[jds]

Prozactive, on 09 December 2011 - 11:07 AM, said:

I was hoping the updated IO.SYS would solve the annoying bug in Windows Explorer of having multiple entries for discs mounted in my CD/DVD drives but that's not the case, as those multiple entries still occur. And yes, the original Win98SE IO.SYS has a file size of 222,390 bytes while the updated IO.SYS installed by the 311561USA8.EXE update is 222,670 bytes.

Since this is a combined CD and DVD drive, I'm guessing one drive letter is for CD, the other for DVD.

Joe.

[Prozactive]

Thanks for the reply jds, but i guess I wasn't clear. I meant CD and DVD drives, not a combo drive. Any disc (CD or DVD) tends to show up twice in Windows Explorer for some reason.

[rloew]

Prozactive, on 15 December 2011 - 10:57 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply jds, but i guess I wasn't clear. I meant CD and DVD drives, not a combo drive. Any disc (CD or DVD) tends to show up twice in Windows Explorer for some reason.

I have not seen a problem with doubling of CD or DVD Drives. I doubt that IO.SYS is responsible. There may be a problem with your Hard Disk Drivers. Try reinstalling them.

[dencorso]

Wait a sec!
Try this simple and reversible test: enter BIOS and disable all CD and DVD drives (set them to "None" or whatever).
Then reboot, start windows and tell me whether they still appear doubled.

[LoneCrusader]

rloew, on 14 December 2011 - 10:16 PM, said:

LoneCrusader, on 14 December 2011 - 08:53 PM, said:

For completeness sake, is it possible to get these bugfixes applied to the Windows 95 IO.SYS from Q185301 KB Article HotFix?

(I believe that's the last official version for 95, but I'm not at my usual "project machine" so I can't check right now.)

It appears to work for both of the Hotfix files as well.

Thanks!

@dencorso
I believe a slight change to this thread's title may now be in order


EDITED 12-22-11 - Reason For Edit:
Attempt to correct continuity of split threads

This post has been edited by LoneCrusader: 22 December 2011 - 02:18 AM

[dencorso]

LoneCrusader, on 16 December 2011 - 12:19 PM, said:

@dencorso
I believe a slight change to this thread's title may now be in order

Prozactive, on 09 December 2011 - 11:07 AM, said:

I was hoping the updated IO.SYS would solve the annoying bug in Windows Explorer of having multiple entries for discs mounted in my CD/DVD drives but that's not the case, as those multiple entries still occur. And yes, the original Win98SE IO.SYS has a file size of 222,390 bytes while the updated IO.SYS installed by the 311561USA8.EXE update is 222,670 bytes.

Prozactive, on 15 December 2011 - 10:57 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply jds, but i guess I wasn't clear. I meant CD and DVD drives, not a combo drive. Any disc (CD or DVD) tends to show up twice in Windows Explorer for some reason.

I have seen this before. However, it is an intermittent problem that I cannot reproduce consistently.
It only happens when a CD/DVD is loaded, and sometimes ejecting a disc that's already loaded and reloading it will cause this to occur, sometimes not.

No, I don't think so. I'm quite confortable with this thread's title. What title do you have in mind?
I'm thinking, however, about splitting Prozactive's hijack (which nobody could know was a hijack until he tested the patch without success...) into its own thread.
I do intend it to be my *last* thread surgery for 2011! But I won't do it today. What do you all think about splitting this thread?

[Prozactive]

I think LoneCrusader means include Win95 in the title.

And I certainly didn't mean to hijack this thread, even though I don't think I did. It's not that big a deal to me actually, but it was the main reason I decided to update IO.SYS, in the hopes that it would fix the bug. My experience parallels LoneCrusader's except it almost always occurs especially if you eject a previously mounted disc. Windows Explorer will then consistently display duplicate disc names. A much more aggravating problem is that Windows Explorer tends to hard freeze and lock up quite regularly after initial loading, but that is definitely a topic for another thread.

