[charly]

charly, on Jun 20 2007, 12:21 PM, said:

soporific, on Jun 20 2007, 01:15 AM, said:

charly, on Jun 20 2007, 03:31 AM, said:

After installing Autopatch my hotplug icon in the status bar (system tray) does not work. Clicking on it does not bring up a window to kill my USB conn. So when I close down my GPS or camera, I get the warning window that I should have use the system icon to close before unplugging device. Removing and installing drivers did not help, even merging a registry backup does not fix it. Backup with registry and files does still work(without Autopatch). So with the right drivers and right registry over Autopatch, it does not work, but with the old files and no Autopatch installed, it does work. This seems to be the standard hotplug icon in the system tray for disconn. storage devices - any ideals on a solution?

OK first remember that Auto-Patcher is an automatic hotfix installer so the problem should lie in one of the updates, not in AP itself. Are you saying that simply installing AP (but not running it) causes this problem, or are you saying after you have patched your system with AP that the problem arises ... which one is it?

No, just not installing but after I run it, so right its in an update - also noticed that hotplug.dll was a little larger in size, but version was unchanged, so I replaced it with old hotplug.dll and no help. Also deleted hotplug.dll (all of them) and icon still shows up in tray? Disabled system tray and icon does not show up and no warning when disconn. storage device. What file displays this icon - its in hotplug.dll, but must now run from some other file? ProcessExplorer does not list it as running? So if I knew which file kick it off I might locate the problem. Thanks

Any help here, or is this a problem with just my system. regsvr32 doesn't load hotplug.dll. This file is what disconn. storage device - and not what loads icon to tray, so I assume its a problem with it being registered.

[soporific]

charly, on Jun 22 2007, 05:56 AM, said:

Any help here, or is this a problem with just my system. regsvr32 doesn't load hotplug.dll. This file is what disconn. storage device - and not what loads icon to tray, so I assume its a problem with it being registered.

Well, is there any more information about your problem that you can share? At the moment, one of the 189 updates contained in AP is causing the problem. If i can't replicate the problem in front of me, i don't have much chance of trying to find a fix for it. These are some of the things you can do:

1) post your log file so i can see what you were trying to run. I've already mentioned this!
2) just tell me which modules you ran, and also which optional updates you ran, or you could just send me your log file, whichever is easiest.
3) inform me what 3rd party apps you have installed that possibly could be causing a conflict

See how you go with that

[submix8c]

soporific :

soporific, on Jun 21 2007, 02:11 PM, said:

<<snip>>I'm just about to release the next version and i've fixed everyone else's concerns except yours ... i can't replicate the problem you are experiencing ... are there any questions i haven't answered you need answering? You know what you can do to help us with your wordiness ... please do a summary !!<<snip>>

Brother's tee-shirt (I need one) "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!"

"Wordiness" due to IT experience; too technical (above others' head) req' detailed explanation. Edits to post necessary to follow-up in case others have already read / keep from wasting additional post.

Press on, folks!

(<<snip snip snip>> for brevity; info retained for feedback / test results)
Attachment contains info / Test probs / feedback / Test assist info (brief as possible)

edit: go here-
http://www.msfn.org/board/Auto_Patcher_Win...059#entry666059
Thx to NativeTexan for reminding me of WinKey (doh!).
In addition, "kablooies" in Explorer and IExplorer (Invalid Page Fault). Reverted to Dr Hoiby patch (should not have mattered), and uninstalled PowerMenu. PowerMenu uninstall was when "kablooies" happened. Went Safe, Scandisk Full, then Defrag, then Safe/Command deleted win386.swp, then scanreg/backup. Rebooted. All ok again (so far)! Sticking with this until/unless it gets sick again; then @#$%!

Attached File(s)

•  post_attach_1.txt (2.03K)
  Number of downloads: 6

This post has been edited by submix8c: 23 June 2007 - 08:25 AM

[nathanson1947]

I seem to have made a mess of things. I was trying to install some NVidia 3d drivers, and somehow managed to destabilize my whole system. I am wondering if the kernel ex update may have anything to do with it, but am not sure. In any case, among other things, any attempt at sending or receiving e-mail, whether yahoo, gmail, thunderbird, outlook express, etc., seems to cause my computer to freeze/crash. I may still be able to post on this forum, though.

