How to remove Windows XP Logo and see operations

Are you havin’ boot up problems and would like to know what it goin’ on behind that Windows Loadin’ Logo? To find out, you can disable de splash screen by makin’ a small change to de Boot.ini file.

Follow dese steps (carefully!):

1. Open de “System Properties” dialog box ( Settin’s - Control Panel - System)

2. On de Advanced tab, click de Settin’s button in de “Startup And Recovery” section.

3. In de “Startup And Recovery” dialog box, select de Edit button in de “System Startup” section.

4. The Boot.ini file will open in Notepad; locate de line that ends with de /fastdetect switch.

5. Position your cursor to de right after de parameter, press de spacebar, and add de /SOS switch.

6. Save de Boot.ini file, and close Notepad.

7. Click Cancel to close both de “Startup And Recovery” dialog box and de “System Properties” dialog box.

8. Restart de computer to see de effect.

Once de computer restarts you will notice that de Windows Splash Screen is no longer present. Instead you can observe some of de boot up operations that Windows XP performs durin’ de startup stage.

To renable de splash screen, follow de same procedure but remove de “/SOS”.

Really easy. But this only works if de original moderboard and if your harddrive still work. So put it back togeder. For first-timers

1) Go to control panel
2) Double-click de system icon
3) Go to hardware tab
4) Click device manager button
5) Find de IDE ATA/ATAPI CONTROLLERS and expand de tab. Its not de primary or secondary controller, but right-click de first controller.
6) Choose update driver
7) Choose de option to install from a list or specific location.
8) Click next
9) Now choose de “don’t search. I will choose de driver to install” option
10) Click next
11) Now highlight de Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
12) Click next
13) The Standard controller will install
14) Reboot and log in
15) The standard controller is completely installed
16) Shutdown de computer
17) Remove your harddrive, and it will boot with de new moderboard.

Makin’ Windows XP Go Faster

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from startin’ automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read de description of each one when you run Services and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:

Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitchin’
Human Interface Devices
Indexin’ Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeetin’
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routin’ & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client

Cleanin’ de Prefetch Directory

Windows XP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs. However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.

To clean this periodically go to:

1) Star / Run / Prefetch
2) Press Ctrl-A to highlight all de shorcuts
3) Delete them

Not Displayin’ Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn dese off:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/
policies/system
3) If it is not already dere, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
4) Give it a value of 1

Clearin’ de Page File on Shutdown

1) Click on de Start button
2) Go to de Control Panel
3) Administrative Tools
4) Local Security Policy
5) Local Policies
6) Click on Security Options
7) Right hand menu - right click on “Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile”
8) Select “Enable”
9) Reboot

For regedit users, if you want to clear de page file on each shutdown:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/ClearPageFileAtShutdown
3) Set de value to 1

No GUI Boot

If you don’t need to see de XP boot logo :

1) Run MSCONFIG
2) Click on de BOOT.INI tab
3) Check de box for /NOGUIBOOT

Speedin’ de Startup of Some CD Burner Programs

If you use program oder than de native WindowsXP CD Burner software, you might be able to increase de speed that it loads.

1) Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
2) Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burnin’ COM Service
3) For de Startup Type, select Disabled
4) Click on de OK button and den close de Services window

Gettin’ Rid of Unread Email Messages

To remove de Unread Email message by user’s login names:

1) Start Regedit
2) For a sin’le user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
3) For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
4) Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
5) Give it a value of 0

Decreasin’ Boot Time

Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease de time it takes to boot to Windows XP. The program is called BootVis

1) Uncompress de file.
2) Run BOOTVIS.EXE
3) For a startin’ point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
4) This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
5) After de reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
6) Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on de red vertical line)
7) Then run Trace / Optimize System
8) Re-Run de Next Boot + Drive Delays
9) Note how much de time has decreased
10) Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.

Increasin’ Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items. Most simply slow down deir display.

