ssmokee

After reinstalling windows did you also do a full reintall of the game(s)? I remember a couples times with diablo 2 (just as an example) there were two separate times where I remember the game crashing and not being able to run again. Some file(s) became corrupt and the game itself, not the OS, had to be wiped and reinstalled in order to fix it. I would also suggest running prime95 for a while, as azagahl mentioned. Or possibly the burn-in function of sisoft sandra. Memtest86 might also be a good test to throw at it. Besides the geforce mx-400, can you give a detailed list of your hardware?

I asked Gape the same question about the Microsoft VM (Q816093). You can see his reply here.

It looks that way. I know that COMDLG32.DLL, EXPLORER.EXE, and SHELL32.DLL are required for 98lite to install the sleek shell. I looked at those three files at various points of a single clean installation. # After a 98lite chubby install COMDLG32 DLL 176,128 04-23-99 10:22p COMDLG32.DLL EXPLORER EXE 180,224 04-23-99 10:22p EXPLORER.EXE SHELL32 DLL 1,400,832 04-23-99 10:22p SHELL32.DLL # After performing shell swap to sleek COMDLG32 DLL 92,672 08-24-96 11:11a COMDLG32.DLL EXPLORER EXE 204,288 05-16-04 5:46a EXPLORER.EXE SHELL32 DLL 819,200 08-24-96 11:11a SHELL32.DLL SHELL32 W98 1,400,832 04-23-99 10:22p SHELL32.W98 # After installing sesp2.0rc3 COMDLG32 DLL 92,672 08-24-96 11:11a COMDLG32.DLL EXPLORER EXE 204,288 05-16-04 5:46a EXPLORER.EXE SHELL32 DLL 819,200 08-24-96 11:11a SHELL32.DLL SHELL32 W98 1,388,816 12-06-01 11:25p SHELL32.W98 # After uninstalling sesp2.0rc3 COMDLG32 DLL 92,672 08-24-96 11:11a COMDLG32.DLL EXPLORER EXE 180,224 04-23-99 10:22p EXPLORER.EXE SHELL32 DLL 1,400,832 04-23-99 10:22p SHELL32.DLL SHELL32 W98 1,388,816 12-06-01 11:25p SHELL32.W98 After uninstalling the sesp it didnt put the older 95 versions of explorer.exe and shell32.dll. The .w98 file I assume is just created by 98lite to backup the newer version of shell32.dll. I was able to resync those files by shell swapping to chubby, then back to sleek.

One question about the installation. Everytime I install it I get a message box about an older file version. A file being copied is older than the file currently on your computer. It is recommended that you keep your existing file. File name: Nabtsfec.sys Description: WDM NABTS/FEC VBI Codec Your version: 5.03.900 Ive been choosing to keep the newer version already being used for testing the sesp. Or should I be installing the older version instead? I found the uninstallation problem was fixed. Is it now safe to restart when the sesp2.0rc3 installation prompts the user for to restart the computer? I have run into some problems with 98lite sleek though. The uninstallation of sesp2.0rc3 is causing some odd things to happen. Ill try to explain this better soon...still need to look at it more to figure out what is going on.

Since youve been using linux for years, youre probably become reliant on stuff like command line completion via the bash prompt. I found a doskey replacement that gives you bash like command completion and history here. Just copy the doskey.com file to the C:\windows\command\ directory (backup, or just delete the old one), then go into autoexec.bat and add the line doskey.com -i and youre set. EDIT: Cant believe I forgot to mention some obvious ones. If you going to be doing some remote linux admin, which by the sound of it there is a good chance, you should definately check out putty and winscp. Putty is a secure telnet client, and winscp is a secure FTP client. Both are free and open source. Ive been using both on a daily basis for quite some time now.

Actually I have used a SATA hard drive on win98se without any problems, and the 512MB RAM problem is just a simple one-liner fix to the system.ini file.

Good stuff Gape. I wont be at home for the next couple days. I should be able to get to testing rc3 on Wednesday. Got a question for you also. I didnt see a definative reply from you or anyone else in the thread about MS05-002 KB891711. Is this update included in sesp2.0rc3?

Hi Eck, One thing I would definately suggest checking on is your DMA settings. Make sure it is turned on for both your dvd drive and hard drive. That k6-2 366 is pretty old, so you gotta make sure youre not wasting any cpu cycles on crap like PIO mode transfers. Switching vid cards from a gf2mx to a voodoo3 could have caused some problems too with drivers not being completely removed, then conflicting with new ones. Ive read scenarios like that many times from people switching from a geforce to a raedon, or vice versa. If possible I would sugest trying a clean install. Have you checked BIOS to see if there are any performance related options you can enable?

I found what looks to be the same problem. Take a look at the post by me here at the top of the page. This might help you to fix it.

I tried using the ones off the 98se cd, and the ones that were there before I uninstalled the service pack. After I replaced them, it booted up fine in both cases. Here is some info on the files from the cd, and before and after sesp2.0rc2 was uninstalled. GDI.EXE 345,584 04-23-99 22:22 GDI32.DLL 155,648 04-23-99 22:22 GDI. EXE 345,680 03-20-01 18:31 GDI32.DLL 138,752 03-20-01 18:38 GDI.EXE 220,800 05-01-97 17:43 GDI32.DLL 155,648 04-23-99 22:22 Im guessing the boot problem is that older oddball gdi.exe file that is in place after uninstallation. And just incase I wasnt clear with this the first time, the same boot failure occured after uninstall on 98se, 98lite chubby, and 98lite sleek.

The setup.exe located on the win98se cd has a few switches, and you can use "/is" to disable scandisk.

