justacruzr2

Thanks. The "Monster List" was the 1st place I went in my search just to know what updates were released by MS for 98SE. Since I originally got 98SE on a hard drive I removed from a computer that was being thrown away where I worked, all the updating had been done so I never paid any attention to it. But when that hard drive failed along with another one that had the backup on it I have had to start from scratch. Many of the links to the files in the "Monster List" don't work anymore but I was able to get most of those "official" MS updates (by careful search wording) except for these 10 (I now have 113). Many of the links that don't work from the "Monster List" I was able to get the file from ftp sites. Using the "Q" number or the "KB" number and appending USA8.EXE to that found most of those missing ones. Most, but not all, of the updates are named that way. I have seen some that are just "US8.EXE" or "_98.EXE", etc. I tried all the variations I could think of. Was hoping that maybe someone had them and would be willing to share or knew something I haven't tried yet. Some of them I already had from when I originally updated my ME system from the Windows Update site back in the early 2000's. Good thing I saved them and burned them to disk. Many of those updates are for both 98 and ME especially the ones that relate to IE6, Outlook Express and a few others. The "waybackmachine" was one of the places I tried and I think I got a couple off of that too. And yes, I am looking for the actual updates themselves "the executables". So I'm not actually collecting them...just trying to put my 98SE system back the way it was or better. And I will burn all these updates onto CD so that if this ever happens again I won't have to spend hours hunting them down. That's why I originally did it for my ME system 'cause the same thing happened to it many years ago. Except that when that happened it was before 2006 and all I had to do was go back to Windows Update and redo them. They were all still there. As for the unofficial service pack, I checked thru the list of files it contains and only 4 of the ones I'm looking for are in it. Still may do that just to get those 4. I also downloaded some of the "unofficial" ones too from the "Monster List". I already downloaded and installed the Directx 9.0c from Microsoft's website (it's still available for download) and it works just fine...no problems. I have already installed everything you mention except for the updates...that's where I'm at now. What I can tell you that may help you, from Microsoft's official website, is that Windows core components are updated separately from the other Windows applications. Applications such as Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, Directx, etc. are handled by different programming groups and their updates do not interfere with Windows core components. So the order in which you do those should not affect anything else. Anyway, thanks for your reply.

If anyone is interested in restoring their "Windows ME Preview" Start Menu link, I have re-written the HTML so that it works again with Windows Media Player 9 series. Most anyone who has upgraded their ME system went to IE 6 and WMP 9. That's when the "Preview" stops working. Of course the "Internet Explorer 5.5 Tour" won't work with this update since you have to have it installed for it to work, but everything else does. Let me know if your interested and how I can make this available to you.

I'm rebuilding my 98SE system and have so far been unable to locate the following MS updates. Does anyone know where or how these can be obtained? q254660 q257821 q269239 q269388 q277628 q323455 kb835732 kb883586 kb918144 kb913296 Thanks for any help you can offer.

Are you settings correct? See here about the BLASTER var: http://www.rinkworks.com/apogee/s/6.4.2.shtml That is specifically for DOS so you must not be using Doom95 there. For Doom95, a Windows application, it uses DirectSound. Here's some additional information. I have tried it in DOS mode also. The result is the same which is weird since it's a DOS game. The AC97 sound card is actually a chip on the motherboard. There is nothing in a PCI or PCMCIA slot. It works fine in ME and XP. I would have thought that there wouldn't be a problem in 98SE since it still has real-mode DOS. ME and XP don't. 98SE does have both the WDM drivers and DirectX 9.0c. One thing I have noticed is just before the game starts (in ME and XP) the screen shows several lines of instructions.being carried out such as: "Initializing memory......" "Initializing mouse support......." "Initializing sound........" etc. But I'm not getting that in 98SE and I'm beginning to think that this is where the problem lies. And have no clue as to why or how to fix that other than when I right click on the executable and click on properties and go to the program tab and click on Advanced it says that there is no EMS memory loaded but that there is XMS memory. No idea if EMS memory is required to carry out those intructions or why Windows doesn't automatically do that (if that is required). Have been looking into Config.sys file parameters as my Config.Sys file is empty of any entries. I know DOS uses Config.Sys and Autoexec.Bat but does 98SE use it too when in Windows? I thought it didn't.

Thanks Jumper. That's what I was going to do as a last resort. Funny thing is, I tried that early on to see if Setup would also delete the folder when you uncheck the box for Messenger in Add/Remove Programs - Windows Setup to remove the component and it didn't....even though the INF tells setup to remove the directory too during the uninstall. ****************** [bLC.Remove.Dirs] %30600% ****************** And when I right clicked on the folder and clicked on properties the DOS name was "MESSEN~1". So it seems that Explorer knows that "MESSEN~1" is "Messenger". The only thing I have seen in some other INF's that create folders is this example from the Applets1.inf: ********************************************************************* HKLM,%KEY_RENAME%\Accessories,,,"%24%\%PROGRAMF%\%ACCESSOR%" [strings] ;Non-Localizable strings: KEY_RENAME = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RenameFiles" ********************************************************************* It looks like they use a temporary registry key to rename files (or folders) as no such key exists in the registry (after the install of course). Without understanding its proper use (ie. what %24% means - it's not defined in the [strings] section) it will take some trial and error. Wish there was a complete description out there of Microsoft's setup scripting language (the programing language that the INF's use). Anyway, 98SE does have its own little peculiar quirks.