This post has been edited by Prozactive: 16 December 2011 - 11:27 PM

[dencorso]

Thanks Prozactive! Title adjusted.
I know you didn't mean to hijack this thread.
And I'm not sure thread surgery is really needed.
It depends on how far the phantom CD/DVD subject proves to go.
The final Win Explorer for 98SE is v. 4.72.3612.1710... is that the one you're using?

[LoneCrusader]

dencorso, on 16 December 2011 - 04:57 PM, said:

No, I don't think so.

Prozactive, on 16 December 2011 - 11:20 PM, said:

I think LoneCrusader means include Win95 in the title.

Yep.. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I thought it was obvious since I quoted the 95-related content beforehand.

[dencorso]

Well, I guess I wasn't at my best (probably too sleepy) when I posted post # 126.
My apologies if I came across somewhat rough, it really wasn't my intention.
I thought you meant to have the phantom optical media drives mentioned in title, while I was considreing splitting the thread instead. Of course you were clear enough. I surely must learn not to reply imediately when I'm too tired...

[LoneCrusader]

dencorso, on 17 December 2011 - 04:45 AM, said:

Well, I guess I wasn't at my best (probably too sleepy) when I posted post # 126.
My apologies if I came across somewhat rough, it really wasn't my intention.
I thought you meant to have the phantom optical media drives mentioned in title, while I was considreing splitting the thread instead. Of course you were clear enough. I surely must learn not to reply imediately when I'm too tired...

No problem. I was a bit miffed when I first read it, but after the confusion it just seems rather funny

[submix8c]

WOOHOO!!!

Finally got around to testing the rloew patch. (ref this. I am happy to announce that the "ghost" drive disappeared.

Several other patches included, among those the BHDD31 package (referenced here) and the 6-step SafeBoot "fixes". I manually "Hex Edited" the IO.SYS for both this and the SafeBoot, created/modded appropriately for SafeBoot, backed up the "old" files, and copied all necessary files "over top" wherever necessary (didn't want to start from "scratch").

However, for some strange reason, I'm only showing 1023MB RAM (probably some other setting either BIOS or "other") but that's a different subject.

Thank you all (especially rloew for his generous contributions, notwithstanding the others in said packages). Now on to installing Paragon's NTFS for Windows.

Post made on my 98SE partition, booted into using Grub4Dos, in FireFox 2.0.0.20 with (nunya) v1.9.9.61 Add-On.

As jaclaz would say, Happy Bunny!

(please forgive the harsh SafeBoot link comments - at least the "method" is now clear as watered-down mud!)

note: "mods" performed/checked from OUTSIDE Win98SE, so anyone seeing this, follow all given instructions

[rloew]

submix8c, on 20 December 2011 - 06:08 PM, said:

However, for some strange reason, I'm only showing 1023MB RAM (probably some other setting either BIOS or "other") but that's a different subject.

Windows 98's Memory Mapper is poorly designed. It fragments Physical Memory into separate pieces losing little bits in between. This appears to cause small discrepancies as you have seen.
This problem only gets worse with more memory, as occurred with the older version of my RAM Patch. The newer Versions eliminated this fragmentation and reduced the discrepancies.

[dencorso]

Moreover, without the RAM Limitation Patch, as you go beyond 1 GiB RAM, as is your case, submix8c, Win 98SE tends to oscillate somewhat in the amount of ram it detects, from boot to boot. It's not uncommon to see 1023 MiB, then 1024 MiB, then back to 1023 MiB. If you kick MaxPhysPage a little beyond 40000, then you'll always see at least 1024 MiB, but it will still oscillate around it. As you approach the maximum detectable memory (which also varies a little from board to board) it may oscilate in 2 MiB steps, instead of 1 MiB steps. I reported it here, from the time before I moved on to RLoew's great patch, but at the time I was just puzzled by it. Nowadays I know that's the normal behaviour of the unpatched MS vmm.vxd (even when you use the highest version available of it, which is v. 4.10.0.2226, for Win 98SE).

