HoppaLong

When I installed Gape's Unofficial SP2 there were no problems with my system. It appears that SP3 - B4 really is Gape's final version. I always keep a very clean backup available, in case something goes horribly wrong during a major upgrade. SP3 - B4 must have been scoured for bugs hundreds of times. Is SP3 - B4 essentially bug free and safe to install? I know that's a difficult question answer, since every pc has different hardware and software. I don't expect a simple "yes" or "no" reply. If you're very familiar with SP3 - B4 and are 95% sure this last service pack is safe, that's more than good enough for me!

As usual, there is an app for XP, Vista, and 7 that will disable a secondary monitor. It's called DisMon. http://dualmonitortool.sourceforge.net/dismon.html Anything like this for 98SE?

The zippered file contains: Read First.txt PrinterProperties.txt Experienced scripters might have some fun with this app. Your brain doesn't have to be under maximum load all the time! Newbies who think scripting is a nightmare, may change their minds if they try the app described within. PrinterProperties.zip

I've never understood why your printer properites are buried. This tabbed window shouldn't even have the "properties" title. It's the primary app for the printer because it contains all your settings and maintanence procedures. Image installing a pdf reader or word processing app and being forced to access the main screen through "properties" on the Context Menu. A direct shortcut should be provided on the Start Menu when you install the printer software. For XP or Vista here are a couple of command lines that usually work: rundll32.exe PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry /p /n "Your printers name" or rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /n\\machine\printer If you're running 98SE it's easy enough to download printui.dll and put it in your windows/system directory. The above commands still won't work because a dialog box appears about missing libraries. Is there a command that will work in 98SE? If not, maybe someone has created an applet or batch file that will do the job.

How many apps are there that will control the state of your monitor? Ten thousand or ten million, I'm not sure! I need a little applet that I can add to a script. Let's say you set your monitor to turn off after 15 or 20 minutes of system inactivity. I'm looking for something that will detect when your monitor powers down and run a command. It could be anything like launching an executable process or a simulated key press (you know, F1, F2, etc.). All I can find while Googling are apps that will shutdown your computer and/or monitor at a specific time, or after a download completes, etc. I'm almost certain what I'm looking for exists, I just can't find it. Maybe I'm using the wrong terms when I search.

OK CharlesF. I appreciate your reply. Nothing that actually exists is a miracle, but what KernelEx is trying to do comes real close! When I searched msfn I didn't find that thread which answers my question. I'm glad you did. Someday, a genius may develop a new way for software to interface with hardware. Until that day, drivers will always be the achilles' heel of computing.

I've searched msfn about installing printer software and drivers with 98SE. I may be an "advanced" computer user, but understanding what KernelEx can and cannot do is way too complex for me. All I can say is the KernelEx team has created something I didn't think was possible. Congratulations! I'd like to give a new HP D4260 printer to my dad, who uses 98SE and doesn't need a newer version of Windows. All he does is type with a word processing app and print the results. He needs a new printer, which is a problem since almost all new printers have abandoned support for 98SE. My question is simple. If I install the latest version of KernelEx can the HP software and drivers run on a 98SE desktop? I suppose my "advanced" computer instincts say it can't be done. If the answer is "yes" what steps should I take to make sure the install of KernelEx and the printer software go smoothly. Again, KernelEx is a remarkable achievement. Thanks guys. (Yikes! I suppose I should have posted this under the KernelEx sticky. Sorrry about that.)

I've got a brand new HP Deskjet D4260 printer that I purchased many months ago, but never used. I want to give it to someone who types things and prints them. That's it! He doesn't use his computer for anything else. Your "Windows 9x Member Projects" is simply incredible! I always think of MSFN, whenever I'm trying to resolve a problem related to 9x systems. This person who needs a new printer is using 98SE. HP and those "nothing but drivers" sites can't help me. Even if I could find generic drivers for 98SE, I would still need some kind of utility to setup the printer. If the answer is negative, at least I know I asked the the most knowledgeable 9x folks for a minor miracle.

