Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se (English)

[celtish]

But, dang it now I have to wait...

... Yes, yes you do ...

These progress reports are excellent news! Roll on v.2.0 ! Edited June 2, 2007 by plonkeroo

[soporific]

These progress reports are excellent news! Roll on v.2.0 !

I'm glad you like reading them, because i like writing them, especially the good news ...

NEWS: OK, up until now the environment space (ES) problems were still coming up. I am using a version of Jack's (Nathanson1947) autoexec.bat file as a test, but i've made the PATH statements even longer so i can try to fix this problem in all scenarios. My first task of the last couple of days was to get the bat files under control (ie be totally clear on what they are doing). This is now done. So the next thing i did was create a better debug system that shows me what the system is doing at each stage, with reference to variables. I outputted the complete SET (pun intended) of variables to check they were all needed all of the time. ...... ..... ..... my goodness. Talk about making life hard for myself. I was able to reduce the number by about a third !! Needless to say, i'm having less ES problems (i have to increase the PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT to create an error). That's good news i think!

EDIT: Far ............. out ............. you know, you can stare at code for long enough to not be able to see the forest for the trees. So the program is running fine, except it keeps exiting out at the DirectX module ... and when i REM out all the PATH statements in AUTOEXEC.BAT it works perfectly. So you would assume it's an ES problem wouldn't you? Nooooo ... i still had a COMMAND /E:2048 instead of %COMSPEC% /E:2048 at the end of the file and for some reason this would NOT work under low ES conditions and works fine with lots of space. ??? Grrr.....

EDIT2: sorry about the last edit, it looked really negative and suggested things weren't going well. They are it's just that in some circumstances (ie those with jam packed AUTOEXEC.BAT files), the ES problem returns. I've been experimenting with various fixes and the one that is the best is to give the user's system a higher default environment space for each session of the command line interpreter (ie each DOS box session). It just wipes out all the problems with one simple addition to the user's CONFIG.SYS - then, you can have the longest PATH statement in the world and AP won't even blink. In fact AP will be sooo happy with all the extra space to play in, i don't expect a peep out of the little feller for any reason other than total meltdown.

So, all i'm doing now is devising a stand-alone CONFIG.SYS fixer and then its release time.

What's coming is the update to fix the problems associated with the upgrade to 1.96.50 --- but all those who were still trying to survive on 1.95 PR2 (because 1.96.50 didn't work) should upgrade immediately. For all those who never had any problems, you may as well stick with 1.96.50. The new upcoming full version release already has the fixes written (they were tested on the new version first actually) and is coming very soon ...

Edited June 3, 2007 by soporific

[soporific]

OK, the new release is just about ready, so it will be added to this post within the hour. Please install it ASAP and test it. If everyone says its good, we go to the next release immediately. It looong overdue. You will need to have 1.95 PR2 & the 1.96.50 upgrade already installed. Which most of you have. If you have any of the dud fixes (1.96.51-1.96.55) just install this over it. Coming soon ...

EDIT1: just for those curious, this is the AUTOEXEC.BAT file i was testing the new version out on. Check out the length of the PATH statement. Don't forget to notice that there is another string tacked on (the line with DiskeeperLite), the resulting PATH statement is 279 characters long (it was breaking at 137). And add that to the other SET statements, the resulting use is 383 characters. And it runs no sweat. This is not the limit, it's just what definitely works. I'm sure i could squeeze more space, but who know's what system the user has so this will do. So, ..... I NOW DEFY ANYONE TO BREAK THE LIMIT! Go on, install as many programs as you wish that all just have to install their path into the global PATH statement, AP will take it all and not even blink. Coming soon ...

SET BLASTER=A260 I9 D3 H3 T4
@rem - By Windows Setup - For 1st Boot - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\NETWOR~1\VIRUSS~1\40~1.XX\scanpm.exe c:\
@IF ERRORLEVEL 1 PAUSE

SET PATH=%PATH%;c:\progra~1\common~1\gtk\2.0\bin\HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\
HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\
HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\HereBeAnAwfullyLongPath\OkThatsAll

SET Path=%Path%;"C:\Program Files\Executive Software\DiskeeperLite\"

SET OGRE_HOME=c:\OgreSDK
SET CLASSPATH=.;C:\PROGRA~1\ARTOFI~1\LIB\SOUND.JAR;C:\PROGRA~1\ARTOFI~1\LIB;C:\PROGRA~1\ARTOFI~1\LIB\JMF.JAR

EDIT2 I split the PATH statement into 3 because it was screwing up the thread. And there's a little hiccup that's proving not easy to fix. Sorry... hoping to crack it... will report back soon ...

EDIT3: OK it was a false alarm, i'm still releasing before i hit the sack. I soo want to get it out i was horrified when i saw hung DOS windows ... all fixed now.

EDIT4: i nearly forgot to add the ES fix as an menu option just in case you pass the ES test but still have problems later on. Everyone, if you even had ONE problem with an 'Out of environment space' problem of some sort, please visit the full main menu and visit the fix option. You will definitely spot it. trust me. Coming soon!

EDIT5: i may as well add instructions now ... OK this is the way i've gone with. People who have a reasonably long PATH statement (but not too long or ridiculous) will fail the Environment Space (ES) test on purpose. This is because they are likely to have problems if they don't install the fix and i want to trap them at the start. SO be prepared for this and don't freak out when you fail. Install the fix, reboot, restart AP and you should be fine to go and do what you want with it. If you still see errors, please report as soon as possible. If you want to be sure, you can visit the main menu and install the fix even if you don't fail the test. More information is available from the option. If you need more help, just ask.

