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98SE2ME = Killer Replacements: ME -> 98 SE


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I have not used 98SE2ME since one of it's early first versions. Back then, as MDGx promised, it delivered super speed, with Windows 98se ready to go as soon as the desktop appeared. But the latest version is actually slower than a clean install of Win98SE followed by Gape's service pack. The cursor stays busy for a good 10 to 15 seconds and windows don't open as fast either. Any other folks having this problem? Has speed been sacrificed for compatibility and latest file versions?

Edited by krnl
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Hi again.

My brain is somewhat fried from just finishing installing my system on the A7V333 for the last couple of days. I came to check on my post here and saw the reply. Okay, let me sort for a minute. (Finishing was hard to spell! I must need coffee.)

Bottom to top (since this one's easier), Partition Magic will lock out about 30% of a big, big drive. I'm talking over 160GB (or whatever the limitation was on the last PowerQuest version). I think Symantec found it still worked perfectly well on larger drives so they enabled the feature in 8.0 but only with locking up the 30%. So, on my 250GB Sata Maxtor Fdisk will be able to use the whole thing but Partition Magic 8.0 will not. There's no error or anything like that, but it will not let me size anything that doesn't leave about 30% of the drive unpartitioned. That works out to about 200GB usable to partition. This is not a bug. It's the way it's designed. I won't call it a feature like Microsoft would! I've used PM since PM7. Love it when I need it. But if I just make one big partition of the whole drive I just use Fdisk.

WMP is a little more tricky. Brain must think. Okay. (I am getting close to bedtime here!) Before installing WorksSuite, I install WMP7, the Bonus Pack, the wmencoder7, and WMP9. Then I go through the rest of the system setup with 98SE Service Pack, 98SE2ME, etc. Then, after all was set up that time, I ran the batch to install WMP10. It extracts everything it needs from what it downloads and proceeds to start the Microsoft Bonus Pack installer. I click through the installer and it runs but on the last screen it says the installation has failed. The batch file then runs whatever it runs and reboots the computer. I don't know what the batch has removed or installed but WMP9 is still there and so is the WMP7 Bonus stuff. No WMP10 except in your folder that it extracts all its files to. By the way, it runs the Bonus Pack installer as soon as the files are extracted, not the WMP10 installer. Bonus Pack first.

I had run plenty of installations of software on that system as I was setting it up to get to the point of trying out the WMP10 batch, and never got any installer errors. The first sign of trouble was when I was attempting to run the WMP9 installer so it would repair whatever might have been done by the WMP10 batch that I wasn't aware of. The installer went partially through the process but Windows stopped it with that Stacks error. Trying to uninstall it also gave me that error. At that point I just got peeved off and put the machine away and started on this one.

I have no idea if that Windows is damaged or not. I had never received an error like that before the WMP10 try. My memory management and the MinSP's is as it usually is. I believe that the 98SE Service Pack puts the MinSP thing into System.ini so that's probably not the problem. I've read the Microsoft KB about that before. The 98SE Service Pack tweak is basically the solution they suggest. That was present.

I'm having fun now running the Riptide card on the A7V333. I just wanted to see what would happen on a really fast system with plenty of processor power and memory. I do know that I played some mp3's with the old Willowpond WillowMedia and got no skipping whatsoever while my ethernet was online. It also showed in the About box 100% free Windows memory. Hmmm, I'm sure WMP (that I'll need to use-that or Winamp-so I'll have an EQ) won't provide that! DVD's played fine with both Nero Showtime and PowerDVD 6. Other program's videos played fine with both audio and video going on. (All while cable internet connected.) Dos games work both in Windows and Dos Mode. They sound great within Windows (better than the SBLive), but the Live does a better job in Dos Mode. Music sounds quite a bit better than the SBLive. It's funny. I got the Live way back when because all I read was folks saying the HP Riptide sucked and get a real soundcard. Well, I've found that this cheap little card provides better sound. Not better, of course, than the cards today but better than the Live. I've even got Wavetable Midi! Sometimes I feel like it's my personal Soundcard since everyone else in their right mind throws it in the garbage real quick. Worthless card on XP because of the skipping and removal of features from the WDM drivers but it's great on 98. But I won't really know until I try actually using WMP, the G-Force Visualization, and Firefox at the same time. If it can't do that without the skipping then the experiment is over. Ahh, I'll just uninstall the card and put a different one and a modem in if that's the case. Easy when they're sitting in boxes over there.

