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OMG! I never liked the Disk Tool (way too slow for me), but I LOVED McAfee FirstAid! I thought it was cool to see all the pictures of the computer parts while it checked stuff. Um, I don't think what you propose is possible unless you use a PCI ATA Contoller card. That's because you're thinking of connecting the drive to the normal IDE controller and Windows uses that ESDI thing for that. As soon as it goes past 137 it'll start writing zeros over your precious data. No good when that happens! I bought the Adaptec one. 98SE will not install on it since the Adaptec driver isn't installed yet. I think you'd need to just partion like 120GB of it, leaving the rest unpartitioned. Install Windows while it's hooked up to the normal IDE slot, then install the Adaptec card and install its driver. Then move the wire to the PCI controller card and Windows should boot to it (set the Bios to boot from "other device" or , like on mine where it still names the drive, the drive it reads on the PCI card (your reconnected Hard Drive.) Then use Partition Magic to grow the partition (dangerous) or make a new partition (safer) of the rest of the drive. Yeah, I think the Norton Utilities work or it would have messed things up when defraging. And, by the way, I wouldn't install FirstAid on a modern (which 98SE is with all those updates we use) system. I recall that the only version that was compatible with Windows Me was the one that came with McAfee Utilities 4.0. (There's an update to 4.2 as well, I think.) Anything older and you'd get zapped after Defraging with the cmenapi something or other thing (I think it stands for CyberMedia engine api as that's who first created the programs) and you wouldn't be able to start Windows. We do use Windows Me files and later, even without 98SE2ME, when we install some of Microsoft's updates. Norton Utilities never suffered from that malady, but I don't suggest you run System Doctor in the background, like ever. It makes tons of temp files all over the place and bog's down Windows to a halt. I'm not certain that Symantec ever fixed that, even with the current editions. He, he! I used to love McAfee Uninstaller 5.1 as well. (Updated with the 5.11 definitions and the 5.12 update.) That thing was great at using the normal Windows uninstaller, then doing a specific cleanup of everything that particular program had left behind. It was the last version of Uninstaller that actually worked, and its PowerCleaner applet from it was included in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 98. It was good stuff back then, but with the advent of newer versions of Office and Encarta, started to remove needed files with its registry cleaner.

I just used System File Checker to extract MPLAYER.EXE from the Windows\OPTIONS\CABS folder where I have my 98SE setup files stored. That's the same thing as extracting it from Dos, right? And I just checked back to see that it doesn't matter which version, eh? Oh well. I use WMP 9 anyway. Hmm, let's see... Hey, I just ran the mplayer.exe from the Windows folder (the original, restored version) and it starts fine! I wonder why it wouldn't? Let's see... I've got MCIQTZ.DRV and MCIQTZ32.DLL in the System folder, but no MCIQTZ.DLL. Maybe that's it? Why do I have the 32 bit dll and some systems have the MCIQTZ without the 32? Maybe the MCIQTZ.DLL is replaced by the 32 bit one by some update I apply but some folks don't? I do WMP9 and the security updates for it, the WMP7 Bonus Pack, the Microsoft WM codecs for the 6 player, the WMP9 VCM, the WMF7 install and the WM codec for the 7+ player, as well as the WMP10 codecs for the 9 series 98SE player and the WMencoder 7. I also install Microsoft WorksSuite 2005 and I don't know what that might install.

Oh. I checked out the manual of R. Loew's program. That test just checks my Bios. I already know that the Bios is fully 48LBA ready as I've been using this 250GB SATA drive and a 250GB IDE drive on Windows XP SP2 with it. It's whether the Windows 98SE driver is replaced by the Via SATA controller driver that is the question, and it seems to be yes since I see no mention of the ESDI thing anywhere on the system. Nice, so far.