EDIT6:

v1.96.57 is out get it here:

upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.57

297kb

Please read EDIT5 for the instructions. Please report bugs ASAP. This release is safe to install, just please read all instructions.

EDIT7: - if you've just joined the discussion... it must be a bit confusing to say the least ... only recently, as the program has been getting bigger, some people have been reporting problems with their environment space. And the program starts to behave erratically. So the newest version should finally fix all these problems. If you've just joined us and want to install everything, this is what you need:

Auto-Patcher v1.95 Preview Release 2: (use the first link please, only use the others if the first doesn't work)

http://soporific.files-upload.com/135464/A..._insta.exe.html

download.com

softpedia

http://soporific.dsleague.com/downloads/Au...2_installer.exe

- file size: 241 MB

Auto-Patcher v1.96.50 Upgrade:

upgrade 1.95 PR2 to 1.96.50

- requires v1.95 PR2 already installed

- file size: 17 MB

Auto-Patcher v1.96.57:

upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.57

- requires v1.96.50 already installed

- file size: 297 KB

Also, please read the first post for more info about the project. Cheers! And don't be afraid to say something. OK, i think i'm going to retire for the night. Cheerio.

Edited June 3, 2007 by soporific

[soporific]

OK, there's a little thing i should comment on so you aren't concerned. If you try to exit the program with CTRL-C (like the screen says at the end), AND you have rebooted at least once during the patch session, when you exit you get another DOS windows with a message saying "Batch file missing". This file is supposed to be missing, you just aren't supposed to see that message. This isn't worth releasing another version over, but i will definitely fix for the next version.

[celtish]

Auto-Patcher v1.96.57:upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.57 - requires v1.96.50 already installed

Okay, done it. No Win98SE programme upgrades (early days?). What it seems to have done is tacked another line i.e.

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P

into CONFIG.SYS in C:\ , didn't touch the CONFIG.SYS in C:\WINDOWS\ (which I don't think should be there in WINDOWS anyway). Slight EXPLORER error message whilst installing.

A file called CONFIG.SYZ seems to have appeared in C:\ ... anything to do with AutoPatcher98? I've never heard of SYZ files before.

Keep up the good work!

Edited June 3, 2007 by plonkeroo

[soporific]

Auto-Patcher v1.96.57:upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.57 - requires v1.96.50 already installed

Okay, done it. No Win98SE programme upgrades (early days?). What it seems to have done is tacked another line i.e.

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P

into CONFIG.SYS in C:\ , didn't touch the CONFIG.SYS in C:\WINDOWS\ (which I don't think should be there in WINDOWS anyway). Slight EXPLORER error message whilst installing.

A file called CONFIG.SYZ seems to have appeared in C:\ ... anything to do with AutoPatcher98? I've never heard of SYZ files before.

Keep up the good work!

1) if you have CONFIG.SYS in C:\ it is in the right spot. If you have one in C:\Windows you don't need it.

2) CONFIG.SYS gets backed up to CONFIG.SYZ when you install the fix. I choose that ending because i wanted it to be unique. Other programs use CONFIG.BAK so i didn't. It isn't an error message, its just telling you what its doing.

3) Does it all seem to work?

EDIT: - i've noticed a hung DOS windows while testing out 1.96.57, it happens after the first run thru the VB runtimes module, it hangs when trying to reboot --- this shouldn't actually be a code bug, the problem is actually the last update in the module. This is a known bug and has already been fixed in the upcoming version.

EDIT2: -- um, er, there is a big code bug in 1.96.57 that may or may not trigger. It doesn't seem to be a problem, but it seems i'll be releasing 1.96.58 after all. Stay tuned ... the bug refers to the menus at the start of the program so its nothing important, but a very common label has somehow been repeated twice and its only because the proper one is above the wrong one that nothing appears different. But for forms sake, and to also fix the wrong report of a missing batch file, here's an updated version:

v1.96.58

Edited June 4, 2007 by soporific

[soporific]

Latest News:

v1.96.58 is out get it here:

upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.58

file size: 297kb

changes from 1.96.57 to 1.96.58:

1) there is a big code bug in 1.96.57 that may or may not trigger. It doesn't seem to be a problem in normal program operation - the bug is in the code for the menus at the start of the program so its nothing important, but a very common label has somehow been repeated twice and its only because the proper one is above the wrong one that nothing appears different.

2) If you try to exit the program with CTRL-C (like the screen says at the end), AND you have rebooted at least once during the patch session, when you exit you get another DOS window with a message saying "Batch file missing". This file is supposed to be missing, you just aren't supposed to see that message.

EDIT: the suspense is killing me ... is this version any good? The new May 2007 is all ready to go but i want at least one word of feedback on the new code before releasing! So i hereby announce a competition: the first person who replies with some feedback about 1.96.57 or 1.96.58 will be awarded: 10 points, a commendation from the God of Feedback, good luck for a week, a gold star, a plaque commemorating this achievement, a purple flower stamp, and some Che Guevara Lip Balm. Ok so i'm lying about the plaque and the lip balm, but the rest is all waiting to be won ... OK, wait for it .... Ready ..... Steady .................. GO!

EDIT2: - Yes!! my dastardly plan seems to be working perfectly!! ... you see, the reason no-one has given any feedback is because the code was written in such a way as to make all those who install it and use it, completely disappear! Yes, that's right, Auto-Patcher is actually a disintegrator in disguise, and i actually work for Microsoft who want me to bump off everyone still using Windows 98. It's working!! If you think i'm joking, why not try installing it yourself... you could always come back and tell me i'm wrong ... and while you're here you may as well say something about the program itself .....

edit3: and the winner is .... LL028!! ... now about that gold star and purple flower ... just give me a sec ...

