[PROBLEMCHYLD]

fixed

This post has been edited by PROBLEMCHYLD: 14 April 2012 - 12:55 PM

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

Updated

This post has been edited by PROBLEMCHYLD: 12 April 2012 - 03:38 PM

[billyb]

I'm jazzed. Can't wait to install sp3 once it's final.

Out of curiosity, will this new sp3 install and automatically take care if the ram limitation for some of my old machines that run 1gb and 2gb of ram? Or will I still use Rloew's ram limitation patch that I bought from him a few years back?. Or is it sort of a case by case basis to see which works best ?

[dencorso]

No. You'll still need the RAM Limitation Patch, which is not free, so it cannot be included in the uSP. However, in case you're going for a full reinstallation, you should contact RLoew and get the latest version of it, to which you're entitled since you've already bought it.

[billyb]

Cool. I think he emailed an update to me in December or January. It's version 7. I'll have to check with him to see if that's the latest.

This post has been edited by billyb: 12 April 2012 - 05:22 PM

[Hu$tle]

Nice update. How soon before the final? Sorry I wasn't able to give more help with your error problem.

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

I have fixed the MDAC 2.8SP1 bug. The final version is almost ready.
All I have to do is clean up the mdac inf file then add it to the SP. I'm going to need some testers before I release it.
I'm asking that all the testers, please test on a clean install. I can have the package ready sometime this evening.
Either PM me or post in the forum for the exclusive link. Thank you everybody..

[Fredledingue]

duffy98, on 12 April 2012 - 06:41 AM, said:

Well after my last post I thought more about what egrabrych posted about 7 messages back ... that I think, was the problem I had when my USB stuff didn't seem to work. I remember now that I did do some research and further testing with the USB problem and discovered that it was the Usbstor.sys file (v5.00.2195.6773) in the U98SESP3.EXE that "seemed" to be the problem ... I had used WinRAR to take all the USB items out of U98SESP3.EXE to check the versions with the USB versions in NUSB v3.5. I guess I just figured it would be faster to just put the Ghost backup back on instead of trying to delete and add USB items from NUSB 3.5. I am pretty sure I isolated the Usbstor.sys file (v5.00.2195.6773) as the "possible" problem but there may have been another file also ... but as egrabrych posted ... when I went to NUSB 3.5 and Usbstor.sys (v4.90.3000.1) ... everything seemed to work just fine.

On my Ghost backup which was from Oct 2011 at the time of the problem, I had NUSB 3.3 installed then after the USB problem with U98SESP3.EXE a few months ago (Jan) I decided to install NUSB 3.5 and now have a more recent Ghost backup with NUSB 3.5 installed.

So after reading egrabrych's post from yesterday, things started to refresh in my mind about Usbstor.sys being the culprit ... at least on my computer.

Hope this helps some ... but it doesn't seem to be a problem with most people when they install U98SESP3.EXE since there hasn't been any mention of USB install problems from anyone. Perhaps installing the U98SESP3.EXE package on a fresh Windows 98SE install works better than installing U98SESP3.EXE over an already installed Windows 98SE ... I have no idea about this, just a thought.

...

_____________
PROBLEMCHYLD,
Did you also fix the (potential) problem with usbstor.sys?
(see Duffy's post above)


____________________________

This post has been edited by Fredledingue: 14 April 2012 - 03:02 PM

[dencorso]

With all due respect for everyone involved, USBSTOR.SYS (v5.00.2195.6773) *requires* WDMSTUB.SYS for working. So, it's necessary to delete *all installed USB devices* from program manager, and insert them again one by one for redetection (as is stated just about everywhere in big capitals). When one fails to do so, the installation reamains as it was before the uSP, so WDMSTUB is not loaded and USBSTOR refuses to work. So, then, there's nothing for PROBLEMCHYLD to fix, because the issue is a PEBCAK!

Quote

USB 2.0 NOTICE - Unplug all USB devices. Install main updates.
Remove all current USB/EHCI drivers + controllers from Device Manager in safe mode. REBOOT!
Let all drivers redetect on startup. Plug in USB devices one at a time.

[bphlpt]

I assume "the insert USB devices one at a time" rule only applies to the first time? Once all the devices have been correctly identified, then you can leave everything plugged in for subsequent reboots ?

Cheers and Regards

[dencorso]

Sure.

