O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
I guess it is a popular topic
but I wonder why all of a sudden
its happening now with other
people?

I don't have Seagate per se but
I do have Sea Tools for Windows 1.4.0.2


Back to the question I asked earlier,
is it possible to create a desktop
Safely Remove icon to circumvent the
system tray?

Thanks
Robert

As raw materials, you have the rundll32 command
I posted previously. Maybe you could make
a shortcut of it ?

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
I agree with you about all the fix-it-everything scans
but just wanted to show you what Avast had in case
there was something that interested you.

Before I try testing the Rescue disk I would prefer to
resolve the current problem I'm having of the 2TB
and the Safely Remove icon.

I did however try it out on the 8200 by loading the
disk and then restarting the computer but nothing
happened. Should I have powered it off or changed
the boot order? I thought it would detect the CD if
working properly.

Here's whats on the CD:

http://i68.tinypic.com/2h8bg3l.jpg

Robert

I have my BIOS boot order set to:

1) Floppy
2) CD/DVD drive
3) Hard drive
WD Black
Seagate

The BIOS considers them in that order. If there
is media in the floppy drive, it boots from that.
If there is media in the CD/DVD drive, it boots from
that. If neither (1) or (2) has media, it boots
from the hard drive. Right now the WD Black is
at the top of the hard drive list.

That would allow me to put the Rescue Disc in (2),
and it would automatically have priority over the
hard drive.

So this is something you would set up in the BIOS.

The 8200 may be too old for the popup boot option,
and instead of that, a prioritized boot order
is the next best thing.

My very first PC has none of this, and is a shambles
in terms of booting. It has three or four fixed configurations
with no way to alter anything. The first time I saw it,
it took me half an hour to figure out what they
were talking about. And of course, the "feature"
wasn't explained in the manual either. All the other
computers have prioritized boot order so you can
put one storage device in front of another if you
want. In fact, the default configuration for the
machine, is probably very similar to that.

Paul

I don't recall the rundll32 command
but I would like to get the 2TB drive
disconnected so I can power off the
8500.

This is what I was afraid might happen
by connecting the 2TB again because for
whatever reason I'm not the only one
experiencing the exact same problem.

I changed the boot order for the 8200
and then after exiting it prompted me
for which boot order andI selected 3(CD)

It then gave me this:

Your PC needs to restart.
Please hold down the power button
Error Codexooooo5D
Parameters:
0x030F0102
0x756E6547
0x49656E69
0x6C65746E

I restarted the computer and it
gave me the message to press any
key to boot from the CD.

So now am typing this on the 8200
after booting with the Rescue CD.
I assume that I can use the same
CD for both computers?

However, if I tried this with the
8500 will that not crash the 2TB WD
because it says its still connected
via USB Safely Remove?

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I don't recall the rundll32 command
but I would like to get the 2TB drive
disconnected so I can power off the
8500.

This is what I was afraid might happen
by connecting the 2TB again because for
whatever reason I'm not the only one
experiencing the exact same problem.

I changed the boot order for the 8200
and then after exiting it prompted me
for which boot order andI selected 3(CD)

It then gave me this:

Your PC needs to restart.
Please hold down the power button
Error Codexooooo5D
Parameters:
0x030F0102
0x756E6547
0x49656E69
0x6C65746E

I restarted the computer and it
gave me the message to press any
key to boot from the CD.

So now am typing this on the 8200
after booting with the Rescue CD.
I assume that I can use the same
CD for both computers?

However, if I tried this with the
8500 will that not crash the 2TB WD
because it says its still connected
via USB Safely Remove?

Robert

Bug Check 0x00000053 is "No Boot Device".
There are no details here.

https://web.archive.org/web/20050209...737dbd.xml.asp

From another page I get

Explanation:

This is a Windows 2000 Executive character-mode STOP message. It
indicates that no boot driver was successfully initialized.

So something related to having a boot driver for a
storage device, caused the error.

