dencorso

scrumpyjack, you are quite welcome here! And you're evidently quite talented if this was your first foray with assembly language. To tackle IO.SYS and get something working out of it is no easy feat. So please do hang around, for you're certainly the type of member we need most: one with disposition to confront the problems and come out of it with solutions. Do however check my previous post, I've updated it with more info and think your patch still needs some perfecting. Good luck! @scrumpyjack: I said your patch will wait forever, unless any one key is ever pressed. The alternative patch that I proposed does the same as yours, but does not wait for any key. Here's the original code: B4 01 mov ah, 1 CD 16 int 16h 75 XX jnz somewhere Your patch changed mov ah, 1 to move ah, 0 (efectively causing ZF to be always 1), so the next jnz never executes. But service 0 of INT 16 waits for a character. My proposal was to substitute the actual jnz XX by nop nop, so that there is no jnz to execute. The effect is exactly the same. But my proposed patch doesn't wait for a character. BTW, IO.SYS may be getting the state of <Ctrl> and <Shift> directly from the BIOS data area at 0:0417H and/or 0:418, instead of using INT16 to do it. But I think it's not: there is a routine using service 02 of INT16 just above the one you patched...

Well, I guess this thread really became tridimensional, stretched over three different forums... Turns out that scrumpyjack used the original Win 98 FE IO.SYS 222390 05/11/1998 21:01, which is the only one to have 01 at offset 84DB... Now, there are 4 Win 98 IO.SYSs: Win 98 FE IO.SYS 222390 05/11/1998 21:01 (Win 98FE original) Win 98 FE IO.SYS 222670 11/30/2001 15:31 (Win 98FE Q311561) Win 98 SE IO.SYS 222390 04/23/1999 22:22 (Win 98SE original) Win 98 SE IO.SYS 222670 12/01/2001 09:37 (Win 98SE Q311561) In all four, just search for the hexadecimal string 3E 01 B4 01 CD 16 75 and change only the 01 marked in red to 00. It should work. I do, however, strongly advise the use of the Q311561 versions. It's still available from Microsoft (link), and Petr (link) localized it to lots of languages, including Italian, because, you see, Microsoft put the English version, by mistake, in most of the localized versions they offer. BTW, Petr remarks that both Q311561 versions are binarily identical. I've tested it. That patch presents problems: 1) If, after selecting "boot from floppy disk", you don't press any key IO.SYS will wait forever for any key... That is due to having substituted INT 16 service 01 for service 00 (it effectively consumes any keystroke, but will wait forever for a keystoke if there isn't any in the buffer). This is easy to solve: instead of scrumpyjack's patch, do patch the red bytes in 3E 01 B4 01 CD 16 75 XX to be 3E 01 B4 01 CD 16 90 90, and the wait is removed. 2) In the original patch, if, after selecting "boot from floppy disk", one presses and holds <Ctrl> until "Starting Windows ...", then press any key, IO.SYS will go straight to the boot menu. My proposed patch eliminates the need to press any key, but doesn't prevent IO.SYS from going to the boot menu when one holds <Ctrl>. And then there is also <Shift> to consider, which I did not test...

And you certainly would've posted the solution, once you found it, I'm sure! Well, now I'm already past rant mode, but I think I ought to tell what doesn't make sense to me, anyway, so let's see: 1) The *ONLY* reason I can think of for posting the same problem in 3 forums is sheer desperation. Then again, one who is able to reverse-engeneer IO.SYS in two days had no reason to be so desperate... 2) Why reverse IO.SYS, which is system-critical and 222670 bytes long, when doing so to JO.SYS, which is not system-critical and is just 2048 bytes long ought to accomplish the desired result?

Well, so far we have the exact same May 24 post by scrumpyjack here, at boot-land, and at computing.net (there as markreflex), by my reckoning... Where else did he post? He seemed really desperate... Then he solves the problem by himself in two days??? It really does remind me the Chewbacca Defense: it makes no sense!

This msdos.sys works: [Options] BootDelay=0 BootMulti=0 BootGUI=0 BootKeys=0 Logo=0 ... with JO.SYS absent, of course!

I just saw your thread over in computing.net and read it: "Subject: Io.sys disable f8". I think you might solve your problem by using BCDW 1.50Z instead of JO.SYS to get the menu you want working from the CD and disable F8 via msdos.sys. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I think it can be done. HTH. Obs.: As you're new to this forum, let me point out to you that the underlined parts in this post are clickable links.

