Crazy man tweak

[JonG]

The reason Windows looks in the ramdrive is because of that small addition I have you add to the autoexec.bat file which is this:

PATH=X:\;%PATH%

What this does is tell Windows where to look when its system folder does not contain what is needed. Normally, windows follows a pattern which looks like this when looking for DLLs, VXDs, and 386 Enhanced mode files.

Windows System Folder, Windows Folder, Current Folder, then finally it searches through the path environment variable.

Because it searches through the path environment variable, this tweak can actually work.

Hope that helps!

[Radio-]

Do you know if there is a parameter to set the dos ramdrive to a certain drive letter?

Right now mine just happened to select e:, which was previously uses for a CD-rom, leaving that device now left off my drive list =P

[Killing-Angel]

I tried the tweak,and it worked for me!

[JonG]

As far as I know, there is no option to specify what drive your ram drive is created on. Sorry. The only way I know how to do this would be through some old DOS drivers which would just slow your computer down. It's just something you'll have to live with I guess, sorry :confused:

[Raos]

ooo

[ninja6o4]

Originally posted by JonG:
As far as I know, there is no option to specify what drive your ram drive is created on. Sorry. The only way I know how to do this would be through some old DOS drivers which would just slow your computer down. It's just something you'll have to live with I guess, sorry :confused:

I had to register just to remind you that Windows is programmed on top of DOS. If you have installed ramdrive.sys, that is a DOS driver, and you certainly can specify a drive letter.

Don't ask how though, I have long since forgotten the switch for it.. :o I'm sure it's documented somewhere out there.

[ 02-13-2001: Message edited by: ninja6o4 ]

[RicRogue]

Is it possible to do this with WinME?

[Micand]

I'm running Win98 SE. I tried JonG's tweak, but with no success. I typed in the two lines in Config.sys, above the only other line, a call to setver.exe. When I rebooted, my RAM drive was at F:. I then just copied and pasted the rename/copy calls to the bottom of my autoexec.bat. I then did a global search and replace for X:, replacing it with F:. Rebooted again, watched as my TCP files were renamed and then copied to F:. All is well until I try to access the Net; it simply didn't work. I then run WinIPCFG, but get a Fatal Error -- Cannot Read IP Configuration. I dunno where I messed up (or even if I messed up).

I just ran the undo batch file, and removed all the calls from autoexec.bat. That brings me here. I'd appreciate any help with this, as I'm yearning to lower my pings and raise my speeds. :)

[Opticflare]

Same here.. i tried those steps and followed it exactly, but It didn't work. The second i ran the restore batch file though everything was back in place... Im using windows ME (with the dos patch installed that allows you to actually edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat files). Any Ideas?

-Derek :rolleyes:

[Engineer]

Same here....no luck! Windows 98SE...As soon as I copied the files from the Ramdrive back to System directory, everything was OK!

[Opticflare]

it follows the general idea of using ram to make your internet connection faster, but its not the same as what cabluenut is talking about.

-Derek

[neo86]

hmmmmmm......... jong, how should i say this? it doesn't work! :(. when you specify that command does windows acknowledge it? it's dos!

[ 02-14-2001: Message edited by: neo86 ]

[Juggernaut]

I'm not quite sure how to get it working since I'm running Win2k instead of 9x but are u sure you put the PATH command in there?

Originally posted by neo86:
when you specify that command does windows acknowledge it? it's dos!


Windows 98 is built on DOS so the commands u have run in dos will affect Windows (ie. having Doskey in u'r autoexec will allow you to use doskey when u run a DOS window while in 98)

[neo86]

well, it turns out that putting rem in front of the winsock related file helps. after that everything worked. vtcp and stuff kicked ass, but that was it. besides the device drivers nothing loaded :(

[neo86]

update works with explorer.exe to! actually it's easier with that one but it works with this method too! fast! i need to order another stick of tinybga 128mb!

[TheMyth]

I'm not sure the win98 way works with PPPoE, I have Verizon and I can dial in fine, but when I load up a browser 'The page cannot be displayed'.

[cruze]

I have done the ramdisk voyage,never found much use for it.But as always cablenut and dan and jon have got my attention.I would guess these guys are working and testing out this outstanding move to the next level of speed.Don't always agree,but your always on top of the issues (BRAVO).I for one, am waiting from them for a more comprehensive test and conclusion.But as always to all on this site,you make my internet surfing much more enjoyable.I am always impressed by the intellect on this forum,thank you so much.

[Opticflare]

neo: rem in front of which winsock related file? See below:
<other stuff>
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak E:\mstcp.dll
rename c:\windows\system\wshtcp.vxd wshtcp.bak
copy c:\windows\system\wshtcp.bak E:\wshtcp.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\wsock.vxd wsockvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\wsockvxd.bak E:\wsock.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\wsock2.vxd wsock2.bak
copy c:\windows\system\wsock2.bak E:\wsock2.vxd

etc. etc... rem out both the rename and copy lines for wsock.vxd?

-Derek

[JonG]

I've been away from this thread a little to long I guess, better get back up to speed :)

Lets see, lots of questions and so little time nowadays. I just got finished with a project in my computer science class that took me 8 hours to complete, which is amazing considering some of the other people I was talking to had been working on it for the past 2 days :) Anyways.......

