Patched IO.SYS for 9x/ME

[Prozactive]

Thanks dencorso and PROBLEMCHYLD. Just to make sure I fully understand, so the IO.SYS contained in U98SESP3 with the referenced CRC32 and MD5 hashes is the latest version that rloew just posted?

I'm comfortable using a hex editor but I'm not familiar with the BDIFF utility and dump syntax that rloew posted.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Prozactive

[dencorso]

No. As I said:

The patch is included in the U98SESP3. Now you don't have to install the SP but you will need to download and extract the file from the package.

That is KB311561 Win 98SE IO.SYS patched with both jds' revision of the Phelum patch and RLoew's earlier patch. CRC32 = 30D4D998 and MD5 = BC7FE0D6DC0AF9F3303C0A444C74442B.

But it's very well tested and reliable, and solves most problems, all right.

@submix8c: My earlier or current Patch should handle the problem caused by your NTFS Partition.

I intend to test RLoew's just released complete patch asap. But, at the moment, if you want that, you've got some hexediting to do.

[Prozactive]

Thanks for your prompt reply, dencorso. That's what I meant by the earlier discussion being very confusing in terms of versions and changes made in IO.SYS.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Prozactive

[rloew]

Thanks dencorso and PROBLEMCHYLD. Just to make sure I fully understand, so the IO.SYS contained in U98SESP3 with the referenced CRC32 and MD5 hashes is the latest version that rloew just posted?

I'm comfortable using a hex editor but I'm not familiar with the BDIFF utility and dump syntax that rloew posted.

BDIFF is a utility I wrote.

The syntax is as follows:

<- Old Data

-> New Data

Address offset in File

Data in Hex

Data in Ascii

PROBLEMCHYLD asked for a final version of IO.SYS, presumably for U98SESP3. This was the quickest way to post it.

It would not be in U98SESP3, at least not yet.

@PROBLEMCHYLD: If you use this new Version,. please change your comment on IO.SYS to reflect the change so there is no confusion.

[dencorso]

Here is RLoew's complete patch, as a patch pattern, so that those interested may create the patched IO.SYS.

Thanks are due to RLoew for creating it and for sharing it with us all. You do rock, RLoew!

In order to use the enclosed patch pattern you need to grab (using 7-zip, for instance) the file winboot.98s from inside the Q311561USA8.EXE hotfix, and put it in an arbitrary temporary folder, say, C:\PATTMP (create it just for the patching procedure). Then download the freeware command-line utils.zip, from KanastaCorp, grab inside it just PATCH.EXE and drop it into the same C:\PATTMP folder. Then download the attached file containing IO_RRL.PAT and drop it into the same C:\PATTMP folder. Then open a DOS box, go to C:\PATTMP and, from there run the following command:

patch -p winboot.98s IO_RRL.PAT IO.SYS

A new IO.SYS will be created in C:\PATTMP, and it has the complete patch as per RLoew's post.

Enjoy!

As always, here, my standard disclaimer applies: I guarantee nothing whatsoever about the patch pattern I'm releasing in this post nor about the above procedure. So, by deciding to apply it you fully accept that anything you do is of YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY!

IO_RRL.7Z

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

@PROBLEMCHYLD: If you use this new Version,. please change your comment on IO.SYS to reflect the change so there is no confusion.

Thanks for the fix. It has been added and SP3 has been updated.

Edited December 5, 2011 by PROBLEMCHYLD

[submix8c]

You can use MS CRC.EXE and MS FCIV.EXE to confirm the CRC32 and MD5 hashes, but you must extract the latter from inside KB841290, since the installer refuses to run on Win 9x, but FCIV.EXE itself runs OK on Win 9x.

If you prepare this on an NT-type system (2K and up), HashMyFiles is excellent (stumbled across on MSFN - worth re-mentioning...).

Thx. Will try when time permits. rloew ROX!!!

[Prozactive]

I patched IO.SYS per dencorso's instructions then updated my system from DOS, but upon reboot I got a persistent Windows registry error message:

Windows encountered an error accessing the system registry.

Windows will restart and repair the registry for you.

The system would reboot, run a DOS registry checker app and fix some registry error, then boot up to the desktop where the same registry error would occur again. I finally gave up and restored the original IO.SYS which resolved the problem. I suspect I need to run the Microsoft 311561USA8.EXE update first before updating to the latest version of IO.SYS as I still have the original 23 April 1999 version on my system. I'll report back if that solves (or does not solve) the problem.