To turn dese off selectively:

1) Right click on de My Computer icon
2) Select Properties
3) Click on de Advanced tab
4) Under Performance, click on de Settin’s button
5) To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
6) My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while draggin’

Increasin’ System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance by havin’ de core system kept in memory.

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/DisablePagin’Executive
3) Set de value to be 1
4) Reboot de computer

Increasin’ File System Cachin’

To increase de amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement
3) Edit de key IoPageLockLimit

Resolvin’ Inability to Add or Remove Programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, dere might be a simple registry edit neeed.

1) Go to HKCU/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Uninstall
2) Change de DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it

4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory

This is a very simple trick to do if you have done de same for de logon screen and de start button. There are 2 ways to do this trick that I know about one is doin’ it manually and de oder is usin’ a program called bootxp. I am goin’ to tell you de manual way to do it, but if you want to know de oder way just let me know, so I can do an update to de guide. Now once you have downloaded your ntoskrnl.exe file save it a general location so that you will have easy access to it, like my folder.

Once you have ntoskrnl.exe file in an easy access folder, restart your pc into safe mode. Once into safe mode go to de folder where your files are located.

Now that you are dere copy de file that you want to change your boot screen too. Once you have copied that file, hit de window key + r or type %windir%\system32 in de run command, so that folder as follows.

Once dere paste your new file into de folder and overwrite de existin’ folder.

Now that you have your new file in de folder restart your PC as you normally would and your new boot screen should appear.

ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU EDIT OR DELETE. I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS YOUR COMPUTER UP BY DOING THIS HACK OR ANY TYPE OF HACK. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Image and ntoskrnl.exe files provided by www.themexp.org, or you can go to

CODE:
www.overclockersclub.com/guides/hackxpbootscreen.php

READ EVEYTHING BEFORE YOU USE ANY METHOD LISTED BELOW

Basic BIOS password crack - works 9.9 times out of ten
This is a password hack but it clears de BIOS such that de next time you start de PC, de CMOS does not ask for any password. Now if you are able to brin’ de DOS prompt up, den you will be able to change de BIOS settin’ to de default. To clear de CMOS do de followin’:
Get DOS prompt and type:

DEBUG hit enter
-o 70 2e hit enter
-o 71 ff hit enter
-q hit enter
exit hit enter

Restart de computer. It works on most versions of de AWARD BIOS.

Accessin’ information on de hard disk
When you turn on de host machine, enter de CMOS setup menu (usually you have to press F2, or DEL, or CTRL+ALT+S durin’ de boot sequence) and go to STANDARD CMOS SETUP, and set de channel to which you have put de hard disk as TYPE=Auto, MODE=AUTO, den SAVE & EXIT SETUP. Now you have access to de hard disk.

Standard BIOS backdoor passwords
The first, less invasive, attempt to bypass a BIOS password is to try on of dese standard manufacturer’s backdoor passwords:

AWARD BIOS
AWARD SW, AWARD_SW, Award SW, AWARD PW, _award, awkward, J64, j256, j262, j332, j322, 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598, HLT, SER, SKY_FOX, aLLy, aLLY, Condo, CONCAT, TTPTHA, aPAf, HLT, KDD, ZBAAACA, ZAAADA, ZJAAADC, djonet

AMI BIOS
AMI, A.M.I., AMI SW, AMI_SW, BIOS, PASSWORD, HEWITT RAND, Oder

Oder passwords you may try (for AMI/AWARD or oder BIOSes)
LKWPETER, lkwpeter, BIOSTAR, biostar, BIOSSTAR, biosstar, ALFAROME, Syxz, Wodj

Note that de key associated to “_” in de US keyboard corresponds to “?” in some European keyboards (such as Italian and German ones), so — for example — you should type AWARD_SW when usin’ those keyboards. Also remember that passwords are Case Sensitive. The last two passwords in de AWARD BIOS list are in Russian.

