Eck

I guess the program files thing is tough for MDGx to conclusively fix until we test it in use, this, since he doesn't have a 9x installed for testing. Yes, the Pinball and MSN Games installation is still broken but this is not something to reinstall Windows over. If you want Pinball use the guide on mdgx.com to install it from the same Windows Me cd we get 98SE2ME to use. If you want MSN games then go on the net to play them. They were just shortcuts anyway. There's nothing else broken by this bug so there's no need to worry about a Windows installation. The error message isn't annoying as it only appears when the shortcuts leading to nowhere appear on the first boot following 98SE2ME use.

Here are the values: 28700 "C:\PROGRA~1" 28701 "C:\Program Files" 28702 "C:\PROGRA~1" The latest 98SE2ME does also include the old problem of the autoexec.bat inserted lines accessing the WInME cdrom remaining. I checked that and was surprised to see them there after this problem had disappeared long ago. I just deleted the lines and of course that's fine, but I wonder why they stayed in the first place. In a totally unrelated direction: Has anyone else noticed that even using only the official Microsoft Security Updates CD and Window Update, neither of which I use of course but I did it recently just for a test, all the nice tutorials in the Discovering Windows, Welcome To Windows program break? They break with any set of unofficial updaters (Gape, Soporific, Maximus-Decim, etc) as well, which was the reason for my testing the official methods. The Mouse and Windows Desktop lessons all get javascript errors, and none of the "ShowMe" videos in the What's New section, as well as in a seperately installed similar Microsoft tutorial cd (Start's Here or something, can't remember right now) play. They'll play on a fresh install or if only IE 6SP1 is installed, but when one goes through the updates something in all that stuff breaks the things. Interestingly no other javascript related things, whether web pages or software videos, break. Only those Microsoft tutorials. I apologize in advance for the unrelated info, but this appears to be the thread most of the super dudes still read first if at all. You guys will know I already tried Windows Scripting 5.6, 5.7, reinstalling and updating both Microsoft Java and Sun (to 6 update 7), the MDAC, msxml stuff, Windows Help updates, IE Cumulatives, etc. Flash is 9.47, Shockwave 10.0.0.23 and all working if that may be in some weird way related.

That C:\Program error is the one that effects the installation of the msn games and pinball. The files aren't installed for them and so the links in the start menu, when getting updated on reboot after installing 98SE2ME, cause that error message since the links can't complete with the files not being found. The error where the autoexec.bat isn't changed back is one that was fixed long ago. In way older 98SE2ME versions I used to have to delete those lines calling for those file replacements from the Windows ME cd during startup. But it's been a long time. I'm surprised to see it reoccur. I don't think it's related to the msn game pinball C:\Program error. And it didn't happen on my machines with recent versions of 98SE2ME. Those file replacements occurred perfectly and the autoexec.bat was restored to not containing the commands perfectly. The only bug on my machine using Option 2 was the msn games, pinball C:\Program glitch.

I don't think the older versions are hosted anywhere. However I also don't think there is anything vital that the error prevents installing. Pinball is available separately or can be manually extracted and those msn games, if still around, can be accessed from the net, downloaded, etc, without handy links like Windows Me had. Still, it would be nice if another version would come down the pike that either eliminates the error or removes the installation of those games if it can't be fixed up properly. Maybe MDGx is waiting until something more important needs to be changed or is otherwise busy. I haven't seen updates from him in awhile. Hope all is well with him.

I got pinball by following the manual instructions on the mdgx.com site, except for extracting it to C:\Program Files\Pinball instead of C:\MSPINBALL. The help files were already in C:\WINDOWS\HELP. I tried running 98SE2ME Option 6. It went through the motions of extracting stuff and again defining the program folder as C:\PROGRA~1. But the dos prompt simply closed and Windows did not reboot. That's when I went ahead and extracted the pinball game manually. I played it with full sound and music, accessed its help files, etc. Then I restarted Windows and this time there was no error message about C:\Program not existing. I think the batch file simply gave up when it couldn't do its thing this time and just had exited. No idea why the window closed since I don't have close on exit checked on any pifs, but maybe that's either a crash that happened or it thought it had finished and that's how you set it up. No reboot though. And nothing was copied to the any GameZone or Pinball folder, neither of which was created. Well, I have Pinball anyway, which is what I really wanted from Option 6 anyway. I have the Plus98! pack installed which has that Spider Solitaire as part of it. That DID install as part of Option 2, since it installs elsewhere than the Program Files folder which is problematic in 98SE2ME at the moment, at least for me on this setup. I just hope nothing important was otherwise not installed. It seems that all the rest of what comes with Option 2 is here, I think.

