to "pristine" hardware. #2 is with the EXACT new hardware at hand, as a number of drivers and settings may need to be changed (provided that appropriate Win9x drivers for the new hardware are available). All in all I personally would do it in two steps: 1) have the backup restored (and working) in a VM - specifically - in Qemu that can emulate hardware similar to the "original" one 2) make a copy of this latter install and attempt to have it run on the new hardware jaclaz

Yep, happy to have been of use , To be fair, there is a difference in the level of bul***** in the two articles. The difference is that once you read them the itprotoday is "honest", i.e. it is a report of something that happened and that in that particular case was actually a "restore", and misses the link to the userinit possible issue (as the Author didn't need it), whilst the petri one is (as often happens on that site) the usual attempt at "examplification to the masses" of something that by rewording it (without ever testing the method) is likely to induce the reader into committing a (very regrettable) mistake. Still, it has the link to the possible issue with userinit BUT without citing it in the text. So, on one hand the first is not so bad, as reading it, even if it is incomplete, it becomes clear that it applies to a specific situation, while the second is IMHO actually misleading, the : "For the most part, this is not recommended, especially if the drive letter is the same as when Windows was installed." should have been written as : "Do not EVEN THINK of doing this UNLESS you are in the specific case detailed in the linked MS KB" jaclaz

jaclaz

Yep re-installing a fresh system is not that bad, I mean it is not like it was a machine already used for years, customized, etc. Only for the record, one of the good things of grub4dos is disk/drive remapping capabilities, even if you boot from the USB stick (and you then run a floppy image) you can re-map drives at BIOS level. jaclaz

JFYI: https://msfn.org/board/topic/178312-4k-resolution/ jaclaz

Those links are bul***** (no fault of VistaLover of course ). In the end they are essentially these: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/223188/how-to-restore-the-system-boot-drive-letter-in-windows Which apply IF (and ONLY IF) the system was installed to C:\ and later - for whatever reason - the drive letter changed to - say - D:\. I.e. they are fine if you want to restore to C:\ a system installed to C:\ but they will NOT be enough in case the OS has been originally installed to D:\. BUT you won't be able to log in IF your install has a full path to userinit had FIRST followed this one: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/249321/unable-to-log-on-if-the-boot-partition-drive-letter-has-changed so you'd better check that first thing. See also: There are hundreds and thousands of references to the original driveletter to which the OS was installed in Registry (and in links, shortcuts, .ini settings and what not). It is possible to change a system drive letter, but it needs a lot of patience and the use of tools *like* good ol' COA2 and/or Registrar Lite (using plain Regedit would take forever). Basically you need to find - systemwide - each and every reference to D:\ and replace it with C:\, it is doable , but you MUST HAVE an image (or at least an accessible backup AND an alternate booting OS (like a PE) in case something goes wrong. In case you want to try, you need COA2: https://web.archive.org/web/20120321153256/http://digilander.libero.it/rareware/coa2.zip and Registrar Lite version 200: https://web.archive.org/web/20021201100858/http://www.resplendence.com/download https://web.archive.org/web/20021203063147/http://www.resplendence.com/ftp/reglite.exe jaclaz

Well, you managed to have: 1) a non-bootable partition 2) a "wrong" drive letter assigned to it IMHO the above would not be an acceptable result. Issue #1 can be fixed easily by either using SYS from the USB stick or manually via grub4dos or disk editor Issue #2 not so much COA2 would probably work, still it would be easier to reinstall once having booted from the "right" partition/disk jaclaz