HoppaLong Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 98SE drivers are provided by companies like OCZ and SanDisk for theirthumb drives. They work ok, except for a problem that is probablynot fixable.If you plug the thumb drive into a USB port after Windows is finishedloading, the drive is recognized in My Computer by the correct labelname and drive letter. For example, I've got a Rally2 drive made byOCZ. In My Computer it would appear as RALLY2_8GB with the correctdrive letter "H."If you reboot without unplugging the thumb drive it appears in My Computerwith the generic name "Removable Disk" with the drive letter "I." ThePeformance 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 youright-click the tray icon and select "Stop USB Disk." Unplugging the drivefor a couple of seconds is the solution. When you plug the drive back intoa USB port its immediately recognized correctly in My Computer and thePerformance tab shows that your "system is configured for optimalperformance." Since creating scripts and hacking the registry is the only "fun" I haveusing a computer, I tried every trick I could think of to get Windows toretain the correct drive letter during a reboot. Dumping the relevantregistry keys before a reboot, and adding them back with command lines in autoexec.bat didn't work. I also created a script that causedWindows 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 yourthumb drive is plugged in during a reboot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usher Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 If you reboot without unplugging the thumb drive it appears in My Computerwith the generic name "Removable Disk" with the drive letter "I." ThePeformance tab in System Properties also shows the problem. It says,"Drive H is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system."You have probably set booting from USB drive in your BIOS setup. That's why you can see "DOS compatibility mode".Just change your BIOS setup setting and see if it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppaLong Posted April 1, 2010 Author Share Posted April 1, 2010 I'll definitely try your suggestion. Thank you Usher.I cloned (more like copied, without the drivers) 98SE from anold Gateway desktop to a more modern refurbished IBM ThinkPad.I wanted to preserve this highly customized copy of 98SE on alaptop. I can finally junk the desktop, which required an enormoustable 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 problemwith the ThinkPad, I immediately checked the Performance tab on theGateway. Sure enough, it had assigned that "DOS compatibility mode"to the drive letter after the thumb drive. Because the drive letter neverchanged, I didn't care that it was called a "Removable Disk." In fact, itnever occured to me that there was any problem at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppaLong Posted April 1, 2010 Author Share Posted April 1, 2010 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 drivesprovide drivers for 98SE.More than likely, it's a problem that can't be resolved with these oldWindows systems. I tried everything I could think of. If you haveanymore ideas, please let me know! I'll try anything that soundsreasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 What USB related options are there, in your machine's BIOS, under which tab and sub-tab are they located, and what value do they have selected at present? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usher Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I cloned (more like copied, without the drivers) 98SE from anold Gateway desktop to a more modern refurbished IBM ThinkPad.Explain "without the drivers". Did you remove all hardware related registry entries? It seems you have some entries from the old configuration conflicting with the new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppaLong Posted April 1, 2010 Author Share Posted April 1, 2010 IBM ThinkPad T23BIOS_v1.20Embedded Controller_v1.06aEverything for this ThinkPad was downloaded from the Lenovo site.The only exception were the chipset drivers which I had to downloadfrom Intel's site. I also managed to locate the service manualwhich provides very detailed user info about all the ThinkPad ports,keys, etc.After accessing the BIOS setup you see a simple list, there are notabs. Selecting "Config" displays another list of all the ThinkPaddevices, including USB. There are only two options, "Enable" or"Disable" booting from a USB device. That's it. They were enableduntil 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 anothercomputer with the identical hardware, I had to strip out all thehardware driver files from the Gateway and delete the relevantregistry keys and values. I created a very lengthy script thatran during a reboot. If I had to do the job manually, it wouldhave been a nightmare! I made multiple backups in case anythingwent wrong.I've searched the registry for any leftover hardware entries fromthe 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'scausing 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 changeduring a reboot. As I said, I never knew this problem existed untilI completed imaging the same system onto the ThinkPad. That's whenthe drive letter changes forced me to investigate this problem.I can't help thinking that the drivers themselves are causing thisproblem. I'm not going to contact OCZ, but I'm sure they wouldsay, "if the drivers work, what are you complaining about? Is itreally 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." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prozactive Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 (edited) I can't say I fully understand all of your issues but I suggest you try the Native USB drivers (NUSB) for your flash drive(s) instead of the vendor-specific drivers you mentioned. They're available at MDGx's website:NUSB 3.3About the drive letter issue(s) - you know you can specify a desired drive letter within Device Manager by editing the appropriate Disk drives entry's Settings tab.I've read about deleting ENUM and other registry settings and files to port over an existing Win98 installation to a completely different hardware platform but I've never tried it myself. I'm seriously considering doing it for my next Win98 system build as there's really nothing to lose. From your experience, are there any specific tricks and advice you could share to increase the likelihood of success? Edited April 2, 2010 by Prozactive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sfor Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Well, I do have a problem with USB devices drive letters on Asus Eee PC 900. But, It's a bit different story, as there are two drive letters for each USB drive. One letter is from BIOS USB support and the other comes from Windows.Everything seems to be working fine (I mean just one drive letter), when Windows works in APM mode. After enabling ACPI the Windows forces another drive letter to be assigned. Since the ACPI is quite useful on a mobile device, I have learned to live with the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Here's how to disable ACPI (and APM, if desired), in case you wish to try this idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppaLong Posted April 2, 2010 Author Share Posted April 2, 2010 (edited) I'll try those native USB drivers. Thanks Prozactive. I did tryselecting the correct drive letter in the Device Manager. Doesn'twork.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 todevelop a workaround for the problem without actually discoveringthe root cause?I know what I'm going to try. It might not work, but if it does thesedrive letter changes during a reboot won't bother me anymore.Instead of simple desktop shortcuts to my flash drives, I'll createa script with a bunch of flow control and logic statements that may dothe trick. You know, if - or - goto - while, etc.In the past, I have devoted myself to fixing everything that wentwrong with a Windows system. I always felt great if I found theroot cause and resolved the problem. Thinking back, I have toadmit that simple workarounds requiring far less time and effortwould have been ok most of the time. Edited April 2, 2010 by HoppaLong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now