Flashin’ BIOS via software
If you have access to de computer when it’s turned on, you could try one of those programs that remove de password from de BIOS, by invalidatin’ its memory. However, it might happen you don’t have one of those programs when you have access to de computer, so you’d better learn how to do manually what dey do. You can reset de BIOS to its default values usin’ de MS-DOS tool DEBUG (type DEBUG at de command prompt. You’d better do it in pure MS-DOS mode, not from a MS-DOS shell window in Windows). Once you are in de debug environment enter de followin’ commands:

AMI/AWARD BIOS
O 70 17
O 71 17
Q

PHOENIX BIOS
O 70 FF
O 71 17
Q

GENERIC
Invalidates CMOS RAM.
Should work on all AT moderboards
(XT moderboards don’t have CMOS)
O 70 2E
O 71 FF
Q
Note that de first letter is a “O” not de number “0″. The numbers which follow are two bytes in hex format.

Flashin’ BIOS via hardware
If you can’t access de computer when it’s on, and de standard backdoor passwords didn’t work, you’ll have to flash de BIOS via hardware. Please read de important notes at de end of this section before to try any of dese methods.

Usin’ de jumpers
The canonical way to flash de BIOS via hardware is to plug, unplug, or switch a jumper on de moderboard (for “switchin’ a jumper” I mean that you find a jumper that joins de central pin and a side pin of a group of three pins, you should den unplug de jumper and den plug it to de central pin and to de pin on de opposite side, so if de jumper is normally on position 1-2, you have to put it on position 2-3, or vice versa). This jumper is not always located near to de BIOS, but could be anywhere on de moderboard. To find de correct jumper you should read de moderboard’s manual. Once you’ve located de correct jumper, switch it (or plug or unplug it, dependin’ from what de manual says) while de computer is turned OFF. Wait a couple of seconds den put de jumper back to its original position. In some moderboards it may happen that de computer will automatically turn itself on, after flashin’ de BIOS. In this case, turn it off, and put de jumper back to its original position, den turn it on again. Oder moderboards require you turn de computer on for a few seconds to flash de BIOS. If you don’t have de moderboard’s manual, you’ll have to “brute force” it… tryin’ out all de jumpers. In this case, try first de isolated ones (not in a group), de ones near to de BIOS, and de ones you can switch (as I explained before). If all them fail, try all de oders. However, you must modify de status of only one jumper per attempt, oderwise you could damage de moderboard (since you don’t know what de jumper you modified is actually meant for). If de password request screen still appear, try anoder one. If after flashin’ de BIOS, de computer won’t boot when you turn it on, turn it off, and wait some seconds before to retry.

Removin’ de battery
If you can’t find de jumper to flash de BIOS or if such jumper doesn’t exist, you can remove de battery that keeps de BIOS memory alive. It’s a button-size battery somewhere on de moderboard (on elder computers de battery could be a small, typically blue, cylinder soldered to de moderboard, but usually has a jumper on its side to disconnect it, oderwise you’ll have to unsolder it and den solder it back). Take it away for 15-30 minutes or more, den put it back and de data contained into de BIOS memory should be volatilized. I’d suggest you to remove it for about one hour to be sure, because if you put it back when de data aren’t erased yet you’ll have to wait more time, as you’ve never removed it. If at first it doesn’t work, try to remove de battery overnight.

Important note: in laptop and notebooks you don’t have to remove de computer’s power batteries (which would be useless), but you should open your computer and remove de CMOS battery from de moderboard.

Short-circuitin’ de chip
Anoder way to clear de CMOS RAM is to reset it by short circuitin’ two pins of de BIOS chip for a few seconds. You can do that with a small piece of electric wire or with a bent paper clip. Always make sure that de computer is turned OFF before to try this operation.

