dencorso

Those limitations, in particular, is what interests me most, right now... The 26.4 million clusters (or 206.1 thousand sectors per fat) is a real limit, which I think I determined very thoroughly (using a Corsair Flash Voyager 32 GB pendrive) as described in this post. However, it's clearly not the only one: now I have tried to run scandskw on a real big partittion, a 494,838,793,040 bytes ( 460.85 GiB), which has just 15,105,443 32kiB clusters and received the usual error message: So there is a size limitation, too, which, in this case is hit first! And it appears that the problem lies in dskmaint.dll, since using Tihiy's replacement scandskw, which is a true PE executable (32-bit) that, however, through shell32.dll, relies in dskmaint.dll, AFAIK, gives rise to the same error. Or the problem may be in shell32.dll itself. In any case, with all that thunking up and down going on, it's really hard to ascertain which processes actually ultimately rely on 16-bit code, without some detailed spelunking, in the Win9x/ME world...

What we want is a sector-by-sector image from the *full* disk, omitting nothing. Since this process is dumb-as-a-doorbell, almost any imaging software can do it satisfactorily. But not all software will be able to test it afterwards, so testing ability is needed, and since we cannot afford to go wrong, a well reputed software like Acronis is preferable. If the imaging software can compress the image, too, that also helps, although it makes the already long and tedious process of acquiring the image even longer, but helps with storing the image afterwards, and does not cause a very big penalty on redeploying. So, I'd have to read the manual again, looking for how to do these things with Acronis, which is not the software I'm used to (I use Norton Ghost, but it's not for free, nor do you need it). So, to me, it will be a refresh course in Acronis, which I've not used for some time already. And since I own 4 Seagate disks, I'm entitled to it, too. Now, if we can compress the image, we should make the best of it, by zeroing-out all free space in the disk, because long sequences of zeroes compresses best. And Sysinternals (now MS) offers a free program called sdelete, to do just this, among some other possible uses for it. This is necessary because, since it's a blind sector-by-sector image, we're bound to copy the free sectors, too.

No. You need LLXX patch.

You may find it here, Tripredacus: RLoew's Software Homepage, where one finds the RAM Limitation Patch

Yes, it would. So, I hereby name you, HardDriv'n, volunteer to do it. Please, feel free to go ahead.

Precisely: 0) Create a known-good image (in the external USB HDD). Burn it onto a DVD set if possible, once we're sure it's good. 1) Remove Norton. If it doesn't solve the issue, then redeploy the image and we're back to square 1, no harm done! 2) Remove and reinstall Office. If it doesn't solve the issue, then redeploy the image and we're back to square 1, no harm done! 3) Remove Norton, then remove and reinstall Office. If it doesn't solve the issue, then redeploy the image and we're back to square 1, no harm done! 4) [...]. If it doesn't solve the issue, then redeploy the image and we're back to square 1, no harm done! n) Format the partition. Zero it out with sdelete. Reinstall Windows, plain vanilla. Reinstall Office, plain vanilla. If not even this solves the issue, then redeploy the image once more and we're still back to square 1, no harm done! It may be a long and frustrating process, which may or may not solve the issue, but it ensures nothing is lost in the process, except time and oftentimes patience! I'm still too busy to follow such a process step-by-step, as I'd like to. But this interim might be useful for JorgeA and you to get familiar with the imaging tool selected, which was the Acronis version offered by Seagate, IIRR.

Of course there is one! Just click here, and follow the instructions (of the offered alternatives, select the middle one, which is for IE6 sp1), and they'll send it to you.

Welcome to MSFN! I'm sure you'll find lots of interesting stuff in it.

I don't know the answer to your latest question. But I do know that both the defragger and ScanDskW depend on the selfsame Dskmaint.dll so: 1) be sure to also use v. 4.90.0.3000 of dskmaint. 2) where scandskw works, so should the defragger, but if scandskw doesn't work neither the defragger does, so, at the very least, using scandskw is a good test to perform before going on to defragging. The actual limit as to how big a partition may be seems to be related to the number of clusters in it *and* to how much of the common application memory space available to 16-bit programs (the "Shared Arena", see Q125691) is actually available in a given system. Also, please, do read this and this.

@jds: While not mandatory, I usually add the Unofficial Win 9x Stack Corruption, 98KRNLUP, which installs Krnl386.exe v. 04.10.00.2000, to the mix, too. This completes the available updates to Win 9x core files.

