nmX.Memnoch

That's odd. It's got to be conflicting with something. I know for a fact that .NET 3.0 works with the ACPI Multiprocessor HAL. Every machine I have at home, including my Dual Xeon server is using this HAL and has .NET 3.0 installed...and the Dual Xeon rig is a domain controller. Weird...

We go through this every couple of months... http://www.msfn.org/board/Thought_post_RAI...ns_t103067.html

To state that correctly, it's 48-bit LBA support that was added with SP1.

Check your BIOS settings and make sure the drive is set for UDMA.

Quite honestly, it doesn't take much time to get used to the "smaller" Enter key. After having used that style Enter key for some time, I have to say that I much prefer the / being above the Enter instead of all the way up top next to the Backspace key. That change was MUCH easier to get used to than the rearranged Ins/Home/Pge Up/Pg Down/Del keys. Microsoft started that and Logitech has picked up on it as well. I hated that arrangement almost as much as I hate split "ergo" keyboards. Microsoft has, however, come out with some newer keyboards that have the original arrangement. I use a Microsoft Digital Media Pro that has the original arrangement.

What are you using for a logon script? If it's VBScript I'm afraid I can only be of limited help...but I can provide a bit of KiXtart script that will usually translate fairly easily. Or you could just call the script I use directly from the VBScript.

Did you do an upgrade install? If so, sometimes MDAC doesn't correctly upgrade with Windows. We had this issue on our old database cluster. To fix the issue you'll need your Server 2003 CD and follow these instructions: Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\WINDOWS\inf\. Locate the mdac.inf file and right click on it. Select Install from the context menu. It'll start the MDAC installation process. This is where you'll need your Server 2003 CD. When it's finished reboot the server.

Sorry...been busy with work. Honestly, I'd try to get a small server and setup a Windows Small Business Server 2003 domain. Then create shares and have all of your users keep the files on the server. That would allow you to run a backup on the single machine instead of trying to find a way to backup 30-something individual computers. It would also give you some control over the settings on those computers (Group Policies are a wonderful thing). You could even automate your patches with Windows Server Update Services 3.0. I just had an opportunity to do my first WSUS3 setup for a customer. It's so easy to setup and maintain...and provides some pretty amazing reports, especially considering it's a free product.

No, that doesn't make sense. The only way to make it truely invisible to the users is to use the old server name. Scripts are easy...just do a Find/Replace in each one. If it weren't for documents that reference the server name through links then you could get away with just this...but because of those documents you're either going to end up using the old server name or manually edit each of those documents. What's the reason for not using the old server name? The only possible thing I can think of is either coming up with a standard naming convention or changing an existing one.

See...I would've talked them out of that. The OS drive doesn't need to be that fast if it's largely going to remain static. The IDE drive is probably plenty fast enough for it. If they're going to be storing dynamic data I would've talked them into using the SATA drive for that (or just put two SATA drives in the system and be done with the conversation).

I guess what I was getting at is...what's the reason for the two drives? Is the data on the IDE drive being constantly updated and the SATA drive is only used for the OS?

What's the system used for that it has to be up all the time? It almost sounds like you're using it as an entry-level file server. I'm asking for a specific reason...

Automating it without a server/domain model will be difficult. Not impossible, but it severely limits your options. How many laptops and workstations do you have?

Are you using logon scripts? The reason I ask is because you can set the wallpaper during the logon script, and use a GPO to hide the Desktop tab of Display Properties. There are ways the user would be able to change it, but it'd be forced by the logon script again the next time they logon. I use this method for forcing a common screensaver for all of our users. At work I don't have direct access to the GPOs to force this through a Group Policy but I can make local changes. Our logon script forces the screensaver and its settings and the Screen Saver tab of Display Properties is hidden so they can't change it (easily). Should they manage to change it, it just gets reset the next time they logon.

They're 1 core but can execute 2 threads at once. So setting the affinity to 1 virtual CPU or the other does limit what Windows XP can do with thread execution/scheduling. It does use the entire CPU though. Task Manager will show it running at "50%", but that's only because it's limited to what Task Manager sees as half the CPU.

Right click on My Computer and choose Manage. Now go to Computer Management (Local) > System Tools > Event Viewer > System. There are two other main event logs as well...Application and Security. IE7 adds another one, PowerShell adds one and Office 2007 adds two more.

My guess would be that enabling Active Desktop did that to the icons. I'm not 100% positive about that though since one if the first things I do is disable the ability to use it (through a GPO). You don't need it enabled to use a bitmap wallpaper.