As of Aug 17, 2016, there are 61 machines, owned by 37 members, running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM. Of these, 35 machines are multiboot setups and 24 machines use the RAM Limitation Patch. This list is sorted by amount of onboard RAM, then by member username in alphabetic order. An arabic numeral in parentheses beside the member username indicates machine number, for members having more than one machine in the list. Similarly, a roman numeral beside the member name denotes another configuration of the same machine, different enough to warrant another entry in the list. Since the aim of this list is to provide examples of working configurations, I see no point in removing a configuration proven to work just because the user found another, even better, working configuration (but such different configurations count as one machine only, of course, in the tally at the top of this post). ===== 64 GiB ===== ragnargd (3) ======== OS: W98SE (SP 3.0d), Windows XP Pro 32bit, Windows 10 64bit Home, Multiboot Memory: 32 GiB RAM (DDR3-1333 - 4x 8 GiB), of which W98SE sees 1GiB, XP sees 3,4 GiB, W10 sees 32GiB) MB: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 (with RLoew Interrupt-Fix for NVidia Driver) CPU: AMD Opteron 3280 (8-core) 65W, passive cooling GPU1: EVGA GeForce 7900 GTX 512 MB, AGP, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-/RAM-Fix (via VGA by W98SE) GPU2: MSI GeForce GTX 950 (used by XP and W10 via DVI-D on same Monitor as above) config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) IO.SYS with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 ; MaxPhysPage=40000 ; MaxFileCache=393216 ; ChunkSize=4096 ===== 32 GiB ===== ragnargd (4) and (5) ============= OS: W98SE (SP 3.0d), Windows XP Pro 32bit, Windows 10 64bit Home, Multiboot Memory: 32 GB RAM (DDR3-1333 - 4x 8 GB), of which W98SE sees 1GB, XP sees 3,4 GB, W10 sees 32GB) MB(4): GigaByte GA-870A-USB3 Rev. 3.1 MB(5): ASRock 890FX-Deluxe5 (with RLoew Interrupt-Fix for NVidia Driver) CPU: AMD Opteron 3280 (8-core) 65W, passive cooling GPU1: EVGA GeForce 7900 GTX 512 MB, AGP, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-/RAM-Fix (via VGA by W98SE) GPU2: MSI GeForce GTX 950 (used by XP and W10 via DVI-D on same Monitor as above) config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) IO.SYS with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 ; MaxPhysPage=40000 ; MaxFileCache=393216 ; ChunkSize=4096 RLoew (9) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE / MSDOS 7.10 / Windows Me / Windows 7 (32-Bit MBR, 64-Bit MBR and 64-Bit UEFI) / Windows 8 (64-Bit MBR and 64-Bit UEFI) / UBUNTU Linux 14.04.1 (32-Bit MBR and 64-Bit UEFI). RFDISK Extended Multi-Boot Profile MBR + GPT. Memory: 32 GiB (4x 8 GiB DDR3 DIMMs; 3464 MiB available to Win 98SE; 29182 MiB available to RAMDISKs and 64-Bit Memory SDK) Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Eight Core Video: Default VGA Only at present Sound: None at present Ethernet Card: RTL8111E (buggy Tenda Driver) 3 Removable SATA Trays 4TB SATA Hard Drive currently installed SATA Blu-Ray Writer TBPLUS Disk Package CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\HIMEMEX.SYS /S /V ; used with RAMDSK64 and 64-Bit Memory SDK. DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=64 AUTOEXEC.BAT: SPLIT8MB RAMDSK64 T: 6000000 (6GB non-XMS RAMDISK For Internet Temporaries) Remaining 64-Bit RAM reserved for 64-Bit RAM and Multi-Core SDKs. vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd: 4.10.0.2222, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2226 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.1 (with /M and /P Options plus SPLIT8MB) RLoew (8) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE + Windows 95, ME, 3.11 and XP SP3 + MSDOS 7.10, using RFDISK Multi-Boot Profile MBR Memory: 32 GiB (4x 8 GiB DDR3 DIMMs; 3069 MiB available to Win 98SE; 29692 MiB available to RAMDISKs and 64-Bit Memory SDK) Motherboard: Asus M5A97 (onboard Ethernet and Sound Disabled: No