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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2005-06-13

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

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1) USB Boot And Other Problems

Fred: I'm writing because "Laptop Setup Secrets"( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163105444 ) struck a familiar, and as yet unsolved, chord.

Briefly, I have a Fujitsu S6210 Lifebook with an OEM installation of WinXP Home & among the pre-installed software is Drive Image SE (DISE). This is a nice light-weight notebook that doesn't have a floppy drive, but does have 3 USB ports. A few weeks back I decided it was time to create an updated disk image, so tried to run DISE, but got an error message that it couldn't find a file (vfloppy.sys), a so-called fake floppy. No luck, but a Google search led to the explanation ... since the file hadn't been used for some time, WinXP "blued" it out [compressed it]. The remedy was to change the file attributes to not allow compression, then try again. But nooo, DISE still wouldn't run. Instead I get some error messages upon 1st bootup (Err5, Err 8, can't find fake floppy, strike any key to boot active partition, e.g., the hard drive). And yet, the files it couldn't find were in plain sight.

A little more search suggested that the master boot record needed to be fixed. Okay, run the Recovery console & use the command FIXMBR. But nooo, on this (& apparently other OEM installations), the Recovery Console is not installed. OK, do a Web chat with Fujitsu (contractor?) who wrote, Fujitsu doesn't support the Recovery Console, you need to boot with a Win98 boot disk & use FDISK /MBR. But since the  notebook *doesn't* have a floppy drive, how to do this? Rather than creating a bootable CD I thought, why not take advantage of the fact that the notebook is preconfigured to boot from a USB port, so apparently the route is to make a bootable disk from something that will access the system from that port. Logically, that meant, make a bootable flash drive, in my case a 512MB Memorex TravelDrive, using boot files from bootdisk.com. But then the question is: use the files with a RAM drive or custom w/o RAM drive, and how to do this? Okay, a little more search led to an HP utility to make a flash drive bootable. So I expanded the boot files & tried to make a bootable flash, but got error message "no valid DOS files".

Okay, maybe I needed to do something about a .cab file so expanded it so that all DOS files were in plain sight. Nope, "no valid DOS files". OKay, give up, try to use the non-RAM drive version. This time it seemed to like what it saw, but this led to a choice of what file system on the flash, just plain FAT, FAT32 or NTSF. Based on something I saw on an on-line forum, decided that FAT probably meant FAT16 which was what the forum thread suggested. Did so ... nada! So then I just copied all the DOS files to the flash drive, thinking that maybe it'd see an Autoexec.bat & do its thing. Nope ... all I continue to get is the "Err5, Err8 strike any key" message. Present status: DISE will not run, the annoying error messages are still there upon bootup, but once that (famous) ANYKEY is struck, WinXP boots & runs just fine. Bottom line: do you or someone know of any straight-forward, bulletproof method for making a bootable flash drive. ---Jerry Gluck

There's a whole series of issues at play here, so let's take them in turn.

The "fake floppy" is a kind of mini-image of a DOS boot floppy. When you tell Powerquest's Drive Image to reboot to DOS, it alters the boot sequence so the system tries to boot from the simulated DOS floppy files instead of from the normal OS. The "fake floppy not found" error can be caused by a number of factors, including having the DOS boot files compressed by the OS, or by having a shortcut-repair tool try to "fix" what it thinks is a broken shortcut. (Norton WinDoctor is famous for doing this, until and unless you tell it to permanently ignore the Drive Image files.)

One fix for the "fake floppy not found" is to rerun the DI install tool, and select the "repair" option. If that doesn't work, then a full reinstall will do the trick.

But that's a pain if you have to do it often, so what I did (back when I was using DI) was create a boot cd with the DI floppy files on it. That always worked, and avoided all the problems caused by the DOS floppy simulation files. It's also a little more reliable than booting from USB, as DOS-level CD drivers have been around for 15+ years; it's a thoroughly wrung-out, bulletproof technology. USB booting is much newer, and there are still rough spots.

But here's help: The article "Solving USB Boot Problems" includes step by step instructions, plus screen shots and links to free downloads that may help you get a USB drive to boot:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=28700158

"The USB Drive Revolution" also contains additional information that may help:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22100588

Still More Info:
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=usb+boot&as_sitesearch=langa.com
http://www.google.com/search?q=usb+boot

(And BTW, unless you've setup XP with FAT32, you don't want to run Win9x's FDISK /MBR; FDISK knows nothing of NTFS!)