Edited June 5, 2007 by soporific

[Mazabuka]

Latest News:

v1.96.58 is out get it here:

upgrade 1.96.50 to 1.96.58

file size: 297kb

changes from 1.96.57 to 1.96.58:

1) there is a big code bug in 1.96.57 that may or may not trigger. It doesn't seem to be a problem in normal program operation - the bug is in the code for the menus at the start of the program so its nothing important, but a very common label has somehow been repeated twice and its only because the proper one is above the wrong one that nothing appears different.

2) If you try to exit the program with CTRL-C (like the screen says at the end), AND you have rebooted at least once during the patch session, when you exit you get another DOS window with a message saying "Batch file missing". This file is supposed to be missing, you just aren't supposed to see that message.

EDIT: the suspense is killing me ... is this version any good? The new May 2007 is all ready to go but i want at least one word of feedback on the new code before releasing! So i hereby announce a competition: the first person who replies with some feedback about 1.96.57 or 1.96.58 will be awarded: 10 points, a commendation from the God of Feedback, good luck for a week, a gold star, a plaque commemorating this achievement, a purple flower stamp, and some Che Guevara Lip Balm. Ok so i'm lying about the plaque and the lip balm, but the rest is all waiting to be won ... OK, wait for it .... Ready ..... Steady .................. GO!

EDIT2: - Yes!! my dastardly plan seems to be working perfectly!! ... you see, the reason no-one has given any feedback is because the code was written in such a way as to make all those who install it and use it, completely disappear! Yes, that's right, Auto-Patcher is actually a disintegrator in disguise, and i actually work for Microsoft who want me to bump off everyone still using Windows 98. It's working!! If you think i'm joking, why not try installing it yourself... you could always come back and tell me i'm wrong ... and while you're here you may as well say something about the program itself .....

edit3: and the winner is .... LL028!! ... now about that gold star and purple flower ... just give me a sec ...

Soporific. Sorry to spoil your day, but "We have a problem Houston"!

With respect to AP 1.96.58 =>

1. The debug report option does not work when selected from the Start Menu

2. AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

3. AP outputs the following error message when the option to report all the missing patches is selected

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated.

Quit all programs, and then restart your computer.

If the program consistently encounters problems, click the Start button,

then select Help, Troubleshooting, and 'If you have trouble running

MS-DOS programs'.

The program encountered a general protection exception.

Fault location: FFFF:10000

Interrupts in service: None

I wasn't able to fully research the third problem last night, but this is what I have established thus far =>

1. The "general protection exception" (GPE) occurs in MainCode.bat which is launched by this section of code in HFsecure.bat

:ENDTHIS
%COMSPEC% /E:2048 /C "%LOC8%\code\MainCode.bat" HF_END

At the time the GPE occurs, Report.txt contains the following with respect to the Critical Security Hotfixes module:

*** Critical Security Hotfixes module:

36. q245729: Hotfix for File Access URL Vulnerability

37. q258765: Hotfix for Remote Update Option Vulnerability

38. q269239: Hotfix for NetBIOS Vulnerability May Cause Duplicate Name

39. q269388: Hotfix for Spoofed Route Pointer Vulnerability

40. q273991: Share Level Password Update

41. q273727: Hotfix for Malformed IPX NMPI Packet Vulnerability

42. q274113: Hotfix for WebTV Vulnerability

43. q314941: Hotfix for Vulnerability in Universal Plug 'n' Play

44. q323172: Hotfix for Certificate Enrollment Control Vulnerability

45. q323255: Hotfix for Windows Help Facility Vulnerability

46. q329048: Hotfix for File Decompression Function Vulnerability

47. OLEDBUp: OLE DB Provider for Internet Publishing Update

48. TelnetUp: Hotfix for Buffer overrun in Telnet Vulnerability

49. kb811630: Hotfix for HTML Help Security Vulnerability

50. kb823559: Hotfix for Buffer Overrun In HTML Converter Vulnerability

51. kb873374: Hotfix for Vulnerability in JPEG Processing

52. kb891711: Unofficial Hotfix for Cursor and Icon Format Handling Vulnerability

53. kb917344: Hotfix for Vulnerability in Microsoft JScript

54. kb918547: Unofficial Hotfix for Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine

55. UCrypt9x: Unofficial 128-bit SSL Encryption Security Fixes

56. kb926247: Unofficial Hotfix for Vulnerability in SNMP Service

2. If I change the aforementioned code in HFsecure.bat to read as follows:

:ENDTHIS
CALL "%LOC8%\code\MainCode.bat" HF_END

then the GPE still occurs, but in (I think) a different section of AP's code.

When the GPE occurs this time, Report.txt contains the following with respect to the Critical Security Hotfixes module:

*** Critical Security Hotfixes module:

36. q245729: Hotfix for File Access URL Vulnerability

37. q258765: Hotfix for Remote Update Option Vulnerability

38. q269239: Hotfix for NetBIOS Vulnerability May Cause Duplicate Name

39. q269388: Hotfix for Spoofed Route Pointer Vulnerability

40. q273991: Share Level Password Update

41. q273727: Hotfix for Malformed IPX NMPI Packet Vulnerability

42. q274113: Hotfix for WebTV Vulnerability

43. q314941: Hotfix for Vulnerability in Universal Plug 'n' Play

44. q323172: Hotfix for Certificate Enrollment Control Vulnerability

45. q323255: Hotfix for Windows Help Facility Vulnerability

46. q329048: Hotfix for File Decompression Function Vulnerability

47. OLEDBUp: OLE DB Provider for Internet Publishing Update

48. TelnetUp: Hotfix for Buffer overrun in Telnet Vulnerability

49. kb811630: Hotfix for HTML Help Security Vulnerability

50. kb823559: Hotfix for Buffer Overrun In HTML Converter Vulnerability

51. kb873374: Hotfix for Vulnerability in JPEG Processing

52. kb891711: Unofficial Hotfix for Cursor and Icon Format Handling Vulnerability

53. kb917344: Hotfix for Vulnerability in Microsoft JScript

54. kb918547: Unofficial Hotfix for Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine

55. UCrypt9x: Unofficial 128-bit SSL Encryption Security Fixes

56. kb926247: Unofficial Hotfix for Vulnerability in SNMP Service

*** Critical & Recommended System Updates Module:

With the exception of the last line of this report, the output of Report.txt here is identical to that of Report.txt before I changed the code.

