Multibooter

My personal experience has been that about 1 out of every 10 USB cables is bad/low quality.My Thermaltake enclosures, which can take both PATA and SATA HDDs up to 2TB and have switchable USB/eSATA connectors plus a Win98 driver, seem to be particularly susceptible to low quality USB cables, maybe because of the additional circuitry inside (in contrast to my Adaptec ACS-100 enclosures, which only take PATA HDDs and have only a USB connector). About 2 months ago I was fiddling around for hours, trying to identify why copying a partition on a 750GB HDD in a Thermaltake was not finished under WinXP after 10 hours, and why WinXP gave a message that I should use a faster USB connection, even if the enclosure was connected to a USB 2.0 Cardbus card. Replacing the apparently bad USB cable with another one fixed the problem and restored copying speed. Since then I have looked at gold-plated USB cables, but I haven't decided yet, they are quite expensive.

I am using NVidia v77.72, which does not have a shutdown problem under Win98, together with a bfg Geforce 7800 GS OC video card (AGP, 256MB), a 20" ViewSonic VP2030b LCD monitor (max.resolution: 1600x1200), an E4500 dual core and 2GB of RAM. Unfortunately, the widescreen resolution 1440x900 is not on the nVidia Screen Resolution menu of v77.72, confirming your statement. Most new LCD monitors, however, have the widescreen resolutions 1920x1200, 1680x1050 or 1440x900. I cannot use nVidia v82.69 because its shutdown problem erratically blacks out, on the Viewsonic under DVI, POST-info and the System Commander boot menu for the selection of operating systems. Is there a fix for the v77.72 driver to support under Win98 newer widescreen resolutions? If not, this would be a major limitation on the usability of Win98 with modern hardware, like widescreen LCD monitors. The 16:10 widescreen resolution 1280x800 is actually displayed among the currently possible resolutions of v77.72. On another older desktop with the same ViewSonic VP2030b LCD monitor and the same bfg Geforce 7800 GS OC video card, but with Nvidia v82.16 (not v82.69) the widescreen resolution 1440x900 is not displayed on the Screen resolution menu, and cannot be set to 1440x900 via Add Custom resolution. Is this due to the Nvidia driver or due to the ViewSonic monitor? I.e. if I upgrade from Nvidia v82.16 to v82.69, will 1440x900 appear in the Screen resolutions menu for the Viewsonic? BTW this desktop has shutdown problems because of v82.16. I am about to buy a monitor for building a 2nd Win98-compatible desktop with modern hardware, and would like to get a widescreen LCD monitor for it, so your ideas are highly appreciated. The importance of this matter would even warrant a new topic, like "Running Win9x/ME with a widescreen LCD monitor" BTW, your ReadMe also lists 1600x1200 as widescreen, is that a typo or really widescreen?

I just made a search with Win98 Find -> Containing text in \Windows\ with the 9 digit registry key name. This 9-digit string occurs only in the registry file System.dat and its backups, but a couple of bytes after its occurence the hexeditor displays the following: CryptographyQ.......Q...........Machine Settings............CatRootE:\USWIN98\SYSTEM\CatRoot\....................Providers....................Trust"......."...........Initialization{.......{...&.......{D41E4F1D-A407-11D1-8BC9-00C04FA30A41}............$DLLSOFTPUB.DLL The registry has 2 entries under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers\Trust\CertCheck\{D41E4F1D-A407-11D1-8BC9-00C04FA30A41}: SOFTPUB.DLL and SoftpubCheckCert So it's possibly an encryption key, but what might Microsoft want to encrypt differently for each installed instance of Windows? Or is it just the encrypted Product Key (cd key) used to install Windows, saved in the registry?

Do you use the US version of Win98? Does your IE have 128-bit encryption?

Kaspersky Internet Security v6.0.2.621KAV v4.5 stopped working properly under Win98SE after an online update early December 2008. v4.5 since then loads with an error msg: "Duplicate names are defined in anti-virus bases. Incorrect set file." I have now installed the on-demand scanner part of Kaspersky Internet Security v6.0.2.621, downloaded from their website. Since the trial v6.0.2.621 activated ok for 30 days, I bought at ebay a sealed retail box of old KIS 6, they go for $10-15 including shipping. The activation code in the box worked fine for a 1-year-subscription and KIS 6 updates & scans fine. To prevent any program updates which may not work under Win98 I did not select to update right away after installation; instead I rebooted and then, before the 1st update: Settings (top right of screen) -> click on Update on left -> de-select Update application modules. Old v6.0.2.621 is the last version which works under Win98 and which can get signature updates. The major problem is finding an activation key for v6; activation keys are version specific (i.e. specific to major v6, v7, v8, v9) and a US distributor for Kaspersky whom I asked did not know where to get a v6 key from. Buying at ebay a sealed retail box of old v6 seems to be the easiest and most economical solution. I have bought several of these old retail boxes, to have a supply of activation keys for several years. There is one proviso: Kaspersky Lab in Moscow has indicated that their activation codes are not valid forever.

