[MDGx]

erpdude8, on Jun 20 2005, 06:56 AM, said:

Note carefully, MGDx, that KB896358 does NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT completely replace the 811630 updates, which have the hhctrlui.dll file.  The KB896358 security updates do NOT have the hhctrlui.dll file.  The KB811630 updates for Win98 & ME have the hhctrlui.dll file; I know for sure.

Thanks a lot for the update.
I know this, but I'm not going to repack MS's files only to install HHCTRLUI.DLL files [%windir%\system\mui], which are installed by MS IE 5.0/5.5/6.0 [all editions] anyway.
Notice also that this new HTML Help update does not install at all if u don't already have the files installed by MS IE 5/6 or by 98/98SE/ME from original setup CD.
Also, if u installed my HHUPD.EXE update which used to contain files from 2003 SP1, and then tried to install this new update from MS, the newer files will not install.
MS files install only if u have older versions, not if u have the ones from XP, XP SP2, 2003, 2003 SP1 etc.
Also, the hhctrlui.dll files are useful only for internet based multi-language html help web pages, that's why they are installed only by MS IE 5/6, not by 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/2003.

The only HTML Help file I kept at my site is the NT4 update, because MS did not make one, and the NT4 update does contain the HHCTRLUI.DLL files, so it's a complete update.

Hope this helps.

[erpdude8]

Um, MGDX. Can you try implementing the Q249824 fix in Win95's version of VOLTRACK.VXD? If you read Microsoft support article 249824 carefully, the problem also occurs on Windows 95 systems as well.

This post has been edited by erpdude8: 28 June 2005 - 12:12 PM

[MDGx]

erpdude8, on Jun 28 2005, 12:11 PM, said:

Um, MGDX.  Can you try implementing the Q249824 fix in Win95's version of VOLTRACK.VXD?  If you read Microsoft support article 249824 carefully, the problem also occurs on Windows 95 systems as well.

98SE voltrack.vxd patch was created by a person who is using only 98SE, I'm afraid.
And unfortunately I don't have the hexed bytes info, and even if I had that, hex code is probably different in 95, and probably different bytes need to be modded.

This post has been edited by MDGx: 28 June 2005 - 07:59 PM

[erpdude8]

MDGx, on May 22 2005, 04:26 AM, said:

Petr, on May 22 2005, 01:16 AM, said:

What VOLTRACK.VXD do you mean? 4.10.1999 from Q234697 that is intended for Win98 PC-AT  Japanese? Or some else?

Petr

Actually that is the English VOLTRACK.VXD from 98SE [original 4.10.1998] patched to ver 4.10.1999 and probably fixed the same way the Japanese one is. [?]
These are only speculations, I'm waiting for this person to send more details.
What's important is that the way it is VOLTRACK.VXD locked up 3 computers I tried it on with a "Windows protection error".
BTW:
I've tested further VOLTRACK.VXD 4.90.3000 from WinME CD, but it doesn't work correctly, it doesn't read most of the CDs or DVDs I've tested in the 2 drives [1 CD-RW + 1 DVD-RW] installed in my PC. Bummer. ;-(
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The unofficial Voltrack.vxd fix for English Win98/98se is NOT the same fix as the Q234697 patch, which contains v4.10.1999 of diskvsd.vxd & voltrack.vxd files for Japanese-language version of Windows 98 Standard edition. I would suggest revising the unofficial Win98 voltrack.vxd fix to become Unofficial voltrack.vxd 4.10.2000 English Win98 fix to avoid file version confusion with the japanese Q234697 Win98 voltrack.vxd v4.10.1999 fix. The voltrack.vxd fix from Q234697 is far different from the unofficial Q249824 voltrack.vxd Win98 fix, meaning Q234697 does NOT contain Q249824 fix AND vice-versa.

[PsycoUnc]

-oops, never mind, looks like it IS my 2nd hard drive, not your SCANFRAG.EXE... sigh... (great, now what... lol)

[! UH OH... -MDGx, your SCANFRAG.EXE locked up on me... ]

>;]

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 08 July 2005 - 05:03 PM

[PsycoUnc]

??? WEIRD... -anybody ever have this problem w/scandisk? I sure haven't...

-scanning 2nd HD (both HD's < 1 yr old, 120gb each, p4 system <2 yrs old, NEVER probs w/scandisk b4..., win98se + sesp2.01 + 98se2me on both, 512mb ram, etc...), scandisk finds CROSSLINKED files, when told to go ahead and copy the cluster to each file, scandisk LOCKS ("unresponding" in task manager; HD light flashing every second nonstop; "end task" kills it no prob) ???
???