Lets see, ninja6o4, I'm well aware that DOS is what Windows is programmed on top of, which is why this works. I have a manual sitting next to me which documents all versions of ramdrive.sys up to DOS 6.0's version, and it didn't say what argument to use to specify your own drive letter. I was going to look it up further on the net but didn't have time. Sorry!

This tweak won't work with any version of Windows other than Windows 95 or Windows 98. WindowsME is weird and would seem to resemble more of Windows 2000's critieria for this tweak, and I don't yet have access to it to test anything out, so for the time being we have little to help you guys out on there.

Ah yes, let me add that this "tweak" that I thought of for win95/98 is just brand new. There are lots of files I posted on here to rename/copy that quite frankly won't affect a lot of you guys because you aren't on dial-up like me (in which case if the files do exist they're just taking up worthless space). I still have quite a bit of work on this to do, so for now try at your own risk. Thats all I can tell you. I like the fact so many of you are willing to try it anyway.

One big problem I faced in finding what files I would want to add to this list was the matter of whether or not windows had, inside the registry, a path to the file. If that was so, then Windows would expect the file to be in a certain place, regardless of where I put it. A good example is wsock32.dll. As bored as I was, I tried moving it to the ramdrive and successed. However, TCP/IP still wouldn't work because it seems to have other "helper" files that it needs to have in the same directory. It's hard to explain, so I don't wanna try.

All I know is that all of my dial-up adapter driver files are now loaded onto my ramdrive, which is seeming to help out quite a bit. Thanks for your help so far guys.

[donald_k]

hmm..anyway to get explorer.exe in the ram drive in win2k???? or is this overkill.

[neo86]

explorer doesn't take up that much space, but i guess it's overkill :). But we're tweakers here and we need every last bit of performance!

OpticFlare:
Just need to put rem behind all files that start with a w for both rename and copy. After that you can just execute the restore file. Then you can restart and it sould work.

[Opticflare]

Help! I tried doing this tweak step by step with both the MS and other ramdisk that cablenut first provided, but whenever the script goes to load tcpip.sys i get something like:

Stop: 0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x000000FF, 0x00000001, 0x8040063D)
Address 8040063D base at 80400000, Datestamp 384d9b17
-ntoskrnl.exe

then the other generic crap below it.. any ideas? I'd like to at least *try* to get this one working.

-Derek

[dannjr]

Opticflare
Show us your scripts can't tell you very much by that..If I can't get back here right away then maybe someone that has it running well can give you a Idea of where its wrong...

neo86
Because this is newer to what most people see, could you post how you have your script. it would be easier for everyone if they saw it..
ya know the old copy and paste thing...(there may not be as many BSOD's then) If you did post it and I missed point this old dog in the right direction...Or send me copies please

Last but not least Iv been looking close at memory usage with Windoh's
esp win9x with memory managed, with 64 meg of ram even with this using a very small amount may put you over the top my suggestion is that you should have no less than 96meg...
With 64meg running with memory in upper blocks and a couple of apps running your already down to 8 to 3% of your capabilitys.. At 96meg your around 17% optimal, would be to have 22 to 26% free at 128(131)meg

On another note; been so busy that Iv hardly had time to get back in here maybe this weekend I can mess up a few machines with this I also hope to load a win95b with this over the weekend..

WinME; I cant tell you how many times Iv blown it up with differnt things including trying second party stuff.. It will be interesting to say the least to get this OS right but I never said winME was right... :)

ramdrive.sys has to be after the last physical drive letter. In other words not after the CD but just after the harddrive for it to work properly according to the DOS books I have here, and a couple that I was able to barrow..

Just as a reminder because I know how people love to jump to the ends of topics.. Himem.sys has to be the first line in the config.sys no matter what.. Back up your registry.. Do a file search to see if you have the spesific files JonG has listed..

Thanks :cool:
Dan

[Opticflare]

this is the script im using:

@echo on

Echo Starting TCP/IP Services

copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip

-Derek

[dannjr]

Had some fun with this I wanted to find a way to get it to work better with a under powered win9x machine..

Sample; The way to keep the memory up. This was tested this morning on of all things a p166mmx laptop with 48meg of ram the way the config.sys is written gave me 19% or left me with 9meg free with 7 apps running and antivirus up and running for a total of 13 apps
You'll notice I didn't run the winsock in the ramdrive well thats the nature of this laptop and the way this PCMCIA card handles things. Time was a factor to

autoexec.bat
PATH=D:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak D:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak D:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak D:\mstcp.dll


config.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 700 /E
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\emm386.exe noems
files=120
dos=high,umb
devicehigh=c:\windows\setver.exe

Also you'll notice the lack of Caps in the commands in the config.sys it really dosn't matter a D or d is still a D in DOS

Opticflare
Most people are running DHCP where you don't assign a IP address to your settings back on page 4 or 5 of this thread there was a short mention of starting DHCP and that if you didn't you would get BSOD's I also beleve this is the order you want it in.. If anyone else has some input please fill in any blanks..