My primary drive is Drive C. I also, have a Drive D, which still has the OS on it the way it was before it was ghosted onto the present Drive C. What I was wondering is, is there any way to access the WINDOWS on Drive D, perhaps through DOS, and run the computer through it, at least until I can figure out a more permanent solution? I tried things like : RUN "D:\WINDOWS\" , but it seems to be a Bad Command.

[soporific]

nathanson1947, on Jun 26 2007, 09:58 AM, said:

I seem to have made a mess of things. I was trying to install some NVidia 3d drivers, and somehow managed to destabilize my whole system. I am wondering if the kernel ex update may have anything to do with it, but am not sure. In any case, among other things, any attempt at sending or receiving e-mail, whether yahoo, gmail, thunderbird, outlook express, etc., seems to cause my computer to freeze/crash. I may still be able to post on this forum, though.

My primary drive is Drive C. I also, have a Drive D, which still has the OS on it the way it was before it was ghosted onto the present Drive C. What I was wondering is, is there any way to access the WINDOWS on Drive D, perhaps through DOS, and run the computer through it, at least until I can figure out a more permanent solution? I tried things like : RUN "D:\WINDOWS\" , but it seems to be a Bad Command.

NO i'm pretty sure you won't be able to do that. In your situation, i would probably consider a re-install of the OS but keeping the existing programs already installed (if there's nothing wrong with them) ... the OS will need updating but just run AP.

To do this do the following:

1) make a backup of WIN.COM (which is normally in C:\Windows) and then delete this file (or rename it to something else)
2) Use your Installation CD to start Windows setup. Because you have deleted or renamed WIN.COM the setup program will allow you to continue.
3) After the OS has re-installed, you will need to run AP to get your system up to date.

[nathanson1947]

soporific, on Jun 25 2007, 08:50 PM, said:

NO i'm pretty sure you won't be able to do that. In your situation, i would probably consider a re-install of the OS but keeping the existing programs already installed (if there's nothing wrong with them) ... the OS will need updating but just run AP.

To do this do the following:

1) make a backup of WIN.COM (which is normally in C:\Windows) and then delete this file (or rename it to something else)
2) Use your Installation CD to start Windows setup. Because you have deleted or renamed WIN.COM the setup program will allow you to continue.
3) After the OS has re-installed, you will need to run AP to get your system up to date.

It took me several days to get the installation disk from Totonto. I am in Montreal. I deleted WIN.COM and then tried to run the installation disk. The computer fiirst kept trying to boot from the hard drive, but I managed to set the bios to boot from the installation disk. It got as far as copying the files to the disk. Then there was a need to reboot, and afterthereboot, I got the following error message:

A device has been specified more than once in the SYSTEM.INI file, ora device specified in SYSTEM.INI conflicts with a device which is being loaded by an MS-DOS driver or application or a device loaded from the registry file. Remove theduplicate entry from the SYSTEM.INI file, and then restart Windows.

Duplicated device: vcd
Press a key to continue

At that point, pressing a key still worked, and I may have succeeded in replacing the old OS. However, the screen resolution was now only 640 by 480 with 16 colours. I got a message saying that an NVidia driver was missing.

I made the mistake of tryinto runAutopatcher to see if it would help, and things just screwed up more.

At this point, if I try to boot from the hard drive, I just get the above error message, and pressing a key does not allow me to go on. Even pressing f8 does not bring up the customary menu.

If I try to do the reinstall, the farthest it will go is thefirst reboot. If pressing a key has an effect at all, I only get the the messge:

Windows 98is now setting up your hardware and any plug and play devices you may have. Then there is another reboot, followed by the above error message. The most pressing a key then does is causing another reboot, until the computer becomes completely unresponsive.

I noticed that two of the options on the installation disk result in DOs prompts, so maybe the problem can besolved from there, but I have no idea how to do it.

[soporific]

nathanson1947, on Jul 4 2007, 03:47 AM, said:

It took me several days to get the installation disk from Totonto. I am in Montreal. I deleted WIN.COM and then tried to run the installation disk. The computer fiirst kept trying to boot from the hard drive, but I managed to set the bios to boot from the installation disk. It got as far as copying the files to the disk. Then there was a need to reboot, and after the reboot, I got the following error message:

A device has been specified more than once in the SYSTEM.INI file, ora device specified in SYSTEM.INI conflicts with a device which is being loaded by an MS-DOS driver or application or a device loaded from the registry file. Remove theduplicate entry from the SYSTEM.INI file, and then restart Windows.