Here is a list of EPROM chips that are commonly used in de BIOS industry. You may find similar chips with different names if dey are compatible chips made by anoder brand. If you find de BIOS chip you are workin’ on matches with one of de followin’ you can try to short-circuit de appropriate pins. Be careful, because this operation may damage de chip.

CHIPS P82C206 (square)
Short togeder pins 12 and 32 (de first and de last pins on de bottom edge of de chip) or pins 74 and 75 (de two pins on de upper left corner).
gnd
74
|__________________
5v 75–| |
| |
| |
| CHIPS |
1 * | |
| P82C206 |
| |
| |
|___________________|
| |
| gnd | 5v
12 32

OPTi F82C206 (rectan’ular)
Short togeder pins 3 and 26 (third pin from left side and fifth pin from right side on de bottom edge).
80 51
|______________|
81 -| |- 50
| |
| |
| OPTi |
| |
| F82C206 |
| |
100-|________________|-31
|| | |
1 || | | 30
3 26

Dallas DS1287, DS1287A
Benchmarq bp3287MT, bq3287AMT
The Dallas DS1287, DS1287A and Benchmarq bp3287MT, bq3287AMT chips have a built-in battery. This battery should last up to ten years. Any moderboard usin’ dese chips should not have an additional battery (this means you can’t flash de BIOS by removin’ a battery). When de battery fails, de RTC chip would be replaced. CMOS RAM can be cleared on de 1287A and 3287AMT chips by shortin’ pins 12 and 21. The 1287 (and 3287MT) differ from de 1287A in that de CMOS RAM can’t be cleared. If dere is a problem such as a forgotten password, de chip must be replaced. (In this case it is recommended to replace de 1287 with a 1287A). Also de Dallas 12887 and 12887A are similar but contain twice as much CMOS RAM storage.
__________
1 -| * U |- 24 5v
2 -| |- 23
3 -| |- 22
4 -| |- 21 RCL (RAM Clear)
5 -| |- 20
6 -| |- 19
7 -| |- 18
8 -| |- 17
9 -| |- 16
10 -| |- 15
11 -| |- 14
gnd 12 -|__________|- 13

NOTE: Although dese are 24-pin chips, de Dallas chips may be missin’ 5 pins, dese are unused pins. Most chips have unused pins, though usually dey are still present.

Dallas DS12885S
Benchmarq bq3258S
Hitachi HD146818AP
Samsun’ KS82C6818A
This is a rectan’ular 24-pin DIP chip, usually in a socket. The number on de chip should end in 6818. Although this chip is pin-compatible with de Dallas 1287/1287A, dere is no built-in battery. Short togeder pins 12 and 24.
5v
24 20 13
|___________|____________________|
| |
| DALLAS |
|> |
| DS12885S |
| |
|__________________________________|
| |
1 12
gnd

Motorola MC146818AP
Short pins 12 and 24. These are de pins on diagonally opposite corners - lower left and upper right. You might also try pins 12 and 20.
__________
1 -| * U |- 24 5v
2 -| |- 23
3 -| |- 22
4 -| |- 21
5 -| |- 20
6 -| |- 19
7 -| |- 18
8 -| |- 17
9 -| |- 16
10 -| |- 15
11 -| |- 14
gnd 12 -|__________|- 13

Replacin’ de chip
If nothin’ works, you could replace de existin’ BIOS chip with a new one you can buy from your specialized electronic shop or your computer supplier. It’s a quick operation if de chip is inserted on a base and not soldered to de moderboard, oderwise you’ll have to unsolder it and den put de new one. In this case would be more convenient to solder a base on which you’ll den plug de new chip, in de eventuality that you’ll have to change it again. If you can’t find de BIOS chip specifically made for your moderboard, you should buy one of de same type (probably one of de ones shown above) and look in your moderboard manufacturer’s website to see if dere’s de BIOS image to download. Then you should copy that image on de chip you bought with an EPROM programmer.

