Drugwash

Dunno about the above mentioned files (MSXML*.DLL), but Visual C 2005 runtime redistributable also uses the SxS system, and the libraries are correctly loaded when called by some application (tested it with some Miranda IM plug-ins). On this basis, I assume the SxS should work on a 9x system as long as the registry information is correct.

You may try to search (or ask) in Wim's BIOS forums about a solution to your BIOS problem, but I agree the best solution would be to dump the mobo (together with the case, as I know HP likes proprietary formats as much as other OEMs do) and get yourself some cheap and 48bit LBA-compatible mobo plus a new case.

Hello to you too! Please check this page for a firmware update. Make sure you get the one for your version of the drive (Dell or Sony), otherwise you may irreversibly damage the drive!

•Check Windows Update if there's any hotfix related to Windows MCE and multisession/optical drives driver. •Remove the drive from Device Manager and reboot. If it's not automatically detected, go back there and search for new hardware. •Try to force install an ASPI layer.

A pretty useful tool may be Unknown Device Identifier.

OK, then I guess having both web and full-size installers available for download, would be the best option, as every user would have the choice to grab the version that suits him best.

No. There are still many people that do not have Internet access. Auto-Patcher can be copied over from a CD/DVD media and installed on such system, but relying on download links would just cripple the package. That could only be a temporary solution for alpha/debug/testing versions, but definitely NOT for release versions.

You haven't specified which Miranda version should be checked: the stable 0.6.x branch, or the development 0.7.x one?

Just check the current version of esdi_506.pdr after having installed 98SE2ME and apply the patch accordingly, if needed. I.e. if the current version is 4.90.3000, then apply the ME patch; if it's 4.10.2222/4.10.2225(6), then apply the 98SE one.

Just some quick notes. I downloaded and installed 1.95PR2, then I extracted the newer files from the zip attached in first post over it - dunno if that was a good or bad idea. I chose a lot of modules and options to install, but I couldn't say which - the log is on another machine and there's no way I can transfer or publish it here, currently - I'll try attaching a floppy or something. Thing is, there were three issues that broke the unattended operation: • while installing Dial-Up Networking 1.4 Upgrade, the system asked for the Win98SE CD. The files were already copied in some folder on the HDD, but currently there's no (or bad) code to check for the files in other path than the original install path. • at the end of some modules' installation, when reboot should've occured, warnings popped up instead, saying something like "You must quit this program first if you want to quit windows. Press Yes to close this program and quit Windows, or press No to continue running this program and Windows". Choosing either option would reboot, but the dialog popping up and requiring an action was a show stopper, and it did pop up quite a lot of times (3 or 4 times, at least). • many times, the machine wouldn't reboot - the "Windows is shutting down" screen would stay on for minutes, keyboard would not respond; only way to "end it's pain" was pushing RESET. This may be a BIOS/Hardware issue or not, as generally, the reboot went fine. The shutdown/hang hotfixes have been applied, but it still behaved after that. Other than that, I grew old. Almost three hours of installing and (assisted) rebooting. Oh, well... I still have work to do, with manual installs and then check the log - didn't have time for that last night, and I'm gonna be on the road these days, apparently. Will check back in later, time allowing.

This is getting a bit too complicated, with VB scripts and all. DOS batch is OK: I can read it, edit it if needed... Just a personal thought.

OK, what about languages that are not listed in the script and are not English either? Those poor users will only see asterisks and dots instead of menu options' text. That's what's happening for me, as my win.ini screams: sLanguage=rom. Most simple fix for that would be to add the following two lines marked in red, to the respective module, although there could be some simple way to add a message like "Sorry, currently there's no localization for your system language; defaulting to English." : :LANG_UNK :: Unknown language :: reset the mesg value to English SET MEMmsg=Total memory SET NEXT1=GoSTART goto ENGLISH

Here's mine:

Please look at this piece of code, for RAM detection routine; note that on certain systems with regional settings different than English, separators are swapped - meaning comma is period and period is comma. This code has them switched, which works on my system and it detects the 240MB of RAM I have. We already had this issue in another one of your projects - UBCD, IIRC Also note that FREEMEM delivers the result in kB, while MEM delivers it in bytes, so there's no need for three separators detection, but only two of them, while using FREEMEM:

Nothing changed, except for the amount of detected memory, which is now 0mb instead of the previous 1mb. Oh and minor tweaks to the displayed options.

