98 SE SP 3.32

[Dave-H]

Thanks for the quick reply!

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of a "negative value" bug.

Was this in the amount of RAM display?

My General tab, as well as missing the processor information, also shows only 1021MB of RAM, when I have 1023MB. It shows this correctly in Safe Mode.

I cannot find any explanation for the missing 2MB, so maybe this is another issue caused by a problem in that file version.

If you can find the corrected version so I can try it that would be excellent.

Thanks again.

Dave.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Dave-H

[the_guy]

Petr has the patched file hosted on his site. It is a .zip so you need an unzipping tool to get it.

the link is:http://www.winpack.org/petr/98/sysdm.zip.

the_guy

[Dave-H]

Thank you so much!

That has restored by processor type display, but not my apparent missing 2MB of RAM!

I'm amazed MS issued a version of the file with such an obvious bug in it..........

BTW, what happened to version 2223, and did it have the bug too?

Cheers,

Dave.

[erpdude8]

Dave-H,

you mean version 4.10.2223 of sysdm.cpl file. it was never released because of an unforseen problem only Microsoft knows (dont ask what the type of problem was and dont ask why 2223 of sysdm.cpl file wasnt released).

the "negative value" bug is the value of virtual memory hard disk space in the Virtual Memory dialog box. to access the Virtual Memory box, open the System control panel app, click on the Performance tab and click on the Virtual Memory button. that is where the "negative value" bug would occur if you have 32Gb+ or more free HD space.

see MS kb article 272620 on the "negative value" problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272620

Petr has the patched file hosted on his site. It is a .zip so you need an unzipping tool to get it.

the link is:http://www.winpack.org/petr/98/sysdm.zip.

the_guy

the sysdm.cpl file in the .zip file is version 4.10.2222!

Edited January 5, 2006 by erpdude8

[Dave-H]

...you mean version 4.10.2223 of sysdm.cpl file. it was never released because of an unforseen problem only Microsoft knows (dont ask what the type of problem was and dont ask why 2223 of sysdm.cpl file wasnt released).

the sysdm.cpl file in the .zip file is version 4.10.2222!

Indeed, and the version in the Service Pack is 2224.

That's why I wondered what had happened to 2223!

Thanks for the information.

I only have 20GB of space left on my C: drive where the swapfile is set to be located, so am not troubled by the negative value bug if it's still there.

I will stick with version 2222.

Thanks all!

[erpdude8]

it looks like version 4.10.2224 of the sysdm.cpl file for win98se was not modified correctly unlike version 4.90.3001 of sysdm.cpl for winme.

anyone want to try to make an unofficial sysdm.cpl 4.10.2225 fix for 98se that would contain the fix from build 2224 but will also display the cpu info. just asking.

Dave-H, the missing 2Mb of RAM problem is due to the integrated video [VGA] feature on the motherboard sharing some memory with the RAM chips. I also have that problem on my ME system and it is NOT a big deal; the system properties of my WinME machine show 255 Mb of RAM when it really has 256 megs. The built-in Intel 810 video graphics feature on my computer used some portion of the system memory for video. This inaccuracy does NOT cause major problems on anything as my ME computer runs perfectly fine. It is even like that on most new computers where video RAM is shared with some system RAM like with my brother's XP computer where I can specify in BIOS setup how much shared system RAM can be used (or shared) for video RAM.

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Gape,

can you add an "un-installation prompt" in the next release of the 98se service pack? I mean a dialog box asking whether or not to go on with the uninstallation of the pack. I know when I double-click on the Unofficial 98se service pack entry in Add/Remove programs, it performs an immediate uninstall. And when I double-click on the XP service pack 2 entry from Add/Remove programs on my brother's XP computer, I get a dialog box asking me whether to uninstall xp sp2 or not.

also you might want to add the Update Information Tool files qfecheck.exe and qfecheck.hlp in the 98se sercice pack. Those two files were included in the_guy's ME service pack.

Edited January 6, 2006 by erpdude8

[Dave-H]

Dave-H, the missing 2Mb of RAM problem is due to the integrated video [VGA] feature on the motherboard sharing some memory with the RAM chips. I also have that problem on my ME system and it is NOT a big deal; the system properties of my WinME machine show 255 Mb of RAM when it really has 256 megs. The built-in Intel 810 video graphics feature on my computer used some portion of the system memory for video. This inaccuracy does NOT cause major problems on anything as my ME computer runs perfectly fine. It is even like that on most new computers where video RAM is shared with some system RAM like with my brother's XP computer where I can specify in BIOS setup how much shared system RAM can be used (or shared) for video RAM.

Thanks again erpdude!

I do have a setting in my bios for "AGP Aperture Size".

Apparently according to my motherboard manufacturer (Supermicro) it sets aside system memory for the graphics card to use for textures. I used to have it on maximum (256MB), but apparently you might as well leave it at the default (64MB) if your graphics card has 128MB or more of on-board memory, as setting it higher will make no difference to the graphics performance. As my card has 128MB I set it back to 64MB.