Win 9x Drivers); USB 3 (XP Only) CPU: AMD FX-8120 Eight Core Video Card: NVIDIA 7200GS PCI-E (with 81.98 Driver, with shutdown problem) Sound Card: Envy24 Ethernet Card: RTL8139 2 Removable SATA Trays 1TB SATA Hard Drive currently installed Blu-Ray Writer TBPLUS Disk Package CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\HIMEMEX.SYS /S /V ; used with RAMDSK64 and 64-Bit Memory SDK. DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=64 AUTOEXEC.BAT: RAMDSK64 R: 6000000 (6GB non-XMS RAMDISK For Internet Temporaries) Remaining 64-Bit RAM reserved for 64-Bit RAM and Multi-Core SDKs. vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd: 4.10.0.2222, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2226 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.1 (with /M and /P Options) ===== 16 GiB ===== ragnargd (2) ======== OS: Windows 98SE (German with 3.0d) , Windows XP Pro 64bit, Dualboot Memory: 16 GiB RAM (DDRII-800 - 4x 4 GB), of which 98SE sees 1GB and , and XP64 sees 15,4 GB Motherboard: Asrock AliveDual-eSATA2 CPU: Phenom II X4 910e (passive cooling) GPU1: GigaByte GeForce 7600 256 MB, PCIe, passive cooling, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-Fix GPU2: FoxxCon GeForce 7600 256 MB, AGP, passive cooling, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-Fix (ex GPU: MSI GeForce 7950 GT 256 MB AGP, passive cooling, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-Fix) (ex GPU: NoName GeForce 6200 256 MB AGP, passive cooling, 77.72) 98SE runs from IDE-HDD Samsung 80GB XPx64 runs from SATAII-HDD Samsung 160GB config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 MaxPhysPage=40000 ; 1 GiB MaxFileCache=393216 ChunkSize=4096 vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd inside), VMM.VXD: original 4.10.0.2226 IO.SYS with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode RLoew (2) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE + Windows 95, ME, 3.11 and XP SP3 + MSDOS 7.10, using RFDISK Multi-Boot Profile MBR Memory: 16 GiB (4x 4 GiB DIMMs; 3070 MiB available to Win 98SE; 13312 MiB available to RAMDISKs and 64-Bit Memory SDK) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H CPU: AMD ATHLON X2 6000+ Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 256MB PCI (with 77.72 Driver, without the shutdown problem) Sound Card: CMI8738 Motherboard Ethernet: RTL8111 4x 2TB SATA Hard Drives DVD Writer and Blu-Ray Writer TBPLUS Disk Package CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\HIMEMEX.SYS /S /V ; used with RAMDSK64 and 64-Bit Memory SDK. DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=64 AUTOEXEC.BAT: RAMDSK64 R: 2000000 (non-XMS RAMDISK For Internet Temporaries) Remaining 64-Bit RAM reserved for 64-Bit RAM and Multi-Core SDKs. vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd: 4.10.0.2222, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2226 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.1 (with /M and /P Options) ===== 8 GiB ===== Dave-H (2) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE SP2.1a + Windows XP Pro SP3 + Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit MultiBoot Memory: 8 GiB (4 x 2 GiB FB-DIMMs; 3071 MiB available for Win 98SE) Motherboard: Supermicro X7DAL-E CPUs: Two Quad Core 3.16 GHz X5460 Rev E0 Xeons Video cards: PCI-e x16 ATI Radeon X600, with 256MB memory + PCI-e x4 nVidia Quadro 2000 with 1GB of memory (cannot be used on Windows 98SE) config.sys and autoexec.bat: no relevant entries ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.0 (with /M Option) * swapfile set to zero size * ragnargd (6) ======== OS: W98SE (SP 3.0d), Windows XP Pro 32bit, Windows 10 64bit Pro, Multiboot Memory: 8 GB RAM (DDRII-800 - 4x 2 GB), of which 98SE sees 1GB, XP sees 3,4 GB, and W10 sees 7,9 GB MB: GigaByte GA-EP35-DS3R Rev 2.1 CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S 65W, passive cooling GPU: EVGA GeForce 7900 GTX 512 MB, AGP, 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-/RAM-Fix) N.B.: onboard SATA must be off