rloew

Naah, that's as said - a "standard" setup, compatible with *everything*. Not at all to put down the nice app by rloew, but it repesents an "advanced tool" to do "advanced things". If you decide to go "standard", you can use "standard" (FDISK) or "super" (RPM) and need not "hyper" (RFDISK), just like to commute every day to work you may use your current car or (maybe ) a Porsche 911 , but don't *need* a Koenigsegg CCR or CCX, (mainly because you wouldn't be able to spell it's name ) jaclaz RPM is about as far as you can get from "Standard". By default, it creates Partitions that are not aligned on Cylinder Boundaries, and can cause some BIOSes to switch to 240 Heads per Cylinder Mode. Versions later than 2.4.0 don't work on all systems. For "Standard" you are limited to FDISK, RFDISK or something else entirely. FDISK will not allow you to convert the Logical Partition to a Primary Partition at a later date. A DOS Floppy uses the same IO.SYS as Windows 98, so any Valid Partition structure is OK. There are some discrepancies between DOS and Windows 98 but they apply to very specifically sized Partitions. I have posted a reply to this thread. I believe the phantom Partition is due to a bug I have identified in IO.SYS. It occurs when mixing Nob-DOS Logical Partitions and multiple Primary Partitions.

Windows XP doesn't become D: because of the way Drives are scanned. IO.SYS scans as follows: Active Partition on each Drive. If none, first Primary Partition. Logical Partitions on each Drive. Remaining Primary Partitions on each Drive. I have identified a bug in IO.SYS that causes problems when Non-DOS Logical Partitions are used and more than one Primary Partition is used on a Drive. This is a separate issue from the one Patched by Phelum. I have written a Patch for it. Can you confirm that your three Logical Partitions are in the order you have shown?

I'm not sure why you cannot get EMM386 to work with Windows 98, I have had no problem. Try using: DEVICE=C:\DOS71\EMM386.EXE 8192 I use the equivalent. You can also try adding a line for HIMEM.SYS BEFORE the EMM386 Line in your CONFIG.SYS File.

The Program is not the easiest to use. It is intended for Power users and has no GUI. Read the MANUAL.TXT File in the Demo to get an idea of it's complexity. You can run the Demo on your existing Hard Drive without any risk by using the Debug Option. I am currently finishing up a Major Upgrade that will support Hard Drives larger than 2TiB.

You can use either. FDISK will only allow one Primary Partition. RFDISK does not have this limit. RFDISK has the option to convert a Logical Partition into a Primary Partition non-destructively, so you have the option to change it later. Disk Drive Overlays like my BOOTMAN are designed not to cause problems when moving Hard Drives between different Computers. It was mainly some of the Overlays from the Disk Drive Manufacturers that caused serious problems. @Jaclaz The Multi-Boot Profile Option in RFDISK can support access to those 976 Partitions, 24 at a time. I would have to fix a stack overflow problem to do that many. The Multi-Boot Profile Feature does not use an Overlay.

Having a Primary FAT Partition on the First Recognized Hard Drive (DL=80H in INT 13 Call) will always be assigned Drive Letter C:. IO.SYS 7 will always load it's Configuration Manager Overlay, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT from either Drive A: or Drive C:, depending on how it is loaded. It cannot be set to any other Drive, regardless of how it is loaded.

jaclaz, Once again, thanks for explaining. Let's say that I do choose Option 2. In that case, you're saying that I CAN create an extended partition with FDISK withOUT losing the existing data and programs? Another question. I've been reading up on the various kinds of partitions, and honestly the more I read, the more confused I get. Seems like a disk can have up to four "primary partitions," one of which can be an "extended partition" containing "secondary partitions" with (and? or?) "logical partitions." On top of all that we can throw in "active partitions" and "logical volumes," both of which I sort of get but I don't see how they relate to the rest of all these kinds of partitions. The conceptual problem I'm running into here, is that I don't understand the purpose of all these different kinds of partitions, and I haven't come across a good explanation of that. If you can set up as many as four primary partitions on the same HDD, then what need is there for an "extended" partition with "logical" partitions under it?? Where do these "secondary" partitions fit in, compared to the "logical" partitions? Under what circumstances would you create a new "primary" partition vs. an "extended" partition, and vice versa? I'm relying on the Wikipedia article, plus Corey Sandler's Fix Your Own PC, Eighth Edition (p. 249). Both these sources offer almost the same confusing "explanation" of the situation, and to my mind they leave things MORE obscure than before. I'm hoping you can guide me through this jungle of terminology, to shed light on the concepts. Gratefully, --JorgeA Use 31214 Cylinders 15 Heads 63 Sectors. All of the information I needed is in the TEST0RPT.TXT File you Posted for me. RFDISK can edit a Partition's size, but it cannot be used to resize a Partition with data in it. The Partition Tables are structured as follows: The MBR is in the First Sector of the Hard Drive. It contains the Initial Boot Code and a Four Entry Partition Table. This Table contains pointers for one to four Primary and/or Extended Partitions. A Primary Partition is a stand alone Partition. An Active Partition is a Primary Partition that is flagged to be Bootable. Only one Active Partition is allowed. An Extended Partition is a Container for other Partitions. This gets around the 4 Partition limit of the MBR. Omly one Extended Partition is allowed in the MBR. Thie Extended Psrtition points to a Logical Partition and possibly to a chain of Secondary Extended Partitions. A Logical Partition is similar to a Primary Partition but is not normally Bootable and is not pointeed to by the MBR. A Secondary Extended Partition is a link in a chain. It points to the next Logical Partition in the chain, and if needed, the next Secondary Extended Partition. This allows an unlimited number of Partitions to be defined.