I sure keep from getting bored with this stuff.

I think I'll wait on the WMP 10 stuff until I see what other's might post about trying it. I don't want to risk going through that again. But I would like it if I knew it would work and if I could figure out what went wrong. I tried running it several times and got the same (negative) results.

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So, to get back the msconfig from the backup file before updating to the latest 98SE2ME, do I need to do the same as before with the Network driver issue?

Do I go into the Command Prompt Only and copy msconfig.exe from the backup file made by 98SE2ME to the System folder and overwrite the Me one there?

Isn't it strange to have 2 versions of Msconfig on the system? Which shows up in the toolbar of System Information? What about the Environmental Variables that the Me Msconfig said it moved from Autoexec to the Registry? Is that just ignored by Windows 98, which just pays attention to what's in autoexec.bat? Ummm, this is too complicated before bedtime. I'll check back tomorrow and see if my worries are answered.

EDIT- Oh! I suppose the only change besides msconfig is the way 98SE2ME reboots the computer? So I could just go into Command Prompt Only, rename the existing msconfig to MECONFIG.EXE and copy the 98SE one over to the system folder from the backup done when 98SE2ME was installed.

No need to reinstall the thing, right?

I do think more clearly in the morning!

Edited by Eck
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Okay, a new post because I tried it.

The one installed by the 98SE Service Pack appears to be the same as the one installed by 98SE2ME!

I went to Command Prompt Only and renamed msconfig.exe to meconfig.exe, and copyed msconfig.exe from W98SEOLD\system to the system folder.

Both versions are the same. So I now have 2 identical msconfigs except one is named meconfig!

This can't be right. Both say they are version 2.0 and work the same way, with the Environment tab instead of autoexec.bat and config.sys. But right click properties on all of these files show 4.10.3000! Every msconfig on my system is the Me one, even in the 98SEOLD folder!

So unless someone installs 98SE2ME without installing the 98SE Service Pack they are going to get the Me Msconfig.

I suppose it doesn't make a big difference. However I don't see the point of the change in the 98SE2ME keeping the one that is there if they are both the same.

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Ahhh! And the Riptide is able to handle WMP 9 with the EQ and Visualization playing mp3's while browsing around the net without any skipping or hesitating. It must be the AthlonXP3000+. The T-Bird 1.2 couldn't handle it.

So, that is a driver problem with the WDM's that never got fixed before HP stopped using the Riptide in their Pavilions. The VXD's work fine as long as the computer has plenty of processor.

I even pull a fast one with the drivers. After updating them, I uninstall just the modem driver from add/remove, reboot, and direct Windows to the original modem driver. This gives me a full duplex speakerphone voice modem, who's voice feature was removed by HP in the updated drivers. So I use the updated audio driver with the old modem driver. When I used dialup I never had a problem with either modem driver. I just used the old one to get the voice and speakerphone functions to work. HP claims the Riptide is a half duplex modem without speakerphone. They should read the old Conexant literature which says otherwise. And HP's own original driver on the recovery cd installs the voice modem serial wave device that activates it. The new updates change the name of the modem and do not install the voice feature.

The only thing this card lacks is EAX support. But it does have a3d and a sort of virtual ear for 2 speakers or headphones that gives a 3d effect to waves. I think it's just an ACM97 codec, but it sounds great and apparently has extremely high quality D/A convertors.

If it had 5.1 support and better WDM drivers it'd be perfect. Sounds better than many expensive cards.

Is this the audio forum? Ha! If I posted in those I'd be ignored or flamed out of existence. They think this thing is a piece of junk. I know what my ears are hearing.