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2) Another "Browser Helper Object" Tool

Our discussion of the "BHOdemon" tool ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-06-06.htm#2 ) brought this follow-up email:

Hi Fred, Nice to have real-time protection, but you can just display BHO's with SysInternal's Process Explorer ( http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html ). ---Steve Groginsky

Thanks, Steve. Lots of other goodies on that site, too!

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3) Better Way To Add A Second Drive?

The item "Reusing An Old Drive In A New PC" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-05-30.htm#1 ) brought several emails like this:

Hi Fred, Surely it would be a lot easier to use the old drive in a USB housing. That way it can be switched on when wanted and not take up wanted space in the computer. I am using a 200GB drive in a USB housing to backup my collection of CDs. This is split into two partitions 1 20 GB for the CD booklets and the other for the CDs. My computer has two hard drives as well as a dvd and cdrom. ---Alan Rutherford

The main benefit of an external drive housing is portability: You can move an external drive from system to system. Plus, as Alan states, it's also a way to add a drive to a system with no internal drive bays available.

But absent those two particular conditions, I think internal mounts are better. For one thing, there's no extra cost involved (no external housing to purchase); the drive can be accessed natively and at full speed, rather than through the additional complexity and mediation of USB; and there's less possibility of damage because there's no external housing to knock over. (Don't ask me how I know this. <g>)

External drive housings can be fine, but I really see them as special-use things, rather than as a first choice for adding a drive to a PC.

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4) IP V6

Fred, I thought this might help someone.  I was in a hotel recently, using their broadband, and having very strange results: some pages were fine, but others wouldn't load, for no apparent reason.  And I was having trouble with email as well.  I put up with it for a while, tried various things (rebooting, the "Register this connection's addresses in DNS" checkbox in Advanced TCP/IP properties, which occasionally seems to make some routers happier, etc.) to no avail.  Eventually I located the provider's tent card on the desk, which listed their URL.  When THAT didn't load, I called their support.

I got a guy who was coherent, and who quickly tuned his responses to the fact that I had a clue (we went from "Click the start button..." to "Go to a command prompt and type..." nice and quickly; this is another topic, but a skill that too many support folks lack!).  When I described the symptoms, he had me type:

ipv6 uninstall

(after reassuring me that "ipv6 install" would be the antidote if needed), which ran.  Then I rebooted and lo! the connection was happy.  I thanked him, and asked why it mattered, and he said, "To be honest, I don't know; I just know that this is a common problem."

I finally found an explanation (via Google, of course):

"For example, this problem may occur when a Windows client computer that is running IPv6 tries to access a Web site. The Windows client will try to resolve the host name (for example, www.example.com) on behalf of applications that support both IPv6 and IPv4. To do this, the Windows client will query for both "AAAA" records and "A" records, unless the application specifies which protocol to use. If the DNS server replies with an authoritative response that returns NXDOMAIN or NAME_ERROR, Windows will return this response to applications, such as Internet Explorer. Because of this, the application will fail to resolve the host name and will be unable to access the site. Note that Windows clients will also cache this negative response. This prevents additional queries for this name from succeeding until the client cache is cleared."

Using some of the keywords from this page finally found me a Microsoft article, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqipv6.mspx#ECAAA; the answer is hidden under the question, "Q. Why can't applications, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, resolve domain names to IPv6 addresses for some DNS servers?" (I had Googled for: "ipv6 uninstall" aaaa nxdomain and then "Find" on the page didn't find "nxdomain", so I found it in the page source...sigh).

Since this was a pretty opaque failure mode, to put it mildly, I figured this tip might help someone else.  I've been running since then without ipv6, and none of my other apps have complained. Cheers, Phil Smith III

Thanks, Phil. IP v6--- the "Next Generation Internet"--- is something we'll all have to become more familiar with as time goes on. V6 uses a different, better addressing scheme, among other things, than the IPv4 in common use today. But, as is so often the case, the transition may be somewhat messy....

Good reading:
http://www.ipv6.org/
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3316
http://www.google.com/search?q=ipv6

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5) "Dell - Software Support or Extortion?"