Fast Defrag supposedly defrags RAM to improve performance; after running it, it displays more free physical memory AND more free virtual memory. I use it maybe 3 times a week because it does seem to do something positive.Windows is a black box with a million bugs inside. Himemx, for example, together with Xrayers io.sys patch, seems to work miracles, it lets Win98 work with 2GB of memory installed, and if I remember correctly, for reasons that were not fully understood. Main thing it works... until the next bug comes out of the black box. I have not noticed any slowdown of the computer due to Fast Defrag since I am using it when things start to get slow anyway.

What happens if you replace your marker with that of somebody else? If its an encryption key, something might stop working.Also: maybe it's an identifyer for strong encryption of the installed IE, which about 10 years ago was still under US export controls?

Maybe it's a fingerprint or identifying code, so that they know who is doing what, for Big Brother's monitoring/tapping/recording of the whole internet? Or maybe a key for decrypting encrypted stuff?Maybe it's just used to mark users of a US opsys version, since you are from the UK and you don't have it? All postings reporting markers, except for Lecco's, are from the US. Maybe they watch only those people who don't have a marker? In any case it looks like something intentionally hidden, and is therefore worth while investigating. What is listed on your Internet Explorer -> About under Cipher Strength? is it 128-bit (=strong encryption)?

Any other suggestions to heal the computer's brain cancer? Fast Defrag Pro does seem to help a little under Win98 on my 9-year-old 700MHz laptop with 512MB RAM in extending the time until certain apps slow down the system. But maybe it's just the placebo effect and only wishful thinkung; the only surely effective step is to reboot when the system gets slow. I don't run Fast Defrag Pro from Startup, only on demand when the system starts to get slow and becomes not very responsive, and only under Win98, not under WinXP. Another measure to tackle the memory leakage problem might be to replace some Win98SE dlls with WinME dlls - any suggestions? BTW, when I used an ethernet cable connection on an old lousy WLAN router, instead of a wireless connection, eMule uptime increased dramatically. But with a newer WLAN router there is no difference.

YES, but nusb is a difficult topic. nusb 3.3 install devices fine on a USB 1.1 port, but file transfer times are awful under USB 1.1. You should add a USB 2.0 card to your computer. Device Manager -> Storage device -> USB Disk indicates for USBMPHLP.PDR v4.90.300, 10-28-2007On one computer I have nusb 3.3, on another only manufacturer-provided drivers. I haven't decided in favor of one or the other yet. My main personal criteria is functional: which driver gets along better with huge drives/partitions? nusb and manufacturer-provided Win98 drivers were written before huge drives 1+TB were readily available. I can't help you on this one. I don't get empty minimized rectangle boxes on the taskbar, with or without nusb 3.3. I don't know how to uninstall nusb, except by restoring a backed-up \Windows\ and \Program Files\, created before installing nusb.

A memory management utility like Fast Defrag Pro from http://www.amsn.ro/ may help. Earlier versions of eMule also seemed to have a memory leakage problem, and Fast Defrag Pro improved their uptime.Another workaround would be to increase physical RAM to the max. of 1150GB with 2x1GB under Win98SE, but Fast Defrag Pro doesn't work on my desktop with 2x1GB RAM inserted. Please post if you find a utility which works for you, an initial list is maybe at http://finaldownload.com/software/free_ram.html