@echo on

Echo Starting TCP/IP Services

copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy c:\winnt\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip
net start dhcp

Let us know if your running a IP address you may need to look at the way you edited the registry just double check that.....

[J-F]

I have a manual sitting next to me which documents all versions of ramdrive.sys up to DOS 6.0's version, and it didn't say what argument to use to specify your own drive letter. I was going to look it up further on the net but didn't have time. Sorry!

You cannot assign a drive letter when using ramdrive.sys; but, as I'm following this thread since the beginning, I've found a (french)freeware that would do the job. I can send it to whom is interested (the redme is inenglish BTW)

Well, hope this first post from France will safely arrive the other side of the Ocean

[Opticflare]

i at least quadruple checked the registry.. its fine. Here's the thing, frusterated, i copied everything by hand (via typing in a dosbox in win2k), all 3 files, and then i typed up net start afd. Worked. Ok, so now i typed net start netbt.. that worked too. Then the second i would type in net start tcpip i would BSOD and have to restart. I think i tried not running the scripts at all, and when i tried just net start tcpip without afd dhcp or netbt i still got a BSOD. It just seems like whenever it loads TCPIP it crashes. Also, i have a static IP so i dont see what DHCP would fix... since I dont use it. Any more suggestions?

-Derek

[dannjr]

Originally posted by J-F:
I have a manual sitting next to me which documents all versions of ramdrive.sys up to DOS 6.0's version, and it didn't say what argument to use to specify your own drive letter. I was going to look it up further on the net but didn't have time. Sorry!

You cannot assign a drive letter when using ramdrive.sys; but, as I'm following this thread since the beginning, I've found a (french)freeware that would do the job. I can send it to whom is interested (the redme is inenglish BTW)

Well, hope this first post from France will safely arrive the other side of the Ocean

inenglish I like that version anyway I sent you a email in hope to get that thanks
Dan

[dannjr]

Opticflare
What else do you have starting up with tcpip like other apps that use tcpip or proxies that fire up with the machine there has to be something starting with it that is comming in to soon on tcpip..

If you can't identifie whats starting in the registry try installing and then un-install cablenut 3.65 or 3.5 to clean out the registry and put it to windows default see if this can do it..
Do you run Norton antivirus with the firewall this is a IP type of software that can do it in...
Anyone else got an opinion

[dannjr]

J-F
Thank you for the files and if you want them there free for the taking I'll be posting them on my site later with with the authors best wish's in mind but for now you can grab a set here http://humlog.homestead.com/nicksconsulting/files/xermdk.zip
Make sure you read through the readme.txt file closely this has only been tested up to win95 according to the author so be careful. The files are freeware and can be distributed among friends acording to the txt file so have fun...
I just started looking at it so don't expect
a mirical...
but according to the .txt file and as J-F pointed out you can assign a drive letter to it and sizing is supposed to be no problem..
If you have good luck with it let us know
Dan

[JonG]

I'd like a copy of that french freeware program if you don't mind. Send it to me at this french freeware program.

email: quedeo@fwi.com

[dannjr]

Originally posted by JonG:
I'd like a copy of that french freeware program if you don't mind. Send it to me at this french freeware program.

email: quedeo@fwi.com

JonG see the link above on the last post its there for the grabbing...
aim is down for some stupid reason

here do it this way http://humlog.homestead.com/nicksconsulting/files/xermdk.zip

[ 02-16-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[Opticflare]

Dan:

I have a program like DUMeter that tries to access the net, but then crashes because it notices that it cant (well its a graceful crash.. it says it cant find INETMIB.DLL, which is fixed when tcpip is running). Like i said, it happens RIGHT when I type net start tcpip. I dont think that a program trying to access the tcpip stack while its loading would have any negative impact either... :/


Please get back.. im going to tinker around with it more to see if i can fix it :O
-Derek

[dray_heinz]

Hey Dannjr,

I am running on Windows98SE and am going to implement this patch tonight. Should I use the settings you posted above or should I use the settings you posted above with the winsock entries too? I guess I can try both. I am also running on a cable modem. Thanks for the help.

[dannjr]

Originally posted by Opticflare:
Dan:

I have a program like DUMeter that tries to access the net, but then crashes because it notices that it cant (well its a graceful crash.. it says it cant find INETMIB.DLL, which is fixed when tcpip is running). Like i said, it happens RIGHT when I type net start tcpip. I dont think that a program trying to access the tcpip stack while its loading would have any negative impact either... :/


Please get back.. im going to tinker around with it more to see if i can fix it :O
-Derek

Try removing DU meter it will attach itself before during and after at least from my experience.
Its got a .DLL it loads with it

[ 02-16-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[dannjr]

Originally posted by dray_heinz:
Hey Dannjr,

I am running on Windows98SE and am going to implement this patch tonight. Should I use the settings you posted above or should I use the settings you posted above with the winsock entries too? I guess I can try both. I am also running on a cable modem. Thanks for the help.

Make it easy on yourself try it the way I did it first with Laptop then you can always add to it later....