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I have installed WMP10 bonus on my 98SE PC twice using the same batch file, in 2 different configurations, and worked both times.

I have no idea why the installation aborts on your computer.

MECONFIG.EXE build 4.90.3000 installed by 98SE2ME is modded by Tihiy to eliminate the nagging prompts, it is not the original files from WinME CD CABs.

Tihiy's file is posted here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=38021...st&p=263314

Plase see READ1ST.TXT, the "98SE2ME.PIF COMPLETE GUIDE" chapter, the "* ALL MANDATORY Components listed below" paragraph for more info:

READ1ST.TXT

If memory serves, Gape's SP 2.0.1 installs MSCONFIG.EXE build 4.10.2223 from official MS patch for 98SE:

Microsoft Windows 98 SE Shutdown Supplement TSHOOT98.CHM, MSCONFIG.EXE build

4.10.2223, APMBATT.SYS build 4.10.2223, CONFIGMG.VXD build 4.10.2222, PCI.VXD

build 4.10.2223 + VPOWERD.VXD build 4.10.2223 Fixes:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=239887

Direct download [504 KB, English]:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/d...b2c/4756US8.EXE

The only actual change to 98SE2ME 6-14-2005 edition is the MSCONFIG.EXE [the 1 modded by Tihiy] file name which is now renamed to MECONFIG.EXE when it is installed into %windir%\system , so u can have both: (1) the 1 from MS 98SE patch or if u haven't installed the MS patch or Gape's SP, the 1 from Win98 SE CD CABs and (2) the 1 from WinME CD CABs, again, modded by Tihiy.

If u open MECONFIG.EXE [from 98SE2ME] and WinME MSCONFIG.EXE [from CD] in a hex editor/viewer/compare tool, you'll notice differences.

The only other change is purely "cosmetic", and transparent to the user [u won't notice any difference], the computer has to reboot one way or another, in order to install system files which cannot be replaced while in use, and the reboot sequence is now the one built into the OS, no more NirCmd or fake virus reports. :)

And as added bonus for dial-up/56k/analog modem users, after removing nircmd.exe 98SE2ME.EXE file size decreased by ~ 250 KB, because if u use dial-up every byte counts.

Hope this helps.

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I have not used 98SE2ME since one of it's early first versions. Back then, as MDGx promised, it delivered super speed, with Windows  98se ready to go as soon as the desktop appeared. But the latest version is actually slower than a clean install of Win98SE followed by Gape's service pack. The cursor stays busy for a good 10 to 15 seconds and  windows don't open as fast either. Any other folks having this problem? Has speed been sacrificed for compatibility and latest file versions?
Thanks for your feedback.

I've never heard of such problem before. :(

To my knowledge the differences [added WinME files] between early + current 98SE2ME editions should not slow down UI loading.

This is true only if 98SE2ME option 3 is not installed, in which case you would have the slower ME explorer + shell.

I'm testing + using all files from 98SE2ME on my PC, and also personally installed 98SE2ME [various editions] on 10+ other computers, and never noticed slower performance, unless option 3 is installed.

What slows down UI loading [only few examples]:

- added hardware + drivers that need time to load

- added programs/processes/TSRs/DLLs/etc that load as memory residents at every startup

- less free HD space from installing/downloading new stuff, which slows down overall performance in the long run

- various tweaks that make changes to the registry/system files, and which do not necessarily speed up performance

- invalid clusters scattered throughout the HD if not scanning the HD on a regular basis to repair all errors, especially before installing new software.

Of course none of this applies if installed 98SE2ME on top of a "from scratch" 98SE install, on an empty HD.

But if anybody else can confirm similar experience, I'll look into it.

Hope this helps.

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It's strange that the file MSCONFIG.EXE in the W98SEOLD folder is a 4.90.3000 then. I installed the 98SE Service Pack 2.01, then did the Maximus Decim MDAC 2.8 install, Office Update and Windows Update, installing all the critical updates for both. Then I installed 98SE2ME. Then I installed the Maximus Decim USB native install.