-haven't done anything funky w/2nd drive, it actually has a recent fresh win98se install on it, switching back & forth between it & 1st drive in BIOS-boot (swapping IDE boot-numbers), always have done that w/out probs, for long time now... ?

-tried restoring a pre-sesp/pre-98se2me backup, and same thing happened... ???

I'm gonna try DOS-MODE scandisk, see what happens...


---UPDATE: -ok, dos-mode scandisk didn't lockup, but it kept finding more & more crosslinked files, one at a time, and taking a couple minutes to find em each... STRANGE... never had crosslinked files ever before! on ANY system of my own... screw it, used Ranish (244) to delete & reformat that partition (had 4 partitions on that drive, only the 1st part had any probs)... good thing I backup religiously?sp? (from one HD to the other, too)... sigh... wonder what the h*ll it was...

---!UPDATE2: ! OH MY GOD: I copied a backup to that newly formatted partition, ran scandisk again just in case, and GUESS WHAT! cross-linked files again (tho no scandisk-lockup this time)! -the backup wasn't even zipped, just a straight windows explorer copy folders, from one HD to the other! (and scandisked both HD's, all partitions, BEFORE doing the copy, no probs!) ! -that means, there's a problem with win98se's copy-folders! Again, I've never had this happen before, and I copy folders A LOT, for many years... the only system thing I've recently changed is mdgx's SCANFRAG.EXE (?)... I'll have to restore (again) that old pre-sesp/pre-98se2me backup, reformat that bad partition, and try copy-folders again, w/scandisk after.... SHEESH! twilight-zone crap here...
(ps: full antivirus scans too, tho I never get infected; very careful/protected)

---UPDATE3: (full AV/spyware scans: negative) : aww, crap... I traced it down...
It's DOSLFNBK... I use that with my backup folders, to preserve the classic 8.3/long filenames problem... scandisk done BEFORE doslfnbk had no errors; AFTER doslfnbk, cross-linked files problem... SIIIIGGGHHH... I never had this prob w/doslfnbk before, this is new.... but it occurs regardless of sesp/98se2me/scanfrag.exe installed, now... I can't believe this... that prog. was the only thing that enabled TRUELY RELIABLE 8.3/LFN's backups, in win98se... (all FREE backup progs still had the classic 8.3/LFN problem).. now I have NO reliable (free) backup method....
DESPAIR

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 08 July 2005 - 07:24 PM

[MDGx]

What can go wrong / what u can do:
- flash BIOS to current version
- faulty wiring/cabling inside your PC case ?
- faulty power supply unit [PSU] ?
- virus [sometimes takes at least 2 different AV tools to detect 1 virus/worm] ?
- corrupted system files/drivers ?

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by MDGx: 09 July 2005 - 12:35 AM

[PsycoUnc]

MDGx, on Jul 9 2005, 02:34 AM, said:

What can go wrong / what u can do:
- flash BIOS to current version
- faulty wiring/cabling inside your PC case ?
- faulty power supply unit [PSU] ?
- virus [sometimes takes at least 2 different AV tools to detect 1 virus/worm] ?
- corrupted system files/drivers ?

Hope this helps.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BIOS: -is updated to latest... (board is <3 yrs old...)

faulty wiring/PSU: -the crosslink errors are too specific (during many repeated tries)
for random power probs... (plus other even more demanding HD/filesystem
operations do not cause errors; this is very specific)

corrupted sys files: -tried it in several diff. OS setups, + realmode dos; same

virus: -used 3 diff. scanners, no probs... (also, again seems a bit too specific for virus)


----MDGx: -are u aware of any other progs/utils that perform the same function as
DOSLFNBK? -or any (free) backup tools which DON'T screw-up 8.3/LFN's
in win98se?

(ps: sry for my overly-enthusiastic posting; I've had a VERY bad week, and this crap isn't helping matters... )

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 09 July 2005 - 02:44 PM

[Petr]

PsycoUnc, on Jul 9 2005, 09:24 PM, said:

.........
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hard to say, I had very similar problem with crosslinked files some time ago and it was caused by some bad contact - re-inserting of IDE cable helped.

Other possibilities:
- RAM error - I'd try http://www.memtest86.com/
- the HDD is going to die (HDD Diagnostic utility)
- overclocking?

For backup of files with long filenames under DOS you can use also Symantec/Norton Ghost - in fact full paritions are copied to one file.