No mention of the ESDI_506.PDR anywhere among the hard disk controllers, or the SATA Controller. The Microsoft IOS.VXD is one of the drivers mentioned among the Sata Controller Via drivers. Other than that it seems to be all Via. I'll go ahead to the test sites and see what that comes up with. Looks good though! I'm not sure Dos testing is what will help here, as I think I need the Windows Via drivers loaded for the system to treat the drive properly. Windows certainly recognizes the whole drive, so my Bios and the Via drivers do that 48bit LBA thing. And the Norton tools haven't hurt anything, unlike Windows Scandisk which probably would have wrecked my files. I'm just concerned about what happens when Windows tries to write to the regions past 137GB. That's what ESDI_506.PDR can't handle properly. I had FDISK'd (using the updated 98SE FDISK I had placed on the 98SE Windows Startup floppy) the drive to the whole thing. Partition Magic doesn't do this. It reserves 15% of the drive unpartitioned if using FAT32, so my choice was either using the Maxtor cd or FDISK. Somehow I was more confident in FDISK. Format is really quick on the Sata drive (I had noticed that before.) I think it isn't capable of a slow format in Sata. I'm not complaining about that! Windows XP takes forever when formatting it in NTFS. SATA. The way to the past! Weird, eh? Firefox seems alot peppier than I remember from using 98SE in the past. I wonder if this is from the 1.5 Firefox update or using the SATA harddrive rather than the IDE HD? I remember problems like waiting for graphic intensive web pages to load on 98SE with Firefox. They're zipping right up now.

Am I going to run into the ESDI problem? I installed 98SE with the Service Pack and 98SE2ME on my A7V880's SATA controller and a Maxtor 250GB SATA HD. I set MSCONFIG to not run ScanDisk on bad shutdown, use the Via SATA Controller drivers, and use Norton Utilities 2002's DiskDoctor (set to replace ScanDisk), WinDoctor, and SpeedDisk for it. I don't install the Unerase Wizard so I don't get the recycle bin replacement, and I don't have anything running in the background from the Norton System Doctor or Disk Doctor, etc. So far, I've run all those things and nothing weird has happened yet, although I did skip the surface scan. I got the inclination to try it after reading a short response to a thread on the ViaArena forum. A poster asked if he could use a large SATA HD with 98SE and the response was a simple yes, as long as he used the Via driver. Do you think the Via Sata Controller driver handles things properly, thereby making 98SE compatible with the large HD without future wrap around and corruption problems?

Nope, not using those old programs made no difference. I had thought it might be that I was using 2 sticks of 512MB RAM (with the memory optimizations to make 98SE use it properly), but just using 512MB didn't make a difference. It was a 120GB harddrive with all the Windows fixes, so it wasn't a big harddrive problem. I think the problem is something in Liveware 3.0. In any event I just swaped motherboards back and I'm back up on XPSP2 with 98SE available (in a limited extent) on VMWare. Nice that I used a different harddrive so I could just turn this thing on again and I'm back in business. This time the IOS Real Mode error thing happened immediately after rebooting from installing WorksSuite 2001. I had figured that since all my previous failures had occured with WorksSuite 2005 installed I would try the older version, but it made no difference. This time I also tried renaming RMM.PRN (or, whatever the extension was), but that just made the system completely unbootable, even to safe mode. I tried running Norton Utilities 2002's Disc Scanner through its cd's emergency boot, but that found nothing wrong. Too bad I couldn't run WinDoctor, but I'd need to boot to Windows for that. No, I hadn't installed Norton Utilities or that Registry Fixer for IOS error thing so even when Safe Mode was available (before renaming the RMM file) I was limited in ways to figure out what might really be causing this. I've never experienced this IOS thing before, but I hadn't used the SBLive and its Liveware in a long time. Even when I was still using the Live regularly, I had been using the WDM 252 driver/software setup. The modern stuff. Apparently even the last released Liveware 3.0 does enough to the files and/or registry to eventually bite your system. This was the Liveware from the SBLive 5.1 Platinum cd. I'm fairly certain that only installing the basics would work out fine, but I wanted to play with all the fluff again! I'm also fairly certain that ANY of the modern soundcard solutions I use (currently the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro) sound way better than the Live could ever sound, even with KxProject drivers, so I'm not too upset. But it was a failed experiment (I wanted to use the old SBLive and the Liveware), and that's always dissapointing. The dos emulation within Windows was even working as designed, as I had reserved IRQ 5 for it. The Abit KW7 does this correctly, but my A7V880 (back in action now) puts an ACPI Holder for IRQ Steering there even after reserving it so I need to use LPT sharing on this board for it. (Which I won't be bothering with, since I know what happens eventually!) No matter, I guess. There's really no problem with things as they are. I just wish I could have overcome the IOS error thing.