On rereading that post now, 4 years later, I can add that there is a subtle balance among the sizes of the Page File, the ramdisk (unless it's a non-XMS one) and the MaxFileCache sizes, that must be reached for the machine to work, let alone for it to work stably, which was elucidated by RLoew some time afterwards (see this and this).

All three posts I pointed to in this post are the result of original research, the first mine, the other two by RLoew, and contain information that, AFAIK, is not findable anywhere else.

[submix8c]

Reporting on Displayed RAM (not relevant to topic BUT since it's here, will post and "point" back to it elsewhere as necessary).

I hadn't tried the "Safe Mode" fix (described above) until this AM.

It failed with "insufficient memory to initialize windows" so I dug around, and only came up with the standard MS response about "MaxPhysPage". So I dropped it to "40000" (the "1gb limit") from "48000" in SYSTEM.CB and it worked.
(note: I had changed BOTH SYSTEM.xxx to "48000" last night)

Next, confused because RAM now showed 1017mb instead of the (yesterday) 1023mb, reviewed "Day to Day Running" thread and looked at xRayeR's configuration -
Was in SYSTEM.CB

[vcache]
MinFileCache=32768
MaxFileCache=106496
ChunkSize=4096

Was in SYSTEM.INI

[vcache]
MinFileCache=32768
MaxFileCache=261120
ChunkSize=4096

I also had a line in CONFIG.SYS for "emm386" REM'd prior so I had uncommented it (consequently no problem with Normal Mode).

Deciding to try xRayeR's, I removed the above two Sections and removed the CONFIG.SYS HIMEM.EXE parameter "/max=1048576". Rebooted to Safe and LOCKED! (Jeez, CLUELESS why it was there - not listed in the "Day to Day...")

I decided that using Xeno86' VCache.VxD may be the culprit (as it affects MaxFileCache) so I renamed it, and tried again.

Both Safe Mode and Normal Mode appear to function fine now. In addition, RAM now reports ~1143mb. Not sure whether any of the "changes" made will affect anything in the future, but Happy Bunny (again).

Thoughts on any side-effects?
------
Maybe I should have started a new thread called "Experiences with RAM/Large HDD/Ghosts Appearing-SOLVED" - feel free to split into a new topic if warranted/time. (Probably should with relevant link to here, I inadvertently clobbered this one).
Dencorso, maybe a change to my entries in the associated thread accordingly (including the SYSTEM.CB)?
Side Note - currently running System-II; a "new" Dell AMD64 Dual-Core w/1.5GB on SATA-II in the works.

[jds]

Prozactive, on 15 December 2011 - 10:57 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply jds, but i guess I wasn't clear. I meant CD and DVD drives, not a combo drive. Any disc (CD or DVD) tends to show up twice in Windows Explorer for some reason.

I was researching a problem with Vista, the opposite to this, wherein the CD/DVD drive disappears ... and I came across a KB which describes your particular problem. Of course, now that I want to reference it, I can't find it. Anyway, from what I remember, it said to boot in "safe mode" and delete the invalid entries in device manager. It described how to determine which entries were invalid and which to keep (probably by looking for "this device is operating correctly" status text, but I'm not certain). Hope that's of some help. If I find that KB again, I'll come back here and edit this posting.

Joe.

This post has been edited by jds: 27 January 2012 - 07:33 AM

[jds]

rloew, on 13 December 2011 - 04:52 PM, said:

schwups, on 13 December 2011 - 11:59 AM, said:

Is it possible to make the patch for Win ME, too? Till now I've hidden phantom drives. 

I have updated my PATCHPAR Program to Patch the Unpacked Windows ME IO.SYS as well. You will need to get the Unpacker from my Website.
Let me know if it solves your problem.

Hi Mr. Loew.

Well, I decided to give this a try on my home PC and unfortunately, ran into a problem.