[dannjr]

Windows 9x
Ok you want to set a drive letter to the ramdrive you need to use the download I listed on page 9 compliments of J-F

You will need to copy the "xmsdsk.exe" to "C:\" or the "root" of the harddrive.
Next copy the example below or add the additional lines that JonG gave you.. Everything still applys as with the way a ramdrive works. The difference is that the ramdrive is loaded from the autoexec.bat instead of the config.sys.. So remember to remove the ramdrive.sys statement from the config...

autoexec.bat

xmsdsk [2048] F: [/y]

PATH=F:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak F:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak F:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak F:\mstcp.dll

config.sys

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\emm386.exe noems
files=120
dos=high,umb
devicehigh=c:\windows\setver.exe

Notes: this ramdrive uses compatibility mode so while normally you would not want this it didn't seem to make a difference in the memory usage for me I did go a little over board with the size I didn't have to make it a 2 meg drive it could have been 300K for the amount of space it needed..
The rest of the entries left in the config.sys keeps conventional memory free I still had 626K open on the bottem end which will help in the long run...
With a total of 19% of all the whole 48meg in this machine free.
I used F: for the drive letter I could have used anything but what the heck you figure it out I did this on a under powered Laptop Z: would have worked with this...
Well have fun with it there are added instructions, and in them instructions is why I used it in the autoexec.. with the downloaded add on...

Well maybe JonG or Cablenut will have more to add to this or if someone else has a suggestion please lets see it..

Dan

[ 02-17-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[J-F]

Originally posted by dannjr:

autoexec.bat

xmsdsk [2048] F: [/y]

PATH=F:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak F:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak F:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak F:\mstcp.dll
[ 02-17-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ][/B]

Dannjr,

It can't work as is. The nexr time you reboot, the system won't find the 3 files as they've been renamed with a bak extension (I just experienced a system halt.)When shuting Win9x down, those files have to be renamed with their original extension.

[dannjr]

J-F
Uhm I just did it this way on another machine without that problem
It was a Athlon 700 slot with 128meg clean install

autoexec.bat

xmsdsk [2048] F: [/y]

PATH=F:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak F:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak F:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak F:\mstcp.dll

Are you saying to make the script more like this

xmsdsk [2048] F: [/y]

PATH=F:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.vxd
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak F:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.386
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak F:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.dll
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak F:\mstcp.dll

If thats the case then that would work too

I guess because I haven't experienced that problem, I need to see if I can duplicate it.
Do you have anything else running in the autoexec.bat or the config.sys
if so can you post what the files look like..
The 9x athlon I did this on was a very clean install with nothing else on it except for this new ramdrive.. ANd Windoh's updates
Let me know either way...
There was also something about putting the files to a sub directory in the ramdrive. From the help file..


Dan

[Acid]

hmmm...I still get the blue screen and some ntoskernel.exe error.
It doesn't matter if I try to run the adf first or the tcpip, after a couple minutes waiting I just get the blue screen.

What could be the cause of this?

I just reeinstalled win2k SP1 so there shouldn't be any problems with win2k.(And with just I mean, the only thing that is insalled at this point is my videocard drives :))

Hmm seems like me and Opticflare has the same strange problem it can't be the SP1 that is doing it?...I am on a static ip as well...The only diffrence between us is that I managed to get the error with afd as well.

[ 02-17-2001: Message edited by: acidelito ]

[J-F]

Originally posted by dannjr:
J-F
Uhm I just did it this way on another machine without that problem
It was a Athlon 700 slot with 128meg clean install
Dan

I'm a stupid boy
I already have a F partition and since I copied / pasted your autoexec.bat .. I let you imagine what happened

nullUhm I just did it this way on another machine without that problem

[JonG]

I searched through Microsoft's website (real fun let me tell you) and found an article detailing the parameters that ramdrive.sys uses. A link is here: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q135/4/85.asp
You cannot assign the desired drive letter to a ramdrive under windows 95/98, so oh well. I do know that ramdrive.sys assigns its drive letter to letter which corresponds to the letter which your next physical drive would use. For example, if you have 2 hard drives, C: and D:, RAMDrive would use E:, then your network drives (and CD-ROMs) would then follow. For more information about this, follow this link: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q51/9/78.ASP
Also, I don't recommend the least bit using windows in protected-mode because of an MS-DOS program, this would most likely affect the gamers and anyone else who does more than surf the internet.
Has anyone else tried out my setup with any success on a win95/98 machine, for which it would only work? Does anyone else know of any other files to add to the ramdrive that windows is using for TCP/IP? I'm interested, as the files I first listed were ones I thought affected TCP/IP performance in win95/98. Suggestions are welcome! :)

[ 02-17-2001: Message edited by: JonG ]

[donald_k]

ah Microsoft's website is always fun to search through (not!). Them and their "issues" <-- BUGS!

[Discover]

Hello Group,

By way of introduction I just joined the group a few days ago and have been looking forward to this weekend so I can try out the ramdisk on my Win98 se. I used to use ramdisk back in 1986. I was running a very math intensive economics program on the newest fastest compaq 386 machines at the time. Running the 200 cases thru the prgm from the hard disk took about 14 hours. So we would start the run as we left work in the evening and usually it would be doen by the time we got back the next morning. Then we discovered ramdisk! Cut the run time down to under 2 hours!!! ~85% increase in speed!

