LoneCrusader

Unfortunately I have no idea how the memory errors (or lack of them under certain conditions) affected your setup. I was never even able to boot with more than 512MB of RAM until I purchased rloew's patch, so I'm surprised you got as far as you did. Maybe rloew or someone else can elaborate on this... Have a look at this thread, especially a few posts in where it turns chiefly to nVidia drivers. Since no one could tell me which version of the nVidia driver package was the last one to work 100% properly with Windows 95, I ran a series of experiments to find out. You may be able to use the version in my last post if it supports your card. If it doesn't, you may be able to pull the nVidia Control Panel files from that package and use them with the later drivers. @dencorso - Maybe the thread I linked should be added to your "nVidia GeForce 9x Relevant Threads?" I actually had to search for that thread myself to find it again!

I'm not surprised that you are seeing the memory errors with that much RAM. I was never able to even get a 9x system to boot with more than 512MB of RAM no matter what settings I tweaked in SYSTEM.INI. I would see the "Insufficient memory..." error always, without fail. So I purchased rloew's patch and never looked back. You may be able to get it to work, but you're in for a lot of trial and error. I think the RAM issue is the root of your problem; until you solve it then you can't get reliable results with XUSBSUPP. The motherboard driver INFs are separate from the Audio/LAN drivers and from the GART driver. Essentially all they do is inform you that you have an nForce Chipset in the Device Manager, rather than saying "PCI System Management Bus" or something to that effect. The GART driver and the Audio/LAN drivers will each have their own separate INFs. It is possible that the 98/ME GART driver may work under 95 because it is a .VXD driver and not a WDM (.SYS) driver. It is also possible that the Audio/LAN drivers may work under 95 as well, but this is more doubtful. In their cases I would look for an older 95-compatible driver package for similar hardware and experiment. I'm not familiar enough with GART drivers or anything to do with GART to advise you on that point... other than the testing system I mentioned I have virtually all Intel-based hardware, and Intel systems don't use a GART driver. I'm not certain what exactly a GART driver does or whether it is even necessary. What video card are you using? Maybe it at least will have 95-compatible drivers!

Very strange. I actually used almost the exact same board in the machine on which most of the extensive testing of this package was done. I believe manufacturers make that disclaimer just so they won't have to actively support 9x users on their boards. Kind of like saying here's the driver but you're on your own to use it, don't come to us for help if it breaks or doesn't work. As for "drivers," when it comes to the motherboard itself essentially all the package contains is a set of .INF files that properly identify the devices on the board by name. If you install 98SE or ME and use it to unpack the driver package, you should be able to copy the INF's to Windows 95 and still use them. This will not give you 95 compatible drivers for any onboard devices such as Audio or LAN however. Also, the 98/ME version of the AGP GART driver may not work under 95, in which case you could try to track down an older driver package that does have an nVidia GART driver for Windows 95 and use it. I would think that a USB hub on a monitor would need to be physically connected to the USB on your motherboard in order to interface with it... In any case USB Keyboards/Mice/Joysticks and other such peripherals are NOT supported under Windows 95, even when using this package. These devices are not properly supported until early Beta versions of Windows 98, and there is no way to fix this without extensive reverse engineering and backporting significant code from Windows 98. Trust me, I have spent many hours trying. A solution might be developed, but it probably would not be free. Why do you already have USB devices showing up? Did you attempt to install XUSBSUPP on a system where Microsoft's original USBSUPP was already installed? This can also cause problems... Windows 95 may not be able to properly support add-in USB cards without some of the backported code from Windows 98 that I mentioned before. I remember reading somewhere years ago that 95 could not support PCI USB Add-In cards. In any case, if it is a USB 2.0 card, then no natively 95 compatible drivers exist. In any case this should not affect your PS2 keyboard though. Try removing the PCI card before installing. How much memory does this machine have? Did you have any patches or tweaks in place for using more than 512MB of RAM, especially rloew's RAM patch? This package updates VMM.VXD, which can overwrite patched files. In this case the patches need to be removed before XUSBSUPP install and reapplied after installation is complete.

Sorry to hear it, that machine must really not like Windows 95... Do try Windows 98SE if you can obtain a copy; if it works then all your efforts won't have been in vain, you can still use it for everything you could use Windows 95 for.

Haha, I see your point. I suppose it should be called "best of both worlds" then, rather than "retro." Retro operating system for compatibility + latest compatible hardware for operability/performance.

Yes, I have a couple of 9x machines that will be running 4GB under construction. Mainly to be used for retro-gaming and such. One has 3584 MB of RAM visible to Windows 98SE and the other has 3712 MB (sometimes reads 3711 instead). Having issues with an old game and the video card at the moment, but I already have a thread about this going on elsewhere. You can never have "too much" RAM.