during W98SE installation config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) IO.SYS with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 ; MaxPhysPage=40000 ; MaxFileCache=393216 ; ChunkSize=4096 RLoew (7) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE + Windows ME + MSDOS 7.10, using RFDISK Multi-Boot Profile MBR Memory: 8 GiB (4x 2GiB DIMMs; 3327 MiB available to Win 98SE; 4736 MiB available to RAMDISKs and 64-Bit Memory SDK; 128 MiB for Video) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP CPU: AMD PHENOM 8650 Triple Core Video Card: NVIDIA FX5200 (with 81.98 Driver, without the shutdown problem) AGP aperture: 128 MiB Ethernet: RTL8168C/8111C CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=64 DEVICE=C:\HIMEMEX.SYS /S /V ; used with RAMDSK64 and 64-Bit Memory SDK. AUTOEXEC.BAT: RAMDSK64 P: 786432 (Maximum SWAP File size in this configuration); one of RLoew's non-XMS RAMDISKs RAMDSK64 X: 2056320 (2GB FAT16 Partition); one of RLoew's non-XMS RAMDISKs RAMDSK64 Y: 2056320 (2GB FAT16 Partition); one of RLoew's non-XMS RAMDISKs Remaining 64-Bit RAM reserved for 64-Bit RAM and Multi-Core SDKs. vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 6.2 (with /M and /P Options) Swapfile set to P: (RAMDISK) ===== 4 GiB ===== cooksy (1) ======= OS: Windows 98SE (German with SP2.1d) Memory: 4 GiB RAM (DDRII-1066 - 2x 2 GiB Corsair Dominator XM2) Motherboard: Asrock AliveDual-SataII CPU: Phenom 940 Video card: Leadtek 7950gt (256 MB; PCIe) config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) autoexec.bat: no relevant entries system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 MaxPhysPage=40000 ; 1 GiB MaxFileCache=393216 vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd inside), VMM.VXD: original 4.10.0.2226, IO.SYS: with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode Dave-H (1) ======= OSes: Windows 98SE SP2.1a + Windows XP Pro SP3 MultiBoot Memory: 4 GiB (4x 1 GiB DIMMs; 3071 MiB available for Win 98SE) Motherboard: Supermicro X5DAE CPUs: Two Xeons, both 3.2 GHz Video card: XFX branded nVidia GeForce 7950GT AGP with 512 MiB VRAM AGP aperture: 128 MiB config.sys and autoexec.bat: no relevant entries system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.0 (with /M Option) * swapfile set to zero size * loblo (II) ====== OS: Windows ME Memory: 4 GiB RAM (4x 1GiB OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Platinum; 3456 MiB available to Windows) Motherboard: ASUS A8V Deluxe (BIOS 1018 Beta 2)* CPU: AMD Opteron 154 (2.8Ghz) Video card: XFX GeForce 7950 GT 512 MiB AGP (Aperture=64 MiB; with unofficial 82.69 drivers)** Audio Card: ESI Juli@ *** config.sys and autoexec.bat: no relevant entries system.ini: MinFileCache=512 MinPagingFileSize=102400 MaxPagingFileSize=102400 vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd: 4.90.0.3000, vmm.vxd: 4.90.0.3000 with RAM Limitation Patch 7.1 (with /A Option) --------- * Hardware Memory Hole must be enabled in BIOS otherwise system won't boot. ** With 32 MiB AGP Aperture only 3328 MiB are (strangely) available to Windows and with 128 or 256 MiB system won't boot. *** Previously, a Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS was installed but refused to work unless the RAM was limited to 2054 MiB (i.e.: MaxPhysPage=80700). MatureTech ======== OSes: Windows 98SE (among others) MultiBoot Memory: 4 GiB DDR PC-3200 (4x 1 GiB Corsair Value Select) Motherboard: MSI 865PE Neo3-F CPU: Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz (Prescott) Video card: eVGA GeForce 6800 GT (256 MiB; AGP 8x) AGP aperture: 256 MiB config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE autoexec.bat: empty system.ini: MaxPhysPage=40000 ; (1 GiB) MaxFileCache=131072 ; (128 MiB) vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside) ragnargd (1) ======== OS: Windows 98SE (German with SP2.1d) , Windows XP Pro 32bit, Windows 10 64bit Home, Multiboot Memory: 4 GiB RAM (DDRII-677 - 2x 2 GB), of which 98SE sees 1GB and XP/W7 see 3,3 GB Motherboard: ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0, with beta-bios-patch for 4GB (3.3GB) Ram CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 95W (passive cooling) Video card: MSI GeForce 7950 GT 256 MB, AGP (passive), 82.69 with RLoew Shutdown-Fix 98SE runs from Transcend SSD320 32 GB IDE-SSD XP runs from Super Talent Ultradrive GX MLC 32GB SATA-SSD W10 runs from Super Talent Ultradrive GX MLC 128GB SATA-SSD config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE (HIMEM.EXE is a renamed HIMEMX.EXE, for use with xRayeR's Safe Mode patch) system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 MaxPhysPage=40000 ; 1 GiB MaxFileCache=393216 ChunkSize=4096 vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd inside), VMM.VXD: original 4.10.0.2226 IO.SYS with xRayeR's patch for Safe Mode RLoew (1) ======= OS: Windows 98SE Memory: 4 GiB RAM (3647 MiB available to Win 98SE; IO Space Bottom 31:24 set to E4) Motherboard: ECS GeForce 6100SM-M CPU: AMD Sempron 3400+ Video card: Radeon HD 2600 Pro (No Win9x Driver - Used Standard VGA) 512 MiB Frame Buffer: 64 MiB config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS autoexec.bat and system.ini: no relevant entries vmm32.vxd (real mode), vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch 5.0 motherboard drivers not available for Win9X ======== 3.5 GiB ======== Tommy (2) ======= OS: Windows 98 SE with uSP3 and KernelEx 4.52 Memory: 3.5 GiB RAM Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965GM-S2 Revision 2.0 CPU: Pentium Dual Core E2220 @ 2.4GHz HDD: Maxtor 80 GB (using Rloew's SATA patch) Video card: nVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 Sound: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy LS config.sys no relevant entries autoexec.bat C:\NTFS\NTFSCHK.EXE /F /S system.ini and system.cb no relevant entries vcache.vxd, vmm.vxd and vmm32.vxd with Rloew's RAM Patch v7.1 ===== 3 GiB ===== dencorso (II) ========= OSes: Windows 98SE (w/98SE2ME) + Windows XP SP3, MSDOS 7.10, Slax 2.1.6 & TinHat Linux MultiBoot Memory: 3 GiB RAM (PC3200 - Kingston 3x 1 GiB @256 MHz, timings 2.5-3-3-7, 2T) Motherboard: ASUS A7V600-X CPU: Athlon XP-M 2800+ @2333 MHz Video card: MSI MS-8817 V1 nVidia GeForce2 MX400 PRO32S (32 MiB; AGP 4x) AGP aperture: 64 MiB config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMEX.SYS /S /A:180000 /V ; part of RAMDISK3, must be 1st entry, before HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:ON /EISA /V INSTALL=RAMDISK3.COM N: 1572864 ; one of RLoew's non-XMS (beta) RAMDISKs autoexec.bat: LABEL N: MS-RAMDRIVE system.ini: MaxPhysPage=5FF000 ; 1535 MiB ChunkSize=2048 VCACHE.VxD: Xeno86's (4.10.0.2223), VMM.VXD (4.10.0.2226) and VMM32.VXD (real mode) both with RAM Limitation Patch 6.0 (with /M Option) Kwibus ===== OSes: Windows 98SE & Widows 2k MultiBoot Memory: 3 GiB DDR PC-3200 (2x 512 MB and 2x 1 GiB @ 167 MHz) Motherboard: A8n-E (with nForce 4 ultra chipset) CPU: Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Video card: Gforce 6800 PCI-e (256 MiB) config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS autoexec.bat: no relevant entries system.ini: MaxPhysPage=48000; (Windows sees 1150 MiB) vmm.vxd: plain vanilla 4.10.0.2222; vmm32.vxd (real mode) and vcache.vxd: 4.10.0.2222 with RAM Limitation Patch Demo 6.0 (with /M Option -- Without these patches the graphics card appeared to have more than 2 GiB RAM to dxdiag and directx 9 stopped working.) StarRiver ====== OSes: Windows 98 SE & Windows XP MultiBoot Memory: 3 GiB (PC3200 2x 512 MiB and 2x 1 GiB) Motherboard: GIGABYTE 8IPE1000-G CPU: Intel Pentium4 Prescott 3.5 GHz Video card: Gainward Nvidia 6800Ultra (256 MiB; AGP 8x) AGP aperture: 256 MB config.sys: DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE autoexec.bat: no relevant entries system.ini: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 MaxPhysPage=48000 ; 1152 MiB (Windows sees 1150 MiB) MaxFileCache=65535 ; 64 MiB ChunkSize=1024 vmm32.vxd: plain vanilla (with 4.10.0.2222 vcache.vxd and vmm.vxd inside)