Thanks for your reply but I'm forced to wonder if you read my post. From my post: "The reason for this is the following section from the MSMSGS.INF setup file and I noticed that almost all the entries (in VarLDID) were in 3's (the DOS SFN first, the Windows LFN and then the the DOS SFN again:" If you have a 9x version of Windows, please check your registry key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\VarLDID and you will see what I mean. Almost all the entries are in 3's. No idea why there are a few that aren't. Tried it with only 1 entry also but that made no difference. And from my post: "Tried it the other way by changing the 30600 to 30601 but got "Messenge" under Program Files"."

I have a small problem I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with. I had to re-install Win 98SE from scratch and I'm configuring it as close to my Win ME and XP systems as is possible (same programs, settings, etc). Since the original Win 98SE that I had actually came on a hard drive I removed from a computer that was being thrown away, I never noticed that Win 98SE did not come with MSN Messenger as an optional component in Add/Remove Programs - Windows Setup under Communications. It's not even in 98SE's cabs so I'm giving it this optional component by copying everything from Win ME. I did something similar to this in my Win ME system before and gave it MS Backup from Win 98SE and it works just fine Here is the background work I have done. 1) Copied the setup inf (MSMSGS.INF) into \Windows\Inf, 2) Created a new cab (WIN98_75) with the required files and put it with the other cabs in \Windows\Options\Win98. This is where the Windows setup program and all its cabs were copied to after it finished installing Windows 98SE and where the registry key "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\SourcePath" points to (yes I modified that entry), 3) Added the following line to the Layout, Layout1 and Layout2 Inf files to include this new cab: 75="Windows 98 Second Edition CD-ROM","WIN98_75.CAB",0 and the install files in the file list: msmsgs.exe=75,,438544 msmsgsc.dll=75,,20752 msmsgsin.exe=75,,12560 msgslang.dll=75,,102672 msgstrst.dll=75,,20752 newemail.wav=75,,6156,406f online.wav=75,,6160,9371 pmsnlogo.gif=75,,1439 type.wav=75,,4454,773d 4) Manually added "Messenger" to the Registry key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OptionalComponents with the following entry: (default) (Value) INF "msmsgs.inf" Installed "0" Section "Msgr.Option.Install" 5) Added the following values to the registry key (as these were not present as explained above): HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\VarLDID (default) (Value) 30600 "C:\PROGRA~1\MESSEN~1" 30601 "C:\Program Files\Messenger" 30602 "C:\PROGRA~1\MESSEN~1" The reason for this is the following section from the MSMSGS.INF setup file and I noticed that almost all the entries were in 3's (the DOS SFN first, the Windows LFN and then the the DOS SFN again: [DestinationDirs] BLC.Install.App = 30600 BLC.CleanPrev.App = 30600 BLC.Remove.App = 30600 BLC.Install.Help = 18 BLC.Remove.Help = 18 BLC.Install.Inf = 17 BLC.Install.Shared = 11 All of these things are verbatim copied from Win ME. Now to the problem. Messenger now shows up in Add/Remove Programs - Windows Setup under Communications and when I check the box and click on Apply the setup works just fine: All files are extracted and copied, all registry entries are made and no error messages. However it creates it in the folder "MESSEN~1" (literally) under the Program Files folder (ie. Program Files\MESSEN~1). Tried it the other way by changing the 30600 to 30601 but got "Messenge" under Program Files. I get it...it's the DOS 8 character file name limitation. What I don't get is why it's doing this. Thought part of the purpose of the VarLDID entries was to associate the DOS SFN with the Windows LFN. Anyone know what's going on? I know that the MSN Messenger service has been discontinued but it's more about the challenge of making it work. So why is Win 98SE using the DOS SFN instead of the LFN? All the other optional components you can install from Add/Remove Programs - Windows Setup work fine. Why this one?

Anybody ever had a problem with the sound in Doom 95 on Windows 98SE? I recently installed Doom 95 on my 98SE system but get no sound. I have Windows ME and XP on other drives in my system and it works fine there. They are all on the same motherboard. All the other programs I have on 98SE that produce sound work fine too. Just no sound from Doom. Tried using the default.cfg file from ME but that didn't work. The motherboard has the Intel AC97 sound chip. All the drivers are installed. Tried running it from DOS in 98SE but that didn't work either. Tried adding the line "SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5" to the autoexec.bat file but it didn't work. I'm thinking there's a problem with communication between the game and Windows.