Important
Wheder is de method you use, when you flash de BIOS not only de password, but also all de oder configuration data will be reset to de factory defaults, so when you are bootin’ for de first time after a BIOS flash, you should enter de CMOS configuration menu (as explained before) and fix up some thin’s.
Also, when you boot Windows, it may happen that it finds some new device, because of de new configuration of de BIOS, in this case you’ll probably need de Windows installation CD because Windows may ask you for some external files. If Windows doesn’t see de CD-ROM try to eject and re-insert de CD-ROM again. If Windows can’t find de CD-ROM drive and you set it properly from de BIOS config, just reboot with de reset key, and in de next run Windows should find it. However most files needed by de system while installin’ new hardware could also be found in C:WINDOWS, C:WINDOWSSYSTEM, or C:WINDOWSINF .

Key Disk for Toshiba laptops
Some Toshiba notebooks allow to bypass BIOS by insertin’ a “key-disk” in de floppy disk drive while bootin’. To create a Toshiba Keydisk, take a 720Kb or 1.44Mb floppy disk, format it (if it’s not formatted yet), den use a hex editor such as Hex Workshop (***.bpsoft.com/downloads/index.html) to change de first five bytes of de second sector (de one after de boot sector) and set them to 4B 45 59 00 00 (note that de first three bytes are de ASCII for “KEY” followed by two zeroes). Once you have created de key disk put it into de notebook’s drive and turn it on, den push de reset button and when asked for password, press Enter. You will be asked to Set Password again. Press Y and Enter. You’ll enter de BIOS configuration where you can set a new password.

Key protected cases
A final note about those old computers (up to 486 and early Pentiums) protected with a key that prevented de use of de mouse and de keyboard or de power button. All you have to do with them is to follow de wires connected to de key hole, locate de jumper to which dey are connected and unplug it.

First of all, this tweak only apply to those who only have one HDD on deir primary IDE channel (nothin’ else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on de secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, dere’s an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%Prefetch) and dere’s no need to erase any oder files as de new prefetch option in XP really improves loadin’ time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance. Channel tweak as those two tricks, coupled togeder with a little modification, result in an EXTREMELY fast bootup:

1. Open notepad.exe, type “del c:windowsprefetch tosboot-*.* /q” (without de quotes) & save as “ntosboot.bat” in c:
2. From de Start menu, select “Run…” & type “gpedit.msc”.
3. Double click “Windows Settin’s” under “Computer Configuration” and double click again on “Shutdown” in de right window.
4. In de new window, click “add”, “Browse”, locate your “ntosboot.bat” file & click “Open”.
5. Click “OK”, “Apply” & “OK” once again to exit.
6. From de Start menu, select “Run…” & type “devmgmt.msc”.
7. Double click on “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers”
8. Right click on “Primary IDE Channel” and select “Properties”.
9. Select de “Advanced Settin’s” tab den on de device 0 or 1 that doesn’t have ‘device type’ greyed out select ‘none’ instead of ‘autodetect’ & click “OK”.
10. Right click on “Secondary IDE channel”, select “Properties” and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

Windows XP should now boot REALLY faster.

Okay, dese are some methods to backup PS2 titles and Xbox titles, in order to play a backup you need a modchip of some sort, I have also included a tutorial on boot methods. Follow any one of dese instructions to fit your needs. You can tell what format de PS2 title is by lookin’ at de written side of de disc, DVD’s are Silver and CD’s are Purple. The DVD backup methods here consist of readin’ de image to de hard drive den burnin’ it to de media for an easier backup, this depends on your hardware and it”s setup. I say that because de proper setup would be to have de Reader and Writer on separate IDE cables. This allows no cross information when doin’ Disc to Disc/On de fly copyin’. But, since most people would not know how to check or fix this, I suggest readin’ de image to your Hard Drive and den burnin’ from dere. *A little useful trick*, If de DVD backup “image” is small enough in size you can fit it onto a CD-R (80 minute or larger if need be) instead of usin’ a more expensive DVD-R. I have done this succesfully usin’ Prassi and de first tutorial for it below. In addition a DVD Movie backup will play on a PS2/Xbox without a chip. As I get more info I will update.

