videobruce

Now since we all got way off the subject and all had our soapbox speech, can we get back to the problem please? The separate bootable drives which I have been running for the last 3 1/2 years have been a lifesaver for me a couple of times when the main drive either got a virus, or got corupted and I had to get into the system, I use a toggle switch...yes toggle switch (DPDT or with my first WD drives, a 4PDT on the front of the case under the bezel running to the M/S pins for the jumper settings which I used a ATA connector cut down to fit into the 6 pin slot to select between master and slave. (Having a controller card, all you have to do is select in the cards bios which drive is to be booted from). Up to 2k this has not been a problem, but now I can't clone this drive to beat the band! I tried to load 2k with both drives connected but there were problems with data getting on the other drive, so I disconnected the 2nd drive and loaded the O/S and everything else, but now I can't clone this drive to a image file and copy that to the other drive without errors. I tried sysprep but that doesn't help. P.S. thanks Brian........

1. I don't know NT sees drives that are hidden in the bios. This is the first I have heard of it. I have been to many forms and never have seen this. I'm sure if this is as common as you suggest something would of been written somewhere, actually, many places and I would of have seen it. 2. M$ has a response towards VIA chipsets which leads one to believe that it is a M$/Via issue, NOT all M/B's, Bios, chipsets etc. 3. I was refering to the Wintel monopoly, the chipsets that is, no mention of the operating system was made when the "Via sucks" comment was made. The O/S you are almost stuck to use since it is in 95%+ of the systems out there. It doesn't do me any good to have a O/S that is barely supported by most programs. I would be the same as not owning a auto these days because of the billions that are dumped into the highway system in this country vs the pennies mass transit gets! The processor/chipset I DO have a choice. Since M$ and Intel are so closely related, and are in in bed with one another, of course they will work together better. They have a advantage because of this. This is what I mean by a monoply!

Wrong..............it's M$ that sucks! Stop supporting a monoploy!

I do have X-Setup but that has nothing to do with the problem. It is a M$ problem and their lack of support of VIA chipsets...... period!!! The O/S ignores what the bios is telling it and shows the drive anyway! The M$ fix doesn't work! Thanks for the Group Policy idea...........about as bad as X Setup........more to get you in trouble!

Hell with Wintell........ Stop supporting a monopoly! For the guy that said avoid Amd & Via, look around at all the enthusists sites, AMD and the Via KT266A chipset boards are the overclockers choice. http://www.anandtech.com/searchresults.html?topic=2&action=listarticles http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/index.html Those are probably the best sites for reviews.

Do you have SP2 installed? Do you have any other USB cameras or devices? Have you completely un-installed the software and re-installed it? Did you get a newer driver from Intel? I have a Epox 8-KTA M/B and have used 3 USB cameras on 2k and no real problems (not at the same time). There is a program I love from: www.4dev.com called Registry Crawler V4. It does a great job of finding all the left over crap from programs and especially drivers that get un-installed but leave half of the crap behind. Especially Logitech and Creative which have very bloated software!!!!! There might be left over entries behind causing the problem. Are you logged in as a administrator?

I want to have 2 switchable, bootable drives in 2k w/SP2 & FAT32. Using SystemWorks 2002 I imaged the first drive and used sysprep.exe per M$ prior to imaging the drive. I do the image, transfer the image to the other drive go through the setup, but still get the mshta.exe error when I open up add/remove programs. To make matters worse if I disconnect the working drive, the backup drive that I just imaged wont finish loading. Explorer seems to lock up at 99% processor usage. Apparenly there are files from the first drive that are being crossed used (for lack of a better term) on the 2nd drive. The other problem is the VIA chipset and 2k. The mod from M$ doesn't work because 2 out of the 3 keys you are to modify to get the Via chipset to work with the O/S are different that what the question deals with. For those who don't know, the ide channels can't be hidden from the O/S in the bios. 2k still sees the drive even though I have it disabled in the bios! The M/B is a Epox EP8-KTA with a KT-133 chipset. This is M$ question #272586. I have used Ghost with 98SE and ME and absolutly no problem with my dual drive booting setup. I have done this with 4 different systems and they all work fine. I have a backup if the frist drive goes down. I don't have to work in DOS, I can access the other drives O/S when it is not active making it easy to change, fix or replace files that might be bad. If more info is needed please ask. Symantec said I can't have 2 bootable drives in 2k.....