So when happened onto this site last weekend my eye caught the word ramdisk...

Just wanted let you know I have tried your script Dan and it works great on my new system...

Netscape initially loads quicker! I timed the loadingof a URL that is always slow loading http://www.amdmb.com/index.html. It took 11 seconds to load before and 7 second after making the ramdisk changes.

Thanks for the fun!
Ned

[Discover]

Now I'll have to see if I can get explorer loaded up into the virtual memory...

What all do you guys load into ramdisk?
Ned

[dannjr]

Originally posted by Discover:
Now I'll have to see if I can get explorer loaded up into the virtual memory...

What all do you guys load into ramdisk?
Ned
Welcome to speedguide

Well basically what you see is what you got If you have suggestions with some sort of script to show it would be great.. Nice to see someone else admit to using the DOS enviroment :)
Give everyone a hint I know how to load punch cards and read them...
No I don't go back to ENIAC but back far enough.

By the way I added the winsock to the laptop today in win9x and to say the least I'm very happy :)I did....
Now its time to see what else can be done to it.
Like JonG said it needs input

[henmaster]

Ok, I have a basic question about this tweak. Why arent these system files saved in the disk cache after they are accessed for the first time? I was under the impression that anything loaded from the hard drive is then saved in the disk cache for quick access later on. Shouldnt all of these tcp/ip dll's and vxd's be cached after the first web page is loaded? Please enlighten me if I am missing something.

henmaster

[dannjr]

henmaster
Its not being cached on the harddrive its being cached on the physical memory..
Think about it for a sec. instead of running it from the hard drive and wearing it out. Now its taking 1 to 2 megs up on upper memory. Which is a whole lot faster than your harddrive would ever be...

Now lets see what you can add to it..

[Discover]

Nice to see someone else admit to using the DOS enviroment

Dan,

Card readers... that brings back memories of Fortran and doubly nested do loops getting caught in the print outs... System operator hated that!

About DOS.. Wasn't there some DOS code that could be put into the AUTOEXEC that is not activated until shutting down?? Seemed like we used that once....

I would like to copy my netscape cache up into the virtual mem (ramdisk) and then when closing netscape or shutting down computer would like to copy cache back to hard drive.

BTW, Been experimenting with the ispeed and speed guide tweeks. I was getting 120 - 140 kbytes/sec then without any changes I am now getting 40 - 50.... What's up with that? Roadrunner cable go on night sleep speed or??? :mad:

[henmaster]

I mean the disk cache in the RAM, which windows knows as vcache. I believe recently accessed files from the hard drive are stored in it so they can be accessed without reading the HDD again.

Anyway, I have been trying to get the tweak for Win 98 to work. First, I dont see why it is necessary to rename the system files in autoexec. Cant they just be renamed once, instead of every time the machine boots? But the altered names must be copied each boot to the ram drive.

Also I am suspecting that windows may not be using my ram drive at all, it may be using the files on the HDD with the new names. When a file is renamed windows still knows what it is based on its file size. If a file is missing windows will look for a "match" based on filesize and a few other things. If you rename the target of a shortcut on your desktop, for example, you can still run the shortcut because windows will figure out what file it refers to even if it has a different name. So is there any way for me to know for sure that windows is reading from my ramdrive? thanks for the assistance.

henmaster

[sLob_kiLla]

Say you wanna start a EXE from your ram drive and you need to "PATH" the source of the EXE... (But the source has like 150 subs in it) And it would take forever to path them all.... How could you do this?

-sLob

To make it short... how do u path a full DIR with sub DIR's under it?

[ 02-18-2001: Message edited by: Adam Y ]

[Piggyson]

I have succesfully installed the ram drives on two 98se cpu's and one w2k cpu. My 98 cpu's are working flawless.

I have ran into one problem thou on my w2k system. It boots up and connects to the internet fine etc.. However when I go into network neighborhood I can not see any of the local cpu's attached to the same hub. They would show up before I installed the ramdrive tweak. I was wondering if I need to start the ms networking client in my login script?

thanks in advance.

-Piggyson-

[JonG]

Anyway, I have been trying to get the tweak for Win 98 to work. First, I dont see why it is necessary to rename the system files in autoexec. Cant they just be renamed once, instead of every time the machine boots?
You are correct, they need to be renamed only once, I just included all that into the autoexec.bat so the users could see what all needed to be done, and the simple fact that the OS can't find the files that you want renamed after the first reboot doesn't slow it down that much.
Also I am suspecting that windows may not be using my ram drive at all, it may be using the files on the HDD with the new names.
I'll give this theory of yours a try in a moment. I throw the renamed files into a directory other than the one specified by the PATH statement OR the windir environment variables. Another way I found out it is finding the files is when I tried to move the infamous wsock32.dll file. When I "moved" it there, TCP/IP was disabled (non-working is a better term) but when I tried to rename or delete the file while it was on the ramdrive, it gave me an error saying the file was in use by Windows. When I copied it there with the original wsock32.dll file still in the windows system folder, I could do whatever (because it DID find it in the system folder) and regarded the wsock32.dll on the ramdrive as just another file.
To make it short... how do u path a full DIR with sub DIR's under it?
You can't do this in any easy way. You'll have to do it manually. Hope you have a lot of time :(