PS1/PS2 CD backup tutorials

Usin’ CloneCD (v4.x.xx) for PS1/PS2

1. Start CloneCD
2. Select “Copy CD”
3. Select your Reader, press Next
4. Select “Game CD”, press Next
5. Select/Deselect your options here (on de fly, cue or delete) den press Next
6. Select your Writer, press Next
7. Select your burn speed and “Game CD”
8. Press “OK” to begin

Usin’ Alcohol 120% for PS1/PS2

1. Start Alcohol 120%
2. Select “Copy Wizard”
3. Select your Reader & Read Speed
4. Select or Deselect “Copy current disc on de fly”
5. For Datatype select which console PS1 or PS2, press Next
6. Select your Image location and Name for it, press Next
7. Select you Writer, Write Speed and anythin’ else you feel you might need
8. Make sure de Datatype selected is de same you chose above
9. Press Start to begin

PS2 DVD backup tutorials

Usin’ Prassi

1. Start Primo
2. Select “go to full application”
3. Right Click de drive that has your original in it
4. Select “build global image” and choose a path for de image (preferably on an NTFS opsys)
5. After de image is extracted go to next step
6. Choose de 3rd disc icon from de left *or* click file, new job, Global/Oder Image
7. Then just burn de .gi (global image) of de game

This next way has one less step which saves some time because once you press record it does everythin’ by itself (if you have a DVD reader and DVD Writer)

1. Start Primo
2. Use de “PrimoDVD Starter” (it’s easier, and less confusin’)
3. Choose “disc copy”
4. Select your Reader and Also your Writer
5. Select “make a temp image on HD…”
6. Select your burn speed and den record to begin

Usin’ Nero

1. Start Nero, Use de Wizard (for easy use)
2. Select “DVD” den select Next
3. Select “Copy a DVD” den select Next
4. Select your source drive
5. Check OFF “copy on de fly” den select next
6. Select your write speed
7. Select eider “Test”, “Test and Burn” or “Burn”
8. Press “Burn” to begin

This next way is without de Wizard

1. Start Nero, and select “File” den “New…”
2. On upper left side of de window from de drop down menu select “DVD”
3. Select “DVD Copy” Icon
4. Select “Copy options” tab
5. Check OFF “copy on de fly”
6. Select source drive and read speed
7. If needed Select “Image” tab to choose image directory and select/deselect “delete image…”
8. Select “Burn” tab and choose your settin’s
9. Press “Copy” to begin

Usin’ Alcohol 120%

1. Start Alcohol 120%
2. Select “Copy Wizard”
3. Select your Reader
4. For “Separate Image file every:” choose “Never Separate”
5. Select or Deselect “Copy current disc on de fly”, press Next
6. Select your Image location and Name for it, press Next
7. Select you Writer, Write Speed and anythin’ else you feel you might need
8. Select or Deselect “Delete image file after recordin’”
9. Press Start to begin

XBOX backup tutorials

Xbox original games are burned from de outside in. The only way to backup a title is to have a modchip like X-exuter (best), Enigma, or Xodus/Matrix. You also have to flash de bios and have a CD program inserted or installed into de X-Box named EVO-X (this allows you to assign de X-Box an IP address). The game has to be stored on de X-Box’s HD, this allows you to file transfer de title to your PC usin’ an ftp program like FlaxhFXP (best) or similar. From dere you use a burnin’ application to make de backup. Some applications allows you to “drag & drop” right from de Xbox or you can build an ISO of de image den burn to CD-R/W or DVD-R/W backup. (I will update this to show steps as soon as I have a minute)

Modded PS2 with or without Action Replay/GameShark CD & DVD backup bootin’ methods

