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Windows 98SE on Inspiron 1525


osiff

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I tried to install a driver and it gave an error: PSAPI.dll missing. I also tried to install Kernel X and setup said I need Microsoft layer for Unicode. Do I get this of microsoft.com?

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I tried to install a driver and it gave an error: PSAPI.dll missing. I also tried to install Kernel X and setup said I need Microsoft layer for Unicode. Do I get this of microsoft.com?

Sure the MS layer for Unicode you get from Microsoft. But there's no need to search for it as there is a direct link to download it from the 1st post in the KernelEx thread. I should know it, since I put it there. :whistle:

KernelEx v 4.5 Final

Requirements:

Windows 98 or Windows Millennium in any language

Microsoft Layer for Unicode (MSLU)

The PSAPI.DLL missing is a common error, for it just exists by default in NT-OSes, not in 9x/ME. However, only very rarely one can use any Win 2k drivers in 9x/ME with success, and even then, Walter Oney's WDMSTUB.SYS is usually required for those rare drivers that do work. So it's not trivial to have success at it.

But, with that said, I think you shlould slow down and make sure your SATA drive has proper drivers or your system may cllapse at any moment. What do you see in the device manager? No exclamation marks and no drives in compatibility mode? How comes?

Please do attach screenshots of your device manager window with disk drivers, with ide controllers and with SCSI/RAID controllers expanded, for us all to see. Once that's settled, then you may proceed as fast as you want.

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Yes there are some exclamation marks around some "IDE devices". I will post a screenshot later. But does Kernel X add this dll? What would happen if I tried to install a driver using the compatibility mode thing for windows 2k? Like running the installer with it? Might I have a chance hunting for the drivers using the device manager? :ph34r:

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Does the Performance tab in System Properties show the HDDs as working in DOS Compatibility Mode?

There're no official drivers for the ICH8-M sata controller. Intel dropped 9x/ME at ICH7. KernelEx doesn't work with WDM drivers (and this is by design, so rest assured it won't work). It's possible to find a version of PSAPI.dll designed for Win 9x/ME somewhere, I'm sure it exists (I just cannot right now point you to it, because I don't remember where, but I'm sure I've seen it for download many times), but I really doubt it'll do you any good... other issues will certainly appear, once you solve that. Walter Oney's WDMSTUB.SYS, on the other hand, can make some WDM drivers work with 9x/ME, but nobody has ever succeeded doing it with disk drivers. You've got 3 options: RLoew's SATA patch with ESDI_506.PDR (since your HDD is 120 GB you don't necessarily need a version also patched for the 48-bit LBA issue), but that's not free; you've got Xeno86's version (link) of Alter's UNIATA, which is highly experimental, at this point, but free; or you've got to keep the HDDs in compatibility mode (by just renaming ESDI_506.PDR for good)...

:blink: BTW, are you running with ESDI_506.PDR without having renamed it? :unsure:

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That's great! So Win ME behaves even better than I'd imagined it would! :thumbup

So far so good. It's slow, but probably not unbearable, and safe. Congratulations!

So it permits you to let the decision about the SATA drivers for later. But do read about the options I pointed you to.

Make a good backup of the present state of the system, preferably an image, to have a good fallback point, and proceed in your customization. Meanwhile I'll search for the right PSAPI.dll for you, and keep you posted.

BTW, I agree with loblo: you should set MaxPhysPage=7CB00, then try MaxFileCache=393216 (and if that proves to be too much, try 131072). Do it first just to SYSTEM.INI, and only modify SYSTEM.CB, too, when you confirm it works OK.

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Yea it runs pretty awesome it boots in like 10 seconds :thumbup and how would I go about making an image? I already set the MaxPhysPage to that value with success and it shows correctly to along with the processor speed! I will set the other value also and by the way thanks :lol:

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Maybe. But this one is the latest MS says works known to work OK: <link>. :)

Edit: I've just checked and they are one and the same. So the answer should be: yes. :yes:

And about imaging programs, please allow me to quote some earlier posts of mine, which I think have all the info you need, already written in them:

Usually the drive makers provide imaging tools. Seagate, for instance, provides Acronis, which is quite good. Then, there is the free Partition Saving, which can do full disks also, despite its name. I've been discussing imaging on some unrelated threads, the latest which is this (and there are pointers on it for the older posts in other threads). There's also a sticky thread about imaging programs. In any case, the bullet-proof backup is a full-disk, sector-by-sector "dumb" cold image, which must be acquired (= collected) while booted from a bootable CD (or DVD or diskette or other device), since the disk containing the OS must be passive during the imaging (that's what the "cold" part means). The "dumb" part means that the imaging program should make no assumptions and just copy all the disk sectors, without skiping any of them.

What I had in mind was not so much testing, but creating a good and faith-worthy backup from the present state of your disk, so that we might then mess with it in many ways and still be able to restore things to just as bad as they were when we started. It also helps for pursuing an avenue of troubleshooting for some time, then giving it up, and starting again *from the exact same point*, along another avenue of troubleshooting. In short, I think along the line of the old Greek physicians: "First of all, do no harm!". The free Partition Saving, which I had mentioned before, should be good enough for this purpose.

For the above post, substitute "troubleshooting" by "configuring" or "tweaking", or even "installing applications", and the general idea is directly applicable to your present case.

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As I know, psapi.dll is included to the KernelEx. However in one of the previous version of KernelEx it was not installed on my PC, I had to extract the KernelEx installation file and dig for the needed file (and it did not have right name, I had to see exported functions). May be it was some bug. As I know, current KernelEx installs it OK. And there was no official psapi.dll for Windows 9x ever.

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Some applications intended for Win 9x/ME did include psapi.dll, and notable examples of it are X-Ways Software's great hexeditor WinHex (which included psapi.dll v. 4.0.1371.1) and Grisoft's AVG 7.5 (which included psapi.dll v. 5.0.2134.1). The link I gave at MS is for psapi.dll v. 4.0.1371.1, which is known to work. Now, while MS never officialy offered psapi.dll for Win 9x/ME, it never said it must not be used in 9x/ME either, and the above real-world use examples do establish which versions are good to be used. And MS surely was aware of its use, at least in AVG 7.5, which once was very widely used, and did not object to it. However, you're right in pointing out I went to far when I wrote "MS says works", so I stand corrected, and have modified my previous post accordingly.

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