The most current version of Flash is 10.1.53.64, can you try it with that version? I believe it won't work, because "10.1.53.64" has 10 charachters, while both "9.0.277.0" and "10.0.45.2" have 9. This means one can substitute "10.0.45.2" for "9.0.277.0" without occupying any space not intended for that string (i.e.: it's an isometric patch), but cannot do the same with "10.1.53.64", because the latter is one byte too long. I found out, not so long ago, that such a non-isometric patch breaks Flash 7, so I'm quite confident it'd similarly break Flash 10. And, even if I didn't know about the patching of Adobe 7, generally speaking, non-isometric patches are expected to break programs, and usually really do so. You could always try 10.0.54.1. It has the right number of characters and should pass the Version test as it is an even newer Version (Future).

I'm now looking at the old threads, so I've singled out that relevant old post by RLoew to quote here just for easier reference for everybody involved. That said, the existing unsolved problems are: (1) There is no known driver for 9x/ME that supports any Series 8 or higher nVidia Cards (which is not relevant here). and (2) No one has ever got any nVidia Cards having more than 256 MiB to work with 9x/ME. To solve problem (1) would require other yet unknown unofficial drivers to surface (very unlikely) or extensive reverse engineering of the extant XP and 9x drivers, followed by the correct porting of the new capabilities to the 82.69 driver (a possible but substantial work, even more unlikely to ever be undertaken). Problem (2) may require more intensive testing, but still seems to be possible to solve completely, either by relocating memory or by somehow reversibly disabling part of it before loading windows 9x/ME (hence making it behave as a 256 MiB VRAM card, only for 9x/ME). Part 1 of that quote is still true. Part 2 is out of date. Almost immeditely after I said it, I heard that at least one person had succeeded. Subsequently, I was able to use a 512MiB 6200 Card, and more recently, a 512 MiN 7200 PCI-E Card. Apparently NVidia already implements your second suggestion for issue #2 by not loading all Memory at one time.

jaclaz, FDISK reports that "Total disk space is 13503 Mbytes." When I changed the cylinder setting in the BIOS to your suggestion and rebooted, FDISK then reported the space as 14396 Mbytes. Usage is reported at 56%, which jibes with what System Information thinks is the size of the drive (8046MB/14396Mbytes). Cool! So now the question becomes how to get the operating system to make use of the extra space. If I understand the issue, this is where using FDISK or another partitioning program comes in. Do we have the choice of either increasing the size of the main partition or creating a new partition? I'd rather just increase the main partition, unless that means losing the data, settings, and programs that are already there. Looks like we are making progress! BTW, I'm wondering if rloew's first setting (29264x16x63) may have worked too. The reason is that when I tried yours and rebooted, the first thing the machine wanted to do was to look for a floppy disk. This time I did happen to have a boot disk in there, so there was no hanging. Then the NEXT time I rebooted, it loaded Windows normally, whether or not there was a floppy in drive A:. Does it matter to any part of the machine, which way we get to 15.1GB (29264x16x63 or 31214x15x63)? Or, do all roads lead to Rome? --JorgeA I would reccommend 16 Heads. Rerun the TEST1 Program to see if it still passes.

Just to make sure I understand: If I went with the latter of these two, would I be doing the partitioning right on the laptop (as opposed to off another PC)? Yes. rloew, Thank you. What do you think of the BIOS Setup "User" options for configuring the HDD that I reported? I'm wondering if they suggest that maybe the disk could be configured manually. --JorgeA You can try one of the following settings: 29264 Cylinders 16 Heads 63 Sectors 7229 Cylinders 16 Heads 255 Sectors 1950 Cylinders 240 Heads 63 Sectors 1836 Cylinders 255 Heads 63 Sectors Whichever matches the number of Heads and Sectors your BIOS uses.

When I first heard about the 512MB Problem, I ran some tests on an ATI All-In-Winder 128 PRO AGP Card. I observed that it immmediately allocated 128MiB of System Area Space. I knew that this would be a major problem at 512MiB. I have not seen the Shared Arena get used so heavily, so I added the /A Option in the hope that it would help. When I finally obtained a 512MiB NVidia Card, with Windows 98 Drivers, I observed that this did not occur. I assume that the Driver banks the AGP Aperture using a smaller window to avoid tying up resources. This is why I DON'T think the /A option will help.

Yes, although there's no picture of it, it does sound like exactly the same thing! They claim it's got Windows 98 drivers too I see! I paid £85 for mine from amazon.co.uk BTW, including postage. I do think your problem is very likely not having the latest version of Rudolph's patch installed properly. I'll let you know how I get on when I try installing it on Monday with the latest version of the patch. If it works for me, it should for you! I have my doubts about using the /A and/or /M options to resolve NVidia Card problems. It was of no help with an 8400 Card or to use a 7200 GS with the 77.72 Driver Version. I added the /A Option after running some tests on an ATI Card Driver.