I haven't had time to investigate further, but with the coding change I made I suspect the GPE now occurs in HFSysOth.bat instead of MainCode.bat?

[soporific]

Soporific. Sorry to spoil your day, but "We have a problem Houston"!

With respect to AP 1.96.58 =>

1. The debug report option does not work when selected from the Start Menu

2. AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

3. AP outputs the following error message when the option to report all the missing patches is selected

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated.

Quit all programs, and then restart your computer.

If the program consistently encounters problems, click the Start button,

then select Help, Troubleshooting, and 'If you have trouble running

MS-DOS programs'.

The program encountered a general protection exception.

Fault location: FFFF:10000

Interrupts in service: None

I wasn't able to fully research the third problem last night, but this is what I have established thus far =>

1. The "general protection exception" (GPE) occurs in MainCode.bat which is launched by this section of code in HFsecure.bat

OK, this is getting a bit serious ...

1) AP works perfectly fine on a newly installed OS.

2) AP works perfectly fine on systems with large PATH statements

3) AP gives general protection faults on your machine.

That tells me that there is something particular to your system that is causing all these problems ... it may or may not be something in the code and that is what i want to determine. It is also possible that your system is a bit screwed and is giving you these messages as a result. ie this problem is either something to do with AP or something to do with your system.

can you please tell me more about the system you are trying to use AP on ... things i want to know:

1) how old is your OS installation? ie how long ago did you install the operating system and do you re-install the OS regularly?

2) please post the contents of your configuration files (PM me) - use SYSEDIT to bring them up and just copy and paste into a text file. the files i want are: CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT SYSTEM.INI WIN.INI

Please try the following:

1) manually add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P

and then try the program again. If you get a message saying the system can't find COMMAND.COM then add this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

SET PATH=%PATH%;%windir%

(why the above is needed is beyond me)

2) consider learning how to use a virtual machine program (MS Virtual PC 2007 is decent enough) and try the program out on a test system. You should be able to see AP working perfectly well on a new system.

See how you go with all that.

[soporific]

This is all just from the first post:

Latest News:

Wed June 6, 2007

there is a possible problem with the May 2007 release and so a service pack is being prepared. Yes, that's right i've completely bought into the MS 'service pack' terminology. The problem is with the Environment Space fix (see this post for more info. I've worked out a way to avoid all the problems (even though i don't know what is causing them) and so please upgrade ASAP. The other change is that when you exit the program using CTRL-C the program doesn't exit out. This is now fixed. Grab it here:

upgrade May 2007 to May 2007 sp1

file size 277 kb - MD5: EEBCBE32542D307BAE67192431B19506

you will need May 2007 already installed.

the May 2007 release is finally out! Grab it from here:

May 2007 (v2.0)

file size: 259 MB - MD5: 1B14F7B790627C17522A64C88E3FD074

Notes:

* the installer is much improved:

- If you choose to install the new version over the old one, all old registry uninstall information is now deleted (it wasn't before meaning you had the program listed twice in the Add/Remove programs list

- when you uninstall the program, the shortcut folder is now deleted, and so are the desktop icons (they weren't before)

- option available to delete entire install folder when uninstalling which deletes any module save files and other logs and reports.

* an update from 1.95 PR2 to May 2007 will be available soon ...

[Mazabuka]

Soporific. Sorry to spoil your day, but "We have a problem Houston"!

With respect to AP 1.96.58 =>

1. The debug report option does not work when selected from the Start Menu

2. AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

3. AP outputs the following error message when the option to report all the missing patches is selected

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated.

Quit all programs, and then restart your computer.

If the program consistently encounters problems, click the Start button,

then select Help, Troubleshooting, and 'If you have trouble running

MS-DOS programs'.

The program encountered a general protection exception.

Fault location: FFFF:10000

Interrupts in service: None

I wasn't able to fully research the third problem last night, but this is what I have established thus far =>

1. The "general protection exception" (GPE) occurs in MainCode.bat which is launched by this section of code in HFsecure.bat

OK, this is getting a bit serious ...

1) AP works perfectly fine on a newly installed OS.

2) AP works perfectly fine on systems with large PATH statements

3) AP gives general protection faults on your machine.

That tells me that there is something particular to your system that is causing all these problems ... it may or may not be something in the code and that is what i want to determine. It is also possible that your system is a bit screwed and is giving you these messages as a result. ie this problem is either something to do with AP or something to do with your system.

can you please tell me more about the system you are trying to use AP on ... things i want to know:

1) how old is your OS installation? ie how long ago did you install the operating system and do you re-install the OS regularly?

2) please post the contents of your configuration files (PM me) - use SYSEDIT to bring them up and just copy and paste into a text file. the files i want are: CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT SYSTEM.INI WIN.INI

Please try the following:

1) manually add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P

and then try the program again. If you get a message saying the system can't find COMMAND.COM then add this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

SET PATH=%PATH%;%windir%

(why the above is needed is beyond me)

2) consider learning how to use a virtual machine program (MS Virtual PC 2007 is decent enough) and try the program out on a test system. You should be able to see AP working perfectly well on a new system.