That's weird (as a lot of computer stuff is!) The latest released version of the kXProject driver is supported on 98SE. The newer beta's are not, however. So if you used the one on the official download page it should work. Maybe posting on the official forum for it at driverheaven would get someone who knows about this to help. I might try uninstalling the driver from the start menu shortcut, rebooting, and uninstalling the software from the shortcut. That's their official uninstall method. Then perhaps either try again or use DriverCleaner before trying again. Perhaps you had other drivers/software for the card installed before and the different versions of the files are conflicting. DriverCleaner helps with that sort of thing.

You could purchase something like the Adaptec ASH-1233 Ultra ATA/133 Controller Card. I found out the hard way that only XP lets you install the driver during installation. You prepare the floppy just like installing the Via Sata driver, and press F6 when XP asks. But I don't need the thing for XP! What I tried was installing 98SE with the hard drive hooked up to the PCI controller card. When the first boot occured, there was none. Apparently 98SE can't boot to it until the drivers are installed. So, what you would do is just partition like 120GB using your big hard drive and having it hooked up to your normal IDE controller. Leave the rest unpartitioned. Once you have 98SE installed and the motherboard chipset drivers, you shut down, put the PCI card in (leave your HD hooked up to the IDE!), and boot up and install the Adaptec driver. Then (and here I'm just guessing, as I have yet to do it, but I will) you shut down and move the drive to the PCI controller, enter your bios and set it to boot to either other devices or that drive if it specifies it, and boot away. Then you'd use something like Partition Magic to expand the partition to the whole drive. The 48LBA site suggests making new partitions, but I'd rather just expand the one. Set ScanDisc in MSCONFIG Advanced to not run on bad shutdown, as it is not compatible with the large drives. Install something like Norton Utilities 2002 (I've got that, haven't used it in years), and set it's tools to replace 98SE's scandisc and defrag. I plan to try all this and only install those 2 things. I don't want the rest. Certainly not the Protected Recycle Bin thing. I think I have to deselect the unerase thing to leave that out. I have no idea if this works, and the Adaptec documentation refers you to the readme on the cd fpr information on installing the operating system fresh, but there is none there! They must have left that out of the newer cd's. The only documentation are pdf files which only offer instructions for installing the driver after Windows is already installed. Same on the FAQ's on the Adaptec site. I got frustrated like you and now have XP on my big drive. This one's a SATA, but the one I mean't for 98SE is a 250GB IDE drive. We'll see if I can get it done on my other box, leaving this intact for the moment just so I have something to plug in and use if it fail's like the last time.

You then would choose a custom install and pick just AudioHQ, Soundfont Manager, and Windows Drivers. Gotta use the older LiveWare 3.0 drivers and install Surround Mixer as well if you want surround virtualization. They called it Movie Mode or Live Surround, I think. With the newer drivers you need PlayCenter installed and in player mode open the middle section and tick CMSS to on. They removed the surround modes from the newer Surround Mixer, so you need PlayCenter to turn CMSS on. Otherwise only 5.1 sources (like DVD's) will use more than the front 2 speakers. With CMSS, it virtualizes the rest so you can hear your 2 channel mp3's out of all the speakers. So, they force you to install PlayCenter on the newer offerings. Players like Foobar2000 offer a plugin that offers stereox2. You might like that better. Then you don't need PlayCenter for music, but you still would need it to get your games to play out of all the speakers. By the way, a poster named "BadBoy" (not sure about upper or lower case letters) has a thread on the Creative US SoundBlaster forum with links to download ISO's of several installation cd's. You might find one that works for you there. us.creative.com is the us site, then go to the Support dropdown, then choose the forums.

Thanks. Wow, I haven't used a virgin install since 1999. Don't think a few minutes went by before I applied some update. Nowadays I either individually apply hundreds of updates (not too fun, but interesting to see what fixed what) or run the service packs (98SE Service Pack and 98SE2ME) and several others manually until I've got'em all. Do ya go on the net with that thing? I'd be afraid to. Internet Explorer 6 SP1 and Windows itself is not secure without several updates. Sorry, I like new features and stuff that fixes old buggy software. Heh. The only thing I used PaintShopPro for was changing jpeg wallpapers to bitmaps to keep Active Desktop off. I do the same thing with the fixed Paint. MSN Messenger 6.2 did not trigger that IOS thing, but since the IE updates did anyway, well that one blew up too. Anyway, I'm doing fine. But I was amazed at seeing that old Windows 95 error on a fully updated system like that. The old software likely stashed some ancient calls in the Windows ini files that shouldn't be on a modern system. Just guessing, but I suppose they were calling for things at startup that don't exist or replaced what should have been there. Perhaps they installed a ton of old fonts that wouldn't register properly and Windows eventually gave up the ship. I know I saw a ton of font errors in the bootlog, and some double fonts in the font folder. I'll be setting up the older box again shortly, and I'll see if avoiding those old programs will keep things normal.