Internal PATA/SATA drives have this 127GB limitation of disk/partition size, but NOT external USB drives. I don't know about the size limitations of other external connections (Firewire, eSata) under Win98.I have in one of my external Adaptec ACS-100 3.5" USB enclosures a 250GB PATA HDD, which has actually only 232.9GB and runs fine connected to a 10-year-old laptop with an old BIOS which does not support 48-bit LBA (the internal 120GB HDD is reported by the BIOS as 65535MB, but everything works fine) With an actual disk size <240GB (a size limitation of Norton Disk Doctor under Win98) there is NO compelling need to partition the drive. One of the main purposes of partitioning is to limit the damage in case of disk corruption: disk corruption due to a buggy program/driver has happened to me many times under Win98, but the damage was always limited to a single partition. The last disk corruption that happened to me under Win98/FAT32 was just a few days ago when I had 2 external 1TB HDDs connected to the USB 2.0 Cardbus card in the PCMCIA slot of my old laptop, and I was copying/moving large files from one external drive to the other. Using Windows Explorer I got a msg on a blue screen: "Disk Write Error. Unable to write or to disk in drive O:. Data or files may be lost." After power off and on again and fixing the HDD with NDD, I repeated the file move with Beyond Compare, with the same Disk Write Error, plus 2 different file allocation tables. I eventually deleted the whole partition. The most likely cause was a buggy Win98 driver for the Texas Instruments Cardbus controller, written by Microsoft. BTW, I never had a physically damaged disk and this is probably an extremely rare event for home users, unless the disk drops from a table onto a stone floor or you play soccer with it, so the benefit of a RAID for home users is mainly imaginary.

I disagree, NTFS is better: better for Microsoft $$$ since it's proprietary and locks in corporate clients.

With my setup, there is not much need for NTFS read/write support under Win98:1) I am running WinXP on a FAT32 partition (initially installed onto an NTFS partition, then converted under Win98 with PartitionMagic to FAT32), so all WinXP stuff is accessible under Win98 2) I have an NTFS partition exclusively for files >2GB, which cannot be properly accessed anyway under pure Win98. eMule can create files up to 4GB on FAT32 under Win98, but I manipulate/extract these files under WinXP. 3) NTFS is a black box, protected by Microsoft's trade secrets etc. NO software producer, except for Microsoft, has access to the full documentation and details of NTFS, so any non-Microsoft software converting the black box NTFS is inheritantly problematic and probably a nightmare to support. Maybe that's why Paragon made NTFS4WIN98 freeware. PartitionMagic by PowerQuest (I used v8.01 Build 1312) does expressly not guarantee a successful conversion from NTFS-> FAT32, but it worked for me, after fixing the freshly converted partition with ScanDisk, Norton Disk Doctor and then a final check with Partition Table Doctor. Paragon Partition Manager v9.0, on the other hand, did NOT succeed in converting my NTSF partition to FAT32; Paragon Partition Manager v9.0 however CAN export files from an NTFS partition to a FAT/FAT32 partition. 4) I would be afraid to write to an NTFS partition from Win98 with buggy software, eventually the NTFS partition could become corrupted. 5) NTFS is probably past its peak: The manufacturers of SDHC cards have rejected NTFS; the standard file system for SDHC cards is FAT/FAT32 6) I am in the process of upgrading from Win98, not to Vista, but to Linux. And under Linux I don't need NTFS.

I am using 3 Thermaltake enclosures, each with a 1TB SATA HDD inside, they work fine under Win98 (both with nusb and with the manufacturer-provided driver, no special SATA driver is needed). See my posting at http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=824708I haven't tried a single 1TB FAT32 partition in a USB drive yet. Maybe you should create FAT32 partitions <240GB. 1TB FAT32 partitions are dangerous, how could you fix lost clusters? And when it comes to data recovery, you may be in deep trouble. To make sure that there is no BIOS etc problem on your old computer I would initially set the 1st FAT32 partition on your HDD to <127GB, to see whether the partition gets displayed in My Computer. I have an NTSF partition on the 1TBs, for exceptional files >2GB, but I prefer to have all my other stuff on FAT32 partitions because I am moving gradually to Linux, and FAT32 can be handled properly by Linux, in contrast to NTSF partitions. I even have WinXP on a FAT32 partition, so that my virus scanner can check under Win98 the WinXP partition, e.g. for root kits.