Notice: This thread has been reorganized to enhance its reference value, so that the Links Index is now here on post #1. If you want the User's Configurations List itself, it is now located on post #2, below. ==================================================== All MSFN threads relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM: ==================================================== Win9x: More than 512 MB of RAM? (obsolete, link provided in view of historic value only) 512 RAM, Can I install more than 512 MB of RAM? (obsolete, has only historical value) 512 MB RAM and above?, Myth or Fact? (relevant only from tscharlii's post #20 onwards) "Not Enough Memory" error discussion, Possible fix found... Puzzling Registry Size Issue VCACHE fix attempt Help I need to Get 2GB installed RAM working in Win98SE Windows 98SE 2GB RAM Out of memory when opening DOS command prompt 1.5GB and some trouble with them..., another few bugs discovered and descripted How to install Windows 98 in modern motherboards using more than 1 GB (Tutorial) Is this Win98SE patch for 4GB use a scam? Okay, I have win98se working mostly great on a 2GB P4 Problem reinstalling me/xp Physical Adress Extension and Windows 9x Guide to running Me above RAM memory limit? Windows 95 2.1GHz CPU Limit BROKEN! Optimal Swap file size, etc. Unusual memory issue More than 1 GiB in Win9x safe mode? (*Do read this:* it's Usher's Method) Using more than 512mb ram Update Fix? RLoew's non-XMS Ramdisk and related Software (*Do read this:* it's the most up-to-date) ================================= Noteworthy specific posts inside MSFN threads: ================================= Igor Leyko's Article (in English, translated by GreyPhound) and also Igor Leyko's Article (in Russian, the original text) cluberti on 32bit Windows not seeing all 4GB of RAM dencorso on how to remove ACPI and APM diskless on the relationship among XMSDSK, MaxFileCache and the number of simultaneous DOS boxes xRayeR on HIMEMX and xRayeR on accessing Safe Mode with more than 1 GiB RAM RLoew on XMSDSK's limitations (I) and (II), RLoew on HIMEMX's limitations and RLoew on SwapFile limitations (I) and (II) *Do read these 5 linked posts!* Multibooter on software which is buggy/unreliable with 2GB RAM *Do read this!* Offler on MaxPhysPage Dave-H on solving the Registry Size Limitation Issue using the RAM Limitation Patch v. 6.0 dencorso on ramdisk performance tests Usher on accessing Safe Mode without any patched files with more than 1 GiB RAM ============================ Landmark thread elsewhere from 2005: ============================ Andrew Aronoff's (13 May 2005 02:11 GMT): Post #5, in "Can't start up with 2 GB RAM". First known report of successfully running Win 98SE with 2 GiB RAM! Alternate link for full thread at: GNT. Attached is a .pdf version of it, too. ================================================== MSKB articles relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM: ================================================== Q108079 - 32-Bit File Access Maximum Cache Size Q125691 - INFO: Overview of the Windows 95 Virtual Address Space Layout Q181594 - Windows 95 Can Access Up to Two GB of RAM ** Q181862 - Specifying Amount of RAM Available to Windows Using MaxPhysPage Q181966 - System Configuration Utility Advanced Troubleshooting Settings Q184447 - Error Message: Insufficient Memory to Initialize Windows Q223294 - INFO: The Windows 98 PageFile_Call_Async_Manager Service Q253912 - "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed Q304943 - Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of RAM * Q311871 - A blue screen appears when you start a computer with 1 GB or more of RAM * * These latter two articles are misleading in that they include the statement: "Windows Me and Windows 98 are not designed to handle more than 1 GB of RAM", which simply is not true. Q311871 is included here just for the sake of completeness, and ought to be disregarded, as Igor Leyko, in 2005, had already pointed out. ** Likewise Q181594 is also misleading (see this post) and is included here just for the sake of completeness, since it gives the impression that Win 95 can use more than 1 GiB of RAM without any patching, which is not true. ================================================== Software files relevant to running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM: ================================================== LAST - FREE - Frank Uberto's XMSDSK v. 1.9I Ramdrive (direct download) ONGD - FREE - Japheth's HIMEMX.EXE Homepage LAST - FREE - Japheth's excellent VWin32 Memory Monitor Homepage (direct download) ONGD - $$$$ - RLoew's Software Homepage, where one finds the RAM Limitation Patch and the (beta) RAMDISKs, among other useful and unique software. ONGD - FREE - Xeno86's modified VCACHE.VXD ==================================================== Maximum_Number_of_MS_DOS_Boxes.PDF Igor_Leyko_Figs.7z xRayeR_IO.SYS_Patcher.7z Andrew_Aronoff_Cannot_start_up_with_2_GB_RAM.pdf MSKB_Win9x_ME_with_more_than_512M_RAM.PDF