My goodness. I went through 4 full 98SE installations and fully updating them and each time eventually encountered the old Windows 95 error: While initializing device IOS: ERROR: Real Mode System memory allocation failed. Yeesh! I had never seen this thing before. But I have now read just about every link about it on the net and even bought RegRepair 2000! Besides renaming smartdrv (can't see how that works on a 98SE that doesn't call Smartdrive) or renaming RMM.PDR, this program seems to be the only one that might fix this error if I get it again. The 3 things in common on all these installations that I haven't used in years are the SBLive card using the last Liveware 3.0 and the VXD drivers with IRQ 5 reserved in the BIOS, PaintShopPro 4.15 that I got free with my old Zoom Modem, and the Communicate software from the same modem cd. Both those programs are very old. The stuff that triggerred the startup error was installing MSN Messenger 7.0 for 98SE, or installing the latest Internet Explorer update KB908519. Doing either of these 2 things left me with only Safe Mode to boot to, and get this. When in Safe Mode Windows was using the secondary monitor of my ATI x850PRO on one computer, or my 9600XT on my other computer. (I went through 2 installs on both.) I missed having ANY computer working so I reinstalled XP on the A7V880 just to get back working. I've since used VMWare 5.5.1 for a 98SE guest installation and have gone through just about the whole updating process now and did not encounter the error. Smarty that I am, I HAVE NOT INSTALLED those 2 old programs. (Or the SBLive, though I doubt that was the problem.) Even to test. I DON"T WANT TO SEE THAT IOS thing ever again. Gosh. To sit for days updating 4 times through only to get that IOS error was the most annoying thing. Hee, hee. I spent 30 bucks on that RegRepair 2000 thing. I only hope I never need to use it. What the devil is installed by old stuff made for 95 that newer updates can't overwrite properly?

No, the SB0100 was not the first SBLive card. I have CT4760, SB0100, and SB0224. The SB0100 was actually the last one issued with the old Liveware 3.0 software. If you have the cd for it, you have the best version of the VXD drivers for the Live. You may have run into the bug I mentioned after uninstalling the kXProject drivers. Something gets removed after uninstalling WDM's on the Live cards that messes up the card detection of the Creative setup programs. If you do a fresh Windows install, I'll bet you could install the cd. BUT DON'T! You'll get the worst WDM drivers for the Live which are installed by that cd by default. And you'd be back where you started. See my other post in this thread and copy the cd to an Sb_install folder on your hard drive and change the 2 Audio.ini settings for WDM from 1 to 0, and then run setup and things should be fine. Just update PlayCenter to 3.02.52 and uncheck that Creative News thing. Just tick the drop down on the Creative Launcher and uncheck the Check for Live News Updates thing. It's not connected to any link anymore, but it's another process that runs unless you turn it off. Tell Spybot to ignore the detection for all the News entries too. This way it won't bork your Liveware install. Oh. And go into device manager and in your Multimedia Properties hardware tab, go into Audio Compression Codecs and to the properties of the Creative mp3 codec (ctmp3.acm.) Tell it to not use this device. Now Windows Media Player won't play mp3's all screwed up and mess up startup sounds in your Themes. It's not compatible with an active Creative ctmp3 codec. If you call Creative, they can sell you a cd with the same software and also the 252 driver included that the XP download has (that SBLive UniPack.) This cd's package runs flawlessly with the WDM driver on 98SE. Too bad you can't just use the download, but that doesn't have some 98SE updates you need, or all the software you get with the cd. That package doesn't need any updating (except turning off the mp3 codec). You get the latest PlayCenter 3.02.52 for 98SE and the Recorder, Remote Center (if you have the LiveDrive), Wave Editor, Minidisk, Surround Mixer with the built in EAX, AudioHQ, etc. I got mine with my SB0224 card. So many possibilities. I'm sure you can get it working.