I don't think this explains my missing 2MB, but I'm sure you're right that it is the graphics card stealing it, which is why it doesn't show as missing in Safe Mode when the drivers aren't loaded.

Windows 2000 does show the correct amount, but that's completely different of course!

[FixitMad]

The DirectX 9.0c Redistributable for Software Developers - Multilingual DOES work with Windows 98se users. The Link: lhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9226A611-62FE-4F61-ABA1-914185249413&displaylang=en

still shows Windows 98se as a valid system. Not sure why M$ removed Windows 98 under the main DirectX 9.0 Redistributable file because M$ is still supportiung Windows 98 users until later this year...

Great job Gape with 2.1a!

[Petr]

it looks like version 4.10.2224 of the sysdm.cpl file for win98se was not modified correctly unlike version 4.90.3001 of sysdm.cpl for winme.

anyone want to try to make an unofficial sysdm.cpl 4.10.2225 fix for 98se that would contain the fix from build 2224 but will also display the cpu info. just asking.

Just short look into the file shows that all names of CPUs were removed from 4.10.2224 version (and not form 4.90.3001 version) so it would be probably impossible to make simple patch.

So there are two possibilities:

1. To use 4.10.2224 without CPU info

2. To use 4.10.2222 with patched string 205 from %d to %lu in stringtable resource 13.

I prefer the first one.

The CPU detection is limited to old CPU models anyway.

If I want to know the CPU, it is much better to use any freeware tool like CPU-Z. It will give me much more information.

Petr

[Dave-H]

It sounds as if MS deliberately remove the ability to display the processor information from version 4.10.2224, if the processor names were all removed.

That can't have happened by accident!

I wonder why they did that..........

Anyway, I'll carry on using the version of 4.10.2222 that I've now got, thanks to everyone here!

[erpdude8]

It sounds as if MS deliberately remove the ability to display the processor information from version 4.10.2224, if the processor names were all removed.

That can't have happened by accident!

I wonder why they did that..........

Anyway, I'll carry on using the version of 4.10.2222 that I've now got, thanks to everyone here!

It does NOT matter why MS removed the cpu identification feature in build 2224 of of sysdm.cpl. who cares anyway? I agree with Petr in using a utility to identify CPU info since the 98se versions of sysdm.cpl [builds 2222, 2223 or 2224] cant properly identify new types of CPUs like Pentium 4s or Pentium M [M for mobile cpus]. I use Microsoft's System Information tool [msinfo32.exe] to view the kind of processor I have on my machines.

Thanks again erpdude!

I do have a setting in my bios for "AGP Aperture Size".

Apparently according to my motherboard manufacturer (Supermicro) it sets aside system memory for the graphics card to use for textures. I used to have it on maximum (256MB), but apparently you might as well leave it at the default (64MB) if your graphics card has 128MB or more of on-board memory, as setting it higher will make no difference to the graphics performance. As my card has 128MB I set it back to 64MB.

I don't think this explains my missing 2MB, but I'm sure you're right that it is the graphics card stealing it, which is why it doesn't show as missing in Safe Mode when the drivers aren't loaded.

Windows 2000 does show the correct amount, but that's completely different of course!

It wasnt the AGP Aperture Size that you have to adjust unless you had used a large value. Try looking for the Shared Video Memory or the System Share Memory Size option in the BIOS and making changes to that.

Also try updating your video drivers. older drivers might have also caused the missing 2Mb RAM problem. Win2000/XP systems may not have the problem because they use a different type of video drivers.

Edited January 9, 2006 by erpdude8

[Dave-H]

It wasnt the AGP Aperture Size that you have to adjust unless you had used a large value. Try looking for the Shared Video Memory or the System Share Memory Size option in the BIOS and making changes to that.

I have no such setting available in my BIOS.

[RainyShadow]

I have no such setting available in my BIOS.

Try looking for some jumpers or DIP switches on the mobo with such a function (very unlikely but...)

[Dave-H]

Try looking for some jumpers or DIP switches on the mobo with such a function (very unlikely but...)

I haven't actually opened the box up to look, but there are no such jumpers or switches mentioned in the motherboard manual............

[erpdude8]

Try looking for some jumpers or DIP switches on the mobo with such a function (very unlikely but...)

I haven't actually opened the box up to look, but there are no such jumpers or switches mentioned in the motherboard manual............

I dont think it's a hardware problem at all. As I said before try updating your video drivers to resolve the missing 2Mb RAM problem. if the updated drivers dont fix the missing memory prob, then dont worry about it.

note to Gape. The unofficial U891711 patch has been revised on 1-5-2006. It's almost the same as the original U891711 patch but a memory problem has been fixed. this revised one should be included in the next release of the 98se service pack.