Hmmm, it seems you have your hardware config all screwed --- if its not getting past the setting up of pnp hardware, we need to force a rebuild of your VXD config ... there's some threads floating around that goes into this in more detail, have a browse thru some of the older threads...

The only other thing to do is a clean re-install, IMHO you need to do this at least once a year with a Win98 system anyway so see if this is do-able because this will obviously fix the problems ...

Jack, since i may have made your situation worse by my suggestion to try a re-install i am happy to answer any questions to help you resolve this situation you are in, but we should swap to talking via PMs as this isn't AP related ... if you want, i can send you a list of all the things you normally want to save before performing a clean re-install of Win98, eg: favourites, fonts, your current desktop, etc ... just PM me!

AP News well, its been over a week since June 2007 sp2 was released and the deafening silence usually means there's no problems ... am i right? Are there any Outstanding problems to fix?

[Analada]

I had problems with Sun Java Environment 5 update 12. Caused a crash visiting a trusted site; Firefox 2.0.0.4 on win98SE (with 98SE2ME and many of the updates).

Sun Java Environment 5 update 11 works fine though.

Might be worth trying to verify if update 11 might not be preferable to include in your update pack.

[Milos M.]

For Me Autopatcher works ...
Once again Thank you soporific

[soporific]

Analada, on Jul 4 2007, 09:06 PM, said:

I had problems with Sun Java Environment 5 update 12. Caused a crash visiting a trusted site; Firefox 2.0.0.4 on win98SE (with 98SE2ME and many of the updates). Sun Java Environment 5 update 11 works fine though. Might be worth trying to verify if update 11 might not be preferable to include in your update pack.

Has anyone else experienced problems with update 12?

Milos M., on Jul 4 2007, 11:48 PM, said:

For Me Autopatcher works ...
Once again Thank you soporific

Thanks for thanking me!

AP News

new addition for the next release:

* an alternate CDFS.VXD cd driver for Win9x to show Audio CD's as WAV files in the file system! This replacement driver shows WAV files in a variety of qualities. It works on any CD drive that Windows can support. Then you can use your favorite Wave Editor program to read directly from the CD. Never heard a skip or pop, unlike CDCopy or others... (size is less than 100k)
- any suggestions for which module to put this in? It's either: Critical and Recommended Updates, Optional Windows Components, or Essential System Components. My choice would be to put it in Optional Windows Components as opposed to Critical and Recommended Updates but i can be swayed either way with a good argument.

potential new additions for the next release:

* Windows Management Instrumentation
* WMI Patch (Q260710)
- size is 3.14 MB
- info: http://msdn2.microso...y/aa394582.aspx

MDGx, you could definitely shed some light on whether this should be included, but anyone else can comment too. Has anyone used this? I don't want to include another 3 MB if its totally useless ...

This post has been edited by soporific: 05 July 2007 - 11:39 AM

[glocK_94]

If you do add this, make it optionnal. WMI is supposed to provide remote and monitoring capabilities (among other stuff) to help PC configuration... Read M$ KB
Maybe usefull for XP since it manages the system through a layer but for 9x systems, IMHO, it just fills the startup for no reason.

This post has been edited by glocK_94: 06 July 2007 - 04:10 AM

[Analada]

Just installed it on a 98SE2ME/Win98Lite system. Install went really well. Very slick and professional.

Great job! Thanks a lot!

[submix8c]

soporific :

re CDFS.VXD - google search reveals "may not work on all..."; worth testing for people that want to try (make it optional - you will have to create an installer, tho).

re WMI? dunno...

Down to my nitty-gritty -

Yep still had probs even after the last post (you read + attach?). Strange "overlay" of IE portions of screen in addition to crashes (especially when accessing burned DVD); usually Explorer when accessing the HDD; usually when using WinRar (using that the most).

Finally got frustrated, uninstalled all IE6-related stuff and a few other unofficial (including Explorer fix). Unofficial un-installs mainly due to re-install of IE. Had a heck of a time flip-flopping file-names so's the uninstallers would work. Reinstalled IE6SP1, installed official IE6/OE6 stuff, went to WU, re-installed (official) from stored fixes. Only one shows up in WU - q273017 (can be ignored).