If the CD booted to the Macrium screen, that's all you
want proof of at the moment. That's a "bare minimum" test.

*******

To reboot the 8500, required selecting "Restart" from
the shutdown menu. Doing a restart is the same as a
shutdown, and will safely remove the 2TB drive as the
screen disappears on Windows 7. So that counts as a clean
shutdown, when it "Restarts". No data should be damaged
on the 2TB. That's as effective as using the Offline
command, but without requiring the usage of Online
the next time.

When it restarts, you can press the BIOS key to enter
the BIOS, and set the boot order as you see fit.

*******

The command I posted already twice, is this one. It
is supposed to cause the Windows "Safely Remove" dialog
to appear. And as a side effect, is supposed to put the
green icon back as well. Until the next time it disappears.
The space characters and punctuation are important.

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

This article, describes how to make a shortcut for it.

https://askleo.com/safely_remove_har...re_without_it/

Note that this doesn't guarantee a damn thing.

Something could still prevent that shortcut from running.

Something could prevent the icon from appearing. Even
visiting the Notification properties and telling
the icon to stay visible, comes with no guarantees.

And we already know that Transactional NTFS will block
attempts to remove the drive.

One recipe I saw, suggested going to Device Manager,
doing properties on the drive, and examining the
"Optimize for Quick Removal" versus "Optimize for Performance".
Someone claims that by changing the setting, rebooting,
changing it back, rebooting, that the mis-characterization
of the drive as a Fixed Disk would stop. I don't
believe that would be the case. It might be better to
just "uninstall" the drive and hope/pray that Windows
rediscovers it and changes the settings. Even that
doesn't come with any guarantees. Removing the device
with Devcon, or finding the entry in Enum and removing it,
might cause Windows to do it the hard way, instead of
cheating and using any old settings it can find.

So in theory, fiddling with the properties for the external
disk in Device Manager is supposed to help, but I'm not holding
my breath. I'm not seeing Transactional NTFS problems here,
implying there are some software differences between
my machine and yours. I don't have some "bad actor" on
the machine. And so far, other than the Lenovo backup software,
I've not read of any other positive identifications of
"bad actors" that cause this problem. It's suspected that
backup software can do it. Which is why I was wondering whether
the Seagate backup software was still installed.

Paul

It was 0x000005D not 53

Although Macrium said it completed I
wanted to make sure we were successful
after I did the reboot:

http://i67.tinypic.com/126fhif.jpg

I remember the RunDll32 command now
but it didn't work when I tried it
or the short cut you gave with it.

I guess its erratic just as you say
because it worked fine this time after
I closed all programs. So sometimes things
work fine and others they don't. How
weird is that?

Believe me I was leery about re-connecting
the 2TB WD but I had to make sure the drive
wasn't junk and I could always do a re-start.

Should I uninstall SeaTools? I don't really
use it.

Well we made a mring file for the 2TB Wd and
confirmed the Rescue disk worked n the 8200.

Is there anything you would like me to do at
this point? Scans? Tests? etc?

Thanks,
Robert

p.s. I think I'm still going to get the 2TB
Seagate and another StarTech case for it.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
It was 0x000005D not 53

Although Macrium said it completed I
wanted to make sure we were successful
after I did the reboot:

http://i67.tinypic.com/126fhif.jpg

I remember the RunDll32 command now
but it didn't work when I tried it
or the short cut you gave with it.

I guess its erratic just as you say
because it worked fine this time after
I closed all programs. So sometimes things
work fine and others they don't. How
weird is that?

Believe me I was leery about re-connecting
the 2TB WD but I had to make sure the drive
wasn't junk and I could always do a re-start.

Should I uninstall SeaTools? I don't really
use it.

Well we made a mring file for the 2TB Wd and
confirmed the Rescue disk worked n the 8200.

Is there anything you would like me to do at
this point? Scans? Tests? etc?

Thanks,
Robert

The STOP codes are here.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

0x0000005D: UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR

It indicates that there is a processor present that is not supported.