It should work with nusb 3.3 by Maximus Decim. To be on the safe side get one which also has a manufacturer-provided Win98 driver.I always bought external drive enclosures and then put a HDD into the enclosure myself. My largest external drives are currently 3 Thermaltake enclosures http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx...182&ID=1651 with each 1TB SATA HDDs in it. I partitioned them into 3x240GB logical FAT32 partitions and the remainder a logical NTSF partition for files >2GB. They work fine under Win98SE. The Thermaltake enclosures (cost here at Frys: $35) are outstanding because you can put both SATA and PATA (IDE) HDDs in them, and you can access the SATA HDD via USB (nusb or manufacturer-provided driver) under Win98. They don't make large-capacity PATA HDDs anymore (max. currently 500GB, the old 750GB PATA HDDs seem to have become rare collectibles, more expensive than 1.5TB SATA), so enclosures which only take PATA HDDs are of limited value. The Thermaltake enclosure can (according to the specs) handle HDDs up to 2TB in size. I unfortunately missed a sale here for the 1.5TB Seagate HDDs at $130+tax, so I cannot report on whether the 1.5TB HDD works Ok under Win98, but the 1TB HDD definitely does. Maybe you should consider buying/building 2 units, as father-grandfather units for backups, recovering data from a huge HDD is not really feasible because of its size. A buggy Win98 driver made by Microsoft recently damaged a nearly-full 240GB partition on one of my 1TB HDDs (causing 2 different file allocation tables) and the disk recovery software projected 72 hours for just analysing the partition, before recovery, so I just gave up. When I buy hardware, I also look for Linux-compatibility since I am in the process of making Linux my main workhorse, from Win98.

Definitely not. Perhaps it is the encrypted Windows serial number? Does Win98 still work after deleting this key? What registration info does Control Panel -> System show after deleting this key?

Culprit identified I am back from a long stay in Europe and have connected now several Genesys-driven USB devices to my desktop (Asus P5PE-VM motherboard, dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM) under Win98, and NO multiple-drive-letter problem occurred. The multiple-drive-letter problem has occurred only on my laptop, an old Inspiron 7500 with a Texas Instruments PCI-1225 CardBus Controller (= for the slot where I insert the PCMCIA/CardBus cards). On this laptop, under WinXP, the Texas Instruments PCI-1225 CardBus Controller works fine and I had no problem with devices connected to a USB 2.0 CardBus card inside the PCMCIA/Cardbus slot, only under Win98. The MS Win98SE driver for the Cardbus Controller is in my view the most likely cause of this multiple-drive-letter problem and many others. Microsoft has originally provided the driver for the Texas Instruments PCI-1225 CardBus Controller on its Win98SE opsys CD. The driver consists of the following files: carddrv.exe, cbss.vxd, csmapper.sys, Fls1mtd.vxd, Fls2mtd.vxd, PCCard.vxd, pcmcia.cat, Pcmcia.inf and Srammtd.vxd. Microsoft has provided various driver bugfix files, which have been removed from the Microsoft website, only their description is still left, mainly under http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295629 The original bugfix for the lousy MS Win98 driver for the PCI-1225 can be downloaded from http://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/CPatch/msupdate/.../295629usa8.exe But this bugfix does just as much as the shutdown bugfixes by Microsoft: nothing helpful to me. I followed their instructions to add a registry key to enable the bugfix, but this only causes nusb 3.3 to hang the system when a new device is detected. At http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm there are 2 related bugfixes listed, and after installing them, the original bugfix would not cause nubs 3.3 to hang the system anymore: a ) "Microsoft Windows 98 SE PCMCIA Adapter Code 10 Device Manager Error MSHDC.INF, IOS.VXD 4.10.2224 + PCI.VXD 4.10.2227 Fix:" b ) "Microsoft Windows 98 SE Laptop PCs PCI.VXD 4.10.2228 Fix: MUST install PCMCIA Adapter Code 10 Fix above FIRST!" I have seen mentioned in Google a newer Win98 driver, Texas Instruments PCI-1225 CardBus Controller 5.0.2183.1, release date: 2003-06-19, probably also by Microsoft, but I could not find it anywhere. Does anybody know where to find it?

I have not experienced this problem with v0.49b under nearly-pure Win98SE. I had uninstalled v0.49a before running the 0.49b installer package. Uninstall deleted all old files, including those in \config\. v0.49b installed a lot of dead servers, my preferred list is at http://www.emule-mods.de/?servermet=show I would check out/try the following: 1) maybe bad servers/hostile download sources, since the exit problem seems to occur randomly - does the exiting problem also occur when you start eMule with an empty Temp directory? - does the problem occur when you are not connected to a server, just to KAD? - re-connect the DSL/cable modem to get a new IP 2) problems caused by the firewall - does the exit problem also occur when the firewall is off? 3) hardware problems, since the exit problem seems to occur randomly - does the exit problem also occur when v0.49b is run on another computer? 4) Win98SE2ME and the updates, which are probably not part of the testing environment of the eMule developers 5) many eMule problems seem to be memory-related or arise when eMule is run together with other programs. Does the exit problem also occur when no other application is running? (anything unnecessary at Win98 startup?) eMule under Win98, for example, gets along well with Opera, but crashes quickly after running Firefox 6) change the TCP/UDP port numbers, in case the internet service provider is doing something fancy 7) run ScanDisk or NDD