[billyb]

dencorso, on 14 April 2012 - 04:53 PM, said:

With all due respect for everyone involved, USBSTOR.SYS (v5.00.2195.6773) *requires* WDMSTUB.SYS for working. So, it's necessary to delete *all installed USB devices* from program manager, and insert them again one by one for redetection (as is stated just about everywhere in big capitals). When one fails to do so, the installation reamains as it was before the uSP, so WDMSTUB is not loaded and USBSTOR refuses to work. So, then, there's nothing for PROBLEMCHYLD to fix, because the issue is a PEBCAK!

Quote

USB 2.0 NOTICE - Unplug all USB devices. Install main updates.
Remove all current USB/EHCI drivers + controllers from Device Manager in safe mode. REBOOT!
Let all drivers redetect on startup. Plug in USB devices one at a time.

I was reading that on the sp3 page notes. As only a semi-techie, my oldest machine with usb ports from 1998 (currently with 2.1a sp on it) shows a "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" area in Device manager with "Intel 82371SB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller" and also a line "USB Root Hub".

Do I delete all of those? Will I be looking for other entries too in Device Manager after the sp3 update? Entries that will be added during the sp3 update itself? Also, is there a reason that the first time removal has to be done only in safe mode?

Sorry if these sound like questions I should know.

This post has been edited by billyb: 14 April 2012 - 05:38 PM

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

billyb, on 14 April 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

Also, is there a reason that the first time removal has to be done only in safe mode?

Sorry if these sound like questions I should know.

Yes, to make sure no drivers are loaded. Sometimes it just sooooooo muchhhhhhhhhh easier just
to follow the instructions. Thanks dencorso.

[dencorso]

Here's a detailed cleanup procedure, from USBMan.

Also read Safe Mode Device Manager (vs. Normal Mode), by DNA, from annoyances.org, quoted below for easy reference.

Quote

Safe Mode Device Manager (vs. Normal Mode)
Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by DNA (553 messages posted)

When installing the Generic USB Mass Storage Driver on an existing Win98SE install, I remove all USB devices from Device Manager in Safe Mode.

Safe Mode Device Manager shows devices that are NOT 'currently installed' (but are still logged in the system), unlike Normal Mode Device Manager.

For instance, in Normal Mode Device Manager, you will only see your currently installed optical drives in the CD-ROM tab, whereas in Safe Mode Device Manager, you will see every optical drive that has ever been installed in that computer (even all of the external optical drives that were ever used, as applicable), unless/until you remove them from Safe Mode Device Manager.

You might be surprised at how many conflicts can be resolved by the correct use of Safe Mode Device Manager. It is generally safe to remove any listing for an internal device that is known to be no longer installed in the system, and it's even a good idea (to prevent possible conflicts).

Removable USB devices don't show up in Normal Mode Device Manager unless they are plugged into the system, so you can't remove them from there unless they're plugged in, and removing them from (Normal Mode) Device Manager while they're plugged in may not be a good idea in certain cases!

In Win98 Safe Mode, USB is disabled, so you can safely remove any and all removable USB device listings from (Safe Mode) Device Manager.

So, before installing the Generic driver, you should uninstall all of the removable drives' Win98SE drivers in Normal Mode, then boot to Safe Mode and remove the drives' listings under Disk Drives and Universal Serial Bus Controllers, as applicable.

I've done this procedure for several 'existing' Win98SE installs (on my 1.1 Athlon, and others' computers), and the Generic driver has worked fine in every case...

[JorgeA]

jds, on 12 April 2012 - 03:32 AM, said:

Basically, Apple tried to lock up your media files with proprietary databases on their iPods and force you to use iTunes

The following is probably OT, but since you brought it up...

Best critique of iTunes that I've seen, if a bit salty. His experience pretty much matches mine. One time my wife, a pretty smart cookie, bought an iPod and asked me to figure out how to use it since she couldn't. All she wanted to do was to download MP3s of talk shows. I tried it and felt like I was being railroaded into doing things one specific, convoluted way that didn't work very well in any case. We ended up getting an unpretentious (and much cheaper) Sansa Fuze where we can simply download whatever and drag-and-drop it into the player, no muss no fuss. Never looked back.

--JorgeA

[duffy98]

First of all, I appreciate the additional information on the USB matter, Device Manager and other things that have been posted. In my case, I have limited knowledge about certain things which includes USB and Device Manager ... I use them and can work with them but I'm always on the lookout for more information. Dencorso, I got some answers from the links that you posted ... I never saw anything anywhere over the years that Device Manager should be "cleaned out" at least once or every now and then. When I was in Device Manager - Safe Mode earlier ... I noticed that there were many more items to delete under Universal Serial Bus Controllers than there are in Device Manager - Normal Mode. I wondered about that but the one article sort of clears that up.