Just to make sure I understand: If I went with the latter of these two, would I be doing the partitioning right on the laptop (as opposed to off another PC)? Yes.

rloew, I ran the TEST1. It returned a single line: Test Passed What do you think? --JorgeA The tests you ran indicate that the Drive is fine and the BIOS is capable of supporting it. Yhe only problem is the size report. What options are available in your BIOS for TYPE and MODE for a Hard Drive Entry? You could Partition it elswhere or use a Partitioner that will allow you to crate Partitions beyond the assumed end of the Drive, such as my RFDISK Program.

rloew, Thanks very much for TEST0.EXE. I downloaded the program, took it to the Win98SE notebook via USB thumb drive, copied it onto a floppy, then exited Windows using the "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" option, and then ran the program. I'm attaching a text file of the output. What does the program do? Further info: I didn't notice any jumpers on the HDD when I installed it, nor does the drive that I took out for replacement have any. As it was the first time I'd ever done anything like this, I was careful to inspect everything to make sure that, for example, all the pins matched all the holes and also that the pin arrangement on the new drive matched that of the old one. But I'll crack open the case if necessary. --JorgeA The program displays the Disk's information Table. It shows the true size of your Hard Drive. Using standard Geometry, you can use 1836 Cylinders in a Partitioner such as my RFDISK Program. I have attached another test program to see if you need the BOOTMAN Overlay.

I don't think the 512MB is the issue. I have successfully used a 7200 GS 512MB with Windows 98. More likely, the 512MB Card has a newer Device ID that is not in the .INF File. You can get the Device ID by Pausing the BIOS when it shows the PCI Device List. It will be listed as a "Display Controller" and the Vendor ID will be 10DE. The 82.69 Driver recognizes only one version of the 7950 GT. Post the result and I will tell you how to edit the .INF file.

rloew, I ran 48BITLBA.EXE in DOS by shutting down, then rebooting to a floppy. Here's what it returned: Drive 1: 8.4GB = 16513875 Sectors Not 48-Bit Disk Efforts by jaclaz and me to find a suitable BIOS update haven't turned up anything. If I understand the issue, we still have the choice of either running drive overlay software or (as Mijzelf and dencorso discussed) partitioning the disk off another PC -- or, have the alternatives narrowed down further? Thanks for kindly offering the tool for download. --JorgeA You definitely have LBA. In fact, it is reporting slightly more than the CHS limit. Make absolutely sure that you do not have a jumper on the drive that is limiting it's reported size. I have attached a test program. Run it from a DOS Floppy, save the results and post it.

I would like to know what you did to "kludge" my Patch. Was your configuration normal or did you have an atypical VMM32.VXD File. What is the size of the VMM32.VXD File? Only the Unofficial 82.69 Version of the NVIDIA Driver will recognize the 7950 Card. The 77.72 and 81.98 Versions need the Device ID added to the .INF File.

It will determine if your BIOS supports LBA and show the Drive size reported by the BIOS. Run the test and post the result.

If the settings are lost when you unplug the Laptop, it is the same as resetting the CMOS. You will not need to use Debug. Make sure that the Hard Disk settings Type and Mode are set to AUTO or LBA. Do not use USER, NORMAL, or LARGE. I would be surprised that a BIOS of that vintage would not support LBA but I have seen stranger. Try running my 48BITLBA.EXE Program. You can get a Copy from the Demo of my High Capacity Disk Patch Pasckage.

I sell a version of my BOOTMAN Drive Overlay that would provide the support you require. You can reset the CMOS without removing the battery by corrupting it's checksum. rloew, Thanks very much for the offer. Where can I get more information on BOOTMAN? I will definitely consider it if the other approaches being discussed here don't work. Also, how does one go about corrupting the CMOS checksum? --JorgeA The BOOTMAN Overlay is described on my Website. There is a Demo, but it is only for the 137GB Limit. You would need the 8GB Version. You can corrupt the CMOS and cause it to be reloaded by altering the checksum. The following should do it: 1. Boot to DOS. 2. Run Debug 3. Enter the following lines: A MOV AL,2E OUT 70,AL OUT 71,AL INT 1 G Q You must enter the blank line between the INT 1 line and the G Line. 4. Reboot If this does not work, repeat the procedure but substitute 2F for the 2E in the second line.

I sell a version of my BOOTMAN Drive Overlay that would provide the support you require. You can reset the CMOS without removing the battery by corrupting it's checksum.

Which DNS logger do you use? Is it another of your programs? So far, cookie tracking has done the job fine for me, but if it's possible to be more thorough, I'm always interested. I wrote a fairly simple logger that prints out DMS requests. I have used it on occassion to help determine what Hosts File entries should be added or deleted.

Using SATA Drives, that don't have Windows 9x compatable RAID Drivers, requires my SATA Patch. May I download your sata Patch? THX~ The Patch is not free. You would need to order it.