Regarding the problem with not responsive scandisk - sometimes the check for cross-linked files is very long, I think I saw even several hours.

Petr

[PsycoUnc]

Petr, on Jul 9 2005, 05:16 PM, said:

Other possibilities:
- RAM error - I'd try http://www.memtest86.com/
- the HDD is going to die (HDD Diagnostic utility)
- overclocking?

- RAM: -I also use memtest86... ran it for long time, no errors...
- HDD: "SMART" shows 100% fitness, 100% performance, no probs... (and same error is reproducible on both drives, every time... and drives are < 1 yr old...)
- overclocking: I don't (can't ) overclock this mobo/ram/cpu...
- connections: checked/reseated all; same

-too many files/dir tree: the 2 backed-up folders (windows, program files) are only half the size (number of files, each) as other backups I have, and doslfnbk never has a problem with the others...

it's strange, it's always the same 2 files being cross-linked, but the files that they are crosslinked WITH changes every time... and they are in totally different directory trees, totally different file names... but it's 100% reproducible... and scandisk done just before doslfnbk is always totally clean... it's definitely doslfnbk bug, I'm just suprised I've never run across it in the past, I use it quite frequently, for some time now... I'll test it on another 98se puter today...

..and the 2 files in question aren't "special" in any noticeable way: filenames aren't very long, full path not very long, no weird characters, not large, etc... (one is an x-setup plugin, the other a windows theme file)

-thx for your help/suggestions, petr & mdgx...

(-btw, Ghost isn't free, is it?)

[PsycoUnc]

-WOO-HOO! fixed it! -if ya use "/h" (high-level disk access) during the doslfnbk BACKUP phase, the restore phase won't create filesystem errors! scandisk was clean!

I'll test it further, but for now I'm happy!...

>;]

(ps: this doesn't help for ALREADY-CREATED backups, tho... those are lost. )

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 09 July 2005 - 04:44 PM

[PsycoUnc]

***-doslfnbk "/h" note: *locksup* system BAD when too many files (couldn't do entire C: drive; had to do /windows & /progra~1 separately...)

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 10 July 2005 - 04:59 AM

[PsycoUnc]

-uh oh... "/h" saved 800 FEWER lfn's than without "/h", in same dir! (with /h: 8200 lfn's saved; w/out /h: 9000 lfn's saved!) -this CAN'T be good... (unless the bug in the non"/h" function also causes too many lfn's to be saved... ?)

siiiigh... the saga continues... testing testing & more testing to come.....

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 09 July 2005 - 05:24 PM

[PsycoUnc]

! CRAP! the "/h" DOES MISS FILES! -in my case, it missed about 800 files, which is roughly 1 out of every 10! ... so back to square one: NO DOSLFNBK RELIABILITY!

...
...-so, again, anybody know of a RELIABLE, FREE, replacement for DOSLFNBK?

(or of a FREE backup or zip util, which preserves the 8.3/LFN's in win98se?)

(actually, at this point, I'd be willing to PAY (a little) for something that works!)

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 09 July 2005 - 05:45 PM

[PsycoUnc]

(sry to continue off-topic here, I'll finish this quickly...)

-WORKAROUND for DOSLFNBK bug: (VERY time-consuming, yet effective)

1) backup whole dir (my case: \Program Files)
2) copy & restore backup to empty temp partition (ex: swapfile partition)
3) scandisk, fix crosslinks/etc...
4) -find the offending sub-dirs (\Plus! & \X-setu~1) by looking at SCANDISK.LOG, and create a new backup EXCLUDING those sub-dirs, then back them up separately.
5) test the new backup by restoring to temp, scandisk (should be no errors this time), and byte-by-byte comparison to orig.

-nasty, but it works... and is the only way to get uncorrupted backup...

(unless someone out there knows of FREE backup/zip tools which PRESERVE 8.3/LFN's in win98se? -or maybe not free, but CHEAP? (<$20?) )

>;]

[PsycoUnc]

-COOL! it worked! -we don't have to make separate backups, and all previous backups are still useable!

-during the RESTORE ("/r") function, just exclude ("/s") the problem dirs, then re-run doslfnbk /r with the sub-dirs specifically, one at a time, like thus:

doslfnbk . /r /s Plus! /s x-setu~1
doslfnbk Plus! /r
doslfnbk x-setu~1 /r

-it works, no scandisk errors! all files properly renamed, byte-by-byte comparison is good... only thing is, ya need to find out the problem dirs first... they each do contain a LOT of files, so that's probably it, gotta split the restore function to less than x names in a sub-dir-tree at a time... the documentation does mention something like that...