Hi again! We know that the shortcuts to the Pinball and GameZone games had to be fiddled with by renaming the start menu shortcut's target files to all capital letter .EXE's. That has been the case for a long time, and was a simple fix. Now however, the problem is worse. Something that has been changed in the way the C:\Program Files is entered by the 98SE2ME option 6 batch installer makes it not find C:\Program Files at all and the games themselves aren't installed. So I wind up with all the shortcuts in the start menu but no actual Pinball or GameZone folders or files in the Program Files folder. The new script prints an additional step which is, I suppose, not working enough to set things up properly. It states that PD=C:\PROGRA~1. I guess that's program directory= C:\"Program Files" in MS-DOS language. It looks right, but it's not working here. (It might be PF= instead of PD, I forget.) When Windows boots up the first time after the option 2 install a message box appears stating that C:\Program cannot be found. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling 982ME (just the program) then rerunning option 2 with the same exact results. MDGx, I'm using VMware Workstation, but the VMware Player (free) now can also create new virtual disks and setup machines from its GUI. VirtualBox is useless for 98 unless on a newer PC than I have that would have hardware virtualization. Otherwise 98 runs too slowly on VirtualBox and also has some buggyness. But VMware has always supported 9x guests. You could test any of these things using that. I recall you mentioning that you were looking into installing VirtualPC for this. I ran 98 briefly on that but found its support for virtual hardware limited (no usb, etc) and some buggyness (crashes), whereas VMware is almost like running 98SE on a real computer. You only need the VMWare tools (for video drivers) and the Creative SBPCI128 WDM driver update and the 4 and 8MB EAPCI files for quite good audio support. You can get the tools by downloading the full Workstation trial, set the whole thing up using the more complete Workstation GUI, and then open the setup machine from the VMware Player that is installed along with it. When the trial runs out, you still have a free working VMware Player to use. I know you were trying to fix up the shortcuts to the games but without having a test machine stuff like this can easily occur. Thanks for continuing your involvement and interest in things 9x, your website, and the forum long after many (including those remaining) are really using other OS's like Linux and Windows XP, Windows 7, etc. I'd still have a real 98SE install if I still were using all IDE drives. You'll recall that activating the SATA controller at all on my hardware eventually drives any 9x install to dust. I never did find a working fix for that stupid eventual IOS Windows loading error that would bork everything.

Yep, it works great now! I experienced the RPConfig not responding the first couple of times I tried activating a theme. I had to end the RPConfig task. Then, I was messing around with the RPConfig effects tab and unchecked the show windows while dragging. That worked fine and the next time I applied a theme it applied it perfectly. Got in on Win7 big toolbar now. It switches Themes fine without freezing but I really don't know whether it had to do with my switching off the show windows while dragging or not. I'm not messing with it since it works. Thanks again for the fix and all the great software. I know I'm at least using that network icon as well because auto-patcher installs that.

Thanks so much for the fix Tihiy! I'll try the new version out as soon as Rapidshare lets me get the file. It seems its servers are too busy today. It must be the weekend.

Okay here it is, but I think you need to save it back to a .wlg file and use Dr. Watson to make sense of it. I've since reverted the 98SE2ME Option 3 Me Explorer Shell back to 98SE since having it didn't help. revcrash.txt

Here's a Dr Watson log attached. The simple view suggests that mmtask, a multimedia task mmtask.tsk, should be dealt with if my taskbar is behaving strangely. I tried eliminating the Roland icon and the Multimedia Volume Control icon but that had no effect. It also states that Revolutions Pack has altered system files, namely the RP8.dll. No kidding. The advanced view just showed the running stuff which doesn't seem to contain anything strange, if that mmtask.tsk system hook isn't strange that is. It that normal? Hmm, it seems I'm not permitted to upload that kind of file. How else do we upload a revcrash.wlg file? Do I somehow convert it to a particular text format?