I have no idea what that means.

And the information here is no more reassuring, as to what happened.

http://www.geoffchappell.com/studies...gchecks/5d.htm

*******

In your picture, you want to set the File Explorer display
to show the size details. That's the best way to compare
the current backup, to the previous one.

*******

There is no reason to uninstall Seatools at the moment.
I don't think it runs any background services and
generally doesn't fool around. However, it can erase
the config space on a Cypress USB controller chip.
And I can't remember now, whether it's the Windows
version of Seatools that does that, or the MSDOS version.
It's probably the Windows version, because I think
the MSDOS version can't even "see" USB drives.

*******

I usually relate scans or tests to symptoms.

The Transactional NTFS, I don't think a scan will
uncover the root cause. And I did see one report it
was erratic. (It depends I suppose, on the root
cause. Maybe not everyone has the same root cause.
Like the guy with the Lenovo branded backup software.)

I don't see a reason why the rundll32 command won't
work. You can run it from a command prompt window,
in order to observe any "feedback" the command provides.
That's what I would do to test it. If it said "error 5",
that would be permissions, and you'd want an administrator
command window in that case.

Paul

I connected the 2TB WD again to give you
the details:

http://i68.tinypic.com/rasz1w.jpg

Safely Remove again behaved normally but I
will keep the rundll32 command to try in
case the icon starts acting up again.

When I get my Seagate 2TB drive do I not
first clone it then put it in the 8500 to
boot for the first time then thereafter I
image the drive and create a label e.g.
(Win7-1 manual backup). Correct?

Many Thanks
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I connected the 2TB WD again to give you
the details:

http://i68.tinypic.com/rasz1w.jpg

Safely Remove again behaved normally but I
will keep the rundll32 command to try in
case the icon starts acting up again.

When I get my Seagate 2TB drive do I not
first clone it then put it in the 8500 to
boot for the first time then thereafter I
image the drive and create a label e.g.
(Win7-1 manual backup). Correct?

Many Thanks
Robert

Do you want it to be a boot drive for emergencies ?

If so, you could clone the internal drive.
After cloning the internal drive, you adjust
the size of the external partitions for best
efficiency. Then put the external drive
inside the machine, and boot it at least once
to prove everything works.

If the new drive was solely for backups, then
you'd create a folder on it, with a name you
can remember. And put named backups (.mrimg) in it.
Or, use the Comment feature.

I see in your picture, you have a folder now, and
you could Edit your backup XML control file to point
it at that folder, so the backups go directly into
that folder when you make them.

Paul

I want too set the 2TB Seagate up exactly like we
did the 2TB WD so that I can use it a replacement
drive when/if needed. Basically because of the sound
issue with the WD.

From the sound of it, it looks like I may need you
to walk me through some of it. I also plan to buy
another Star Tech case for it.

The last two times, this popped up after Safely Remove
said it was ok to remove the 2TB WD.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2gxh4kg.jpg

Robert

Should I uninstall USBSafelyRemove and
see if the normal Safely Remove icon works?

I can always re-install it or use the rundll32
command or restart the computer.

Robert

After cloning the internal drive, you adjust
the size of the external partitions for best
efficiency.

If the new drive was solely for backups, then
you'd create a folder on it, with a name you
can remember. And put named backups (.mrimg) in it.
Or, use the Comment feature.

These are the two I would need you to walk me
through especially partitioning since I've only
done them once. Then I suppose I would do image
backups for both the 2TB WD and the 2TB Seagate
to keep both current.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I want too set the 2TB Seagate up exactly like we
did the 2TB WD so that I can use it a replacement
drive when/if needed. Basically because of the sound
issue with the WD.

From the sound of it, it looks like I may need you
to walk me through some of it. I also plan to buy
another Star Tech case for it.

The last two times, this popped up after Safely Remove
said it was ok to remove the 2TB WD.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2gxh4kg.jpg

Robert


You can clone either the internal 1TB drive.