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 09 July 2005 - 08:12 PM

[MDGx]

Decent selection of mostly free(ware) backup tools [see the 32-bit ones that keep LFNs in FAT32/NTFS/etx2 environments]:
http://www.mdgx.com/secrets.htm#FDPT

Bad memory? guide on how to check + DOS and Windows free(ware) tools:
http://www.mdgx.com/newtip8.htm#BADMEM

DOSLFN is issued now in 2 versions:

* DOSLFN.COM v0.32o Long File Names (LFNs) DOS mode TSR 16-bit for MS-DOS
5/6/7/8 and Windows 3.1x/9x/ME supports FAT32 and Joliet CD-ROMs, includes
LOWDMA and FastOpen cache, highly customizable:
http://www-user.tu-c...ware/freew.html
Direct download [291 KB, freeware, open source, German]:
http://www-user.tu-c...ware/doslfn.zip
More info:
http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/en/hs...re/what_lfn.htm
Improved DOSLFN v0.40a:
http://www.geocities.../jadoxa/doslfn/
Direct download [290 KB, freeware, right-click to save!]:
http://www.geocities...slfn/doslfn.zip
Uses 12 KB of upper DOS RAM if loaded with LOADHIGH in AUTOEXEC.BAT (upper
memory manager required in CONFIG.SYS).
Load LOWDMA.SYS after UMBPCI.SYS in CONFIG.SYS to fix ISA DMA errors in native
MS-DOS:
http://www.mdgx.com/umb.htm#TOO

I've also had a series of random [unexplained] HD errors recently: turned out to be a faulty 5V power cable, and it took me almost 2 weeks to figure it out.

[PsycoUnc]

-DOSLFN and DOSLFNBK perform different functions... doslfnbk backs up & restores all the LFN's/8.3 filenames in a dir-tree (whether in windows or real-mode dos), doslfn just allows u to read/work with lfn's in real-mode dos, but doesn't perform any backup/restore filename functions...

-I've lightly perused your backup progs list, but it isn't mentioned if/which ones also preserve the lfn/8.3 filenames PROPERLY... (I've tested MANY free backup progs, including some on your list, and none of em passed the "~1, ~2" lfn/8.3 preservation test... same prob exists with zip utils: ya have to first save the lfn's, then change all the filenames into 8.3 format only (using xxcopy /N, or pkzip /N, etc) for the compression, then restore the filenames after de-compression... -otherwise, the "~1" and "~2" 's will sometimes get switched (same bug happens when ya use Explorer to copy or move a bunch of files; the 8.3's are NOT preserved, and sometimes get swapped, leading to bad links, system errors/instability, etc)

(...the "save entire partition..." utils will probably work, preserving the names properly, of course, but saving an entire partition at a time is a bit extreme, for routine backup purposes...)

-thx for the help, but it looks like I've got the doslfnbk limitation sorted out, splitting off 2 or 3 sub-dirs (of too many files in each) during the restore function... when I get the time/motivation, I'll continue testing your backup-utils list, see if any of em do really preserve LFN/8.3's properly...

>;]

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 10 July 2005 - 02:32 PM

[krick]

PsycoUnc, on Jul 9 2005, 07:15 PM, said:

unless someone out there knows of FREE backup/zip tools which PRESERVE 8.3/LFN's in win98se?  -or maybe not free, but CHEAP? (<$20?)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have you looked at XXCOPY?

It's easy to backup using the /CLONE switch...

XXCOPY <source> <destination> /CLONE


http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htm

[PsycoUnc]

-yup, that's exactly what I use, xxcopy /clone AND "/N" -to strip off the LFN's before zipping up the dir (otherwise, the zip programs will often mess-up the 8.3 filenames when unzipping (swap the "~1", "~2", etc)), which is why I need to use doslfnbk to back up the LFN's/8.3 filenames first, before stripping using xxcopy's "/N"; then I zip it up, and after unzipping use doslfnbk /r to restore the LFN's to the stripped 8.3 filenames, properly...

[-after EXTENSIVE searching & testing of just about every FREE backup prog/util and zip util, this is the only method I've found that ALWAYS preserves the PROPER 8.3/LFN relationships (other than full-partition backups, of course... but that sux )... -if anybody else has found an other, FREE, prog/util/method, and has tested that LFN/8.3/"~" MS-win98se flaw PROPERLY with it, let me know, please... ]

This post has been edited by PsycoUnc: 10 July 2005 - 11:45 PM