See how you go with all that.

Soporific - I'm finally beginning to get the hang of this Editor!

OK, this is getting a bit serious ...

1) AP works perfectly fine on a newly installed OS.

2) AP works perfectly fine on systems with large PATH statements <= Don't forget that many apps also configure their own environment variables in Autoexec.bat. On my installation of SE the ES space used by these environment variables is similar to if not more than the ES space used by my PATH statement!

3) AP gives general protection faults on your machine.

That tells me that there is something particular to your system that is causing all these problems ... it may or may not be something in the code and that is what i want to determine. It is also possible that your system is a bit screwed and is giving you these messages as a result. ie this problem is either something to do with AP or something to do with your system.

can you please tell me more about the system you are trying to use AP on ... things i want to know:

1) how old is your OS installation? ie how long ago did you install the operating system <= around 3 years ago and do you re-install the OS regularly? <= No, and its not my intention to do so - my preference is to use Norton Ghost to create a backup image of my SE configuration complete with all apps installed etc..

2) please post the contents of your configuration files (PM me) - use SYSEDIT to bring them up and just copy and paste into a text file. the files i want are: CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT SYSTEM.INI WIN.INI <= In my opinion sending you this information is not going to help either of us identify the cause of the problem. I'll explain why later.

Please try the following:

1) manually add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P <= Inserting this command into Config.sys does not make any difference to the problem

and then try the program again. If you get a message saying the system can't find COMMAND.COM then add this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

SET PATH=%PATH%;%windir%

(why the above is needed is beyond me)

2) consider learning how to use a virtual machine program (MS Virtual PC 2007 is decent enough) and try the program out on a test system. You should be able to see AP working perfectly well on a new system. <= I could use VMWare on a Win2k machine to do this, but that defeats the whole purpose of what I'm trying to do here which is patch an existing installation of SE?

I spent a fair amount of time last night using "Echo on" traces to monitor what AP 1.96.58 is doing when the GPE occurs (All I'm asking AP to do is provide me with a report of all missing patches for all modules)

What I've found is the following:

1. I can identify the specific line of code in AP where the GPE occurs

2. The line of code where the GPE occurs in AP varies depending on how much debugging code I insert into AP

3. It is not possible to prevent the GPE occurring, no matter what coding changes one makes

4. The GPE always occurs in MainCode.bat

5. At present, I am getting the GPE whenever HFSystem.bat invokes MainCode.bat from the coding starting at the :Q240896 label in HFSystem.bat

Tentative conclusions thus far (more work is required to verify them):

1. The problem has nothing to do with my SE configuration (which is why at present, as I understand the problem, I don't think there is any value in sending you my Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files etc.. (Fyi, my Config.sys currently has nothing in it)

2. Based on my programming experience, if AP were coded in a high level language, I would be very confident in asserting that this problem is caused by an "array subscript going out of bounds" (however we don't have array constructs in DOS!). The symptoms of the GPE occurring at different line locations within MainCode.bat when additional code is inserted into AP is a "classic" indication of an array subscript going out of bounds in a high level programming language.

3. The GPE is not caused by the coding in MainCode.bat - using "Echo On" traces, I observed the coding where the GPE occurs in MainCode.bat being executed countless times without any problems until HFSystem.bat was invoked

4. The problem occurs on my machine because AP's code gets executed in different sequences to that which would occur on a clean vanilla installation of SE. This follows logically from the fact that I already have some of the patches installed on my SE installation which a vanilla installation of SE would not have

5. Ok, now here's where I step into the realms of pure speculation. If I go with my gut feel that this problem is caused by an "array subscript going out of bounds", then I need to find something within the DOS command set that could cause a similar kind of problem even though array constructs are not available to DOS. The only command that I can think of that fits the bill in DOS would be the "FOR" loop command. My guess is thus that somewhere within AP, a FOR loop parameter is "going out of bounds" resulting in the problems I am currently experiencing?

Where to from here?

I'm not sure - if my speculation is correct then it's most probably going to take a lot of effort to identify which FOR loop(s) is the culprit.

Some things I'd still like to do:

1. Run AP 1.96.58 in Safe mode to see if the GPE problem still presents (Running in Safe mode will result in Autoexec.bat, Config.sys and the startup of my applications being bypassed). If AP still GPEs in Safe mode then we can be a lot more confident that the problem is not caused by my SE configuration. Conversely, if AP does not present with a GPE in Safe Mode, we unfortunately cannot conclude that the problem is caused by my SE configuration. The reason for this is that AP will most probably will get loaded into a different part of memory in Safe Mode than in normal mode which may result in the "array subscript going out of bounds" event still occurring but not causing a GPE event

2. I'd like to manually run HFSystem.bat as a standalone module to invoke MainCode.bat and see what happens, if anything. To do this I need to know which Environment Variables must be set as well their respective settings before I manually start HFSystem.bat. Can you provide me with a list of these variable and their respective settings?

[soporific]

1. The debug report option does not work when selected from the Start Menu

Try manually setting DEBUG=Y inside START_ME.BAT ... the only difference between START_ME.Bat and START_DEBUG.bat is that.

2. AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

That could only be because the system can't find NOTEPAD.EXE in any of the locations set by the PATH statement. Have you done something with notepad?

1) how old is your OS installation? ie how long ago did you install the operating system <= around 3 years ago and do you re-install the OS regularly? <= No, and its not my intention to do so - my preference is to use Norton Ghost to create a backup image of my SE configuration complete with all apps installed etc..