My drive H: (in DOS 7.1, without loading the W98SE GUI) produced the following from a DIR command :

 Volume in drive H is �\é)ÞŠ†¥pÊ
 Directory of H:\

y‹³æ"bx 2Àí 3,273,781,586  06/04/89  11:37
         1 file(s)  3,273,781,586 bytes
         0 dir(s)          446.52 MB free

By contrast, your earlier partial patch together with my favourite two byte patches to IO.SYS produces the following :

 Volume in drive H is 2-3-FLAKEY 
 Volume Serial Number is 07EA-4466
 Directory of H:\

MUSIC          <DIR>        14/01/10   0:43
VIDEO          <DIR>        14/01/10   1:21
TH99           <DIR>        01/02/10   0:41
CDDA           <DIR>        31/03/10  23:03
FTP            <DIR>        17/12/10  20:06
CAMERA         <DIR>        31/05/11  20:56
TEMPOR~1       <DIR>        01/06/11  23:26
         0 file(s)              0 bytes
         7 dir(s)          361.72 MB free

The physical drive in question has the following partition table entries :

06 FAT16 (Primary)
E7 RS (Primary)
0F Extended Partition (LBA)
83 EXT2 (Primary)

The extended partition has a single volume (logical drive H:) :
0B FAT32 (LBA by virtue of the extended partition type)

All other drives and volumes work OK with either set of patches.

Joe.

This post has been edited by jds: 27 January 2012 - 08:06 AM

[rloew]

jds, on 27 January 2012 - 07:48 AM, said:

rloew, on 13 December 2011 - 04:52 PM, said:

schwups, on 13 December 2011 - 11:59 AM, said:

Is it possible to make the patch for Win ME, too? Till now I've hidden phantom drives. 

I have updated my PATCHPAR Program to Patch the Unpacked Windows ME IO.SYS as well. You will need to get the Unpacker from my Website.
Let me know if it solves your problem.

Hi Mr. Loew.

Well, I decided to give this a try on my home PC and unfortunately, ran into a problem.

My drive H: (in DOS 7.1, without loading the W98SE GUI) produced the following from a DIR command :

 Volume in drive H is �\é)ÞŠ†¥p�Ê
 Directory of H:\

y‹³æ"bx 2Àí 3,273,781,586  06/04/89  11:37
         1 file(s)  3,273,781,586 bytes
         0 dir(s)          446.52 MB free

By contrast, your earlier partial patch together with my favourite two byte patches to IO.SYS produces the following :

 Volume in drive H is 2-3-FLAKEY 
 Volume Serial Number is 07EA-4466
 Directory of H:\

MUSIC          <DIR>        14/01/10   0:43
VIDEO          <DIR>        14/01/10   1:21
TH99           <DIR>        01/02/10   0:41
CDDA           <DIR>        31/03/10  23:03
FTP            <DIR>        17/12/10  20:06
CAMERA         <DIR>        31/05/11  20:56
TEMPOR~1       <DIR>        01/06/11  23:26
         0 file(s)              0 bytes
         7 dir(s)          361.72 MB free

The physical drive in question has the following partition table entries :

06 FAT16 (Primary)
E7 RS (Primary)
0F Extended Partition (LBA)
83 EXT2 (Primary)

The extended partition has a single volume (logical drive H:) :
0B FAT32 (LBA by virtue of the extended partition type)

All other drives and volumes work OK with either set of patches.

Joe.

I have not been able to replicate this problem.
What is the layout of the first Drive?

Run the attached program from DOS 7.1 and post the result.

This post has been edited by rloew: 27 January 2012 - 04:42 PM

[jds]

rloew, on 27 January 2012 - 04:39 PM, said:

I have not been able to replicate this problem.
What is the layout of the first Drive?

Run the attached program from DOS 7.1 and post the result.