Then ran AP Find Missing Report (after selecting all)... interesting to say the least (see attached report). Certainly doesn't jive with WU. And so far not a single "crash". I will attempt another reload (someday soon?) and retest (perhaps bypassing some unofficials via code-tweaks).

Other than my "personal problems" (?VIA driver conflicts?) it seems to be ok (but see the attached - wierd). (edit) According to SHELL32.DLL fix, "Anonymous" has patched a number of these files... how well have they been tested in conjunction with each other / this install (this is not SP1; a different breed). ?Who is "Anonymous" and can he assure us that there are no cross-dependency problems?

l8tr, m8! keep up the good work

Attached File(s)

•  Report.txt (11.62K)
  Number of downloads: 3

This post has been edited by submix8c: 06 July 2007 - 04:28 PM

[soporific]

Analada, on Jul 6 2007, 08:28 PM, said:

Just installed it on a 98SE2ME/Win98Lite system. Install went really well. Very slick and professional.

Great to hear ... but it does sound a bit like you have 'installed' Auto-Patcher but have you actually run the program? Sorry, i don't mean to offend by asking such an obvious question but there has been confusion in the past where some people thought that 'installing' AP meant that all the updates were performed as well. The other clue you gave me was the "Very slick and professional" quote --- i've heard lots of different comments about the fact the program is written in DOS and uses batch files but certainly not that! But thanks for the kind words anyhoo.

submix8c, on Jul 7 2007, 08:23 AM, said:

re CDFS.VXD - google search reveals "may not work on all..."; worth testing for people that want to try (make it optional - you will have to create an installer, tho).

I googled "CDFS.VXD" and "may not work on all" and got NO results!! I took your quotes for real dude !! --- give us the link you found ... i agree with your suggestions re the installer -- i have already made one that uninstalls properly as well (and puts the original file back as well) --- download the attachment if you want to test it before the next release.

Quote

Yep still had probs even after the last post (you read + attach?). Strange "overlay" of IE portions of screen in addition to crashes (especially when accessing burned DVD); usually Explorer when accessing the HDD; usually when using WinRar (using that the most).

I will read again, but yeah of course i read it, i like wading thru your stuff, always lots of info even if its not always 100% relevant !!! i will go thru your report and see if i can't improve stuff ...

Attached File(s)

•  CDFS_UP.exe (142.5K)
  Number of downloads: 8

This post has been edited by soporific: 06 July 2007 - 08:52 PM

[Analada]

soporific, on Jul 6 2007, 08:51 PM, said:

Analada, on Jul 6 2007, 08:28 PM, said:

Just installed it on a 98SE2ME/Win98Lite system. Install went really well. Very slick and professional.

Great to hear ... but it does sound a bit like you have 'installed' Auto-Patcher but have you actually run the program? Sorry, i don't mean to offend by asking such an obvious question but there has been confusion in the past where some people thought that 'installing' AP meant that all the updates were performed as well. The other clue you gave me was the "Very slick and professional" quote --- i've heard lots of different comments about the fact the program is written in DOS and uses batch files but certainly not that! But thanks for the kind words anyhoo.

Yes, installed AND run

[submix8c]

soporific :

soporific, on Jul 6 2007, 10:51 PM, said:

I googled "CDFS.VXD" and "may not work on all" and got NO results!!

Ok, my bad... Google on "alternate" and "cdfs.vxd". Just by reading dang near everything referenced indicated that it might not work on some hardware. Hey, if it works, the user is stylin'! If it not, well uninstall...

Tracking down AP Report "not installed" modules. Guess my re-install of IE6 undone a lot of stuff, all of which do not show up in WU anyway. I see a lot of them (official) would have required getting the Hotfix through MS Tech Support. Good luck with that!

Still holding stable... perhaps some of my hardware is too new / too fast for Win98 (?). I don't actually recollect what I was doing when the odd stuff started; seemed random. Maybe accessing a RAR on the DVD drive (a burned DVD, not CD). Possibility that was what was causing some of it (?). Think I might try re-install clean (I keep saying that...) and give the new CDFS.VXD a shot; it may "cure" it. All I did was clone fully patched, installed NIC, VIA video (from Soyo), VIA platform (VIAHyperion4in1453v), modem, VIA audio (in that order) - ZAP crashes began...

Just me, folks... If you are good, then kewl! This is the most complete 98SE package devised. And I might recommend creating at least a minimal UBCD and keep AP handy as well. It may save your hides!