The reason i asked that is because Windows 98se is notorious for needing re-building, especially for systems that have seen lots of installing and uninstalling. When i see a system like that, that gives errors and such when trying to run stuff normally, i dont't waste one second trying to solve the problem, the first thing i do is prepare the computer for re-building. The only choice i make is whether to try to simply re-install the OS (for systems that don't seem too bad or old) or do a clean freash re-install (for systems that crash regularly). Now, the reason i do this is because THIS FIXES THE PROBLEMS! The time it takes to do either of the above is sometimes a lot quicker than trying to solve these problems.

2) consider learning how to use a virtual machine program (MS Virtual PC 2007 is decent enough) and try the program out on a test system. You should be able to see AP working perfectly well on a new system. <= I could use VMWare on a Win2k machine to do this, but that defeats the whole purpose of what I'm trying to do here which is patch an existing installation of SE?

No, its going to help track down what is wrong. What you could do: set up a VM and install Win98 on it. Then install all the programs you have on your current machine, on the test system and try to set it up exactly the same. You will then be able to see if you can replicate the problems on both systems. This project simply WOULD NOT EXIST if i didn't have access to VM software.

1. I can identify the specific line of code in AP where the GPE occurs

2. The line of code where the GPE occurs in AP varies depending on how much debugging code I insert into AP

3. It is not possible to prevent the GPE occurring, no matter what coding changes one makes

4. The GPE always occurs in MainCode.bat

5. At present, I am getting the GPE whenever HFSystem.bat invokes MainCode.bat from the coding starting at the :Q240896 label in HFSystem.bat

Please try the following:

* please set AP to only search through individual modules, one at a time. ie set AP to search thru the Stability hotfixes module only, and then set it to search thru the tweaks module, etc. Please report what happens. You say that the program is crashing when it gets to HPSecure (the critical security hotfixes module), so unless there is more information for me, AP should get thru the individual modules and report what it finds?

4. The problem occurs on my machine because AP's code gets executed in different sequences to that which would occur on a clean vanilla installation of SE. This follows logically from the fact that I already have some of the patches installed on my SE installation which a vanilla installation of SE would not have

Why do you think the code gets executed in a different sequence? Some things may not execute, but it is ALWAYS in the same order. Please explain how it can be otherwise ...

5. Ok, now here's where I step into the realms of pure speculation. If I go with my gut feel that this problem is caused by an "array subscript going out of bounds", then I need to find something within the DOS command set that could cause a similar kind of problem even though array constructs are not available to DOS. The only command that I can think of that fits the bill in DOS would be the "FOR" loop command. My guess is thus that somewhere within AP, a FOR loop parameter is "going out of bounds" resulting in the problems I am currently experiencing?

The fact that DOS 7.1 doesn't have things like FOR loops is actually one of its strengths, the command set is tiny. In my experience, the only thing that can go 'Out of bounds' is the environment space which gives a very similar message to array errors ('Out of environment space').

Variables must be set as well their respective settings before I manually start HFSystem.bat. Can you provide me with a list of these variable and their respective settings?

When each module is invoked, the following variables are passed to it:

%WINDRIVE%

%WINDODIR%

%LOC8%

%MARKER% (this is actually %TRACK% from ModMenu.bat)

[Mazabuka]

1. The debug report option does not work when selected from the Start Menu

Try manually setting DEBUG=Y inside START_ME.BAT ... the only difference between START_ME.Bat and START_DEBUG.bat is that.

2. AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

That could only be because the system can't find NOTEPAD.EXE in any of the locations set by the PATH statement. Have you done something with notepad?

1) how old is your OS installation? ie how long ago did you install the operating system <= around 3 years ago and do you re-install the OS regularly? <= No, and its not my intention to do so - my preference is to use Norton Ghost to create a backup image of my SE configuration complete with all apps installed etc..

The reason i asked that is because Windows 98se is notorious for needing re-building, especially for systems that have seen lots of installing and uninstalling. When i see a system like that, that gives errors and such when trying to run stuff normally, i dont't waste one second trying to solve the problem, the first thing i do is prepare the computer for re-building. The only choice i make is whether to try to simply re-install the OS (for systems that don't seem too bad or old) or do a clean freash re-install (for systems that crash regularly). Now, the reason i do this is because THIS FIXES THE PROBLEMS! The time it takes to do either of the above is sometimes a lot quicker than trying to solve these problems.

2) consider learning how to use a virtual machine program (MS Virtual PC 2007 is decent enough) and try the program out on a test system. You should be able to see AP working perfectly well on a new system. <= I could use VMWare on a Win2k machine to do this, but that defeats the whole purpose of what I'm trying to do here which is patch an existing installation of SE?

No, its going to help track down what is wrong. What you could do: set up a VM and install Win98 on it. Then install all the programs you have on your current machine, on the test system and try to set it up exactly the same. You will then be able to see if you can replicate the problems on both systems. This project simply WOULD NOT EXIST if i didn't have access to VM software.

1. I can identify the specific line of code in AP where the GPE occurs

2. The line of code where the GPE occurs in AP varies depending on how much debugging code I insert into AP

3. It is not possible to prevent the GPE occurring, no matter what coding changes one makes

4. The GPE always occurs in MainCode.bat

5. At present, I am getting the GPE whenever HFSystem.bat invokes MainCode.bat from the coding starting at the :Q240896 label in HFSystem.bat

Please try the following:

* please set AP to only search through individual modules, one at a time. ie set AP to search thru the Stability hotfixes module only, and then set it to search thru the tweaks module, etc. Please report what happens. You say that the program is crashing when it gets to HPSecure (the critical security hotfixes module), so unless there is more information for me, AP should get thru the individual modules and report what it finds?