You should always check *what* the updates in question are... Q272137 installs Kernel32.dll v. 04.10.00.2224 for Win 98SE and was superceeded by Q320798, which installs Kernel32.dll v. 04.10.00.2225 for Win 98SE and was superceeded by the Unofficial Win9x 2-4 GB Files Errors Fix, COPY2GB, which installs Kernel32.dll v. 04.10.00.2226 for Win 98SE!!! If you didn't install it in your system up to now, now is a good time for you to do it. And, while you're at it do add also the Unofficial Win 9x Explorer Lockups With IE 5.xx/6.xx update (SHELL98), which installs Shell32.dll v. 4.72.3812.634, and the Unofficial Win 9x Stack Corruption, 98KRNLUP, which installs Krnl386.exe v. 04.10.00.2000, and, then, reinstall KernelEx, and you're all set, no matter what Belarc says about it.

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Same here. But like Mr. Taco, I've disabled BOOTUP.EXE in autoexec.bat. My machine being faster than his, it took longer for me to notice it, but from some point on, the boot scan began taking ages to finish, so I disabled it. It still works, if I reenable it, but takes too long for me to let it run on every boot. But the AVG on my XP boot can take care of that for me. I'm also preferring to do the full system scans from XP. But it's good to have Resident Shield working on 98!

Turns out you were right: I was using fetnd5bv.sys v. 3.84.0.1 06/16/2009 07:28:47 46,592 bytes VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter while the MS Update site offered an update for it (which I postpone because I always image my System partition before updating drivers that are working). When I updated the Ethernet driver, I recieved: fetnd5bv.sys v. 3.85.0.1 06/25/2010 05:25:57 47,104 bytes VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter and then I was able to use the new Win32k.sys without further BSODs. So, from this I conclude that MS only offers such drivers updates for a reason, even when they don't tell you so. In any case the proble was a conflict with the previous (2009) VIA Ethernet Card Driver. Later edit: I spoke the above too soon. Both the gdr and qfe branches of the Win32k.sys driver from KB981957 still give the issue after updating the the Ethernet driver, only less frequently than before. Whatever it may be, however, it *is* solved by updating to either branch of the Win32k.sys driver from KB2436673, so MS did solve it, in the end. Later edit: I spoke too soon, yet again... The BSOD remains... only it's less frequent, now.

Well, mostly, the QFE fixes work OK, but they were not deemed serious enough to undergo "full regression testing", whatever that may mean. The QFE files for 98SE are the core of Gape's pack, for instance and the unofficial update packs for other versions of 9x/ME are based on them, as well, so I think they are very well tested by now and safe to use.

It should be.... and the simultaneous multiple file copies unofficial shell32 v. 634 should also be so. In any case, just for the record, Win ME defragmenter should be subject to the same limitations than scandiskw, since they depend on the same DskMaint.dll, so it should be good with all partitions smaller than 320 GB or so, and maybe with bigger ones, too. However, DskMaint.dll is a NE executable (16-bit), and as such, has intrinsic limitations in its use of memory that wouldnt be there if it were a PE executable (Win32).

Sorry for the indigestibly long explanation I pointed to. Here's what matters for our purposes: What is not said above is that both those types are cumulative, so that a GDR file contains some new and all previous GDR fixes, while a QFE (= LDR) contains all that the GDR does, plus some new and all previous QFE fixes, being thus more completely fixed, but perhaps more prone to give problems, because less well tested. Moreover, once a QFE file gets installed, all the future updates to it will always be taken from the QFE branch, too, automagically, from that point onwards (until the next official service pack, which, for 9x/ME, 2k and NT4 or older, will never be issued). Hope this digests better.

I sent you a PM...

Just for the record, here's a link to the Norton Removal Tool 9x, probably the best App from Symantec ever! AFAIK, this is the last version for 9x, and it doesn't expire, like all previous versions. It may be useful to help creating the standalone version of Norton Speed Disk. It does a pretty comprehensive job, so take care: it may be able to remove or cripple the standalone Ghost install you've got, so be prepared to put it back, before using the NRT9x.

Welcome to MSFN!

Look no farther than this: GDR, QFE, LDR...!

It's part of MDIE6CU 3.4... that's probably how you and Dave got it. Me, too. But I updated manually to the qfe branch afterwards, due to my preferring the qfe branch.

By trial and error. The best way would be to set up a test machine having a plain vanilla 9x installed, then image it fully, then install regshot 1.8.2, and then install the Symantec product, using regshot to monitor the registry changes. Then save the installed files away, redeploy the image and start adding files and registry entries until it starts working. It's a painful and time consuming process, which may, or may not, give results, but I don't know of any shortcut to it. Of course, Dependency Walker 2.2.6000.0 can serve as a guide as to what to put in, but some of it will always be educated guesswork. The only thing I know for sure is that the appropriate entry at HKLM\Software\Symantec\InstalledApps is of paramount importance for any Symantec application, and I bet HKLM\Software\Symantec\Norton Speed Disk and HKLM\Software\Symantec\Speed Disk are, too, for your specific problem...

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

What about using tlist and find to create a temporary file, checking for the file until it exists, then checking its contents to be sure, then delting it and going on to the next install?