So as far as I know there should still be a 98SE version of MSCONFIG somewhere. It should have been in the System folder, but if it was then 98SE2ME would have backed it up. It seems the only places now would be the Win98 folder (where I copied the 98SE cd to so I wouldn't need to insert the cd when stuff needed to access it), or the 98SE Service Pack 2.01 package. Before I ran 98SE2ME, MSCONFIG showed the normal Autoexec.bat and Config.sys instead of the Environment and Static VXD's tabs. But somehow the WinMe version is in the W98SEOLD folder!

So now I have the Microsoft WinMe version as msconfig.exe, and the Tihiy version as meconfig.exe. I think. Since I copied the one in the W98SEOLD file to System and renamed the one 98SE2ME (prior to the current one) installed to meconfig.exe.

Another note. The version of Themes.exe installed by the Microsoft 98 Plus! cd is an updated one that fixes the issue of the program not displaying the Title Bar colors correctly. When running 98SE2ME this is replaced by another version (probably from Windows Me) that fixed other problems in the original 98 version of Themes.exe. However this again breaks the title bar color. They appear solid dark blue instead of the correct dark blue on the left fading to light blue. I now must extract the version on the 98 Plus! cd to fix the problem.

Perhaps you can use the one from the 98 Plus! cd as one of the forced updates in the 98SE2ME batch file? It works perfectly, fixed the same problems that the one in Windows Me fixed, but it doesn't have the title bar color problem.

Just a suggestion. All seems real good as far as the system is running. Much improved from all the Me updates!

Heh, heh, my dos games seem to need a reboot to start again after I close them. If I try to run them again, the screen goes to black (trying to open the game full screen-it does this for most games whether or not I check the pif's full screen box), then immediately returns to Windows desktop. Then Explorer crashes (I think it's related to winoldap. I remember having problems with that in the days before XP and Dosbox and vdmsound). So, if I exit a dos game I need to reboot to run it again. Even with clean booting using msconfig (whatever version it is I have) with just the Windows stuff running. Perhaps it's my Radeon 9550 driver getting confused with the resolution changes, who knows.

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-Eck: radeon 9550? Do ya have it cranked up to 500mhz (main clock, not mem)? I recently bought that card for my nephew (but I chose the Gigabyte version, $70, for the much bigger heat sink, but no fan, then I put a fan on it and doubled the std. 250 clock, no prob) :thumbup

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To my knowledge the differences [added WinME files] between early + current 98SE2ME editions should not slow down UI loading.

This is true only if 98SE2ME option 3 is not installed, in which case you would have the slower ME explorer + shell.

I'm testing + using all files from 98SE2ME on my PC, and also personally installed 98SE2ME [various editions] on 10+ other computers, and never noticed slower performance, unless option 3 is installed.

? -option 3 slows down performance? :blink: Then it's only there for increased stability? I thought it was there for both... ?

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PychoUnc,

Naah. I have an ATI Radeon 9600XT on the Asus A7V880 you see down in my signiture with Windows XP Home, and an Asus Radeon 9550GE on the Asus A7V333 with Windows 98SE. (I also occasionally play with an old Abit KT7A with a Voodoo 5 5500 AGP.) I install the latest official Catalysts available from ATI for both and generally leave the settings alone, apart from setting DirectX to use 75 MHz refresh rates instead of the random or 60 it'll use by default.

I used to be a heavy gamer years ago (I mean the beginnings of video gaming). I still have my Nintendo consoles (NES, both regular and NES2, GameBoy original and color, SuperNES, the original and another later edition for backup, and the N64) along with all the games I bought back then. I'm mostly at my computer now, so if I want to revisit the games I usually just use FCEUltraNES or SNES9x rather than firing up the old boxes, but I sometimes want to use the original controllers so at times I do use the consoles.

When I bought my first computer I was still into seeing what it could do in gaming so I also have a lot of PC games circa 97-2001. I got more interested in building my own machines and tinkering with Dos and Windows to get stuff (including games) to work than in playing the games themselves.