[kile]

Hi all.
I'm new to this site, and it has really helped me out with my cable speed.
But I must say this tweak has made me feel like a simpleton lol.I have tried to peice together one post with the others but its rather confusing.Could one of you pros maybe repost this tweak in a more step by step process if its not to much trouble.Would just like to see the whole process on one post.I have cable,Windows 98,and btw have you guys seen a great inprovement or are there to many bugs still.I see some that were sucsessful and some failures.Thx

[henmaster]

JonG,

I just verified that my ramdrive is working as well. I booted up with the ramdrive empty, and with the path of z:\ set in autoexec. I then copied the files you listed to the ramdrive. Next I moved the files from the windows\system directory to a floppy and removed the floppy. TCP/IP still worked, so it must have been reading the required files from the ramdrive.

I did not notice any speed difference from this process, however. My pings and web site loading were the same. I think it might just be a matter of finding the right files to use, there may be more that you missed when you looked in the system directory initially. Keep up the good work everyone.

henmaster

[Discover]

Hello Group,

I have been running the xmsdsk.exe pgm to make the ram drive. It ahs wiorked well until I try to make the drive size large or try and copy several Mbytes into it. I have had to disable my norton Utilities for the drive. It seems that windows wants to put a recycle bin into the drive. Accessing this recycle bin causes a system errors:

Fatal exception 00 @ 0028: D52D5D7A in VXD
NPROTECT(01) + 00002BEA

closing this screen leads to:

0D @ 1697:015F75B6 and closing this leads to:

0E @ 17F: BFF9DFFF and closing this leads to:

Explorer general protection fault in Module KRNL386.exe @ 0001:000075a2 closing this freezes up computer.

Questions
1) Anybody know what these statements mean? Where can I learn about what these codes mean? Anywhere on the net?

2)Does the this ram disk being in compatibility mode affect this?

3)Perhaps the RAMDRIVE.SYS command would work better??

Thanks
Ned

[dannjr]

Discover
I only put the other one up if others wanted to try it esp. when I saw it could assign a drive letter both ways worked good for me. But I even switched back to the MSramdrive on the laptop I was using it on...
One benifit that hasn't been brought up, is this old laptop with win98SE used to go to sleep and never wake up.. since putting the ramdrive on it goes to sleep but wakes without a hard boot....

WinME
Next issue been trying for a while to get a ramdrive to run in winME, well the OS ***k's

Its not supposed to be able to be done..
heres some links to back what I wrote up..
http://support.micro soft.com/support/kb/articles/Q278/6/20.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=%26quot%3Bramdrive%26quot%3B&rnk=3&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WINME (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q278/6/20.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=%26quot%3Bramdrive%26quot%3B&rnk=3&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WINME)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q269/5/24.ASP

hack comming to a board near you

[ 02-20-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[dannjr]

Windoh's ME :)
Yesterday I gave up on getting a ramdrive up and running on WinME especially ms-ramdrive.sys.
Well someone else didn't like that I gave up on it so easy.
So I received a neat little package that gave me the missing link to putting up a ramdrive on WinME...
Its running and I might add was a bear to finnish hacking out....
Maybe I'll have it typed out tonight and the files needed to make it run.... :p

[gana2k]

This question has been asked twice before but I didn't see a proper answer. When the drivers are loaded on bootup, it is loaded into RAM (memory) anyway, so what speed-ups are we talking about when we ... hmmm.. let me see - take the drivers from memory and move it to RamDrive which is MEMORY anyway ? Am I missing something ?
Can somebody please explain this to me how we can speed increases :confused: ?

[dannjr]

gana2k
hmmm.. let me see (in your words) move them from the harddrive to memory... move them from VM to the memory.... It not just increasing speed but it clears up the memory from having it page back and forth on the harddrive.... so the bottem line maybe your drive will live longer to...
I have a ramdrive or ramdisk on all my machines now and not one has failed yet...
thats allot of machines not including the ones I don't have here that I'm running it on...

I hope this is a little better answer anyone else have a better answer....

[dannjr]

DONT BOTHER DOING THIS TO WinME
It just aint worth the head ache I left the original info on this if you wanted to know how it was done..
WinME will give you a headache and more


WINDOWS ME

While this tweak is for WinME and it works. I will not be held responsible for the contents of the
conversion kit given freely by the author for converting the kernal


For United states WinME OS can't tell you what effect it will have on other ME OS


MAKE SURE everything is backed up
Well I guess no one was happy that winME didn't have a ramdrive


now its time for the real players to step up, cause this tweak for winME aint for the weak at heart.
First you will need this download.. http://humlog.homestead.com/nicksconsulting/files/winmedos.zip
I also included a link on the bottem of http://microsyspro.com to the files needed for the conversion
You need to follow the instructions to the letter written by the original author
Basically your gonna be changing the WinME kernal. A .TXT file is included...


