[Multibooter]

jaclaz, on Oct 26 2009, 06:33 AM, said:

Roughly it [filter drivers] is a mechanism that allows to "override" some behaviour or "add features" to certain devices/drivers.Examples: http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=18379

HI JACLAZ, great that you joined, I am pretty much at the end of my 2 cents.

Great link, I didn't know that Acronis TrueImage, Acronis Disk Director and PartitionMagic might be possibly conflicting, I got them all on my system, but TrueImageMonitor has been kept from regular startup with Startup Organizer, I don't like unnecessary startup processes. I only allow TrueImageMonitor to load at startup when I make a disk or partition image with TrueImage.

BTW and a little OT, TrueImage v9.1.3887 could not even make an error-free image of the original HDD of an Asus Eee 1000HE, I eventually may uninstall it. Is there any Win98 software which could make a correct image of a modern HDD, i.e. with XP/Vista/7 partitions? Any recommendation?

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 02:10 PM

[Dave-H]

Multibooter, on Oct 26 2009, 04:01 PM, said:

I thought that Win98 creates only a new backup rb0##.cab after scanregw considered the registry Ok. Did you recently create any manual backups by running scanreg /backup ? My own \Windows\SYSBCKUP\ folder contains an old file rbbad.cab with a set of bad registry files, my rb00x.cab files however should be Ok. Maybe the files restored from your rb0##.cab don't work with other .ini files, which were not backed up??? Interesting to hear that Win98 can create registry backups which don't work

My understanding is that Scanreg runs when Windows 98 starts, and if it's happy that the registry is OK, it makes a backup, on the first boot of each day only. All backups should be "startable" therefore, but I have had problems in the past with scanreg backups that won't restore, and never found out why.
I have one rbbad.cab in my \SysBackup folder, generated late on Saturday evening.
I haven't done any manual backups using scanreg for a long time, although I always do it if I've made a large change to the system.

[Dave-H]

@jaclaz
Sorry it seemed that I wasn't co-operating with you, it just seemed that looking into the registry was the way to go as a first line of enquiry.
I was also a bit loathe to go down too many other avenues while still in the middle of troubleshooting with dencorso.
I was worried that things were going to get horribly confused if I wasn't careful!
I don't have access to another computer to try the drive on I'm afraid.

@dencorso
I've downloaded and installed the HDD Low Level Format v2.36 program, but it doesn't seem to be working properly.
When I run it, a message box pops up saying "Error accessing device: incorrect function."
If I click OK another box pops up saying "Cannot change Visible in OnShow or OnHide".
If I clear that, the program's windows comes up, but no devices are shown.

Not having a lot of luck at the moment...........

This post has been edited by Dave-H: 26 October 2009 - 11:43 AM

[Multibooter]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 09:26 AM, said:

I have had problems in the past with scanreg backups that won't restore, and never found out why.

It may be a little far-fetched, but have you recently made a virus-check with an up-to-date virus checker? (I haven't made on my system a complete virus check for maybe a year or two, but I am restoring very frequently clean backups of \Windows\ and \Program Files\, so this might have wiped out hidden infections). Running a complete virus-check on all your files overnight may exclude this possibility.

You might still have some good, old registry backups: C:\System.1st (the 1st system.dat after installing Win98). If you installed Norton Utilities and created a Rescue Disk, it probably includes a copy of the registry then. If you installed other utilities like System Suite, Fix-It Utilities etc possibly they also included a copy of the registry on their rescue disks.

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 12:11 PM

[dencorso]

[OT]@Multibooter: There are numerous free options, that IcemanND has collected in his list of Disk Imaging Software. Now, in what regards commercial software, there is Norton Ghost 2003, which may still be be found new at eBay for about $50. It does rock! I'm a longtime user, and own one licence of NG 2003. For most purposes, NG 2003 is good enough and it's still the easier to get version of Ghost. But then, suddenly, Symantec decided that another software altogether would be best for their home clients and began marketing it as "Norton Ghost", although it's a totally different animal (those are versions 9, 10 and 12-14) and it sucks. The true Ghost, however, is still sold by Symantec as "Symantec Ghost Solution Suite", but you have to buy at least 5 licences of it as a minimum.[/OT]

@Dave-H: Your pendrive is working in DOS and seen as correct by both fdisk and RPM... I think you should put everything on hold and search for the filter driver, to have it working OK in 2k also. But, it just crossed my mind, when you created the partitioned pendrive, did you perchance use Lexar Boot-It to flip its "removable" bit? And, BTW, which pendrive is it, exactly? Also, do you have the Norton Diskedit v. 2002 at hand, and can it see the pendrive (in DOS, of course)?