Before I posted my question I knew this printer was toast. When I was a kid you fixed things. My hobby, which became my profession was any kind of mechanical or electrical device. Even today, when everything is disposible junk, I still feel good if I can ocassionally repair an appliance. I'll tell you guys, this disposible world is a nightmare! In my business, we have a couple of offices where the ducts supplying the central ac are in poor condition. I've purchased four portable air conditioners in the last five years to cool these two offices. (Fixing the ducting would cost a fortune.) All four units are dead! We did more to maintain these units than any homeowner would ever do. The digital controls or the microcontroller board (like a motherboard) failed. We paid between three and five hundred for these portable air conditioners. Unlike most folks, I've got the needed test equipment to find the problems with each unit. Like the printer and thousands of other devices, the cost of parts means that these air conditioners go straight to the junkyard. If you repaired anything when you were a kid, I'm sure you can remember all those smiles from people who thought you were some kind of a "genius" because you made their dead gadget work again. Our electronics junk is so massive we ship it to poor countries where millions of people poison themselves ripping the guts out of these gizmos for a few bucks. Sorry for rambling on about this. I really do appreciate all your thoughtful replies. I'm not kidding, I really do!

My friends call me about anything related to computer hardware. I am a partner in an electronics related business, but I don't know a lot about printers! A Canon S300 bubble jet is flashing its Resume/Cancel LED. Eight orange flashes means that the built-in ink waste tank is full. I removed the printhead and cleaned it with a chemical formulated for delicate electronic components. Some waste ink did ooze out of the printhead, but it didn't resolve the problem. Except for the printhead, there are two ink tanks. One black and the other color. I don't see anything in the box that collects waste ink. The troubleshooting guide for the printer says the waste ink tank should be replaced. Does this model really have a waste ink tank, or is this "tank" part of the printhead? If there is a waste ink tank, it must under the main chassis cover. If necessary, I'll remove the screws so I can lift the main cover and expose the printer chassis. My friend used this printer sparingly over the years, so it looks almost new. I don't want to do anything that would make the problem worse. If you're familiar with this "waste ink tank" problem, I would appreciate a little guidance. Thanks guys.

Yes Queue, I understand that an app capable of minimizing a window to the tray must be a running or active process. I was hoping to find something small, that would do this one thing only and not display itself in the tray. Wishful thinking, I suppose. I don't think I've tried the two you mentioned. I tried a bunch of open source or freeware tray apps. I wasn't exaggerating when I said how poorly executed several of these tray apps are. Many times it seemed like the author got tired and just compiled the code, without actually finishing or debugging the applet! I really didn't expect a repy to my post. Thank you Queue. I really appreciate your reply.

I've got an app running in 98SE that lacks the "minimize to tray" option. After trying several applets that are suppose to accomplish this mighty task, I'm about to give up! All the applets I tried were uniformly awful. What I need is a command supported applet that I can add to a script. It should respond to the window title, and not place its own icon in the tray too. When I started my search, I thought I would find a large pile of applets that would do the job. There are tons of tray apps out there. I just can't find the one I need. What really amazes me is how many of these tiny bits of code are defective. Can someone point my browser in the right direction?