Reader Henry S. Winokur forwarded this note, which was passed along from person to person, apparently originating from one Art Wolinsky:

My Dell laptop came configured with Dell Support loading on the tray.  (It's about 6 months old.)  From time to time a bubble pops up with an alert.  Normally I just click them closed without reading them. For some reason, I looked at today's alert.  It informed me that on June 3, they will AUTOMATICALLY install Dell Support 3.0 on my computer and that the new software will monitor my system and send  updates back to Dell to insure that my software is running properly. It further explained that if I did not want Dell Support 3.0 installed on my computer, I would have to remove Dell Support via the Add/Remove Programs menu.
 
I have enough loaded on my tray already, and I just upgraded memory to improve performance.  No way do I want this software on my  computer. No problem... I'll go uninstall it. The only problem is that it will not uninstall.
 
OK, let's call Dell tech support.  After a 20 minute wait and another 15-20 minutes of unsuccessful attempts.  I am transferred to the software division.  After explaining my problem the "non-technical advisor" she begins advising me of the three different payment options I have for resolving my problem.
 
Wait a minute...  Let me see if I have this right.  You installed Dell Support on my computer and then tell me that if I don't want the upgrade, I'm going to have to pay you help me get off what you put on?
 
After some discussion, it is absolutely clear that is the case with "no exceptions".  Any software support I need, no matter what the nature of that support, I am going to have to pay for.
 
I would have absolutely no problem paying for support on any software that I have installed or modified, but to me this amounts to either extortion or a support system that needs to be fixed.  If the system is so inflexible that people that I spoke with have their hand tied and can't rectify this obvious inequity, something is wrong.
 
Now besides this issue, I have a problem if the only way people are being notified about this upgrade is thorough the alert bubble.  If I understand things correctly, Dell Support 3.0 is significantly different from what is currently installed. It would see to me that changes significantly increase the intrusion into my computer. Shouldn't I be notified in some other way than an alert bubble.  If an e-mail was sent out on this, I have either not received it or my spam filter ate it.
 
Am I being unreasonable to expect Dell to assist me in removing the software? ---Art Wolinsky

Well, this is one of the reasons why I like to strip out all the excess software baggage that comes with new PCs. My new laptop is a Dell, but I used the techniques described in "Laptop Setup Secrets" ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16310544 to do a clean install of XP that did NOT include the automated Dell support tools. (I go to the Dell web site from time to time to look for updates, manually.)

That was the whole gist of the "Laptop Setup Secrets" article; and much of that article also applies to ordinary (non-laptop) PCs as well.

You don't have to live with all the excess crud that vendors load on their PCs!

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6) Recommend This Newsletter And Win!

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.)

Check out the details at http://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) "Read Error" In Backups

Dear Fred, Just renewed my Plus subscription.  'Tis well worth it - thanks for the good work.

I Need help getting around a problem that prevents me from doing backups on my trusty Dell laptop.  If my suspicions are right, then the faith we have been putting in our long thought out backup procedures may be in for a bit of a test.

My last backup using Drive Image 5.0 aborted with a "read error."

Now for some history: During a recent defrag, a bad sector was found on my "C" drive. I ran a thorough scan and a cluster was marked as bad.

I suspect that Drive Image burped attempting to read the bad sector (yep, it is set up to skip unused ones).

Is it not quite normal for a hard drive to develop bad clusters/sectors over its lifetime?  But, if so, I am surprised that my imaging software can't avoid them. (Windows is able to ignore them - defrag and other disk utilities work without errors).

...so here I be, unable to make backup images because my imaging software has a bad case of sector seizure.

Now here's the scary part: Reviewing different internet forums and news groups leads me to believe that a newer version of Drive Image or Ghost or even BootIt NG will also fail. I'm guessing they all do more of a bit copy (as opposed to file copy) type of operation and don't have the smarts to avoid bad neighborhoods.

Do you, or your readers, know of another imager that will work?  I did find a site for a heavy duty forensic imaging app that had a switch to avoid bad sectors - but it cost over $1200. Ouch!