Yes, many of us do know, and the answer is *no*: not in a MS-DOS Box (or window, if you like). Pure, plain, DOS mode only! From Windows, you'll have to "Restart in DOS Mode" to use it. Or run it before starting Windows.

NDD v. 10E (from Norton Utilities 2002) will do it OK, in DOS mode; Win ME Scandisk also works OK in DOS mode. It is findable on MDGx's site. Please try it and the other programs in this package and tell us about your experience afterwards: http://www.mdgx.com/files/BHDD30.ZIP. NDD32 from Norton System Works 2005 and the ones from NSW 2004 and 2003 work in Win 98SE, but there is controversy about the maximum disk size they actually are able to work with. It seems that 1 TB is too much for them, but they can go up to about 500 GB without problems. HTH. Edit (in view of the next post): @RetroOS: Sure! I have now corrected the above text... Thanks a lot! I guess I should read more carefully what I write...

It's not. Simply add the file to %windir%\SYSTEM\VMM32 and you're set. Do it in Real DOS Mode. And, while you're at it, be sure to add ESDI_506.PDR v. 4.10.2225, because v. 2226 is for IBM laptops only. She'll never answer, I'm sorry to tell you, for she's been banned for some time already, and AFAIK has disappeared from known cyberspace.

I got to agree with you on that. It was just that I was using it to download youtube videos, but I now realise that there are other methods of doing so. Youtube video play fines, embedded in webpages. If you know how to store youtube videos on the hard disk for off-line viewing please post it here because theoricaly you can't. Well, VDownloader does just that, and works well with Win 98SE (at least up to v. 0.61, v 0.7 is out but I didn't try it still). And for other things RealPlayer does, google for RealAltenative, it rocks!

Hi, Offler! You may find VxDLib useful. It is downloadable from V-Com homepage. It'll list all the files packed inside VMM32.VxD and can extract any or all of them, if you want it to. Now, it is time consuming to determine the original version of any VxD extracted from VMM32.VxD, because the file version infomation block of any VxD is removed in the process of packing it inside VMM32.VxD. VxDLib can also repack files into VMM32.VxD (but this one feature I never did test myself)...

Supposing you have GRUB.EXE in the root directory of the boot drive, the same directory your config.sys is in, these three lines try to load GRUB as a device, then GRUB as an INSTALLed executable, on top of the already loaded GRUB. So, then the new instance of GRUB finds the old instance of GRUB resident and aborts complaining of an "Unsupposed DOS, device driver or TSR" because of the first instance of GRUB, while breaking the instalation of the first instance in the process of aborting. Result: neither works. My suggestion: leave just DEVICE=GRUB.EXE in the config.sys and try again. HTH.

Try the links in this thread: HP-supports-Windows-9x-no-longer. Perhaps by following the links you'll find there you can find a better driver for your printer. Also try this other link: http://oldwindowsdrivers.blogspot.com/ HTH

SATA uses nearly the same commands as PATA so it is subject to the same issues as PATA. Most SATA controllers come with their own drivers so 48-Bit LBA support depeds on the driver used. Being a newer standard, it is more likely that a SATA driver would support 48-Bit LBA but there are no guarantees expecially with older drivers. Some motherboards with SATA built into their chipsets are compatable with the ESDI_506.PDR driver. If ESDI_506.PDR is used then there will be no support for 48-Bit LBA. In addition, the MSHDC.INF file will incorrectly configure some of these SATA drivers causing problems especially when IDE and SATA drives are used together. I stand corrected. Thanks, rloew! What I had in mind is that, for motherboards having VIA chipsets (specificaly the 8237 southbridge or any other compatible with it), anyone using the viasraid type drivers (link) is safe because they implement 48-bit LBA correctly. As for USB and FireWire (IEEE1394), they really use completely different access interfaces.

@RetroOs: Thanks for the heads up! I've now corrected my previous post. Yet, I did mean 32-bit, because I was thinking about the size of the variable all Windows (both 9x/ME and NT/XP families) use to store the LBA sector address... But 2^32=4294967296 and, of course, 1 sector = 512 bytes, so this would mean the total number of addressable bytes would be 512*2^32=2199023255552 (= 2.2 TB or 2.0 TiB)... In fact, despite the fact that the variable width is 32 bits, only the first 28 bits are used in the 28-bit LBA, the upper four being always zero. This results in 512*2^28=137438953472 (= 137.4 GB or 128.0 GiB), because the 28-bit LBA adapter will only accept 28 bits... See: http://www.48bitlba.com/overview.htm. Now, this has one interesting consequence: LLXX's fixed ESDI_506.PDR is coded to use the upper four bytes, but no more than that, so while 48-bit LBA potencially provides addressability to 144.1 PB (= 128.0 PiB), LLXX fix is still limited to 32 bits (as also is FAT32, see the wikipedia FAT32 entry ), providing addressability to no more than 2.2 TB (= 2.0 TiB)... That's what LLXX meant when she wrote "Addressing to 2048Gb is possible (limit of FAT32)" in post #1 of Enable48BitLBA-Break-the-137Gb-barrier. However, nowadays, that doesn't seem so huge to me as it did last year, and in fact we already do have a member (Marius '95) using one 1 TB HDD at the moment. For more on FAT32 and related subjects, read that interesting document, by Shrishail Rana, that I've attached to a previous post (link).