Well, you've found the bug that rears its ugly head when wdm's are uninstalled with an SBLive. If you peruse the Creative forum's, you'll see many with that "no Creative (or SoundBlaster) hardware installed" message. One way to (sometimes) fix it is to use CTZAPPXXX.exe (sometimes no XXX) to install the driver first, then the software program install works. This works with the newer (since 2002) WDM drivers, but I have no idea if the older vxd's are CTZAPable! If not, you can try removing the driver (if it's still there) in device manager, rebooting, then directing the Windows installer to the Audio\English\drivers\9x (check the cd to see exactly) folder and after rebooting with the driver installed try to run the cd. There are cards that only work with the cd's that they came with. OEM's and such. Unfortunately, there are cards that only work sometimes with the cd's they came with, as well! Sometimes it takes a format and Windows fresh install to get back the fresh registry so the cd works. After years of troubleshooting this, no one has ever figured out what is removed after uninstalling the Creative drivers/software that causes this wrong hardware detection. It is best, with Creative cards, to install and update, but never uninstall their stuff if you want to use the card again without a format. You may get lucky, but most of the time not. Again, that CTZAPP thing solves the problem MOST of the time with the newer drivers. Also, with the 5.1 card cd's, they are set to install WDM's by default. If you don't want this, you must create an Sb_install folder on your harddrive and copy the entire contents of the cd to it. Then, in the Audio\English\Setup folder, you must change the properties of the Audio.ini file to uncheck Read Only. Then change the value of 98SEWDM=1 and WINMEWDM=1 to both 0's. Then save it and recheck Read Only in the file's properties. Then you run either CTRUN.EXE (sometimes it doesn't work after choosing "English," or the Setup.exe in the Audio folder. That is with the old LiveWare 3.0 cd's. With the newer driver cd's you can only change it to vxd after the cd is installed by running CTZAPP, uninstalling the WDM, rebooting, installing the VXD. Don't bother though. The newer vxd's sound like crap and don't install the SB16 Windows dosbox emulation. With the newer software you're better off with the WDM drivers.