Uggh. No that wasn't it. AfterDark all gone and still Revolutions Pack crashes explorer.exe. Now I haven't a clue what it is. I'll check out Dr. Watson tomorrow and see if it logs anything interesting.

If it's definitely a 16 bit driver that you see causing the crash then absolutely it is the vxd used by that AfterDark screensaver program. The thing is like a terminate and stay ready driver that loads up from win.ini, has references in system.ini, and then calls its system tray icon from the startup folder. Just the tray icon wouldn't work. This thing needs a bunch of originally Windows 3.1 things that were updated so that although designed for Windows 95, really at its core is a Windows 3.1 base. A contributor developed an update that fixed it up to run on Windows XP and also runs on 9x, and also an installer for the later 32 bit AfterDark 4 that he called AfterDark 4.1+. MDGx packaged up the files I sent him at one time for others to use, and the AfterDark 3.0XP contributer (ThyPenticle)still later repacked the thing with exe installers that included a large set of screensavers for it. I still use the older method as it keeps the savers in separate categories in the panel and I can install some not included stuff like the Disney savers, etc. I might try just installing the version 4.1+, as that's mostly 32 bit software. On XP the older savers won't work on version 4 but on 9x they do, so I can still use the older modules. Let's see what happens when I uninstall AfterDark. Heh, just uninstalling the thing has the potential of destroying things (never tried it on 9x, only on XP where system files are protected).

Sadly the installation of 98SE2ME Option 3, although that works perfectly and I'm getting the snazzier Windows Me themed stuff, had no effect on the explorer.exe crash when Revolution Pack is present. As an aside, I reinstalled KernelEx and it's amazing how much stuff I've been able to upgrade that works great! Hope that the printing problem in Firefox 6 as well as the latest Java problem it has in Firefox (works fine in Internet Explorer) get solved. I've upgraded Firefox, Thunderbird, Flash, Java, go-oo.org all to the latest versions. I know there's got to be something running here or some file mis-match to upset Revolution Pack. I don't know how to find out which of the thousands of system files or programs is the bottleneck. Explorer looks like it crashes before anything is loaded into the system tray if that helps at all.

EXPLORER caused an invalid page fault in module RP8.DLL at 016f:bf9b676f. EAX=0000c02a CS=016f EIP=bf9b676f EFLGS=00010246 EBX=0000c02a SS=0177 ESP=00d2fb50 EBP=00d2fb58 ECX=00000000 DS=0177 ESI=00000000 FS=2f87 EDX=00002074 ES=0177 EDI=8353a1d0 GS=2f17 Bytes at CS:EIP: 8b 17 85 d2 76 10 8d 77 08 66 39 06 74 0e 41 83 Stack dump: 00d2fb7c 00000000 00d2fb74 bf9b69d9 829938cc 0000c02a 00d2fb7c 00008be2 00d2fbbe 00d2fb8c bff7363b 000208cc 0000c02a 8bbc2f9f 00000177 00dfba0 That's from the details section of the Windows Explorer.exe will now be closed box. Since I haven't applied a theme yet, on first run after using Taskmgr to run explorer.exe and systray.exe a few of my systray icons show up as the taskbar reappears but the ones that don't show. according to task manager, aren't even running. If I apply a theme... oh well I took too long because vmwareservice crashed and I had to shutdown before even that wouldn't let me. But I think it was a similar crash in RP8.dll that happens if I apply a theme. Again, the XP theme will apply and after reboot be there (but explorer.exe crashes the same way and crashes again if I restart explorer.exe). And the Win7 themes, although changing things to that theme, don't allow continuing or even allow ctrl-alt-insert to bring up the task manager and I have to reset VMware instead. Does that help?

Okay! I'll go back in and install it again, this time taking note of what the details say in Windows's explorer.exe will now be closed message. I'll post back with the information. Something must be awry in this setup since no one else appears to have reported similar.