About two years ago I purchased four Rally2 sticks. They're fast and reliable. I have a workshop, so I built a case that could hold up to eight Rally2's, with a slot for each removable cap. I haven't lost any, but I know that keeps a lot of folks from buying an OCZ drive. A couple of days ago I decided to buy two 16GB Rally2's. The 2008 price was around $34.00. When a new product is marketed, the msrp (manufacturers suggested retail price) is always high. The price usually declines rapidly over the following months or years. Not so with the Rally2! The average price has doubled. The lowest price I could find was $52.99 from Buy.com. I really don't like these guys. eBay has listings much higher, which is strange since eBay prices are usually lower than online retailers that have to pay big bucks to maintain their massive websites. I'm assuming that OCZ uses a chip foundry in China to make the innards of their flash drives. The dual channel architecture is unique to this device. Maybe the supply cannot keep up with demand. That would explain the big price jump. Why don't I just buy another brand? In my business, I never know what version of Windows I'll need. I've got four versions of Windows, (including 98) and two Linux distros on my home and office computers. The OCZ drivers, (which are needed for 98) work perfectly. SanDisk also has 98 drivers, but I don't like the idea of installing another set of flash drivers. That's why I want to stay with OCZ. This is the first time I've seen two year old computer hardware double in price. Is there a logical explanation?

I'll try those native USB drivers. Thanks Prozactive. I did try selecting the correct drive letter in the Device Manager. Doesn't work. I always ask myself two questions with these Windows systems: 1. Should I find the actual root cause of a problem and fix it? 2. If the system is basically working ok, would it be quicker to develop a workaround for the problem without actually discovering the root cause? I know what I'm going to try. It might not work, but if it does these drive letter changes during a reboot won't bother me anymore. Instead of simple desktop shortcuts to my flash drives, I'll create a script with a bunch of flow control and logic statements that may do the trick. You know, if - or - goto - while, etc. In the past, I have devoted myself to fixing everything that went wrong with a Windows system. I always felt great if I found the root cause and resolved the problem. Thinking back, I have to admit that simple workarounds requiring far less time and effort would have been ok most of the time.

IBM ThinkPad T23 BIOS_v1.20 Embedded Controller_v1.06a Everything for this ThinkPad was downloaded from the Lenovo site. The only exception were the chipset drivers which I had to download from Intel's site. I also managed to locate the service manual which provides very detailed user info about all the ThinkPad ports, keys, etc. After accessing the BIOS setup you see a simple list, there are no tabs. Selecting "Config" displays another list of all the ThinkPad devices, including USB. There are only two options, "Enable" or "Disable" booting from a USB device. That's it. They were enabled until Usher suggested disabling USB booting might resolve the problem. I tried, but it didn't make any difference. Usher, when I decided to save this system I knew it had to be on something portable. Since I wasn't cloning the system onto another computer with the identical hardware, I had to strip out all the hardware driver files from the Gateway and delete the relevant registry keys and values. I created a very lengthy script that ran during a reboot. If I had to do the job manually, it would have been a nightmare! I made multiple backups in case anything went wrong. I've searched the registry for any leftover hardware entries from the Gateway desktop. I'm 99% certain my script deleted all of them. If there is some obscure key or value from the old desktop that's causing this problem, I can't find it. It's important to remember, the Gateway desktop had the same problem. It never mattered to me, because the drive letter didn't change during a reboot. As I said, I never knew this problem existed until I completed imaging the same system onto the ThinkPad. That's when the drive letter changes forced me to investigate this problem. I can't help thinking that the drivers themselves are causing this problem. I'm not going to contact OCZ, but I'm sure they would say, "if the drivers work, what are you complaining about? Is it really so terrible that you have unplug the drive during a reboot?" My answer would be, "well, it's very annoying, but you're right, the drivers work and I suppose that's all that really matters."

I disabled USB boot in the BIOS. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Darn it! Frankly, it's a minor miracle that the manufacturers of these flash drives provide drivers for 98SE. More than likely, it's a problem that can't be resolved with these old Windows systems. I tried everything I could think of. If you have anymore ideas, please let me know! I'll try anything that sounds reasonable.

I'll definitely try your suggestion. Thank you Usher. I cloned (more like copied, without the drivers) 98SE from an old Gateway desktop to a more modern refurbished IBM ThinkPad. I wanted to preserve this highly customized copy of 98SE on a laptop. I can finally junk the desktop, which required an enormous table for the heavy steel box and 50 pound CRT! Because the Gateway never had the option to boot from a USB device, it retained the drive letter during a reboot. After I noticed the problem with the ThinkPad, I immediately checked the Performance tab on the Gateway. Sure enough, it had assigned that "DOS compatibility mode" to the drive letter after the thumb drive. Because the drive letter never changed, I didn't care that it was called a "Removable Disk." In fact, it never occured to me that there was any problem at all.