I wanted to share my recent experience with implementing what you're discussing here. For the last year I've been using ASUS A7V880-AthlonXP3200+. Recently the bios in it lost itself (happens to this board, I've noticed in some hardware forums), and the repaired RMA was shipped back to me yesterday. I couldn't resist the cheap Abit KW7 on NewEgg so for the last week and a half I've been playing with that until the A7V880 gets back. Nice that all my hardware still works so nothing was fried by the failed A7V880 bios! ATI Radeon x850PRO experience with Catalyst 5.9 - I recently bought this as probably the best (affordable) upgrade available that still had at least beta 98SE driver support. I need to manually install the driver, as the ATI install program and the inf don't list this card's VIN pci id numbers as supported by the driver. I first install the corresponding (on the Catalyst 5.9 download page) WDM driver. No reboot. Then I use device manager to update both the primary and secondary display adapters. I direct it to the extracted ATI driver inf folder the install program left and select the C5 inf as that one has the x850 selections. I guessed and installed the 3rd one listed for the x850 and that works for my PRO. I do the same for the secondary adaptor but choose the secondary x850 choice in the list that comes up (again, the 3rd one in the list so we match!) No reboot. I remove both monitors from device manager as on reboot Windows will now recognize and install the plug and play monitor for the primary one instead of default monitor. The secondary one will automatically install the default monitor like it always has. No reboot. I then run the setup.exe from the Control Panel folder of the ATI folders. Now, after rebooting everything will install and work properly. I need to reboot a second time for the remaining WDM driver to install itself. I don't get Smartgart this way, but do get the ATI Control Panel and as long as the latest Via 4-in-1 used is the 4443 (the lower one on the viaarena download page), AGP works with whatever is set in the bios. Any later Via Hyperion and you don't get AGP, it's turned off and you're on PCI speeds! This even happens with a Radeon 9600XT. On XP all this isn't necessary as the Catalyst install program works perfectly and the inf includes the proper ID for the card. Okay. The A7V880 worked perfectly with 98SE with this setup. The KW7 however would not boot into Windows (freeze at the splash screen) if I tried to install any PCI card into any PCI slot! Now, this was with a SATA HD and (obviously) the SATA activated in the bios as I put the board into the same box I took the A7V880 out of. I don't know if using a normal PATA HD and having SATA turned off would fix this. I tried turning off the Serial, Parellel ports and even deactivating USB in the bios but 98SE would only boot into Safe Mode if I put any PCI card into a slot! For now, I overcame this by starting over and just installing XP and running VMWare Workstation 5.5.1. 98SE runs fine on the KW7 like this. But of course there's no Direct 3D on 98 this way. The Abit KW7 latest bios (15) includes a later version of the Via Sata bios than Asus uses on the A7V880 so that may have something to do with why the A7V880 has no problem with PCI ports with Windows 98SE. Something in the update may have broken 98SE support somewhat. The KW7 seems to be more stable with my AthlonXP 3200+ and Crucial 512x2 (1024MB) 3200 Ram at 400 bus speeds than the A7V880 was. So I think when I get the A7V880 back I'll replace the A7V333 I have in my backup box with the A7V880. I've got an AthlonXP 3000+(333MHz) and 2x512(1024) 2700 Crucial Ram in there so it all should match and be more stable for the slightly more flaky A7V880 board at the lower, 333MHz bus speeds. And I'll duel-boot Partition Magic style with the IDE HD (hiding the 2 Primary's from each other.) I use an add on LAN card on the KW7 for gigabit, but the A7V880 Marvell gigabyte LAN built in works fine. Neither board will support the old SBLive Dos-Mode drivers. (No non-maskable interrupt support.) I'm not using that card now, but if one did want to then the old vxd drivers for the Windows dosbox would work fine. As would the later WDM drivers if native 98 dosbox fm emulation isn't important to you. With this speed of computing, the Dosbox .63 program (and the latest CVS) offers all the dos most folks would need. But all the 98 programs that don't run on XP can still be used on good 'ol 98SE on these pretty spiffy computers! I'll use my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum on the KW7 and the built in SoundMAX on the A7V880. (Love that thing, with the Sensaura Virtual Headphone Theatre and Virtual Ear upgrades I managed to buy on digibuy even though the links were taken away from the Sensaura website when Creative bought them.) So, I've implemented most of the stuff you're talking about here. I hope my info on installing the ATI beta 98SE driver helps any who want to use an x850 card. They don't make it easy, but it works perfectly with the beta driver installed as I described. I don't know why the proper card id isn't in the inf for 98SE. This is a built by ATI retail box Radeon x850 PRO. I got it at BestBuy during the recent sale. So it's the legit card and it even registered properly with the serial number at the ATI site.

Cool. Thanks. You'd think that Adaptec might update 4.71a2 seeing as how I recall it always working in the past, but for some reason causing problems when used now. Perhaps it's something they could fix? In any case the 4.60 one installed by ForceASPI 1.7 still works fine.

The old methods of taking snapshots got programs like Norton Cleansweep and McAfee Uninstaller into trouble when registrys got too big to fit in the maximum snapshot. The programs would just crash. I think McAfee still offers QuickClean, which replaced Uninstaller. It can be set to offer a cleanup after a regular system uninstall, or so I believe. Last I used it was QuickClean 2, and at the time that feature never worked properly. Perhaps they've fixed it? Still, Macecraft Software offers jv16Powertools2005. This is a lot more than the old registry cleaner it started from. After uninstalling a program, its Software Manager (or Registry Manager, one of those, the other just lists all the add/remove entries) sees all the programs that are still hanging around in the registry. I use the manual search and it finds anything having to do with the program and lists all the entries. It's the closest thing (almost exactly like) to the old McAfee Uninstaller 5.1 that was the last McAfee version that actually did this properly. Once you delete those entries you can delete the program's folder if it's still there, then run registry cleaner (still there in jv16Powertools2005) and that program will be safely gone. I also have returned to using the latest standalone Norton GoBack. Live Update updates the cd to the latest version. I turn off System Restore and use this, as using both is redundant and a waste of space. With this, as long as I've just experimented recently, I can just click ummm, put everything back to the way it was before please and, presto, it does it! I know. Chugga, chugga, chugga goes my hard drive after any large enough change. This will shorten the life of a hard drive and also keep me waiting until GoBack catches up to me. Computing takes a bit longer but it's worth it. I'd rather press a button and wait 5 minutes or so than restore an image that I also have to take the time to create. If you get this, turn it off when defraging or doing video editing or creating. No need putting your hard drive through all that work while GoBack is catching up. Turning it off and then on when your done with massive file changes takes a lot less time. Just be sure you're happy the way things are before turning it off since you're gonna start wherever you are when you turn it on again. It erases the past when you disable it.