Maybe the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine Removal Tool http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/c...525/unmsjvm.exe should be addded to the list of last versions. It deletes about 4MB of deadwood from the HDD, and Win98 and Opera v9.60 seem to run a little crisper afterwards. I at least don't need both Sun Java and dead MS Java.At http://www.mdgx.com/add.htm UNMSJVM.EXE is not listed to remove under Win98 all builds of MS Java VM, it's listed there (and in the MS readme.rtf file) to remove only builds 3802, 3805, 3809 and 3810. When Win98SE is installed and you do NOT select to install MS JVM, build 3167 is installed nevertheless, as displayed by MS System Information -> Explorer category; when you select to install MS JVM, build 3309 gets installed. After running the MS JVM Removal Tool, MS System Information displays in its Explorer category -> Java VM version: Not available

Hi Qui-Gon,The RTS5158 chip inside the CnMemory card reader is listed among the current Top Performers by HJ Reggel http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-readers.html so no wonder it's fast. Does the Realtek driver have a safely-remove-icon in the system tray? Is the icon of the card reader in My Computer a 2-state-icon (card inserted/not inserted)? P.S. I have added Hard Disk Drive Low Level Format Tool v2.36 to the Tool Box on the first page. Wiping data from an SDHC card may be much easier than from a HDD, unless there are backdoors built into the chip by the manufacturers/designers of the controller on the SDHC cards.

Nice to hear that the problem is solved and that there is a Win98 driver for Realtek card readers, Reggel's list contains about 6 different models/brands using Realtek chips. If you can find a download location, I will add it to the list of Win98 drivers in the Toolbox on the front page of this topic.Added on 2-Dec-2008: RTUsb.inf of the Realtek driver, dated 27-Jul-2006, lists 13 card reader PIDs, so as a ball-park first guesstimate I would speculate that Reggel's list covers about 50% of the card readers available world-wide.

I had bought and then returned this card reader. ChipGenius had identified this card reader as follows:PnP Device ID: VID = 0BDA [=Realtek Semiconductor Corp.] PID = 0158 Serial Number: 20060413092100000 Revision: 1.00 Chip Vendor: Realtek Chip Part-Number: RTS5158 The Win98 driver which I downloaded from http://www.cnmemory.de/seite_84ger-0-a0.html installed a file OCREADER.inf which was for a different VID [=Vendor ID] 0EA0 [=Ours Tech Inc], PIDs 2126,2136, 2118, 2153, 2156. Probably cnmemory put into the card reader a newer chip from another manufacturer, but continued to use the same packaging and didn't update their website accordingly. I don't know of a Win98 driver provided by Realtek Semiconductor Corp. for this chip, but this does not necessarily mean that there is none, only that looking for one may be quite time-consuming. I myself had returned this card reader because I didn't want a big headache for an item costing $10. Look at the 1st page of this topic for suggestions about buying an SDHC card reader for Win98. You may also look at Reggel's list of card readers http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-readers.html In his list look for "Genesys Logic" in the column "Vendor", there are about 25 card reader models under various brand names, maybe you can identify one which is available in your area. The Genesys driver (from the Toolbox on the 1st page of this topic) should work in most cases for readers with the VID 05E3 [=Genesys Logic], maybe you have to add 2 lines to Geneuide.inf for a new Product ID (PID) after installing the driver and before inserting the card reader for the first time under Win98. Under WinXP you can find out with ChipGenius the exact VID/PID of the specific card reader you buy, which you may need for updating Geneuide.inf, it's not printed on the box. Good luck.

I wonder if it or XP will still work after you installed Vista.

I should have expressed myself better, it should read instead: after having uninstalled the boot manager, getting the other 5 opsys to work again, including an opsys with a quite different code page Arabic/Farsi, looks to me like a major operationBTW, a mini-project of test-installing Farsi Vista on a 2nd(!) internal 1TB HDD, while keeping on the 1st internal HDD all other opsys operational (e.g. partition C: as FAT16) and unaffected (e.g. XP), took only 2 hours with System Commander 9, from reading the System Commander instructions to running it for the first time. No fiddling around.