OK, here's the output from 'ltools -part' :

******************************************************************************
LTOOLS version V6.12 (C) 1996-2006 Werner.Zimmermann|AT|fht-esslingen.de
Compiled with Borland C 5.0 on Apr 27 2006 as 16bit binary
Running ldir under Windows  V7.10 
******************************************************************************
# LTOOLS infos ---------------------------------------------------------------
##### Disk 128 = /dev/hda : CHS= 788: 255:  63
----- Bios Int 13h extensions used --- LBA mode
#  1 Type:FAT16 >32M    1906MB from CHS=  0:  1:  1 to CHS=242:254:63 bootable
                                 secs=3903732     start=63
#  2 Type:DOS   ExPar   4267MB from CHS=243:  0:  1 to CHS=786:254:63 
                                 secs=8739360     start=3903795
#  5 Type:FAT16 >32M    2047MB from CHS=243:  1:  1 to CHS=503:254:63 
                                 secs=4192902     start=3903858
#  6 Type:FAT16 >32M    2047MB from CHS=504:  1:  1 to CHS=764:254:63 
                                 secs=4192902     start=8096823
#  7 Type:Linux Swap     172MB from CHS=765:  1:  1 to CHS=786:254:63 
                                 secs=353367     start=12289788
# LTOOLS infos ---------------------------------------------------------------
##### Disk 129 = /dev/hdb : CHS=4111: 255:  63
----- Bios Int 13h extensions used --- LBA mode
#  1 Type:FAT16 >32M    1380MB from CHS=  0:  1:  1 to CHS=175:254:63 
                                 secs=2827377     start=63
#  2 Type:e7   1804MB from CHS=176:  0:  1 to CHS=405:254:63 
                                 secs=3694950     start=2827440
#  3 Type:Win   ExPar   25007MB from CHS=406:  0:  1 to CHS=521:254:63 
                                 secs=51215220     start=6522390
#  4 Type:Linux EXT2    4000MB from CHS=522:  0:  1 to CHS=  7:254:63 
                                 secs=8193150     start=57737610
#  5 Type:Win9x FAT32   25007MB from CHS=406:  1:  1 to CHS=521:254:63 
                                 secs=51215157     start=6522453
# LTOOLS infos ---------------------------------------------------------------
##### Disk 130 = /dev/hdc : CHS= 784: 255:  63
----- Bios Int 13h extensions used --- LBA mode
#  1 Type:Win9x FAT32   5130MB from CHS=  0:  1:  1 to CHS=653:254:63 
                                 secs=10506447     start=63
#  2 Type:DOS   ExPar   1019MB from CHS=654:  0:  1 to CHS=783:254:63 
                                 secs=2088450     start=10506510
#  5 Type:FAT16 >32M    1019MB from CHS=654:  1:  1 to CHS=783:254:63 
                                 secs=2088387     start=10506573

Partition numbers 1-4 are primary, 5+ are logical volumes in an extended partition.

Here's the drive configuration reported by 'fdisk' :

  Fixed Disk Drive Status
  Disk   Drv   Mbytes   Free   Usage
    1            6181       8   100%
          C:     1906
          F:     2047
          G:     2047
                  173
    2           32248      55   100%
          D:     1381
          H:    25007
    3            6150           100%
          E:     5130
          I:     1020

Finally, here's the output from 'partsx' :

D010:0000  A  DR=00  OFF=00000000 FLG=FFFFFFFF
D010:0096  B  DR=01  OFF=00000000 FLG=FFFFFFFF
D010:012C  C  DR=80  OFF=0000003F FLG=00000001
D010:01C2  D  DR=81  OFF=0000003F FLG=00000001
D010:0258  E  DR=82  OFF=0000003F FLG=00000001
D010:02EE  F  DR=80  OFF=003B9172 FLG=00000001
D010:0384  G  DR=80  OFF=007B8C37 FLG=00000001
D010:041A  H  DR=81  OFF=00638655 FLG=00000001
D010:04B0  I  DR=82  OFF=00A0514D FLG=00000001

Joe.

[gerislamico]

Hello, with a tool to edit the winboot.98s Spanish included as part of IO.SYS in "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311561" ( http://download.micr.../311561spa8.exe) erroneously translated into English by Microsoft
Sample Capture

Attached File(s)

•  Win98 NO PATH.png (4.92K)
  Number of downloads: 10
•  Win98 Path apply.png (4.56K)
  Number of downloads: 9

This post has been edited by gerislamico: 27 January 2012 - 08:04 PM