I'd like the forceASPI 1.7 kept in the pack. The newer ASPI worked when Adaptec first released it, but recently caused havoc in my drives. No DMA, no digital audio extraction, pausing forever when copying files, etc. The old version still works perfectly nearly all the time, while 4.71a2 sometimes works and oftentimes programs won't detect it properly. C'mon, why change it?

If your Bios has the Sata Boot built in which is the case with most recent motherboards then, in my experience, Windows 98SE installs but has the system setup in Ms-Dos Compatibility Mode. On my system I installed the Via Hyperion 4-in-1's, rebooted, installed the Via Sata driver, rebooted, then installed the Via USB 2.0 drivers and rebooted. Make sure you use the 4-in-1 set at ViaArena and not the newer Hyperion Pro, as 98SE needs the IDE driver left out of the Hyperion Pro since Windows XP doesn't need it. When all was done Windows 98SE had everything properly installed in Device Manager and was in your normal optimal mode of operation. Now, if your board doesn't have the Sata Bios built in so you need a seperate Sata controller, then this most likely won't work. In that case you could install Windows 98SE with a normal IDE hard drive and later install the Sata controller and use the Sata drive as a second hard drive. Make sure you have a reletively powerful power supply for this as modern videocards eat up a lot of power that makes weak power supplies balk at adding additional hard drives. Hopefully your board supports Sata built in so you can just hook things up, install Windows and the drivers, and everything will just work. Edit - The newer Via Hyperion Pro now has the needed 98SE IDE drivers. I guess they put that back in because lots of folks don't read the information and wondered why their systems didn't work. So the latest Hyperion Pro's are now fine for 98SE.

Adamastor, If you go to MDGx's website you'll see the complete manual instructions there. He's had those there since he started experimenting with it himself and kept adding more files as he found them safe to use. However, his batch installer does the same job without any fuss. It allows you to choose to leave out the additional extras the full program offers. For example, I always use option 2 as this just does 98SE2ME without the available addon software I'd rather not have. So the info is there for you, but I can't see why you'd want to go through all that yourself as well as risk one little typing error or replacing some files without associated files that those might need so Windows doesn't break. It's tested, it's mature, so why not just use it?

See, you used a router and that made all the difference. A router usually has a built in firewall. Most broadband connections for home users, whether DSL or Cable, have no router but only the cable line into the cable modem, then that is connected with an ethernet cable to the ethernet card in the PCI slot in the pc. This has no protection. Anyone can hack the pc freely this way, so it is certainly suggested that a software firewall be used that offers both inbound and outbound protection. The built in XP firewall is only inbound protection, so firewall's like ZoneAlarm are desireable as they work both in and out.

There are applications that still depend upon the Microsoft JVM when run on 9x systems. Using the official Microsoft update to version 3810, then installing the latest Sun Java (5.0 Update 5 now) enables certain functions in those programs that need the Microsoft Java to keep working while removing security problems in older versions. Installing the Sun Java makes it the default and is best for nearly all sites using Java today.

Yes, with an upgrade cd that is the way. However, he has the $20 2nd Edition "Update" cd and that one will not install from Dos. It requires Windows 98 1st Edition installed and to be run from within Windows. Without chipset drivers available though, the point is moot! How about Windows Me drivers? Does Intel offer those for the board? Just a shot in the dark. Even if they offer those, they probably would be trouble on 98 if they specifically are just for Windows Me.