From article:

"Safe Mode Device Manager shows devices that are NOT 'currently installed' (but are still logged in the system), unlike Normal Mode Device Manager."

"Removable USB devices don't show up in Normal Mode Device Manager unless they are plugged into the system, so you can't remove them from there unless they're plugged in, and removing them from (Normal Mode) Device Manager while they're plugged in may not be a good idea in certain cases!"

.... so that definitely explains why USB items have to removed from Device Manager while in Safe Mode and not Normal Mode.

In my case I did follow PROBLEMCHYLD's instructions while working with these USB devices.

"USB 2.0 NOTICE - Unplug all USB devices. Install main updates. Remove all current USB/EHCI drivers + controllers from Device Manager in safe mode. REBOOT!
Let all drivers redetect on startup. Plug in USB devices one at a time."

... however, I knew nothing about WDMSTUB.SYS and how it is connected to USB items or USBSTOR.SYS in particular. I can't speak for others but all this "extra information" that you and others post are a big help to me in understanding the inner workings of my computer.

dencorso :

"With all due respect for everyone involved, USBSTOR.SYS (v5.00.2195.6773) *requires* WDMSTUB.SYS for working. So, it's necessary to delete *all installed USB devices* from program manager, and insert them again one by one for redetection (as is stated just about everywhere in big capitals). When one fails to do so, the installation reamains as it was before the uSP, so WDMSTUB is not loaded and USBSTOR refuses to work."

I went into Device Manager - Safe Mode last night and found many old items to remove. A good example was under the CDROM tab .... there must have been close to 10 or 12 items that I removed ... from older CDROMs that I no longer use ....

From article:

"For instance, in Normal Mode Device Manager, you will only see your currently installed optical drives in the CD-ROM tab, whereas in Safe Mode Device Manager, you will see every optical drive that has ever been installed in that computer (even all of the external optical drives that were ever used, as applicable), unless/until you remove them from Safe Mode Device Manager."


I have been fooling around with these USB drivers in the interest of seeing if I could possibly get a faster transfer speed between a flash drive and my computer. I dealt with this in another post in asking USB file transfer questions.

Anyway, all information and links appreciated.

...

This post has been edited by duffy98: 15 April 2012 - 08:07 AM

[Fredledingue]

Does this applies to *ALL* USB devices or only to mass storage USB devices?
I have a couple of items like a drawing tablet which are not used to store datas on it.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

[bphlpt]

I believe it means "ALL" USB devices.

Cheers and Regards

[jds]

rloew, on 11 April 2012 - 06:23 PM, said:

Some years back, I had a problem with the original USB Drivers on my 98FE System. If I copied a large amount of data to a Flash Drive I would get a BSOD with a Disk Write Error Message, especially if I was browsing during the transfer. Whe I rebooted, there was significant corruption found on my Hard Drive. Typically an entire Sector of FAT data was filled with garbage and to make things worse, the corresponding backup FAT Sector was also destroyed. Sometimes a Directory Sector was also filled with garbage. This type of corruption could easily render a Partition useless, depending upon where the damage occurs. I managed to recover my data but only through massive manual hunting and patching. You cannot use SCANDISK as it makes things worse.

The problem appeared to be only in 98FE, so I posted some warnings about using 98FE with USB. Some time later I setup a system to do some more research into the issue but was unable to reproduce the problem.

billyb, on 14 April 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

I was reading that on the sp3 page notes. As only a semi-techie, my oldest machine with usb ports from 1998 (currently with 2.1a sp on it) shows a "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" area in Device manager with "Intel 82371SB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller" and also a line "USB Root Hub".

Careful not to "stress" the olde 82371SB, it will break. See : http://www.usbman.co...nown_issues.htm

Joe.

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

bphlpt, on 14 April 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

I assume "the insert USB devices one at a time" rule only applies to the first time? Once all the devices have been correctly identified, then you can leave everything plugged in for subsequent reboots ?

Cheers and Regards

Yes, it only needs to be done once

Fredledingue, on 16 April 2012 - 02:22 PM, said:

Does this applies to *ALL* USB devices or only to mass storage USB devices?
I have a couple of items like a drawing tablet which are not used to store datas on it.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Yes

bphlpt, on 16 April 2012 - 10:37 PM, said:

I believe it means "ALL" USB devices.

Cheers and Regards

Yes, it means ALL