My machine boots pretty quick...but I've never worried so much about it since I don't reboot that often (usually once a month for the routine patches or if there is a power outage longer than my UPS can run on batteries). BUT...another thing I would check is services. The 80s wait is probably a service hanging when it tries to start. If you check the System Log in the Event Viewer right after bootup I bet there'll be a message about a service that hung trying to start. Windows Desktop Search 3.0 was doing this to me for a while. If it's not a critical service you can disable it and reboot to see if the problem is fixed. As for the 60s/7 bars on the first part...that's probably driver related.

AHCI. It stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface.

oh dont worry, i will make it happen with my water *drip*drip*drip*bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt*

The board model number may be identical...but the serial number isn't the same, so technically it's not an identical board to Windows. Even the simple addition of a hard drive CAN force a re-activation.

You've got locations all over the country coming back to a single print server? That's a lot of data being shuffled back and forth since the file has to be spooled all the way to the server...and then from the server back to the printer at the location. In a situtation like that I would've opted for direct IP printing (or a local low-end server for print duties). That's gotta be some slooooow printing for large documents too. But...for your situation I have a KiX script that I've used to do exactly the same thing: ; Get current default printer $DefPrn = ReadValue("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows","Device") ; Create an array of currently mapped printers $Index = 0 $Key = EnumKey("HKCU\Printers\Connections",$Index) While @ERROR = 0 If $Array = "" $Array = "$Key" Else $Array = $Array + ":" + $Key EndIf $Index = $Index + 1 $Key = EnumKey("HKCU\Printers\Connections",$Index) Loop ; Split the array so we can work with it $Array = Split($Array,":") ; Remap printers to new server For Each $Printer in $Array Select Case InStr($Printer,",,OLD_SERVER,PRINTER1") ? "Deleted Old Printer Connection" $X = DelPrinterConnection("\\OLD_SERVER\PRINTER1") ? "Creating New Printer Connection" $X = AddPrinterConnection("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER1") If InStr($DefPrn,"PRINTER1") ? "Setting Default Printer" $X = SetDefaultPrinter("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER1") EndIf Case InStr($Printer,",,OLD_SERVER,PRINTER2") ? "Deleted Old Printer Connection" $X = DelPrinterConnection("\\OLD_SERVER\PRINTER2") ? "Creating New Printer Connection" $X = AddPrinterConnection("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER2") If InStr($DefPrn,"PRINTER2") ? "Setting Default Printer" $X = SetDefaultPrinter("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER2") EndIf Case InStr($Printer,",,OLD_SERVER,PRINTER3") ? "Deleted Old Printer Connection" $X = DelPrinterConnection("\\OLD_SERVER\PRINTER3") ? "Creating New Printer Connection" $X = AddPrinterConnection("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER3") If InStr($DefPrn,"PRINTER3") ? "Setting Default Printer" $X = SetDefaultPrinter("\\NEW_SERVER\PRINTER3") EndIf EndSelect Next

StarMicro was one of those finds years ago that you keep around "just in case". I've been able to find upgrade CPUs on that site for older systems on numerous occassions when the right CPU just couldn't be found anywhere else. Some of their CPUs are pulls* though...but they still carry a 30-day warranty so if you get it busted they'll replace it. * CPU 'pulls' are processors that were pulled from old systems...usually retired servers.

They can be hard to find...but fortunately for you I have an ace up my sleeve. StarMicro has them for $8. They even have a CoolerMaster heatsink you can add to the order for another $7.

Honestly a lot of the stuff was already in the planning stages when Windows XP was being developed. Dual core processors were already being worked on...but no one was really talking about it. That's who Windows XP recognizes the cores correctly. Also remember that they were even closer to a reality when Service Pack 2 was being worked on so I'm sure a lot of the support was added with SP2. Windows XP x64 is based on the Server 2003 x64 code base...and dual cores were definitely a reality by that time. Windows 2000 does not properly recognize dual/quad core CPUs. Nor does it even properly recognize hyperthreaded CPUs. You can run Windows 2000 on multi-core CPUs, but it's not optimized for it. And if you run 2000 Pro on a quad-core CPU, it'll only recognize/use the first two cores. It also requires an additional applet for SpeedStep. A lot of the power saving techniques being used by both Intel and AMD are done in hardware. This means the OS doesn't have to interact with the CPU to make it work. SpeedStep on Intel CPUs is also hardware driven...but Windows XP understands it as well (and you can disable it with the right power settings). SpeedStep has been around for quite some time (since the first mobile PIII's) so it stands to reason that XP understands it. AMD's C'N'Q wasn't out until after XP was released. It works different than SpeedStep so it requires a driver/application to make it work properly. Vista may have native support...I don't know because 1) I'm not running Vista and 2) I don't do AMD CPUs.