[Dave-H]

@Multibooter
I do have anti-virus installed (Trend PC-cillin 2002, old but still seems to work fine and I update the definitions every week) and have no reason the think that there are any viruses on the system.
It's a while since I did a complete system scan (although PC-cillin has a real-time scan function that works all the time anyway.)

Yes, I still have those backups of the Windows 98 registry from the install.
I do have Norton Utilities (2002) and did make a Rescue Disk set, so I'll have that too.
They are ancient though!
I'd have to reinstall every single thing on the system, and that doesn't bear thinking about.


@dencorso
I didn't partition the pen drive at all, it was that way when I bought it!
It's an "Integral" 2GB drive, don't know a model number.
Norton Diskedit sees it just fine.
Any idea what's wrong with the Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool BTW?

This post has been edited by Dave-H: 26 October 2009 - 01:21 PM

[Multibooter]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 11:04 AM, said:

I didn't partition the pen drive at all, it was that way when I bought it!
It's an "Integral" 2GB drive, don't know a model number.

ChipGenius http://www.mydigit.c.../ChipGenius.rar (includes the database of 19-Oct-2009) runs under Win2k/XP (not under Win98), according to the program description, and may give info about the chip inside your dual-partition drive.

Your dual-partition 2GB stick may be something special. If nusb should not work with it, you may have to install also the manufacturer-provided driver, which starts to complicate matters. In that case I would buy another USB stick (or rather an SD/SDHC card+card reader).

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 02:13 PM

[jaclaz]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 08:04 PM, said:

Any idea what's wrong with the Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool BTW?

The problem with the "hard Disk Low Level Format Tool" is possibly twofold:

• the device is NOT a Hard Disk
  
• the tool is NOT a "Low Level"

Don't want to confuse you , but try simple things before tryng "complex" ones:

jaclaz, on Oct 26 2009, 01:38 PM, said:

Instead of a full low-level format, 00'ing out the first few sectors makes sure the drive can be re-partitioned/formatted clean, but I doubt this is the case:
http://www.msfn.org/board/usb-booting-issu...63-page-13.html

(baby steps before jumping)

jaclaz

[Multibooter]

jaclaz, on Oct 26 2009, 12:17 PM, said:

The problem with the "hard Disk Low Level Format Tool" is possibly twofold:

• the device is NOT a Hard Disk
  
• the tool is NOT a "Low Level"

I was asking myself a similar question. I therefore just tried Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool on a 16GB SDHC card under WinXP, it took about 20-30 minutes to clear the SDHC card. When finished, WindowsXP Properties showed: Free 0 bytes, Used 0 bytes, File system: RAW.
I then used Panasonic SDFormatter on the 16GB SDHC card for a full format under WinXP, which took about 10-15 minutes; afterwards Windows Properties displayed file system: FAT32, Used space: 32.768 bytes, Free Space: 16.127.066.112 bytes.

BTW, I just came across this old note, from a year ago when I was experimenting with SDHC cards: "the Panasonic SDFormatter does NOT see the SDHC card inserted in the card reader (single & multi-partition) if the card reader has been set by Hitachi Filter Driver v3.20 to fixed". It might be interesting to know whether Panasonic SDFormatter sees Dave 's 2-partition stick, but again SDHC cards and USB stick are 2 different beasts.

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 03:10 PM

[Dave-H]

jaclaz, on Oct 26 2009, 08:17 PM, said:

The problem with the "hard Disk Low Level Format Tool" is possibly twofold:

• the device is NOT a Hard Disk
  
• the tool is NOT a "Low Level"

Don't want to confuse you , but try simple things before tryng "complex" ones:

But shouldn't the tool show all the drives on the system?
Even if it can't read the memory stick, it should still show the other drives surely, not just throw up an error message.
The message still comes up with the stick unplugged BTW.

jaclaz, on Oct 26 2009, 01:38 PM, said:

Instead of a full low-level format, 00'ing out the first few sectors makes sure the drive can be re-partitioned/formatted clean, but I doubt this is the case:
http://www.msfn.org/board/usb-booting-issu...63-page-13.html
(baby steps before jumping)
jaclaz

What I don't understand is that all DOS utilities show it as a single FAT32 drive.
Only Windows 2000 now sees it as two unformatted "empty" drives.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with the drive, just that Windows 2000 is mis-detecting it.