Hi risk_reversal, I just noticed this and can tell you of my experience with the same chipset on my Asus A7V880. Windows 98SE installed fine and I just needed to install the Via 4-in1's, Sata, and USB 2.0 drivers to get all the devices working optimally and all listed properly in Device Manager. You'll find that Windows 98SE will run just fine, as will Ms-Dos within Windows, but Ms-Dos Mode will be toast for playing any games. The SATA bios usurpes nearly all extended memory and leaves none for loading emm386.exe, let alone having anything left for expanded memory. When using a regular IDE HD, the hijacking of extended memory does not occur. However, the board will not run PCI soundcard's dos drivers like the SBLive as it will not enable non-maskable interupts that those drivers require. So, for me, Ms-Dos Mode was still useless even though it was fully functional with the exception of audio. With the SATA drive, Ms-Dos mode is completely useless for gaming but can handle non-memory intensive command line work. This may not be a problem for you. WDM audio drivers enable dos without FM chip emulation within Windows, and you can use the Dosbox software to emulate Ms-Dos 5.0 with nearly complete audio emulation within Windows 98. That works as well in 98 as it does in XP. So it should be a positive experience. Really no different than an IDE drive with the exception of that SATA Bios taking legacy Dos fun away from you! Part of what you'll notice when using BootDisk's or starting up in Ms-Dos Mode on the SATA drive is the old warning that himem.sys cannot control the A20 Line. In my experience that didn't stop me from doing any normal command line functions I wanted to do in Ms-Dos Mode. Just don't try anything memory intensive like games! Within Windows, you won't notice anything different with the SATA drive.

Windows Me made a bad first impression as it was rushed out before several important stages were completed. Its included IE 5.5 and WMP7 were beta versions and the included System Restore had a date bug that also needed immediate patching. OEM's were forced to release it on their machines before thorough testing had been completed on drivers for included hardware and compatibility with included software. These things resulted in lots of problems for users on brand new pc's and support technicians tore their heads apart trying to fix what couldn't be fixed without new released drivers and updates. Once patched up, I have found Windows Me to be about the best one can get out of a 9x system. Its files are the latest bug fixed versions available for 9x, and when fully updated with, for example, the updates available on MDGx's website is stable and able to run just about any hardware and software released between 1998 though today. The exception being of course the newest XP/2000 only hardware drivers and software, and later innovations like NTFS, dual processors, etc. With the exception of the GDI memory resource degradation inherent in 9x, Windows Me is quite robust and effective. It and all 9x varients have been surpassed by XP of course. Drivers and software are now being made that can not be used on 9x. To get the most out of the newest hardware and software today, you use XP. However for slightly older hardware/software (like only a few months old), there's nothing dibilitating about how a fully updated Windows Me runs the computer. Its got a bad rep, but it really is a fine operating system that can do very well for most home users. You want the best Windows available though? Sure, you get XP. That's where the emphasis of developers is and the where the most advanced technology available for a Windows user resides.

Oh my goodness, this is like Creative drivers/software. The system hooks, the shared dll's, the files and registry entries all over the place enable ATI MMC to provide all sorts of cool features and look pretty doing it. But one little mistake or file corruption and it's tough to cleanly uninstall this thing. A solution that should work is a combination of the ATI Uninstall Utility found on the ATI website and DriverCleanerProfessional found on the Driverheaven website. Install DriverCleaner and have it check for updates to get any recent fixes and improvements made by Spike to the program. Also download the latest ATI Catalyst drivers for your videocard as you'll be needing to uninstall those to thoroughly get rid of ATI stuff and start clean. Uninstall ALL ATI things listed in Add/Remove starting with the MMC stuff, then the ATI DAO MDAC, then your ATI videocard's software and drivers. If you're using ATI Catalyst Control Center then reboot when it asks and then uninstall the drivers. Don't reboot after uninstalling the driver. Run the ATI Uninstaller Utility and reboot when it asks. Press F8 to bring up the Windows Startup Menu and choose Safe Mode. If Windows brings up the New Hardware Wizard cancel out of it. If Windows just installs video drivers by itself, don't reboot when it asks. Go to Device Manager and right click the Display Adapters and uninstall them. Don't reboot. Run DriverCleaner. From the Tools dropdown choose CabCleaner. Run it on driver.cab and sp2.cab. When CabCleaner is done, run the normal DriverCleaner for ATI WDM, ATI Uninstaller, ATI MMC, ATI Hydravision, and ATI. Don't run the cleaners for the chipset ATI stuff (IGP, etc), as there's a danger of removing files that your motherboard chipset driver needs and you can wreck Windows that way. Go to Start, Run and type %TEMP%. Delete the contents of that Temp folder. Browse in My Computer to C:\Windows\Temp and delete the contents of that Temp folder. Empty your Recycle Bin. Restart the computer. Cancel out of Windows Hardware detection and install the latest Catalyst driver and software. Reboot twice. Now you've got a clean system to either reinstall ATI MMC or whatever software you want to use.