I tried hard to disconnect with my problems for a little while, so I grabbed this app and analyzed it a bit. Here's some considerations: In SYS_inst.bat: why don't you create a menu for the user to choose his system language manually from a list of choices, and then just direct the code to validate ONLY that choice, returning to system language menu on error. I consider this to be easier than checking each possible language one after another, waiting for a match. I'd create this chunk of code myself for you, if my mind would be clear enough. Just an idea: instead of "This value is invalid. [...]" when bad value was input, why not present the user with a message like: "Value out of range. Would you like to use (D)efault, (C)urrent or (O)ptimal value instead, or (R)eturn to manual value input?". It might be a good alternative, if the user is unsure as to which value to set. What I feel would be very helpful, is always having the current value displayed on screen, for each of the possible items, when one is selected. E.g.: Setting name: 32BitDiskAccess Current value: OFF Valid values: ON, OFF (recommended: ON) ...... Please note that I wrote all this just by looking at the batch code; I haven't run it yet. So I may be wrong at some point. [EDIT] Now I have run it, without making any changes, though, just to see how the menu looks. Grrrr... it found 1mb (why not MB ?) of available RAM, when I do have 240MB. And my system is English. I manually input the correct amount, which was saved. On a second run of the program, I ran the check again, and again it told me I have 1mb. Why wouldn't it take into account the value saved during the previous run and when discrepancy found, just say: "Current check indicates you have X amount of RAM, however on a previous check you manually input a value of Y MB RAM. Which value is correct? (O)ld/(D)etected/(N)one". On O, old value would be used; on D, the newly detected value will. On N, user will be prompted to manually enter the correct value. mem /a /c shows a bogus 67,698.688 Bytes of total RAM, 250,949,280 Bytes of which (ha!!!) free, while FREEMEM.EXE does show the correct amount of 245,696 kB.

You are right, my version is 5.00.2195.1. If you ever manage to add third state (older/newer) to this binary detection, it would be wonderful - much less (if any) confusion.Apologies for not being of any help lately; luckily, now there's someone really skilled that is doing a good job.

It's not enough that I'm in a deep depression and very p***ed off... this board had to throw me a 404 when I tried to post earlier. So I'll keep it short: new keys are OK, more intuitive. Good change. Directory Services Update still appears in the list while it shouldn't. The report doesn't mention the package version that created it. Is it that hard to add "Created by Auto-Patcher x.xx"? I wish you kept the debug choice code I added, at least for debug builds. I atttach a text file containing both an old report (which version?) and the new 1.95 one. Report:

Dunno if it's gonna be of much help: 3D Traceroute.

Check your task manager and make sure you don't have concurrent realtime antivirus scanners running in background. If so, disconnect from the network and then disable any and all antivirus you may be running and kill any processes/services that appear to be owned by an A/V application. Then try to figure out which one you wanna keep, because running more than one realtime scanning antivirus at a time can lead to bad overall performance.

What's wrong with SIW? Ah, of course... it's freeware.

I think CodeStuff Starter is a bit more advanced and shows tasks that Mike Lin's StartupCPL sometimes misses.

Don't worry, Miranda never leaves my plate empty, so take your time. I'll check back later on. Off-topic: the 200MHz Pentium MMX machine I was planning on using for Auto-Patcher (and other) tests will have to go to my daughter instead. So I'm left with an 166 MHz Pentium now, which I have yet to set up. Is time running out faster, or am I getting older and slower? [EDIT] Seconds are definitely shorter for you.

Glad to see you back to this. Could we get an alpha/beta update for this version, instead of a full PR? I mean, with all those changes, there's chance something might go wrong and people could get upset for having downloaded a big file. Besides, I think many (if not all) of the interested people would have already downloaded the big 1.8. Anyway, it's your call - I just came in with my thought.

You may try the old list and/or use Auto-Patcher for Windows 98SE. Then install Gape's USP.