nmX.Memnoch

Yes, but you reformatted it with NTFS during the install. Using FDISK is an unnecessary step that you're taking. It can all be done during XP Setup. I fear that you messed up your NTFS MFT with FDISK. Can you post another screenshot of Disk Manager post SP2 installation? BTW, Service Packs are cumulative so you didn't need to install SP1a...just SP2.

You're going to be required to purchase an OS with the server from Dell. I would keep the existing Server 2003 license on the PIII 933 box...or move the license to one of the other locations/sites. Of course, that option assumes that they're all going to be pooling finances together to get this up and running. You're already purchasing quality hardware so downtime shouldn't be much of an issue there (that's what redundant power and RAID are for). Granted, there is always another contingency to plan for, but to take care of all of these things is well out of your budget. The PE2800 with the few extra options I suggested should help to greatly reduce any downtime. Having more than one domain controller will also help reduce downtime. Putting one at each site will help things run smoother at each individual site. It'll also make things MUCH simpler in the long run. Start with a single domain/site at the Sherrif's Dept and then add each of the other sites as they come online with the links and hardware.

Try opening the BIN file with ISOBuster. ISOBuster doesn't need the CUE file just to open the BIN file. ISOBuster will let you extract the files to an empty folder on your hard drive.

Screenshot from WinRAR 3.40 for setting the default password. The option lets you set a default password to use for archiving operations. For example, if you are creating a lot of RAR files and want them all passworded with the same password, you can set this option once and that password will be used for all RAR files created. Otherwise you have to enter the password every time you generate a new RAR file.

The hardware itself can cause problems even if the drivers aren't installed.Did you try option 5? Remove everything except the necessary items to get it running (hard drive, optical drive, CPU, one stick of RAM, PSU and vid card). If it works then you can start adding stuff back to see where the problem is. If it doesn't work, then it's one of the items still left in the system (likely the CPU or motherboard).

Doh...I really thought they were already past that limit with XP Gold but I guess you're right. Windows 2000 didn't get that support until Service Pack 4...which was released after Windows XP Gold. If you have XP Gold (no SP1 or SP2) then that's all you should have to do...download Service Pack 2 from Microsoft's site, apply it, and you should get access to your drives back.

If it's encrypted instead of password protected then your chances of cracking the file are much less. If just just uses ZIP 2.0 encryption you might be able to...but if it used 256-bit, or even 128-bit, AES encryption then you can pretty much forget it. The "password" on the encryption is really called a passphrase (also called passkey, or just key) that's encoded with the encryption that tells WinZip you have access to decrypt the file. http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/ http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/aesfact.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard

You can do this during Windows XP installation. Post installation you use Disk Management in the Computer Management MMC tool.

It's just something I saw mentioned here... http://www.msfn.org/comments.php?shownews=16471 Of course, that doesn't mean it's true...just rumored. You're in a better position to know for sure.

Wait... Did you change the controller these drives are attached to? Because it looks like the controller they're attached to either doesn't support 48-bit LBA or the support is disabled somewhere. Your data is likely still there but it looks like the controller isn't telling Windows all the information it needs. Err...have you already used FDISK on these drives (prior to the install)? You should never, ever use FDISK on NTFS parititons. FDISK doesn't understand NTFS master boot records or master file tables. If you used FDISK then that's part your problem. You should be creating all partitions during XP installation (but don't touch any already existing partitions). Post installation you use Disk Management to manage your partitions.

Correct.

That's not really necessary for a small network. Most small networks use SBS...and there can only be on domain controller in an SBS domain.However, having looked at the complete picture in the last post...you definitely want to go with a domain model. Make a single domain for the entire setup...something like washington.county. You can use whatever you want (just be careful not to use anything that exists out on the internet or you'll run into internal and external DNS problems at some point). In the long run you should end up with a domain controller at each site. "Site" is another term you should familiarize yourself with. Your sites can be named as such: SherrifDept NursingHome Courthouse HumanServices etc You'll also want to seperate the workstations and users by physical location using OUs. This isn't a requirement, but is recommended. It'll help with deciding which Group Policies should apply to each location. You can even give someone at each location rights to the OUs so they can unlock user accounts and stuff without having to call you every time. Something like: TLD (top level domain) --SherrifDept ----Computers ----Groups ----Users --NursingHome ----Computers ----Groups ----Users --Courthouse ----Computers ----Groups ----Users etc I would also recommend looking into starting out with Server 2003 R2 from the get go. There are some changes to DFS and replication that should help things work a bit smoother. You mentioned an existing Windows 2000 Active Directory. You should be able to migrate this into the new domain without any problems. Doing it this way you can also consolidate all of the SQL Servers onto one box at a predetermined main location. What I've touched on here is barely the tip of the iceberg compared to what you should be looking at. There are many documents on the Microsoft website that explain in detail how to do exactly what you're looking into doing. Don't forget to look into backup solutions as well. There are several options available, but you may want to start out with adding a decent SDLT or LTO (preferably because the tapes hold more and are faster) into the PowerEdge 2800 you're about to purchase. Also, since you're purchasing the server new, go ahead and purchase it with Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition. This will automatically give you another 25 user CALs (Standard Edition only comes with 5 CALs) and support for more than 4GB RAM (not a concern if you get the X64 version).

