dencorso

What difference would it make were it an American to say "NO" to you?

One is usually enough. Two is bullet-proof! I do, too! On Win ME (with OPPCOMME) and on Win XP (together with WFP and DEP). (And I'm trying to find out how to do it on 7... But that's way off-topic! ) I consider SR a nuisance to be avoided (I do create system and data images regularly, as back-ups, obsessively, though), but grant it may be useful to some. And, yes, I do appreciate it was a worthy challenge to port it to Win 98 FE/SE, of course! Now, credit where credit's due: although I did patch that one VxD at his request (and never touched it afterwards), System Restore on Win 98 FE/SE always was ProblemChyld's project, and it was only due to his research, persistence and hard work that it came int being. So all kudos ought to go to him. And to duffy98 who first tested it on various other machines, proving it's mature. This thread is now listed in the Important / "Stickified" / Pinned Windows 95/98/98 SP1/98 SE/ME Topics list, as warranted. But now that things are working and the main issues identifyed and solved, I'd like to ask duffy98 to write a wrap-up post, a one-post how-to, to help other users who may be willing to try it on their systems. I reckon there are many important details scattered throughout this thread (and maybe the previous one quoted on post #1), so a wrap-up would be most helpful. Later edit: Thanks a lot, duffy98, for providing the one-post how-to!

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Dove... Quando... (I'm right now listening to music I actually grew up with... )

If you decide to copy the text offered by MS and paste it to notepad, don't forget to add *two* blank lines at the end, before saving as a .reg and merging it to the registry. It's a famous quirck of regedit.exe: the two blank lines at the end are a must... and people always forgets about them. Adding more than two lines doesn't hurt any, too. It's two lines minimum. I've done it for you, this time, just as an example. HTH. 1899.zip

AudioGrabber is a great find, wsxedcrfv! Thanks a lot! That said, I second submix8c: I do all my editing/mastering in WAV. Then I may convert to MP3... even if usually I just burn a true audio CD at the end. It simply works.

I confirm your result. BTW, did you test this other format program I found? I haven't had the opportunity yet. So, please, do test the new free DR FORMAT v1.0 (see quote above for download link) and report. If it works OK, we now have a DOS only way of doing it.

I agree with Ponch and CoffeeFiend. That power supply is all you need as it is, there's no need at all for you to acquire another one and discontinue its use.

Yes, it is possible to do it. Win XP offers an app to do just that without loosing any data (which name is convert.exe) and Partition Magic can do it, too. Or you can simply reformat it (losing all data inside the partition). You can reformat each partition independently, as many times as you wish, without affecting the other partitions. However there is no need to do it for the reason you stated, unless you're dealing with files > 4GiB (-1byte, to be exact)... Else you can move data freely between NTFS and FAT-32, in either direction, without problems.

Did you try ASPIEHCI.SYS, patched as indicated by RLoew, and GUEST.EXE? Use: Device=Aspiehci.sys /int /all Install=guest.exe instead of: Device=Usbaspi.sys /norst /v /w Device=di1000dd.sys BTW, you can use RAMFD.SYS to boot from a USB diskette, then disconnect the diskette and connect a USB HDD or pendrive, in plain true DOS. You just need to add a Device=Ramfd.sys, immediately before the line that loads either aspiehci.sys or usbaspi.sys. HTH.

True. Adding "System Restore" to your system right now won't solve anything, because you don't have a previous known-good snapshot to restore. So, forget about it for the time being, and follow loblo's good advice: I bet this will solve your problems.

Sure!

My guess is the unofficial sp1.05 rolls back (or overwrites with an inadequate file, even if newer) some/all the critical files that underlie FIX95CPU. But some heavy sleuthing may be needed to pinpoint exactly what goes on, when sp1.05 is applied.

Did you notice all cars there have just the accelerator pedal? There's no brake, and, even so, they still can be stopped. It's puzzling!

Welcome to MSFN!

PS/2 to USB adapters exist at all prices. You can get some high quality and reliable ones at clickykeyboards. Moreover, there're good used (already working or refurbished) motherboards galore, and even some leftover never-used-before older motherboards at excellent prices all over the net. Why do you need brand-new latest-model boards and processors to use older OSes? I'm puzzled: one doesn't need a laser scalpel at all to incise cuneiform caracters in clay, and the 5000 years old wedge-tipped stylus, in fact, remains the best instrument for this specific purpose.

Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman

Well, the DETECT programs are meant to retrieve the Full BIOS-ID in a simple way. I've just checked, and both versions I provided links to do run correctly in a DOS box, even under Win XP SP3 (which usually prevents most such programs from running). So you don't need to run them in True DOS, after all, you may run them in a DOS box, under Win 9x/ME perfectly, then capture the output text and post it here for us. You just have to type DETECT at the prompt and hit <Enter>, provided your DOS box current directory is the one you put DETECT.COM (or DETECT.EXE) in. There are no command line switches, and all it does is to read some info in from the BIOS and disply it as text, in the DOS box. The link I gave you for v. 1.20 is working for me, but you can try this page, instead. The DETECT it offers is v. 1.20 (it is in the lower half of the page). It also contains many other goodies which are not relevant for us just now, but others following this thread may like them. And, BTW, Foxbat did a great job of organizing the info discussed here, in post #24. Way to go, Foxbat!

Why did you actually Google "old standalone DOS BIOS detection program", when I provided links for the download of both v. 0.80 and 1.20? You didn't overlook the fact that all underlined things in my posts are actually links, did you? And, BTW, Everest is being more specific, the other two programs gave just a generic info, but all three mean the same, in that the chips that Everest detected are one of the various i440 chipsets produced. But Everest's report was the best, because it allowed me to pinpoint the exact capabilities of your particular southbridge. But the others are not wrong, they're being just more generic. Also BTW, here's the link to RLoew's Software Homepage, in case you get interested in the DDO.

Welcome to MSFN, Foxbat! Yes, I confess I had RLoew's DDO in mind, when I mentioned a DDO. Likewise, I had e-Support in mind, when I wrote about a 3rd party BIOS. However, I do find their current BIOS detection system annoying (an installable windows program), and I rather prefer using their old standalone DOS BIOS detection program (which they still offer for download, although they don't tell you so), which v. 0.80 is here. Also available is the later v.1.20 of the BIOS detect program, from this old page (thanks to the Wayback Machine). After running either in true DOS, I get the BIOS.TXT file it generates and send it together with my enquire about their actually having a BIOS update for the given machine by e-mail to support@esupport.com, and don't have to install any program in that given machine's Windows setup.

Older CPU-Z usually work better with older motherboards... In any case, Everest is detecting your southbridge correctly and the version of CPU-Z you're using is not. Try CPU-Z 1.38, just for the record. And, if you feel like it, you can find the last one that works for you: here is a great collection of its older versions. Now, regarding the 82371EB PIIX4E southbridge, it doesn't support SATA (but supports PATA aka IDE, of course, but just up to Ultra DMA/33 or ATA-4 or UDMA2), and, BTW, it doesn't support USB 2.0 either (just USB 1,1). So SATA disks can only be used if you give them a hardware SATA to PATA converter... but, in doing so you'll be limited in the same ways as if you were using a normal IDE HDD. This quotation of Sper's results is relevant: However, since the maximum speed your southbridge allows you to attain *is* UDMA2, no grounding by hand should be needed, and the converter ought to just work. So, I'd say your safest bet would be to stick to a 120 GB PATA HDD. If that's not enough, then we'll have to tackle the issue of 48-bit LBA, which your BIOS (SXi-BIOS-v16 is the latest still offered by NEC) probably doesn't support. And, while the Intel Application Acellerator has you covered, you'd have to use special measures to be safe while on DOS (at least at boot time). I'd advise a third party BIOS upgrade or a DDO, but YMMV. So the ball is up on your court again... what do you wish to do, from this point? cpu-z-138.zip

It *is* the XP Pro SP3 version. Should work on Home too. Please do PM MDGx about it. I bet he'll fix the installer quite fast. Meanwhile, you may install its files by hand, using replacer, or from Win PE or Linux Live... In any case, whatever you do, do backup the files to be replaced first, just in case.

And I was told there are flying pink elephants...

Yeah. Try Everest 2.20.405.

Well, even if I'm somewhat late, welcome to MSFN! We do have a strong no-flames policy here (do read the Rules), and you're in the most active Win 9x/ME forum that is there. So make yourself at home, and enjoy your stay!