jaclaz pointed you to the right places... But, before you go there, look here: www.technical-assistance.co.uk may be just what you need, if you just want to get the driver. Observe that there are two different drivers, one to be used in Windows 98 and the other for Windows 98SE. HTH

I can. The 128 GiB limit refers to using 28-bit LBA and is a BIOS limit, related only to the IDE a.k.a PATA motherboard interface. If your machine's BIOS supports 48-bit LBA, by using LLXX's patched ESDI_506.PDR (usually ver 4.10.0.2225) you don't suffer from it. See also 48bitlba.com for more on it. If, on the other hand, the BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA, then you have two options: get a BIOS update from the manufacturer's site (or buy one from e-Support, in case the manufacturer doesn't offer one anymore) or let the motherboard native adapters alone and install an add-on IDE card, say, from Promise, for instance. Now, as I said, that's a PATA only issue. SATA, USB and FireWire (IEEE1394) use completely different access interfaces, so there is no 128 GiB limit for them. HTH. Another interesting place to visit is www.ata-atapi.com: they have lots of interesting info on PATA, SATA and SCSI.

@galahs: These linkis appeared in other threads, but I feel they should be included here also. ONGD - FREE - DOCS2RTF MS Word 2007 .DOCX and OpenOffice .SXW and .ODT converter to RTF: http://www.nativewinds.montana.com/softwar...f.html#download And, thanks to SlugFiller: LAST - FREE - VIA SATA DRIVER (viasraid, the last that works): http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/RAID...alATA_V220E.zip

UPDATED 05-08-2008 Please see the top of this topic for both the patch for Adobe Reader 6.0.6 and the new patch for Adobe Acrobat 6.0.6 Standard that I've just released.

Thanks a lot, SlugFiller! You rock!

SlugFiller, I'm glad to hear you've got things sorted out and that it now works. Would you please post the direct link to V220E or upload it somewhere and post the link to it? This driver is much sought after and difficult to get. In fact, I've just found out I don't know where my installer is anymore. I have it installed in my machine, and I'm positive I've saved the installer somewhere, but I just cannot find it. I was looking for it for you, but requests for it appear here from time to time, so I'd like to dowload it and save it because we do not know for how long it will remain findable on VIA's site, and better safe than sorry, right? Thanks.

I use viasraid.mpd v. 2.0.950.220, with VSATAVSD.VXD and M$ IOS.VxD v. 4.10.0.2225 for my 160 GB SATA DRIVE SAMSUNG HD160JJ/P and 1.5 GD SATA RAM DISK Gigabyte i-RAM, without any problem. My drivers come from VIA Hyperion 4in1 v. 456. Although I can let the BIOS recognize the SATA devices with no problems (I used to do it for a long time), since I don't boot from either, I let the SATA BIOS disabled nowadays, so that they are recognized in windows by those drivers I listed above. I also have two IDE DRIVES and use esdi_506.pdr, patched by LLXX for them. Moreover I do use Daemon Tools v. 3.46 (with 3 ISOs permanently mounted) and have no trouble at all from any of these pieces of software, in my ASUS A7V600-X motherboard. In my experience, VIA 4in1 drivers are very stable, although VIA itself recomends older versions of their drivers (as the one I'm using) for optimal performance with Win 98SE. Perhaps your problem is that you are using too new a version of VIA's drivers. Try using v. 456. Good luck! BTW, you should be using viasraid.mpd not viamraid.mpd. I don't remember why.

It is actually the same limit in both cases 137 GB = 137000000000 / (1000*1000*1000) and 127 GB = 137000000000 / (1024*1024*1024)... To be less confusing we ought to say 137 GB = 127 GiB... But GiB arrived too late, I think, so almost nobody uses it. See "Binary Prefix" in the Wikipedia. Yes. That's my opinion too. You don't need very constant defragging with such a huge memory. I, with 1.5 GiB, use a command-line defragger, but only once in a while. You might find it useful. Download it here: Memdefrag I think it's still too early to know. I know of about ten people using more than 1 GiB: RLoew, RetroOS, xRayeR, yourself, myself, eidenk, Offler, StarRiver and vick1111 are the names that come to my mind, right now. There may be some others I can't remember at the moment. And most of us have stepped over 1 GiB quite recently... So reports should begin appearing at any moment... in fact, you've just started it.