Edit @soporific - Read this attachment. I uninstalled a couple more (IExplore probs gone?). Notes inside...

Attached File(s)

•  forced_one_still_shows.txt (4.28K)
  Number of downloads: 8

This post has been edited by submix8c: 07 July 2007 - 06:56 PM

[dumbo]

soporific....and other helpers

I have read your page 1 and being a dumbo, heh heh, can I make these suggestions and if I am wrong, maybe that tells you, that there may be others who may download the wrong files as well....I hope not..... but thats why I chose dumbo as a user id.

Suggested page 1 edits could be??

_____________
What is Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se?

Auto-Patcher features

For those doing a clean install of W98Se

1) Download the June 2007 Full edition.....link to be inserted here
2) Download the June 2007 SP2..................link to be inserted here

(NOTE its not clear to me if Jun SP1 is needed or not)


For those who have previously downloaded V1.95 PR2 or LATER

1) Download the June 2007 upgrade........link to be inserted here
2) Download the June 2007 SP2 ..............link to be inserted here

(NOTE its not clear to me if Jun SP1 is needed or not)

Notes on the 1.95 PR2 Upgrade release:

What's new in June 2007 sp2?

shameless plug

_____________________________

Questions
1) Does june sp2 need sp1 similar to XP requires sp1 before install sp2?


Thanks for any tips you or others care to add.

[soporific]

dumbo, on Jul 13 2007, 07:37 PM, said:

I have read your page 1 and being a dumbo, heh heh, can I make these suggestions and if I am wrong, maybe that tells you, that there may be others who may download the wrong files as well....I hope not..... but thats why I chose dumbo as a user id.

<snip>

Questions
1) Does june sp2 need sp1 similar to XP requires sp1 before install sp2?

I'm sure you're not a dumbo but the name as an avatar does have a certain charm .... you just have to find a picture of an elephant with big ears and it will be perfect!

I probably shouldn't have gone with the 'service pack' name to differentiate between releases within the same month. I originally was going to release a version and call it by the month, but i forgot i wasn't infallible and in the end had to release updates to correct bugs.

So, you don't need sp1 to install sp2. If you downloaded "June 2007" then all you need is the sp2 update.

I will completely re-arrange the first post to make it much harder to download the wrong file. I can imagine the sinking feeling of having downloaded 275 mb of the wrong file, especially if you haven't got ADSL2 broadband!! Sorry 'bout that ... and i'm a guy who prides himself on good communication skills

Thanks for the feedback on the post!

This post has been edited by soporific: 13 July 2007 - 04:10 AM

[Ken V.]

Thanks, soporific, for a great program. Saves old hardware from a premature death by MegaByte w/o MegaBuck life support. Happy 99th birthday, too!

I found a bad consquence of the Kernel update (KernelEx in manual installs): It really loused up the Windows Explorer (& My Computer, Control Panel, etc.) folder views: Caused 'View as Webpage,' Icons, & small window size. After countless times manually unchecking 'View as Webpage,' selecting Details, enlarging the window, saving, setting view all folders 'Like current Folder', apply, saving & closing, checking & unchecking 'Remember each folder's view setting', etc., it never kept my fixes. "View as Webpage' would go away but return whenever re-booted. Also, opening the Windows folder gave the webpage with warning about dangerous to tamper with System files. Irksome.
After browsing for fixes, did some Registry editing. E.g., on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams]
Changed Settings. No luck. Deleted lines, no luck. Deleted more lines, still no luck.

Ran Kexreco (in MS-DOS mode). Fixed!

P.S. Had hoped the Kernel update might enable running Google Earth on Win 98SE (didn't). Have another computer with Win XP, so no biggie, but perhaps you can add a patch to enable installing & running Google Earth on Win 98SE.
Thanks again, Ken V.

[soporific]

Ken V., on Jul 16 2007, 12:12 PM, said:

Thanks, soporific, for a great program. Saves old hardware from a premature death by MegaByte w/o MegaBuck life support. Happy 99th birthday, too!

I found a bad consquence of the Kernel update (KernelEx in manual installs): It really loused up the Windows Explorer (& My Computer, Control Panel, etc.) folder views:

It makes me happy that this program means old hardware is still being used, thanks for the feedback.

The problems with KernelEx should also be posted in its home thread, but i will add a cautionary note to the index for the Manual installs apps in the next version.

Cheers.