Now, I mostly listen to mp3's and play DVD's for leisure. My favorites for occasions when I want to game are simple arcade stuff, pinball games, and some old Ms-Dos games. Having to sit and master a game's controls and solve a long adventure doesn''t interest me anymore. I like up, down, left, right, A, B, and maybe left toggle, right toggle. I have no interest in teaching my fingers to use 10 or more gamepad buttons to play a game.

I never got excited by 1st person shooters so all the interest in high frame rates and overclocking to get them never came my way. I want the card to be able to process fast, but I'm more concerned with stability and keeping everything working smooth. Personally, I'd rather have stuff look better than go faster. (In games, not computers!)

So, okay, I got a little boring with my gaming after playing everything that was out there in the old days! I look at new stuff and say,"I played the same thing with not as good graphics." And I'm certainly not going to spend limited funds to buy them with my shelves filled with a lot of games I never even got to yet.

Oh, and I never install Option 3. I use Option 2. If I wanted Windows Me Shell I'd install Windows Me. I just want the good improvements that Me had transferred to 98. 98 always was faster and more reliable than Me and I think one of the reasons was the graphical tricks used by the Me Explorer and Shell that slowed things down. I don't consider that one of the "improvements" I want. If I want to temporarilly make things look different I'll just use a Theme.

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-eck: yeah, I'm more of an Old School gamer myself, too... I like em simple, too stressed 'n crusty for most of the "involved" games today... Dinosaur I am, I miss the atari 2600's joystick w/only ONE button! :P (tho I used to be a Master arcade gamer, way back b4 all the arcade games turned into boring "street fighter" style games :realmad: ; actually won a 10-speed once, accidentally, didn't even know there was a contest on for that game; almost won 2! And every week I won foot-long coneys (6 of em!) and 4 dozen donuts, at the local strip mall, just playin... ah, fun!) -MAME32's oldieMoldies DOS arcade games work for me, along with "just 20 BOTs w/knives" cstrike1.6... And don't forget VERY simple yet suprisingly addictive Jardinains! (really gets fun, after Round 250... on round 700+ now...)

-well, about option 3, looks like I'll be reviewing the notes regarding exactly what improvements are gained, and if stability IS increased, then I'll stick w/it; on my main system here any performance loss is unnoticeable and the stability improvement is VERY noticeable, so we'll see...

>;]

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Others will have to fill you in on specifics. For me, the Explorer, Shell, and System Health stuff was what was bad about Windows Me. The updated system files were what was good, and why I used Me for a 9x system until these folks started coming out with 98SE service packs and stuff.

Now, there's no question that 98SE is the most updated 9x system available as Windows Me's System File Protection has made it too much of a hastle for folks to bother putting together updates for. Plus the fact that many folks never bothered buying Windows Me. I'm glad I did since for a long time it was the most advanced 9x system and now I have the cd so I can use 98SE2ME!

I hadn't played games for a while (except for Baseball Mogul and Microsoft Baseball 2001) so you lit up a little fire in me! I installed Microsoft Entertainment Pack, Atari 80 Classics, Activision Anthology Remix, Microsoft Return Of Arcade, and Microsoft Revenge Of Arcade after getting done replying to you. I also installed all the Carmen Sandiego games. See what you did? Now I'll be wasting time playin' instead of workin'!

Played a little JezzBall, Galaxian, Pac-Man, Pole Position, and the old version of Where In the USA Is Carmen Sandiego already. Geez, I haven't scratched the surface. This stuff could take up day and night. Cool!

I remember in the late 70's when I was managing a gas station/candy store type of place and we had a deal with a video game guy. Once every couple of weeks he would swap out a machine and we would share the quarters 50/50. I played a lot of the old arcade games for the first time on those machines, but I was a little peeved that my boss got my quarters! (All's fair. I was playing on his company time!)

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Hate to breakup the reverie, but just noticed the ME[legal copy] I have is a ME upgrade disk, has a shiny surface that you have to turn in light just right to read. Please tell me I don't have to go swapmeeting[altho enjoy it] to look for a full retail ver again, to do a clean install 98se/sp2/982me. TIAFAI

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