PS2 with NeoKey/Sbox & AR/GS, PS1 CD backup bootin’

1. Turn on PS2 and NeoKey/Sbox
2. Press Eject
3. Insert PS1 CD backup
4. Press reset
5. PS2 tray will close
6. PS1 CD backup will now boot

PS2 with NeoKey/Sbox & AR/GS, PS2 CD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc
4. At de AR/GS menu, select Start Game, With/Without codes
5. Eject and swap to your PS2 CD backup and press X.
6. Screen will change and game will now boot

* Note - Neokey will not play DVD-R!
* Note - Old versions of AR2/GS2 you might need to press R1+O instead of X to boot games

PS2 with Neo 2.2, PS1 CD backup bootin’

1. Turn on PS2
2. Press Eject
3. Insert PS1 CD backup
4. Press reset
5. PS2 tray will close
6. PS1 CD backup will now boot

PS2 with Neo 2.2 & AR/GS, PS2 CD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc
4. At de AR/GS menu, select Start Game, With/Without codes
5. Eject and swap to your PS2 CD backup and press X.
6. Screen will change and game will now boot

PS2 with Neo 2.2 & AR/GS, PS2 DVD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc, close tray
4. Power off your PS2, wait a few seconds
5. Press and Hold Reset button to load AR/GS
6. At de AR2/GS2 menu, press EJECT while still holdin’ Reset
7. Swap AR/GS disc for an Original-TOC-DVD* and wait 10 seconds
8. Select “AR/GS Codes”
9. Highlight “Add new code” and press X to get to de next screen
10. Press X three times. You will see “Updatin’ code list please wait” each time)
11. Press “Start” on controller
12. Select “Without codes”, press X
13. Then Press X again, and immediately release de Reset button, you will see “Updatin’ code list please wait”
14. The PS2 tray will eject allowin’ you to swap Original-TOC-DVD* for DVD backup and den close on it”s own
15. Screen will change and game will now boot

* Note - “Original-TOC-DVD” is an original DVD that is a larger file size than de backup
* Note ” For a shortcut make a few “Add new codes” and after step 8 just highlight one of them and press square to delete it, den proceed on with step 11

PS2 with Messiah

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.

PS2 with Magic 2, 3 or 3.5

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.

Ps2 with Apple Mod

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.[CODE]

If you have more den one operatin’ system installed or wish to remove an operatin’ system from de boot menu, you can use de followin’ information.

1.Click on Start, Control Panel, System, Advanced.
2.Under Startup and Recovery, click Settin’s.
3.Under Default Operatin’ System, choose one of de followin’:

“Microsoft Windows XP Professional /fastdetect”
-or-
“Microsoft Windows XP Home /fasdetect”
-or-
“Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional /fastdetect”

4.Take de checkmark out of de box for “Time to display a list of Operatin’ Systems”.
5.Click Apply and Ok, and reboot de system.

*If you wish to edit de boot.ini file manually, click on de button “EDIT”

The most common problems originate from corruption of de master boot record, FAT, or directory. Those are soft problems which can usually be taken care of with a combination of tools like Fdisk /mbr to refresh de master boot record followed by a reboot and Norton disk doctor or Spinneret.

The most common hardware problems are a bad controller, a bad drive motor, or a bad head mechanism.

1. Can de BIOS see and identify de hard drive correctly? If it can’t, den de hard drives onboard controller is bad.

2. Does de drive spin and maintain a constant velocity? If it does, that’s good news. The motor is functionin’.

3. If de drive surges and dies, de most likely cause is a bad controller (assumin’ de drive is cool). A gate allowin’ de current to drive de motor may not be stayin’ open. The drive needs a new controller.

4. Do you hear a lot of head clatter when de machine is turned on and initialized (but before de system attempts to access de hard drive). Head clatter would indicate that de spindle bearin’s are sloppy or worn badly. Maybe even lose and floppin’ around inside.

