Installation, updates, general problem solving and assistance.
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Steven W
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2014-04-17 05:26 »

Oh and just for reference:

http://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/base/uide.htm

/B Requests the "basic" stand-alone UltraDMA driver for disks or CD/DVD drives only (no caching or diskettes), which may be of help in running a diagnostic program.

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Steven W
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2014-04-20 20:42 »

Sometimes you run across interesting things when searching for something else:

https://code.google.com/p/xtideuniversalbios/

I don't plan on using it, but nonetheless I like the idea.

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Steven W
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2014-04-20 23:42 »

Well, it turns out that I have SATA drivers that are compatible with my machine that work in Windows 98:

cp.jpg
cp.jpg (60.94 KiB) Viewed 7866 times


For the record, no matter what I did with UIDE.sys, UDVD.sys and UHDD.sys. I always ended up with some flaky behavior. I'm not saying that it's necessarily and issue with UIDE, it may be some combination of using FAT 32, Windows 98 SE, HimemX, the way HimemX has to be configured -- who knows. The /B switch come the closest to working of anything I could find, but eventually I'd get registry writing errors and have to reboot every few boots of Win98 SE. With any /S switch I tried defining a cache size, I'd get file writing errors that would show during the installation of 98 SE -- OBDC version errors, errors accessing certain files, et cetra. Windows would eventually boot, but explorer wouldn't load. I did test using UIDE with /B to install an old 98 SE upgrade CD, using an old Win 95 CD to pass the validation check and it worked for that, but I removed UIDE after the first reboot.

Also found Xrayer's old update for io.sys (w98iopat.exe) at TmEE's site, it fixes not being able to get in Safe Mode when using himemX. I've also started using his settings recommended for himemX, MaxPhysPage, MaxFileCache, MinFileCache and ChunkSize in the patch.

Windows 98 SE is now installed. It boots with SATA operation set to "Normal" in the BIOS. I don't have access to the DVD drive, but am dual booting so I can deal with it. I have other issues to deal with on it and I have a partition with Windows 2000 Pro (I'm using it now).

Just an update on this little endeavor. ::thumbup::

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Steven W
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2014-04-21 04:23 »

While the thought's still fresh in my mind, I figured I post. I can't help but wonder if the issues I experience with uide could be resolved with either SmartDrive or changing a Value in the registry:

CacheWriteDelay

Kinda just wild guesses, but thought I'd throw them out there if anyone else wanted to try getting this to work.

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2014-04-21 21:41 »

I must admit that I follow this thread only for the sake of these screenshots. Love seeing the old operating system still being used. :oops: ::thumbup::

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Steven W
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2014-04-21 22:47 »

Nothing wrong with ancient operating system porn! :D

I think I am going to mess about with getting 98 SE to work with the UIDE driver, I haven't seen anyone else having done it. And if it could be done I suspect 95/98/98 SE and ME could be brought to much newer machines. If anyone else reading this wants to try, it will install and run on my machine with the driver. As I said before I just eventually get errors writing to the registry and Windows insists on rebooting and restoring and a backup of the registry.

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2014-04-22 02:29 »

I was going to put this off to the weekend because I thought I'd have to reinstall to test, however I had another idea. I added uide.sys back in to the config.sys and mscdex back in the autoexec.bat. I booted in to Safe Mode, removed the SATA controllers and added NOIDE to the registry, when I rebooted when wanted to reinstall the controller, but gave me the options to install the controller that Windows originally installed. Given that I already know how to install this way, this will allow me to test UIDE (with the /B switch) and NOIDE in the registry. So far, so good. I'll keep using it this way for a few days and see how it goes.

autoexec.bat:

Code: Select all

LH C:DOSDRVmscdex /D:DVDRW /L:D


config.sys:

Code: Select all

device=C:WINDOWShimem.exe /MAX=1048576 /NUMHANDLES=64 /VERBOSE
devicehigh c:DOSDRVuide.sys /B /D:DVDRW


Note: himemx.exe has to be renamed himem.exe and put in the Windows folder so that Xrayer's patch I mentioned earlier works and you can boot in to Safe Mode.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCURRENT CONTROLSETSERVICEVXDIOS

There make your "String value key" NIODE=01

reg.jpg
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copying.jpg
copying.jpg (32.59 KiB) Viewed 7851 times


I copied the Win98 Folder from my install CD to My Documents to test. I got the system sluggishness that I was expecting. From previous experience with the NOIDE setting, it is really only noticeable when large files get moved, for example you copy files, or when a download gets moved from a temp/cache folder to where you told a browser to save it.

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Steven W
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2014-04-22 04:25 »

Here you go, "!":

Win98_Uide.jpg
Win98_Uide.jpg (366.31 KiB) Viewed 7848 times


Win98_Uide2.jpg
Win98_Uide2.jpg (250.38 KiB) Viewed 7848 times


I installed VBEMP 9x

http://www.bearwindows.boot-land.net/vbe9x.htm

Changed the wallpaper and was running a few programs. I've made several changes to the OS and rebooted several times. Preliminary guess is that UIDE is good with the /B switch and NOIDE in the registry.

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2014-04-22 11:57 »

Coooooooooooooooooooool! ::clap::

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Steven W
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2014-04-26 19:17 »

I'm calling the UIDE experiment a success. Windows 98 Second Edition operated just fine other than the file copy/moving big/lots of file(s) sluggishness issue.

I had a little thought in my head and I just tested it out. The thought was that maybe there's something about the installation that requires UIDE's /B switch and maybe I can use it's caching in the OS once it's fully booted. That was a *no-go*. I replaced the /B switch with /S255. When I rebooted several shortcuts on the desktop suddenly showed their dos file names and instead of their Windows icons, showed a generic executable icon. I also received a message about one of my drivers no longer working, might have been due to the caching using the same memory area as the driver was assigned -- I didn't bother to investigate. I figured given the other issue; why bother?

In short, if UIDE works for your hard drive/ CD/DVD Rom/RW in DOS, it most likely can work with WIN 9x if you use the /B switch. I have my doubts that any Windows disc burning software would work, but if you're multi-booting like I am, who cares?

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