I have searched the registry for "Filter Driver" and found the following -

eBoostr caching filter driver (don't know why this is there, I briefly tried out and uninstalled eBoostr ages ago)
NetGroup Packet Filter Driver
Iomega Devices Disk Filter Driver (must go with my USB ZIP drive)
IP Traffic Filter Driver
IPX Traffic Filter Driver
PCCS Mode Change Filter Driver (Nokia PC Connectivity Solution, used with my cell phone)
Digital CD Audio Playback Filter Driver
Serenum Filter Driver

Nothing which seems to relate to USB drives.

[Multibooter]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 01:05 PM, said:

But shouldn't the tool show all the drives on the system?
Even if it can't read the memory stick, it should still show the other drives surely, not just throw up an error message.
The message still comes up with the stick unplugged BTW.

Have you installed Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool under Win2k? It installs, but doesn't work under Win98.

[Multibooter]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 01:05 PM, said:

Iomega Devices Disk Filter Driver (must go with my USB ZIP drive)
... Nothing which seems to relate to USB drives.

After a good backup including the install-to directories, I would get rid of this Iomega USB-related driver and also uninstall any Iomega-related software. IomegaWare had caused me a lot of headaches. Iomega made good hardware, but about drivers and software I am not so sure. Iomega stuff may have caused hidden problems on my Win98 system, but by far not as serious and obvious as Nero's InCD Reader, which thanks God has a clean separate uninstaller. After I got rid of iomega's "1-Step Backup and Restore" and "The Works", my system was MUCH crisper. In any case the installation of nusb probably requires the prior removal of all Iomega USB drivers.

BTW, I just found in my old installation notes about Iomega backup software that during installation the component "Recovery Disk Creation" may be selected. Maybe you created such a zip disk and it contains a more recent backup of your registry.

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 04:27 PM

[dencorso]

@Dave: Multibooter is right: get chipgenius, run it with the pendrive in 2k and post a screenshot of it, please.
And while you're at it, grab also the Lexar Boot-It here. Neither need installation, so you can just extract them each to its own directory and use them right away, afterwards. Before things went wrong, do you remember whether 2k gave you an "Eject" option in the context menu of the pendrive? I bet it didn't and the only way to stop it was through the "Unplug or eject hardware" icon in the system tray.

[Multibooter]

After your problem is solved, maybe you should go over the entries in Add/Remove under Win98, maybe some software like IomegaWare should be uninstalled before installing nusb.

[dencorso]

@Dave: [about 98] Haven't you perchance made some backup of your registry files from the time we were dealing with the Puzzling Registry Size Issue? Those would be newer and very handy right now. Look out for them, please. BTW, it's possible that, by just substituting SYSTEM.DAT (manually from true DOS) for the one you had saved will be enough to get your system working OK again!
[about 2k] There may be a fast solution to the pendrive problem: get scrubber from KB277222 (it's intersting to note that the correct version of it, v. 5.2.3790.238, is offered for "Win 2k SP5"... ), install and run it. It's a comand line console app that will remove all relevant entries for all mass storage devices that exist in your registry but are not actually attached to the system at the time it's run. So, if you run it without your usb mass storage devices it'll do the necessary clean-up and then you may redetect 'em upon inserting 'em. I know it works and it's safe to do it. But you may wish to create a restore point or a manual backup of the registry files befor proceeding, just to be on the safe side. BTW, AVID stopped redistributing scrubber, so the links on my old post about it are outdated. It also stopped providing scrubber's 2k documentation, so please find it attached below. And last, but not least, scrubber does create and then compress the system file. But it doesn't actually install the compressed version. If you look into \Windows\System32\Config after you've run scrubber you'll find 3 files: SYSTEM, SYSTEM.SC0 and SYSTEM.SCC... now, from true DOS, you must rename SYSTEM to SYSTEM.ANT and SYSTEM.SCC to SYSTEM (without any extension). Then reboot into 2k and all should be well, and the removable mass storage devices removed. So, now, insert your pendrive and let's see what 2k does. Good luck!
N.B.: Scrubber.exe v. 5.2.3790.238 works both for Win 2k SP4 and Win XP SP3.

