Re: Unable to install Operating System--RESOLVED!

It seems the the irresistible force of my troubleshooting did indeed move
the formerly immovable object (my Dell Dimension 8100)! (:-o)!

For those new to this thread, I'll summarize; I was doing a routine download
and execution of a proggie to help me track down a slow boot. Then, after
years of working just fine on XP Pro/SP2 I got:
"A desk read error occurred"
"Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

I got lots of advice from folks reading here and on other forums. Some from
the terminally clueless. Some pointless. Some just plain wrong. Some
about unrelated issues. And just 2 that helped me narrow down the issue
with some directed advice.

I had explained that I'd installed a new HDD, yet folks would assert that my
drive was going bad. I'd explain that I'd tried other, older and/or
different versions of the OS (Win2KP) and folks would submit that it was the
*&^%$#@! SP2, or XP in general, or Microsoft in particular; with some even
finding time to cast dispersions on the current administration for this
issue (albeit not in this forum). There was absolutely no shortage of folks
with an axe to grind. Others asserted that it was surely an Internet
sourced virus, Trojan, or worm. My words explaining that this was happening
in the boot cycle just didn't seem to have any weight to them. I've been
running NTFS since NT first offered it. Yet folks would insist that only a
FAT/FAT32 formatted drive could work. Others asserted that I had gotten
some well deserved malware because I didn't or wouldn't run Linux or a Mac.
Trust me, the level of stupidity, ignorance, arrogance, and just outright
hatred for any thing MS related out there is frightening!

I had reduced my system to mouse & KB; video card; and a new HDD (tested and
certified on another system). The mouse and KB handlers are in the mobo, so
they're hard to isolate; as is the IDE interface. I was in the process of
getting ready to install an IDE card to eliminate the integrated one, when
it occurred to me to "hand-manage" the heretofore automatic "cable select"
settings on my HDD's. I made drive 0 the hard master, and voila! It came
right up.

Since the cable's are okay, the problem has to be on the mobo, in the device
select/control logic. Although priority one is to get this unit up, so I
can read my mail and get back on-line, I'm going to have to get that mobo
replaced.

Hopefully my experiences will help others "find the light"...

All-in-all, I've found XP to be good, solid, stable, and all-around pretty
easy to use. It's all I recommend to my customers. I'll only work on a W2K
machine if they're going to upgrade to XP while I'm there...

About the only drag at the moment is that I couldn't locate the file I'd
downloaded some years back from "Tomsterdam's" excellent site for that
freebie OE backup utility. I had backed my OE up with that, and now find
that he's taken it down for some work so I can't replace my missing
file...drat!

Also, for some of you software wizards out there. So much of what OE does
is held in the registry. A tool that permits one to extract that info
(accounts, rules, etc.) and apply it to a new installation would be most
useful. It's gonna be a drag having to recreate some 200 accounts, rules,
and so on... But, at least my box is back and I can browse on my own
machine from now on...


Signing off'a this one,
DustyB
....


.

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