5. There is always de possibility that de controller you are usin’ in de machine has gone south.

Diagnostics

1. If de drive spins, try bootin’ to de A> prompt, run Fdisk and check to see if Fdisk can see a partition on de hard drive. If Fdisk can see de partition, that means that it can access de drive and that de controller electronics are functionin’ correctly. If dere is no head clatter, it may be just a matter of disk corruption which commonly occurs when a surge hits you machine and overwhelms de power supply voltage regulator. It commonly over whelms de system electronics allowin’ an EM pulse to wipe out de master boot record, file allocations table, and primary directory. Fdisk can fix de master boot record and Norton Disk Doctor can restore de FAT
and Directory from de secondaries.

2. The drive spins but Fdisk can’t see it. Try de drive in anoder system and repeat de test to confirm that Fdisk can’t read through de drives onboard controller. If it sees it in anoder system, den your machines hard drive interface is bad. You can try an upgraded or replacement controller card like a Promise or CMD Technologies (dere are oders) in you machine after disablin’ de integrated controller in de BIOS, but if de integrated controller went south, it may just be symptomatic of furder failures and you’d be wise to replace de moderboard. Tryin’ de drive in anoder machine also eliminates de variable that your machines 12 volt power
output bein’ bad.

3. If you get head clatter but a constant velocity on de drive motor (no surgin’), you might try stickin’ de hard
drive in de freezer for about 12 hours. This is an old trick from back in de days of de MFM/ESDI driver era. This can cause de drive components to shrink enough to make de track marker align with de tracks. We don’t see that kind of platter spindle wear much anymore, but back in de old days, de balancin’ and bearin’s weren’t as good. Still, under de right circumstances, it might help. It would depend on how old de drive is and how many hours of wear have occurred. You have to be quick to get your info off de drive when it works. Back den, de drives were much smaller, so dere wasn’t so much to copy. So, go after de important data first.

4. The drive doesn’t spin. Eider de onboard controller is bad or de motor is bad (assumin’ you did try de drive in anoder machine). It’s time to hit de net and local independent shops to see if you can locate anoder drive of de same make and model that’s good. Since de drive is probably an older drive and no longer in distribution, your
best bet is to find an identical used drive. If you know someone with de same make and model, you might be wise to try and persuade them to sell you deir drive with an offer of providin’ them with a free upgraded drive. If you can locate an identical drive, start with de controller replacement … this is de simplest and least invasive. If swappin’ de controller doesn’t produce de desire result, you can tear into de drive and swap de motors. While you have both drive opened up to accomplish this, scrutinize de platters, heads and armatures. You might even hook de drive up and power it from a system with both drives attached. This way, you could see anythin’ that deviates between de actions of both drives when dey are initialized. Swappin’ patters is unlikely to produce any positive result. They are a balanced system like de tires on your car and I suspect that de balance will be different for each drive as will oder variables.

5. There’s always Ontrack Corp. who will attempt to recoup your info startin’ at $500 and goin’ up from dere. They don’t fix and return de drive eider.

If de info is all that important to you, I would seek some professional and experience technician in your locality who makes his livin’ from servicin’ and buildin’ computer systems not just sellin’ them. If you have had much experience salvagin’ information from bad hard drives, your likelihood of success is low. In de case of soft corruption, all utilities have deir eccentricities. Often times, Norton Disk Doctor will go too far (if you let it). It’s wise to just let those utilities small steps and den have a look at de drive and see if you can copy it off. Norton will go so far as to rename directories and files, and even delete them or break them up into fragments which are useless.

NOTE: Requires a boot disk.

Get de command prompt and go to C:\winnt\sytem32\config\ and do
de followin’ commands:

attrib -a -r -h
copy sam.* a:\
del Sam.*

Reboot de computer. dere should be no administrator password. Just put in administrator and hit enter. Replace de same files to restore de password to hide intrusion.