Or clone the 2TB WD Black.

And have a bootable system.

One of those will be "newer" than the other.
Perhaps one of them has less issues than the other.

*******

The error message must be coming from

USB Safely Remove

since the OS doesn't put up dialogs like that.

And I don't see why they would particularly care.
Once a USB device is safely removed, the OS can restart,
hardware detection can spot it again, and mount it again.
There is no "safety" issue, if it has already been
safely removed.

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
After cloning the internal drive, you adjust
the size of the external partitions for best
efficiency.

If the new drive was solely for backups, then
you'd create a folder on it, with a name you
can remember. And put named backups (.mrimg) in it.
Or, use the Comment feature.

These are the two I would need you to walk me
through especially partitioning since I've only
done them once. Then I suppose I would do image
backups for both the 2TB WD and the 2TB Seagate
to keep both current.

Robert

You do image backups, of things you wish to keep
safe and restore at a future date. It's generally
not recommended to make "backups of backups",
because it's a waste of space (it is slightly
harder to manage if you do that).

Original
1TB disk
| |
| |
Backup Backup
Disk #1 Disk #2

You can create backups from the source disk,
to be stored on each backup disk. That gives you
triplicate storage. An approach like that might
be required, if the information was very very
important, or, if the two backup devices just
weren't all that reliable (could drop dead
tomorrow). I have some scratch disks in the
"drop dead" category, and I cannot trust those
for backups all that much. However, if I made
two sets of backups, I would be protected against
the unreliable backup drive suddenly becoming
unavailable.

*******

I had you set up the bootable operating system
on your backup drive, as a source of
convenience. If the original disk and setup
behave as if corrupted or malware was on
the disk, the idea was the external disk could
be pressed into service as an emergency boot disk.

If you leave boot OSes on all disks, it becomes
hard to manage all the stray bits of data
(your "bookmarks" file). So while this is a
great feature in moderation, it also requires
some care on your part, not to lose any files
while messing around with all these various
versions of stuff.

What I do, is only have the one live copy of the
OS. And I have my backup. If my internal drive
failed, I would just restore a backup to a new
drive, and boot the new drive. That's how I would
get up and running again. I use my Macrium Rescue CD
for that. I've tested it on both machines, and it
boots on both of them.

In some cases, if I need more horsepower, I
move the internal drive on this machine, to
the newer computer. I make a clone copy of just
the OS partition, put it on a 500GB drive, and
use that to boot the computer I'm typing on.
Now, most of my data files are not accessible,
but I can still type. While on the other machine,
that disk can be scanned or whatever (as it is
just a data disk when connected to the other machine).

To make my little tricks work, requires having
a few small drives sitting there for experiments.
Each of those drives has a label written in marker pen.
If a drive says "Empty" on the outside, if there
is an OS on it, the OS can be erased. Since the
drive status is "Empty". If some experiment needs
to be kept, then the label is erased and a new
label applied to it. In some cases, I write
how much spare space is left on it. So that's how
I keep track of what is going on. There are about
six drives on the shelf, and one drive inside
the other computer. And marker pen everywhere :-)

Paul

Hmmmmmmmmm that's a good point I
didn't think about one being newer and
one having less issues. The 1TB is newer
but the 2TB probably has fewer issues.

I suppose we can clone the 2TB then create
a mrimg from the 1TB to bring it up to date.

Wow, I guess you do have marker pens
everywhere!@! *L* I've have to do something
similar to keep track of the drives since the cases
will be identical. Probably label them 1 and 2.

Some of my data is important which is why
I was concerned about it and the bookmarks
because I would loose all my Internet navigational
links as well as all my Dell images, documentation
and research that I've spent literally years accumulating.

I will let you decide the best way to set it
up but it shouldn't be all that difficult once
the drive is cloned to keep updating both with
image backups from then on same as I've done
on the 1TB Seagate backup for the 8200.

I can set up a schedule and do all of them at the
same time once a month? or ?

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert