Have you ever found something really badly designed? Something which obscurity of its functions makes it hard to understand its use? Something almost unusable to a point it would drive you mad using it too often? Perhaps, a fool's design? Then you have come to the right place. Post your findings here and help making the world a saner place.
Blissy

2013-03-28 00:19 »

Seeing the Unofficial Windows 98 SE SP here, got me to do a little reminiscing.

I once had the extreme pleasure of my repair shop being visited by a Windows 98 Compaq desktop. The machine was USB only (no ps2 ports), and had a built-in monitor. Very clunky. The problem was that the user had deleted the drivers for the USB root hub, keyboard, and mouse. Now, it was operable in safe-mode, but when you booted normally, it had no drivers for the mouse of keyboard loaded, so it was impossible to click the "next" button on the driver installation dialog. Very frustrating.

Microsoft had previously documented the issue in their knowledge base http://support.microsoft.com/kb/206002/EN-US, so I know I wasn't the only one to run into this problem. Their solution? Re-install Windows. Well back in the 98 days, that was BAD, since re-installing old system files over updates usually broke the system in one way or another, took a long time, and was really a pain in the ass.

So, what I decided was that all I needed was to redo the setup hardware enumeration. The one that doesn't require a clicking of "Next". Anyone who has watched a Windows 98/ME install has seen it. It just says to wait while it detects hardware and installs drivers. So, long story short. I installed 98 on another box, backed up the registry just before the first reboot from dos, finished the install, then compared the registries for differences. Wouldn't you know, Microsoft has a single bit that they set to tell Windows to do the automated enumeration.

So, 15 years later, I've decided to let the world know the solution.

Simply set the low order bit in HLKMSoftwareMicrosoftCurrentVersionSetupFlags to 1 and reboot.

It's stuff like this that makes me rage when the company that developed the software doesn't even know it well enough to support it correctly. I had similar issues trying to get Lexmark and ATI to fix their broken shit back in the day too. I'd find the solution by hacking a bios or isolating a specific bug, and when it came time to contact them, I could never get hold of anyone who knew what they were talking about. Too many customer service reps, not enough engineers.

God bless MS.

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2013-03-28 00:48 »

Blissy wrote:...when you booted normally, it had no drivers for the mouse of keyboard loaded, so it was impossible to click the "next" button on the driver installation dialog. Very frustrating...

A fool's design, for sure! :lol:

Ps. Fun story by the way. I love short stories like this about dumb shit we have to deal with due to foolishly designed computer stuff. Thanks for sharing it.

Blissy

2013-03-28 08:47 »

Oh, also, Windows 98/ME is very easy to "crack". Meaning you don't need a key. If you change the "ProductType" value in the same registry path. OEM is like 115, I forget what retail, etc. are. But changing it to "100" will let windows boot and not even require a product key or registration information of any type. Whenever I pirated OEM, I would just do the install, wait for it to ask for the product key, reboot into safe mode, and change it to 100, then reboot. If you looked in the system properties, no product key would be displayed. I used to have a copy of ME that I changed the value from 115 to 100 in a couple of different files' resource tables and it would install and never even ask for a key. I miss the old days, when it was still fun to screw around with computers. lol.

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PROBLEMCHYLD
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2013-03-28 15:56 »

What value would I use? Mines is like this

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion]
"SetupFlags"=hex:

Thanks for the tip. I trying to get it working.

Blissy

2013-03-28 23:50 »

PROBLEMCHYLD wrote:What value would I use? ...


Set the low order bit in the first byte to 1... add 1 to it.

So, in my case the first byte in SetupFlags was 02 Hex, so I change it to 03:

j9y1b9.png
j9y1b9.png (29.51 KiB) Viewed 8944 times

Then reboot the system and you are greeted with:

5ug1zs.png
5ug1zs.png (5.24 KiB) Viewed 8944 times

Hope this helps.

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PROBLEMCHYLD
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2013-03-29 00:21 »

@ Blissy, thanks buddy :mrgreen: Quick question, what are your hexing skills like?

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2013-03-29 01:03 »

Guys, just a side note. You CAN upload pictures in here. There is an "Upload attachment" function just below "Submit" button where you post replies. It is better to use our upload function rather than using tinypic or any other service because those links tend to die with time. When you use our upload function, the files will not disappear and will be inside your post. You can also use a "Place inline" button to put the picture in the middle of your text.
:idea: :)

Blissy

2013-03-29 02:26 »

PROBLEMCHYLD wrote:@ Blissy, thanks buddy :mrgreen: Quick question, what are your hexing skills like?


I used to code in 6502 assembler on my commodore 64. I haven't really done much with x86. If that's what you're asking. On the other hand, if you're talking about casting hexes and witchcraft and stuff... I like Harry Potter. :)

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PROBLEMCHYLD
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2013-03-29 03:26 »

What I mean is, do you know how to find offset and hex dll files?

Blissy

2013-03-29 04:11 »

Yeah, I can use a debugger/dissassembler/hex editor. You have something specific you're working on?

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