NEXT as a reference you will need to look at your autoexec.bat file if there are entries in it then all of them
stay you will add to the autoexec.bat after the original entries
As per this example below.....
autoexec.bat example
SET windir=C:\WINDOWS
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
SET SBPCI=C:\SBPCI
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET COMSPEC=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND


PATH=D:\;%PATH%
rename c:\windows\system\ndis.vxd ndisvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\ndisvxd.bak D:\ndis.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\vtcp.386 vtcp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vtcp386.bak D:\vtcp.386
rename c:\windows\system\vudp.386 vudp386.bak
copy c:\windows\system\vudp386.bak D:\vupd.386
rename c:\windows\system\mstcp.dll mstcpdll.bak
copy c:\windows\system\mstcpdll.bak D:\mstcp.dll
REM rename c:\windows\system\wshtcp.vxd wshtcp.bak
REM copy c:\windows\system\wshtcp.bak D:\wshtcp.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\wsock.vxd wsockvxd.bak
copy c:\windows\system\wsockvxd.bak D:\wsock.vxd
rename c:\windows\system\wsock2.vxd wsock2.bak
copy c:\windows\system\wsock2.bak D:\wsock2.vxd


C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM


The c:\windows\win.com has to be entered if you want windoh's to start


Config.sys example
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 700 /E
DEVICE=C:\windows\ifshlp.sys


Do not add the win98 config.sys thats in this thread. winME already has most of the memory managment


So do it this way above..


I included the MS DOS editor with the download just incase you need to boot to DOS
copy it to C:\Windows\ since its not included.
You will also need a win98 or some sort of boot disk so that can get you to DOS if all goes bad.
(so that you can use the editor on the autoexec.bat or config.sys)


Also the files you are about to convert I suggest making and aditional folder and name it "recover".
and copy into it "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM","C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EBD\IO.SYS" and
"C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\REGENV32.EXE"
COMMAND.COM to the recover folder
IO.SYS to the recover folder
REGENV32.EXE to the recover folder
Save these files I don't want to here of problems like I can't recover that type of stuff..


Anything that may be questionable to you write it down... ASK questions if I can answer them I will...


you will also per the instructions copy these into the same folder as the conversion files ....
read that well... I'm also not responsible for the instructions in there.


After you make the conversion to the kernal make up your config.sys file and make the entries the same as above
also in the Autoexec.bat file add the line to the end of the autoexec C:\WINDOWS\Win.com


When you reboot you should get a new ramdisk and with the new kernal running...
The system will take longer to start.. almost a full 2 minutes on the first reboot.....
once its set it starts more like Win98....


NOTE: there is no more safe mode or logged mode.. The only way to boot to DOS is with a boot disk win98 boot prefured
I can't exspess that enough....


Preformance I did have a noticable increase in speed with this and a increase of free memory useage downloads seem faster and network preformance is better...


Now it wouldn't be far if I didn't give credit to the person that sent me this conversion "OpticFlare" thanks for the great find sure got me.....
It was fun converting this file system...
Like finding out you can't run the DOS commands that you can in win98 keep
that in mind...
have fun and take your time with it....

[ 03-26-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[cablenut]

First let us try to understand what a .sys file goes through...

In Windows 2000 it has 2 pools of phyiscal memory it uses for kernel modem activities.

NON_PAGED POOL

and PAGED_POOL

NON_PAGED pool is memory that cannot be written to disk and is resident in memory all the time (once it is loaded it is "locked" in the memory).

PAGE_POOL is memory that can be written to disk and resident in memory whenever nescassary (can be loaded/unloaded from pool).

Windows 2000 loads .sys files to the PAGED_POOL

Each sys has its own memory address where it is loaded i.e. the 0x748b1824 hex address (to be fancy it is called a kernel mode address).

Notice how when you try to move a .sys file on the hard drive it won't let you it will say it is "in use" this means a .sys has some hard drive queries...

[dannjr]

dray_heinz
Here's a little test for you since your convinced or otherwise that its using the renamed files to run on..
Rename the autoexec.bat to autoex.bat
Then restart the machine the first thing that will happen is that windows will ask you why you moved or deleted the "ndis" file then you will say ok so that you can finish booting... once you do try to connect with it without renaming the files. It can't because it has no networking files to do so.
If it dose connect then its using NetBUEI to do it.
next go back and rename your autoexe.bat back to autoexec.bat and restart this time ndis gets reloaded along with all the other files making a connection..
Now if you really want to see the difference.
Time your harddrive usage with it working. Really spend some time at it.. Then put it all back to the way it was before the ramdrive, and time the usage while on line your gonna see that the harddrive will almost double in usage especially on a lower powered machine..
This is true in win98 and win2k the Data still isn't done on winME only because I havent had the time to go through and finish testing the usage...
I did find some other plus's with the ramdrive on a layered network like I have but I'm still putting that info together...

[dray_heinz]

Henmaster,

"Also I am suspecting that windows may not be using my ram drive at all, it may be using the files on the HDD with the new names. When a file is renamed windows still knows what it is based on its file size. If a file is missing windows will look for a "match" based on filesize and a few other things."

This is not true. Windows will not look for another .dll file that is the same size. There is either a specific line in the registry or and ini file that points to the .dll. If you do as much as rename the .dll to .old it will not work. Think of how many .dll files are the same size. I am not tryin to flame you here, just letting you know how Windows works.