UPDATE: Installing the 311561USA8.EXE update seems to have resolved the problem.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Prozactive

[rloew]

I patched IO.SYS per dencorso's instructions then updated my system from DOS, but upon reboot I got a persistent Windows registry error message:

Windows encountered an error accessing the system registry.

Windows will restart and repair the registry for you.

The system would reboot, run a DOS registry checker app and fix some registry error, then boot up to the desktop where the same registry error would occur again. I finally gave up and restored the original IO.SYS which resolved the problem. I suspect I need to run the Microsoft 311561USA8.EXE update first before updating to the latest version of IO.SYS as I still have the original 23 April 1999 version on my system. I'll report back if that solves (or does not solve) the problem.

UPDATE: Installing the 311561USA8.EXE update seems to have resolved the problem.

The KB311561 Update was specified in my Instructions. The original would not have matched the "old" data shown in the second block. A slightly different Patch is needed for the original Version of IO.SYS.

[dencorso]

I'm glad you've swiftly solved the issue you've found.

However, allow me to nitpick:

Here is RLoew's complete patch, as a patch pattern, so that those interested may create the patched IO.SYS.

Thanks are due to RLoew for creating it and for sharing it with us all. You do rock, RLoew!

In order to use the enclosed patch pattern you need to grab [...] the file winboot.98s from inside the Q311561USA8.EXE hotfix, [...]

I patched IO.SYS per dencorso's instructions then updated my system from DOS, but upon reboot I got a persistent Windows registry error message:[...]

Well, no. You actually didn't follow my instructions, at first, despite your claims...

Then, when you finally did follow my instructions (not exactly, but sort of):

UPDATE: Installing the 311561USA8.EXE update seems to have resolved the problem.

Surprise: It worked!

Hence, when one follows instructions, one ought to follow them in full, not to decide what to leave behind...

Patch patterns are matched to the file (the target) they intend to patch. When one gives them a different target they may patch it nonetheless, however the result will be a suffusion of yellow, to quote jaclaz.

[Prozactive]

No, you misunderstood or I didn't explain it clearly. I did indeed patch the winboot.98s file extracted from the 311561USA8.EXE update, then I replaced my original IO.SYS from DOS, renaming the older file with another extension.

Ah, I see. It was misleading of me to say I "patched" IO.SYS. I should've said I updated IO.SYS by patching winboot.98s per your instructions.

Hopefully this cleared things up.

Edited December 7, 2011 by Prozactive

[dencorso]

No, you misunderstood or I didn't explain it clearly. I did indeed patch the winboot.98s file extracted from the 311561USA8.EXE update, then I replaced my original IO.SYS from DOS, renaming the older file with another extension.

Ah, I see. It was misleading of me to say I "patched" IO.SYS. I should've said I updated IO.SYS by patching winboot.98s per your instructions.

Hopefully this cleared things up.

If so, my apologies.

Then again, applying 311561USA8.EXE previously to replacing the extant IO.SYS by the patched one should make no difference at all. Yet it did...

Then again, many things that make perfect sense just don't work... and, conversely, there's also a lot of things that make no sense at all, and yet work, including the Chewbacca Defense.

[Prozactive]

No problem. After reading your reply (and rloew's, which I missed before my initial response), I could finally see how my statements were misleading. Yes, I thought I could go straight from the original 23 Apr 1999 version of IO.SYS to the latest patched version from rloew but that's apparently not the case. It's a prerequisite to install the 311561USA8.EXE update first to update IO.SYS to that version before the new patched version is manually installed. I assumed that the 311561USA8.EXE update made some required registry changes during installation. Also, the file size of IO.SYS is different for the two versions (original vs. 311561USA8.EXE updated).

Edited December 7, 2011 by Prozactive

[jaclaz]

When one gives them a different target they may patch it nonetheless, however the result will be a suffusion of yellow, to quote jaclaz.

Who was actually quoting Douglas Adams

Just in case of need :

http://www.thateden.co.uk/dirk/

jaclaz

[dencorso]

When one gives them a different target they may patch it nonetheless, however the result will be a suffusion of yellow, to quote jaclaz.

Who was actually quoting Douglas Adams

Just in case of need :

http://www.thateden.co.uk/dirk/

Yeah, I'm aware it actually is a matryoshka of quotations!