Everything seemed to work fine, except that the 256 colour tray doesnt not work under 98lite sleek. Probably because of the older explorer shell? Windows 2000 theme and icons worked fine, except in 98lite sleek where the new icons didnt show up. I tried uninstalling it, but afterwards I was unable to boot windows even in safe mode. The error I got on bootup was "Error loading gdi.exe. You must reinstall windows.", and then about 2 seconds after that the computer shuts itself off. I like the new ctrl+s shortcut for notepad too.

I know I have heard 1GB works ok. I think I remember reading on this forum about problems with anything greater than 1GB...could be mistaken though. Now that I remember back to my system.ini file from a 1.6.2 SP install, it did have "MaxPhysPage=40000", or something very close to that. The setting effectively limited the usable physical memory to 1GB. I guess I answered my own question.

Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but does it mean that, after installing the SP 2.0 RCIb I can put 1Gb of ram in my computer and effectively use 1Gb (without modifying the ini file)? Yes. SP has carefully selected files and settings (.ini) for supporting 1 GB RAM on the Windows 98 SE. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Is there something else that has to be done by the SP installer on a machine with >=1GB, as opposed to 512MB or 768MB?

Explorer.exe version for 98lite chubby and non-98lite is 4.72.3110.1, and for 98lite sleek the version is 4.00.950. Nothing abnormal to report for the non-98lite install w/ sp2 rc1. 256 colour tray again didnt work.

I edited my above post to correct the installation order No further questions then. Not yet, that will be next up. Im just trying out sleek now. Nothing abnormal to report with the install of SP2 RC1 on sleek, but as with chubby the 256 colour tray is not working. FYI the older image I have with the 256 colour tray icons working is a 98lite chubby install w/ SP 1.6.2. I will try a plain (sans 98lite) install after I get some sleep.

I installed the SP2 RC1 on a fresh 98lite chubby install. My install order was as follows: 98lite, chubby directx 9.0c drivers (ati catalyst 4.10 for raedon 9600XT, dlink 530 tx rev A) *optional shell swap to 98lite sleek SP2 RC1 firefox (posting this with it now) 256 colour tray icons doesnt appear to be working. Used that test util soldier1st link to before. I reverted to an older image with only SP 1.6.2 and the 256 colour tray DID work on it. I also noticed that the reported cipher strength of IE changed from 40-bit to 128-bit after the SP install, but the version number did not change. Win2K desktop icons are gone . I checked out the windowsupdate site and two critical patches were listed. One was IE 6 so I know why it wasnt included in the SP. The other was "816093: Security Update Microsoft Virtual Machine (Microsoft VM)", and Im just curious why it wasnt included in the SP. Thats all I have to report for 98lite chubby, will try a sleek install next.

Nice idea, I hadn't considered taking that approach. I'd be interested to know how well it works. To date I've been too lazy to work out how to set up a "hardware neutral" image and so I do clean installs primarily to bypass the possible need to clean out conflicting/foreign hardware related system entries and files. Well I typed out the simple .reg file and tried it out...worked perfectly the first time. Once the final SP2 is out Im going to rebuild the whole image with this .reg file on the desktop.

Both of these will monitor network usage under win9x. I have never been able to find anything else.

I had an idea about this, but I initially posted it in the Progress about 2.0 RC thread. I figured it would be a good idea to put the post in here since it directly relates to the thread title. Here was the post: I know I am sort of over simplifying the process, as I really have no idea exactly what goes on once Gape's service pack installer is executed...but from what knowledge I do have it seems like it might be possible.

It really depends what market you are talking about. Take the web server market for example. According to this netcraft survey the free open source Apache web server has 67.84%, while microsoft sits a distant second with only 21.19% market share. You dont have to be good with numbers to figure out who owns that market. That being said, what would you guess is powering these msfn forums? Have a peek here.

I think you missed the previous portion of that sentence. I said that there are people who dont want IE6. I was not insinuating that everyone did not want IE. No idea where you were trying to go with that.

Hmmm <light bulb appears over my head> what if the Gape's service pack was able to detect the presence of (just as an example) ie6sp1.exe and directx_9c_redist.exe in its currect directory, and if they exist...install them, and if they dont exist...dont do anything? Looking at this from a batch file stand point it seems pretty simple. If $filename exists, execute it; if it doesnt exist, do nothing. This way if people wanted to include said updates all at the same time, just plunk them in the same directory as the service pack. Would this method even be possible/feasible? Ideas anyone?

Why would I have to go to the ms site and download all the updates again when I already have Gape's service pack, directx 9.0c, IE6sp1, WMP already on CD? I'd wager a lot of other forum members here already have them as well. Given the particular slipstreaming method I use, having those updates included included (or not included) would have absolutely no effect on the time it takes me to setup a fully patched 98se system from scratch...so in that respect I guess you could say Im nuetral. Well one reason I can think of is that there are people dont want IE6, let alone even use any version of IE. It wouldnt exactly do me any harm either as I also have a DSL net connection. However, I still dont think forcing everyone to download it (multiple times?) and install it is a good idea. That would not solve the issue of downloading large duplicate files though...

If you are one of the vast majority of internet users that still use slow dialup connections, adding monsters like IE6 and dx9c would force users to into a massive download of which they already might have anyway. If Gape included IE6 and dx9c in sp2, and then for sake of argument, say he released sp2.1 two months later with a few small fixes. That would force everyone to download IE6 and dx9c again, which would be a major kick-in-the-nuts for dialup users. For simplicities sake it is best if very large OS updates be kept separate, letting Gape concentrate on the smaller core updates/patches that everyone is going to want. If you want to grab the full IE6 sp1 admin install, there is very brief guide on how to do that here. After its downloaded, it can be easily added to a custom 98se cdrom.