Maybe it uses GlobalMemoryStatus() instead of GlobalMemoryStatusEx(). The former can only acknowledge 2GiB of RAM, while the latter can go all the way up. Same goes for the page file, it's retrieved by the same APIs. Try MemPanel from my repository, it should use the correct API depending on operating system type (Win9x don't have GlobalMemoryStatusEx() implemented). It does detect the whole amount of installed RAM (when less that 2GB as per above) even when it's limited in SYSTEM.INI on 9x systems. I'm not sure if it works under WIn95, couldn't test it. Nice tool Drugwash. Apparently you are correct about the API, MemPanel only sees 2GB of RAM on a 4GB machine as well, same as DXDIAG (and now that I think of it I believe CPU-Z suffers from this as well).

Because of the manner in which you make your request. If you want to help with something you don't go around making demands or lecturing others and most certainly do not start throwing around talk of legal matters, no matter what your intent. There exists no intent here to violate any law, GPLv2 or otherwise. So if you really have "good" intentions and wish to contribute, I suggest you adjust your attitude.

Seriously? It's not enough for you that someone has taken it upon themselves to continue this project, you have to come in here and start nitpicking about all the sources not being available? Be glad someone is willing to spend their time continuing to work on KernelEx in this day and time. And I certainly support jumper in the stance that releasing bugged versions and sources helps no one. He is under no obligation to spend his time on this project for you or anyone else - if it takes him some time to polish his current version and make the sources available, then that's his business and his alone.

So I take it you are still getting the Windows Protection Error? Try disabling the CDROM drive again once you have run SETUP and FIX95CPU if this is the case. A CDROM drive should not be causing problems like this... If you can get past the Windows Protection Error then it can be set up later. If the CDROM is indeed causing these problems, it may indicate a hardware problem with it. Otherwise it would seem that your system and Windows 95 just don't get along for some reason.

FORMAT is a .COM file rather than a .EXE. It should be in the \WIN95 folder on the CDROM...

Right. But Prehistoric has a laptop. I'm not aware of any laptops that have SoundBlaster cards with IDE interfaces (of course I may just have no knowledge of such a configuration but it sounds like a very strange hardware combination... ). Uh-oh. Several possible problems with this setup. You should only need a standard Windows 98 Boot Disk and your 95B CDROM to complete this installation. You shouldn't have to be modifying AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS or copying any files from the XP installation CD. Remember XP drivers are not compatible with Windows 95. You should FDISK and FORMAT the HDD with the 98 Boot Disk and the 95B CDROM and use FAT32, not FAT16. There is no reason to use FAT16 with 95B OSR2 and limit yourself to a 2GB HDD partition unless you want or need FAT16 for some specific purpose. Do NOT use any DOS 6.22 disks or programs in the setup process. Take these steps: Download a Windows 98 Boot Disk and write it to a Floppy. Use this floppy to boot your machine, choose "Command prompt with CDROM support." The CDROM should be recognized and accessible with the default driver. Use FDISK to partition your HDD, a single 32GB partition is fine unless you want to install another OS dual-boot. Navigate to the \WIN95 folder on your CDROM and use FORMAT to format the partition as FAT32 (it will take a while for 32GB). Once this is done you can either run Windows 95 SETUP from the CDROM or copy the contents of the WIN95 folder to a folder on the HDD and run it from there. I recommend copying them to the HDD, but its up to you. If you choose to do so, create a folder such as \WIN95CD on your C:\ drive and copy all files from the \WIN95 folder on the CDROM to it, and then run SETUP from inside the \WIN95CD folder on C:\. Then use FIX95CPU as before and let us know what happens.

Hmmm... For some reason I haven't been able to turn up any good documentation on Prehistoric's particular machine (just a very generic spec sheet for multiple models) so I'm not certain about any of the hardware. How did you find this out?

JCPB's Win 95 page has an example of how to load it in CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\CDMKE.SYS /SBP:220 /D:MSCD000 However, it'll also require MSCDEX.EXE (or SHCDX33E.COM) to work (in AUTOEXEC.BAT or as an INSTALL= line, in CONFIG.SYS)... Yeah I overlooked the RAM info. Fixed. Still I have never encountered those DOS CDROM drivers before and unless Prehistoric's CDROM drive will not work with OAKCDROM.SYS I don't see what purpose they are serving in the current setup. There should be no need to set up a special DOS driver for a CDROM at this point in the process. If Prehistoric needs a CDROM driver loaded for running in pure DOS mode then this can be set up later after Windows 95 is up and running. We need to know whether the system has a Floppy Drive or not (assuming yes based on previous posts), and whether he is using 95 RTM or OSR2 (assuming OSR2 based on previous posts), and whether it is a set of floppies or a CDROM, and if a CDROM whether or not he has the Boot Disk that came with the CDROM. (I tend to forget that original Windows 95 CDROMs are not bootable like 98SE ones.) Provided it is an OSR2 CDROM, then only a normal Windows 98 Boot Disk with OAKCDROM.SYS/MSCDEX.EXE should be needed in order to install Windows 95, whether copying the SETUP files to the HDD as I do or installing from the CDROM. If it isn't OSR2 and is 95 RTM, the it's more complicated because the DOS version is different (therefore 98 Boot Disk can't be used) and the CDROM driver support is not automatic and has to be tweaked for the system (from my understanding; I've only used OSR2 on a normal basis).