98SE drivers are provided by companies like OCZ and SanDisk for their thumb drives. They work ok, except for a problem that is probably not fixable. If you plug the thumb drive into a USB port after Windows is finished loading, the drive is recognized in My Computer by the correct label name and drive letter. For example, I've got a Rally2 drive made by OCZ. In My Computer it would appear as RALLY2_8GB with the correct drive letter "H." If you reboot without unplugging the thumb drive it appears in My Computer with the generic name "Removable Disk" with the drive letter "I." The Peformance tab in System Properties also shows the problem. It says, "Drive H is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system." Fixing the problem is easy but incredibly annoying. With OCZ drives you right-click the tray icon and select "Stop USB Disk." Unplugging the drive for a couple of seconds is the solution. When you plug the drive back into a USB port its immediately recognized correctly in My Computer and the Performance tab shows that your "system is configured for optimal performance." Since creating scripts and hacking the registry is the only "fun" I have using a computer, I tried every trick I could think of to get Windows to retain the correct drive letter during a reboot. Dumping the relevant registry keys before a reboot, and adding them back with command lines in autoexec.bat didn't work. I also created a script that caused Windows to load the driver files toward the end of the reboot process. No luck. Adding the drivers during system startup doesn't work either. Is there a way to force 98SE to keep the correct drive letter, while your thumb drive is plugged in during a reboot?

OK herbalist. As I quickly discovered, adding the /S switch to autoexec.bat brings up an "invalid switch" error. Here's another "believe it or not" sort of thing. I do have my reg file in a root folder, like you show in your reply: REGEDIT C:\folder\MYREG1.REG However, if I include "C:\" in the command I get an error message! If I leave it out, the files are imported normally. The folder name is MERGREG, so it shouldn't cause any problems. There are no spaces and it stays within the eight letter naming convention. I don't expect a logical explanation, but why do the commands work only when the "C:\" is not included: Like this: REGEDIT MERGREG\MYFILE.REG

I've created countless shortcuts and typed a zillion "run" commands with that REGEDIT /S. It always works perfectly from within the Windows environment. I'm 99% certain I added the line "REGEDIT /S C:\MYREG.REG" to autoexec.bat. It returned an error message. I also created a batch file: @ECHO OFF REGEDIT /S C:\MYREG1.REG REGEDIT /S C:\MYREG2.REG I reviewed a couple of my old books about DOS. You're right about CALL, MDGx. I tried again: CALL C:\MYFILE.BAT An "Invalid Switch" error was returned. Years ago, I can't believe how patient I was with DOS. What choice did we have? There was no GUI. Thank goodness, many of the newer scripting languages are more reliable and powerful. One of my DOS books goes into great detail about adding lines to config.sys and autoexec.bat. The author mentions that 99% of the time a new line should be added at the bottom of the file. He says to press Ctrl+End and then hit the Enter key. Since my autoexec.bat file is empty, there is no end or beginning. Just to make sure the system recognized the file as empty, I used "select all > delete > save." The cursor does not move with the arrow keys, so the file is definitely empty! If the command lines shown above are correct, why is DOS returning error messages? Here is a quote I saved from another forum: "I know other batch files can be run through a batch file by using the "call" command, but this doesn't work for registry files." I apologize guys. DOS always made me feel stupid! The "call" command must work for a batch file, but it's not working as the first line in my autoexec.bat file. REGEDIT /S [PATHNAME] added to my empty autoexec.bat file doesn't work either. You don't have to tell me that it must work. For some reason, DOS is kicking me in the a**, like it has so many times in the past.