4. The problem occurs on my machine because AP's code gets executed in different sequences to that which would occur on a clean vanilla installation of SE. This follows logically from the fact that I already have some of the patches installed on my SE installation which a vanilla installation of SE would not have

Why do you think the code gets executed in a different sequence? Some things may not execute, but it is ALWAYS in the same order. Please explain how it can be otherwise ...

5. Ok, now here's where I step into the realms of pure speculation. If I go with my gut feel that this problem is caused by an "array subscript going out of bounds", then I need to find something within the DOS command set that could cause a similar kind of problem even though array constructs are not available to DOS. The only command that I can think of that fits the bill in DOS would be the "FOR" loop command. My guess is thus that somewhere within AP, a FOR loop parameter is "going out of bounds" resulting in the problems I am currently experiencing?

The fact that DOS 7.1 doesn't have things like FOR loops is actually one of its strengths, the command set is tiny. In my experience, the only thing that can go 'Out of bounds' is the environment space which gives a very similar message to array errors ('Out of environment space').

Variables must be set as well their respective settings before I manually start HFSystem.bat. Can you provide me with a list of these variable and their respective settings?

When each module is invoked, the following variables are passed to it:

%WINDRIVE%

%WINDODIR%

%LOC8%

%MARKER% (this is actually %TRACK% from ModMenu.bat)

Soporific - some more feedback =>

AP hangs if one selects the Custom option to edit Config.sys to change the amount of ES allocated when SE boots up (Ctrl C cannot be used to terminate the console window)

That could only be because the system can't find NOTEPAD.EXE in any of the locations set by the PATH statement. Have you done something with notepad?

I didn't explain the problem very well. When I select option "C", Config.sys is displayed by NotePad and it is possible for me to edit and save changes to my Config.sys file. However once one terminates the edit process, one is still left with one of three options to select =>

Let me adjust your CONFIG.SYS ??  [Y/N/C]

The only way to exit "gracefully" after having selected the "C" option is to then select the "N" option which is a bit counter intuitive.

It might be better to include a "Quit" or an "Exit" option as well, like this:

Let me adjust your CONFIG.SYS ??  [Y/N/C/Q]

As an alternative to having to edit Config.sys to specify the amount of ES required, you might want to consider creating another batch file (which I named "Start_AP.bat") to launch Start_ME.bat, like this =>

@echo off
%COMSPEC% /E:6120 /C "c:\Program Files\AutoPatcher98\Start_ME.bat"
echo.
echo AutoPatcher98 has finished processing ...
echo.
echo.
echo Click the Close button at the top right corner of the Window after you have
echo viewed the output and any error messages that may have been displayed
echo.
echo.

Using this approach one:

1. Never has to edit Config.sys to specify the amount of ES required

2. Never has reboot to make the additional ES available to AP after Config.sys has been edited

3. Can easily vary the amount of ES available to AP by simply editing the batch file that launches Start_ME.bat

The only disadvantage is that AP doesn't terminate very "elegantly" from the batch file that launches Start_ME.bat. Perhaps you know a way of terminating elegantly - I couldn't find one?

At present, I am getting the GPE whenever HFSystem.bat invokes MainCode.bat from the coding starting at the :Q240896 label in HFSystem.bat

Please try the following:

* please set AP to only search through individual modules, one at a time. ie set AP to search thru the Stability hotfixes module only, and then set it to search thru the tweaks module, etc. Please report what happens. You say that the program is crashing when it gets to HPSecure (the critical security hotfixes module), so unless there is more information for me, AP should get thru the individual modules and report what it finds?

I have identified the cause of the problem - Norton AntiVirus (NAV)!

I've only tested the reporting functionality of AP thus far - it seems to function correctly as long as AP is not launched with NAV "auto-protection" enabled. If "auto-protection" is enabled, then the interaction of AP and NAV causes memory corruptions resulting in a whole host of error messages, such as the one I described to earlier.

My sense is that NAV doesn't "like" all the recursion that occurs in AP when one requests a report of all missing patches for all modules.

For information, in case any else suffers the same problems I did, the only way to clear the memory corruptions is to reboot.

I'm not sure if the following is by design or an error in AP? =>

When one requests AP to report all missing patches for all modules, AP does not report on the patches contained in the "Obscure" module.

Some suggestions:

1. If you think creating a batch file to launch Start_ME.bat is a good idea, then the following line of code in Start_ME.bat =>

%COMSPEC% /E:6120 /K "%LOC8%\code\AutoPach.bat" "%LOC8%" %debug%

can be changed to =>

CALL "%LOC8%\code\AutoPach.bat" "%LOC8%" %debug%

because the required ES space will already have been allocated by the batch file that launches Start_ME.bat

2. With the functionality built into "Strings.com", as I recall, it is possible to read data from a flat text file?

Assuming my recollection is correct, this functionality could be used to remove all the hard coding of patch details one finds in AP. Doing so would greatly simplify the maintenance of AP when new patches are brought out or existing ones superseded by newer ones (I guess it may not be worth the effort though, because new patches hardly ever appear for SE these days?)

Taking the Stability Module as an example, one would create a flat file similar to the following =>

q239887

N

q239887

Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement

q239887.exe

%windir%\system\Vpowerd.vxd

4.10.0.2223

FILC

q240075

D

q240075

USB Devices May Not Work in Windows 98 Second Edition

q240075.exe

%windir%\system32\drivers\UHCD.SYS

4.10.0.2223

FILC

etc

In HFStable.bat one would then use Strings.com to process the flat file, line by line inserting the values read from the flat file into the Environment Variables that AP requires. Once the required values for a patch have been read and inserted into the Environment Variables that AP requires, the patch is then processed using the command =>

%COMSPEC% /E:2048 /C "%LOC8%\code\MainCode.bat" DIALOG1

The process is then repeated for the each subsequent patch until all the patches in HFStable.bat have been processed.