Some CPUs at ~1GHz do still need FIX95CPU, as the original AMDK6UPD package applied to AMD CPUs as slow as 350MHz. Intel CPUs were affected as well, but the issue did not appear until a somewhat faster clock speed. There are many things that can cause a Windows Protection Error, it's a real pain that no other information is given, not even the name of the file causing the crash... I'm almost out of ideas, but let's start from the beginning and see if we may be missing something... You already said the CPU as 1.3GHz... You already said you have 256MB of RAM... Did you completely repartition and reformat the hard drive in this machine? Are the HDD and CDROM drives in this machine IDE PATA or SATA? What is the size of the HDD? Does this laptop have a Floppy Drive? (I assume yes based on what you said before?) Are you certain you have a good copy of Windows 95? (No file corruption, etc?) Is it a CDROM or a set of Floppies? Is it 95 RTM or 95 OSR2? (I assume OSR2 because you said it was 95 B?) When installing did you disable every extraneous device (audio/lan/modem/etc) and leave them off until you're able to boot to the Desktop? (You can leave the CDROM on lol) How did you end up with the DOS CDROM drivers you mentioned? I have never encountered these particular files... You installed FIX95CPU version 3... did it print any errors? When did you install FIX95CPU? After SETUP asks to reboot for the first time or later? Did the second phase of SETUP complete after the first reboot, or did it start crashing at this point? You mentioned the Sony CD's having drivers - unless these drivers are stated to be specifically for Windows 95 DO NOT attempt to install them to your system. If they don't contain things specifically for 95 they are virtually useless to you unless you are putting back XP or whatever came on the system originally.

Hmmm.. well I don't see any load failures in the BOOTLOG except a font failing to load. I've seen this before but I don't remember whether or not it caused the system to crash completely as yours does. Unfortunately I'm running out of ideas.. I had hoped others might be able to help once you posted the log, but it doesn't seem to be very helpful in this case. Try going into the laptop BIOS and disabling every "extra" device that you can such as Audio, LAN, Modem, USB, FireWire, etc, and once you have everything disabled that you can turn off see if you can boot normally.

The BOOTLOG is still created even when the machine crashes with the Windows Protection Error. You will need to choose a logged boot, allow the system to crash, and then retrieve the log either in Safe Mode or with a Live CD of some sort. If you had trouble downloading the FIX95CPU package, here is an alternate link. You can't just extract the same set of files from Windows because the old versions inside the Windows SETUP CABs are bugged and have to be replaced with the updates inside FIX95CPU. If you're trying to use the same versions from the CABs, then no wonder you're still crashing. XP drivers cannot be used under Windows 95, for PCIMCA or otherwise.

Does the Windows Protection Error list any specific files or give further info? The purpose of the logged boot it to produce BOOTLOG.TXT, a file that lists the startup process of Windows 9x and lists drivers and modules as they are loaded. It wasn't supposed to cure the problem, it was to provide the log so we can examine it and see if it will help determine the problem. You need to copy or attach the contents of the log here. What do you mean the "download will not work in DOS"? What are you trying to download? Or do you mean copying the SETUP files to the system? If you're having problems copying files in DOS it probably indicates a problem with hardware or the SETUP files themselves. The PCMCIA controller should not keep the system from booting properly, but I have no experience with PCMCIA.

I can't say 100% for sure about Windows 95RTM/95A, as I have never used it, but 95B/C OSR2 handles 512MB just fine.

Does it print any errors when trying to boot into Normal mode? If so, what are they? If not, can you describe the crash and how the machine proceeds up to it in more detail? How much RAM is in the laptop? Try a "Logged" boot into Normal Mode and then post the contents of C:\BOOTLOG.TXT here.

When running 512MB of RAM or less you shouldn't need to do any tweaking to SYSTEM.INI or otherwise. In fact, this may cause some things not to work properly, especially if you are trying to run more than 512MB. I was never able to get a 9x system to boot and be stable with more than 512MB of RAM without rloew's RAM patch. I got 98SE to boot with around ~1150MB once using an older version of the Unofficial Service Pack, but it was very unstable. Specific errors are important though, because one has to know them in order to trace down the underlying causes. DXDIAG seems to not always be reliable. I never sees more than 2GB of RAM on systems where 4GB is present. I'm not sure about how well it measures and keeps track of the page file.

Hmm... Microsoft at work I suppose, lol. Anyway you're welcome.

If you don't list the specific errors that you are getting then we can't help you. Will the installer not run at all? Does it run but throw errors? Does it complain about missing exports or "devices attached to the system not functioning" etc etc? You need to be more specific about this and any other issues you may have. At any rate, I'm glad you found a different solution.

Is this what you need?

I have several machines with the Intel 845 Chipset that run Windows 95, but none of them have onboard graphics... (I despise onboard graphics... ) Try this and see if it runs under Windows 95. Only Windows 98 is listed as supported on the page, but the ReadMe.txt linked there lists Windows 95 as well, so you never know. If it causes errors, post them here.