I haven't had to add lines to autoexec.bat for several years. I want to import or merge a couple of registry files before Windows starts. This must happen each time the system boots, not just once. Right now, my autoexec.bat file is empty. I tried this: CALL C:\myfile.reg The result was an "invalid switch" error. Someone mentioned on another forum that all you need is the pathname to the reg file, nothing else. Rather than messing around with autoexec.bat, I would be happier if I could find a little applet that could do the job. I've searched, but I can't find anything. If it can be done easily using autoexec.bat, please, show me the way! One thing I do remember about these "run > sysedit" files is how strange they can be. Command lines that work on one system may fail on another. That's why I was hoping to find a simple command line app. [[ You might remember the command line tool RegDel. I used it hundreds of times to delete keys and values. It never failed. Its still available here: http://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?id=9849 ]]

Great reply wsxedcrfv! Thank you. Reg hacking, tweaking, and optimizing Windows 95 and 98 were all I cared about when these systems were king. In fact, all the bugs that Microsoft didn't fix or care about is the only reason I kept tinkering and having fun at the same time! Many of your suggestions are classic tweaks, like setting the typical role to Network Server, not searching for the floppy drive, etc. This ThinkPad and all its drivers are working like new. Used and refurbished ThinkPads in good condition are in great demand. The design and contruction of this IBM series is first rate. I wish modern laptops were as rugged as refurbished ThinkPads. The monitor is crystal clear. It's possible the screen element was replaced during the refurbishing process. I certainly did try deleting these items from the Device Manager. They always come back, along with the New Hardware Wizard after the reboot. I also deleted the subkeys directly from the registry. They refuse to go away! Your idea about copying all the inf files into one directory, is something I never would have thought of. I'll definitely give it a try. I'll keep plugging away at this problem until I see a "clean" Device Manager. Thanks again wsxedcrfv.

I thought copying or cloning my 98SE system from a desktop to a laptop would be a nightmare. Everything went smoothly because I deleted every driver file specific to the old desktop where the system resided. I made sure I had all the driver packages for the laptop, which is an IBM ThinkPad T23. Lenovo had everything, except the latest chipset drivers which I downloaded from Intel. Frankly, I thought everything that could go wrong, probably would go wrong! If I could just resolve two problem items in the Device Manager I'll consider this job a complete success. Under "Other Devices" I've got the dreaded yellow circle next to "PCI Ethernet Controller" and "Unknown Device." There was a third item, but it vanished when I installed the chipset drivers. I tried an app called "Unknown Device Identifier." Seconds after it launches some strange error message appears about "not having enough memo space," whatever that means! It also causes the the system to freeze up, while it attempts to scan all the system devices. Maybe it doesn't matter if I can't fix these two problem devices, but it sure would be nice to see an error free Device Manager. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

OK rloew and LoneCrusader. I finally remember some of the details about autoexec.bat, now that you've jogged my memory. When there was no GUI, I used DOS everyday. The scripts I create these days are definitely not traditional batch files. In fact, its been years since I needed a DOS based batch file. LoneCrusader, your clear explanation is terrific! I suppose I could delete autoexec.bat, but I would rather leave it alone as long as it doesn't cause problems. 98SE was the system we used when I started a business with several other guys. It's filled with icons and logos all related to our business. Preserving a copy of this system is important to me. I guess I'm just a sentimental old fool! I appreciate your replies. Thanks again.

Thank you herbalist. Years ago I was a heavy DOS user, like everyone else. You had to have some command line expertise, or you couldn't use a computer! Believe it or not, I'm a little confused about your reply. I apologize for my diminishing brain power. The only lines in the autoexec.bat file related to MoveOnBoot. Once those lines were removed the file was empty. How do I "remove the empty lines at the end of autoexec.bat" when the file is empty? If possible, show me what I should add or remove from the autoexec.bat file to make those "C" prompts go away.