[soporific]

Soporific - some more feedback =>

I always like feedback, even if its buried within mountains of unnecessary text. I'll repeat, even if its buried within mountains of unnecessary text. Me thinks you still haven't got a hang of trimming your posts... ask if you are unsure or need help

I didn't explain the problem very well. When I select option "C", Config.sys is displayed by NotePad and it is possible for me to edit and save changes to my Config.sys file. However once one terminates the edit process, one is still left with one of three options to select =>

The only way to exit "gracefully" after having selected the "C" option is to then select the "N" option which is a bit counter intuitive.

I agree. I'll add something else.

As an alternative to having to edit Config.sys to specify the amount of ES required, you might want to consider creating another batch file (which I named "Start_AP.bat") to launch Start_ME.bat

Using this approach one:

1. Never has to edit Config.sys to specify the amount of ES required

2. Never has reboot to make the additional ES available to AP after Config.sys has been edited

3. Can easily vary the amount of ES available to AP by simply editing the batch file that launches Start_ME.bat

The only disadvantage is that AP doesn't terminate very "elegantly" from the batch file that launches Start_ME.bat. Perhaps you know a way of terminating elegantly - I couldn't find one?

1) OK, i've got a valid reason why we need to increase the user's ES if they haven't got much. Using someone's actual AUTOEXEC.BAT file, i was able to determine that even trying to assign just one letter to one variable created environment space (ES) problems. This means ANY process that uses COMMAND.COM and also has to assign a variable isn't going to be able to. I have one hotfix that is in this category and simply won't run on the test system i was using without giving more space overall. So if a user fails my ES test (which isn't very stringent) then they are likely to get into trouble, AP aside even. The fix is as i've gone with for this reason.

2) I have 2 fixes actually. The first one assigns the variable CLASSPATH to Nul if it exists. On my test system, this solved the problem without having to resort to the CONFIG.SYS fix. I did however make it a little bit harder to pass the test just to ensure that people with little space (as opposed to hardly any space) would also be trapped and informed about their low ES.

I have identified the cause of the problem - Norton AntiVirus (NAV)!

I've only tested the reporting functionality of AP thus far - it seems to function correctly as long as AP is not launched with NAV "auto-protection" enabled. If "auto-protection" is enabled, then the interaction of AP and NAV causes memory corruptions resulting in a whole host of error messages, such as the one I described to earlier.

My sense is that NAV doesn't "like" all the recursion that occurs in AP when one requests a report of all missing patches for all modules.

For information, in case any else suffers the same problems I did, the only way to clear the memory corruptions is to reboot.

Ah ha !!! We have some answers at last ... if i can just give my experience with Norton AV ... i used it from about 1997 to 2000 and stopped because it was starting to consume so much of a computer's system resources. Any computer that was 'old' would take forever loading up and the whole business of 'maintaining' the product was a chore, with so many compatibility issues to sort thru. Norton AV is probably the reason why there are messages asking you to ensure you don't have your anti-virus 'protection' turned on while you install a particular program. I mean, why this unwanted and time-consuming obstacle? "Can't they design an anti-virus product that DOESN'T require the user to, unbelievably, TURN OFF the so-called protection, just so you can legitimately install a program?" was my thinking about 7 years ago. They probably have fixed this by now but then again here we are talking about how we need to turn off AV protection just to even USE a program! Way to go, Symantec.

Now i have another test system to create, one with Norton AV on it ... oh well such is the life of a [insert something suitable]

I'm not sure if the following is by design or an error in AP? => When one requests AP to report all missing patches for all modules, AP does not report on the patches contained in the "Obscure" module.

No, if you have that selected in the modules menu, then any missing hotfixes should be reported. Maybe you are talking about the report generated when you choose the option from the MAIN menu (not the module menu) ... anyway, please select the Rare and Obscure hotfixes in the modules menu and run the report again to see if the report still misses them out. It seems fine from my testing.

1. If you think creating a batch file to launch Start_ME.bat is a good idea, then the following line of code in Start_ME.bat =>

Well, you see, the only reason that START_ME.bat exists is to give Autopach.bat enough space to run. So it defeats the purpose using another file to give the space to START_ME.bat --- my thinking is that if the user can't even run a simple DOS windows without getting into trouble, we need to FIX the cause of the trouble rather than trying to tunnel around it.

2. With the functionality built into "Strings.com", as I recall, it is possible to read data from a flat text file?

Assuming my recollection is correct, this functionality could be used to remove all the hard coding of patch details one finds in AP. Doing so would greatly simplify the maintenance of AP when new patches are brought out or existing ones superseded by newer ones (I guess it may not be worth the effort though, because new patches hardly ever appear for SE these days?)

This is an interesting idea. I could even design it to be reasonably automatic, so all you would have to do is drop a new 'config' text file into the right folder. I'll look into this, thanks heaps for the idea ...

[soporific]

Good news:

- i've fixed the "CTRL-C doesn't exit the DOS screen automatically" problem --- if you want to fix your version without downloading anything, look inside MainCode.bat and find the following line:

echo EXIT>> "%WinDrive%\Run-Mod.bat"

and add this line directly BEFORE it:

echo CLS>> "%WinDrive%\Run-Mod.bat"

otherwise it will be fixed in the next release. Oh, and there will be a freeware CD-Burner (InfraRecorder) added to Optional Components.

Edited June 12, 2007 by soporific