Erm... While it sounds like a good idea...what happens if you get a virus that infects all of your Word documents or Excel spreadsheets (for example) on the "thawed" area? The best option is to not give users Admin privs like soooooo many "network admins" do. I put that in quotes because any real, self-respecting admin will never give their users admin privs under any circumstances. Does it make things a little more difficult to do? Of course it does. But that's the price you pay for having total security. We don't even give our users Power User access. Since we have everything properly locked everything down we've had ZERO problems with adware, spyware, viruses or any other nefarious/malicious software. This is simply because the users don't have access to write into the critical areas where these types of programs want to write into. We also compiled a fairly large list of where the most common spware/adware applications install to by default. We then wrote a script the creates these directories and removes access for any and all users. They can't delete the directories and they can't write into them either. Remember, most adware/spyware applications attempt to install in the background without the users knowledge so there's no option to choose another install location. Sure, their own files can still get infected, but the infection is contained.

Did you mean this link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer

Doh...I stopped reading after the system specs so I completely missed that. Definitely put everything back at default speeds and try it again. If the timings are too tight the memory data can become corrupted. This will cause errors such as what you're seeing.

It had the potential to be faster than any desktop PC currently available. From what I gather the CPU architecture from IBM isn't all it's cracked up to be though (the Cell processor Sony is using in the PS3 is based on the same architecture).The XBox 360 is, for all intents and purposes, a computer. So was the XBox, so was the original Playstation, PS2, Dreamcast.....even the original Atari. They're just specialized computers geared towards doing specific tasks, unlike a desktop PC that's built to do thousands of different types of tasks. If you really stop and think about it...even a simple calculator is a computer. You could even say the same for your mobile phone you carry around.

Post a screenshot from Disk Management please. It may be that you just need to assign a drive letter to each one, but I'd like to see exactly what it's showing first.

I fail to see how this would help Windows XP run better. I've read that IE7 and Windows Explorer won't be integrated (with each other) in Windows Vista, but I don't know how true this is.

Is this something new coming with Longhorn Server?

I doubt it's the memory since you said you were having the problem prior to the memory upgrade. Was the hard drive replacement prior to the memory upgrade?

Maybe...we have well over 10,000 mailboxes (not including distribution lists) for our one location. The sad thing is that we're still on Exchange 5.5. We're supposed to be upgrading to Exchange 2003 in the next few months though (they're working on migrating the domain controllers from 2000 to 2003 first).They recently added two more domain controllers for the 2003 upgrade, taking our DC total to six.

Here ya go... Customize the Windows Logon and Security Dialog Title Change the Message Shown on the Logon Box Legal Notice Dialog Box Before Logon Note that the Legal Notice Dialog Box options can be set in Group Policy (and should be set there if you plan to use it).

One question.... Is the file actually encrypted or does it just have a password on it?

Encryption is different from putting a password on the RAR archive. @N1K: You can put passwords on both RAR and ZIP archives. ZIP archives have supported this for a looooong time. With WinZip 9.0 and higher you can even use 256-bit AES encryption on a ZIP archive (an encrypted ZIP archive is much harder to crack than one that simply has a password on it). Even Office applications will allow you to put passwords on your Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, etc. Apparently WinRAR allows you to specify a default password to use for all add/extract functions. I don't use WinRAR much but it looks like it even supports some form of encryption. @breadandbubbles: What version of WinRAR are you using?

Several things to try... 1. Try each RAM stick individually. If they all work in only one slot, then try them in another slot, but only one stick at a time. 2. If available, try another CPU. 3. If available, try another hard drive. 4. If availalbe, try another power supply. 5. Pull everything from the system except for the CPU, one stick of RAM and the video card. Disable any onboard devices that your BIOS will let you (onboard sound, onboard NIC, COM ports, LPT ports, etc, etc). Also detach all power and data cables from any drives you don't need to run Windows Setup (only one hard drive and one optical drive should be attached/powered up). 6. Try changing the PATA/SATA cables. If you get any BSODs during testing be sure to document them. I had a similar problem a while back only I was getting a specific BSOD error. I changed everything from RAM, data cables, power supply, and even the motherboard. It turned out to be the L2 cache in my processor...google Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome or SNDS (yep, I was overvolting it just above the threshold).