Any other suggestions on how I could image my hard drive would be appreciated. I am trying to avoid the expense of replacing it - at least for another few years (did I mention I'm Scot?).  Hopefully I am not gonna be reduced to using an xcopy type of utility from native DOS.    8-(

Many Thanks, Dave
 

The better imaging tools do a scandisk-type of disk check, before running, to help prevent this kind of trouble. You also can set most imaging tools to verify the image, after it's made; this catches problems right away, before they extend deep into your backup collection. There also are several ways to test your backups/images periodically to verify that the stored files are still OK. More info:

How To Verify If Backups Are OK
http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-10-14.htm#2

Silent Failures Of Backups And Images
http://langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-07-10.htm#3

If you also run Windows' own Scandisk or Chkdsk as a normal part of your routine hard drive maintenance, and let them do a full "surface scan" every now and again, you should be able to avoid most disk problems in the first place, and catch the ones that are unavoidable before they do much, if any, harm. Coupled with a good imaging tool, like BootIt's imager, you should be fine.

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8) Another Code Load Success Story

After his site was listed in the last "Load The Code" section, this reader wrote:

Just wanted to say a big "Thank you". Your newsletter is incredible, Backup4all ( http://www.backup4all.com ) was mentioned again on the 9th of May in your newsletter, and the number of hits increased with 400% ! That's incredible for us as we usually have a lot of traffic but it's a big boom. Thank you very much, your link is now posted on every page of our website and it will stay in there forever :)).

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see http://langa.com/link.txt )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://langa.com/readersites.htm

Techno Freek
http://www.techno-freek.blogspot.com/

Fractured Grfx
http://members.cox.net/fractured-grfx/

old-runner-new-goals
http://completerunning.com/old-runner-new-goals/

Darrel's Domain
http://Darrel.damon.name/

Judo
http://judo.do.sapo.pt/

Kenneth Gomez
http://www.kgomez.com/

A Golden Opportunity
http://www.uslink.net/~golden/links.html

Blind Web Designer
http://www.jeffsinfoworld.org/computerspage.html

Bob's Interests
http://www.caercoork.com/bobs/interest.htm

northern comfort (Canadian photos)
http://northerncomfort.info/

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9) What's Hiding In "Network Places?"

Dear Fred, After reading you article about Asian attacks on servers ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-04-11.htm#2 ) I opened my network places and found two entries there that did not mean much to me.

One seems to be a property group that does online auctions with which I have nothing to do.  The other is a credit bureau that I use quite often.  I do not really understand the significance of My network places.

I tried to lookup further with Karen's Discombobulate ( http://www.karenware.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-15.asp ) as well as another tool  but the message that I received was that that South African    .co.za,    who is,   was not available.  I always get this message relating to .co.za / South African sites.

Can I safely remove these entries or will I run into future problems when accessing internet sites?

I am a plus reader who has been a subscriber from inception of your site as I was a Winmag subscriber.

Many Thanks, Selwyn Mendelsohn

Yes, you can remove them. The "Network Places" folder is just a way of saving special shortcuts to places on any network (local, wide, or inter) to which you have access. Deleting a link from Network Places doesn't prohibit future access; it just removes the preconfigured link.

But: Windows may check items in Network Places at startup, which opens a potential avenue to phone-home activity. It's not a huge risk, and doesn't necessarily imply that anything personal is being mined and sent out. But still, it probably makes sense to clean out Network Places from time to time, removing any old items or those you don't immediately recognize. More info:

http://langa.com/u/0r.htm
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22my+network+places%22
http://www.securityfriday.com/Topics/winxp1.html

BTW: Some of My Network Places' automatic functions can be disabled, if you wish. For example, see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;242578

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10) Just For Grins

Fred, I was just reading the latest Just For Grins ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-06-06.htm#10 ) and thought you might want to follow up with this, http://www.shockhaber.com/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.htm

Really appreciate every issue of the Plus edition of the news letter. Thanks, Bill Tone

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including:

• Connection Frustration
     (cable not delivering anywhere near the speed it should)
• Free Website Link Checker
     (find dead links on a site)
• "Reinsert Disk" Over And Over
     (asks for a disk at every boot...)

Plus! Edition info: http://langa.com/plus.htm 

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(Give a gift subscription to the LangaList Plus edition!
Click <a href= " http://langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

The LangaList is published about 72 times a year, or about 6 times a month. See you next issue, 2005-06-20!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://langa.com.  (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site.

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