Attached File(s)

•  AVID_Scrubber_DOC.7z (42.81K)
  Number of downloads: 8

[Multibooter]

Dave-H, on Oct 26 2009, 09:26 AM, said:

I have had problems in the past with scanreg backups that won't restore, and never found out why.

Dave, I just restored all 7 backup files rb000.cab thru rb006.cab on my system, Win98 (with nusb installed) came up fine with each set of of backup files.

Maybe some hardware on your computer is failing, e.g. memory. The registry appears to be read into memory Ok, but it is not written correctly back onto your HDD. What error message is produced by scanreg.exe when you try to restore a backup which won't restore? Do you use the parameter Optimize=1 in scanreg.ini?

Do you use the WinME version of scanreg? I have Scanregw.exe v4.10.1998 on my system. More info about scanreg: mdgx

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 26 October 2009 - 11:34 PM

[Dave-H]

I did install the HDD Low Level Format Tool in Windows 2000.
It still doesn't work.

Here's what Chip Genius reports about my pen drive -



I have used the Scrubber utility, and it did remove a lot of things, but made no difference to the problem with the drive being seen as two drives.

Anyway, I do have progress to report with Windows 98.
I finally managed to restore a version of the registry from a few days ago, which has put me back to the original scenario. My sound hardware is still not working, rather surprisingly, but that's a problem for another thread!

The scenario I'm back with now is that when I plug the memory stick in, it is detected (still as two drives!) with no freezes, and the two drives appear as "disk drives" (NOT removable drives) in Device Manager.
The NUSB system tray icon is there, and shows them correctly as that.
However, I can't use them as I can't assign any drive letters to them.

So, we're back there again!
Sorry, but I have no registry backups from before I installed NUSB.

So, where from here........?

This post has been edited by Dave-H: 27 October 2009 - 11:33 AM

[jaclaz]

Dave-H, on Oct 27 2009, 06:29 PM, said:

So, where from here........?

WHICH problem are we talking about right now?

The USB stick or the original one?

If the USB stick, it looks from the screenshot as it only mounted letter J: (which is "normal" under 2K), can we have a screenshot of it seen in Disk Management?
ChipGenius does not identify it "properly" (though it does say it seems like Phison based).
13FE means defintely Phison
1D21 is not one of the known PID's, seemingly.
Post a photo of your actual stick, and the brand/model and whatever number or alphanumeric string may appear on it.

It is probable that either:
USB 2K REL90 (UP10&UP11&UP12)
or
Phison MPTool MP2232 v1.11.0 (PS223X, AE2263, UP10-UP14)
http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=Fil...op=cat&id=6

is the appropriate tool. but DO NOT try using it for the moment.

jaclaz

[Dave-H]

jaclaz, on Oct 27 2009, 06:08 PM, said:

WHICH problem are we talking about right now?
The USB stick or the original one?

Well, either of them really, but let's concentrate on the USB stick if everyone else is happy to, because I'm learning a lot here!


Actually I think that Chip Genius is showing the stick as two drives, it's just that the screen grab isn't clear enough.
Here's the relevant detail -



This is what it looks like in Disk Manager -



And this is what it looks like in Device Manager -

This post has been edited by Dave-H: 27 October 2009 - 12:41 PM

[jaclaz]

You have a "botched" Registry (or stick, but since it works under 9x, this cannot be, and the only way to make sure is to try the stick on another machine which you don't have).

Windows 2000 sees the stick as if it were a card reader (No Media).

I would bet on the Registry cleaning procedure that I outlined in the other threads.

Remove the stick.

Before going through ALL the steps listed, try running the nirsoft app:
http://www.nirsoft.n...vices_view.html

clean ALL USB entries related to Mass Storage devices,.

Check again with the other utility:
http://www.nirsoft.n...n_after_me.html

Try re-inserting the stick.

You may well have also a "botched" USBSTOR.INF or USBSTOR.PNF or whatever.

jaclaz