[Discover]

Hello Dan,

I appreciate your code for the ram drives. I've set ramdrives up on three of our computers now. 1 Win98se 2 Win Me.
I can tell you about my Win Me and the sys files, like ndis.vxd.
You can delete the file and watch it disappear to the recycle bin then waut a few seconds and Win Me puts another copy of it in the Windows\System directory. I am doing this from the explorer folder.

So anyway, I had learned about a real Mode DOS patch from http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000/
and had applied it to my 2 Win Me's before reading your post. You gave good advise about backing up the 3 sys files. Now I don't have the originals and I wish I did because I'm having trouble making it all work out.

Any body know how I can get the files from the net???

IO.SYS
REGENV32.EXE
command.com

Yes, these files are on my Win Me CD, but it is on a Hewlitt Packard CD that will only work if I restore the whole blasted system. Then I have to reinstall all other applications. Since I have already done this a few times Microsoft Office 2000 is getting suspicious of why I am having to reinstall so much and they may not give me another authorization code to reinstall Word.....

Thanks,
Ned

[dannjr]

Discover
I'm uh kinda working on them recovery files for you now if someone has them sooner please send them.. In fact when I have them I'll post them for the others that have done it in and haven't said so...
Another thing I really don't know if I like this in ME to many quirks about it..
Like yes and no it worked...
Like I ran over some of the memory usage while that was freed up quite a bit the hole system was a dog..
The only thing that seems to run alittle better it TCP/IP and browsing but not good enough to go through all of this...
But hey we know the ramdisk/ramdrive works in the other OS's
I'll work on it some more maybe I'm just approching it from the wrong angle but I don't see any real safe way to go about it...
:(
As soon as I have the files available you will to...
Ya well I didnt back up cause this aint a machine I depend on so its being reloaded..
Just so I can mess it up again...
Just don't mess with it if you don't have a strong stumack...

[ 02-22-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[dannjr]

Here are the three recovery system files for WinME I hope it helps http://humlog.homestead.com/nicksconsulting/files/recover.zip
If You need to know this is where they belong exactly on a fresh install here ya go.
REGENV32.EXE belongs in
C:\windows\system\
IO.SYS in
C:windows\command\ebd\
COMMAND.COM in
C:\windows\ and
C:\windows\command\ebd

[Mr. E]

After reading through all these postings, I have my doubts if copying certain system files to ram will have any impact on performance. As gana2k and henmaster have mentioned before, Windows automatically caches recently used files or data in RAM. I think that these system files are only read a few times at boot up and that's it. I'm currently trying to find a file access monitor to test my theory.

[Zeus]

Mr. E, I think Cleansweep will help you.

[cablenut]

Mr. E even if that was true it is what handles the memory is the key in the Ramdisk the Ramdisk.sys files handles the memory managment, in the OS it is the Kernel..

[Micro]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dannjr:
[b]WINDOWS ME

While this tweak is for WinME and it works.


Just curious, but you are aware by now that this doesn't work, right? :confused:

Until you address modifying the SFP database, ME will continue to restore the renamed files as fast as they are renamed. (In some instances this may be on the next reboot, since the vxds are already in memory and use.)
Enable the following key and you can see SFP in action.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemFileProtection]
"ShowPopups"=dword:00000001

[Micro]

Originally posted by dannjr:
Here are the three recovery system files for WinME I hope it helps http://humlog.homestead.com/nicksconsulting/files/recover.zip
If You need to know this is where they belong exactly on a fresh install here ya go.
REGENV32.EXE belongs in
C:\windows\system\
IO.SYS in
C:windows\command\ebd\
COMMAND.COM in
C:\windows\ and
C:\windows\command\ebd

Uhh, that's the wrong IO.sys file, the one you want to restore is in the root of the HD partition you installed ME to, and that is where you restore it to. (generally C :) The correct file size is 110,080 bytes.

That IO.sys (116,736 bytes) in the zip file is the EBD file and won't work as a replacement for the OS GUI file.

Hope that saves you some problems.

[dannjr]

Micro
Hi leaving WinME out of it for now till something better comes along for it like a new OS one that don't say ME on the end of it... hehehe .... This is also why I posted the recovery files for it also.... where were you a couple of day's ago..
Thanks
Dan

Mr E
What cablenut said....

Plus when win98 boots it looks at the autoexec.bat and config.sys it loads the proper named files to the ramdrive before win98 starts, and win98 only see's the files that had been moved so it uses them from there current spot based on the way win98 was built...
Next
RAMDRIVES run from the kernal there is no secret to that, it hasn't changed in over 9 or 10 years why would it be any different today...
I can pull a ramdrive.sys file out of DOS vesion 3.x, and DOS version current 7 or 8 and place them side by side open them in a editor and the only difference is one allows for a larger memory handle and it says its current version..
I have DOS version 3x running on a 8086 :) and it runs quite well to date..

Tandy 1000SL
40meg Side Drive
640kb memory
1.5meg memory card
4 voice sound
mic outlet
headset outlet
19200 kbps cardinal fax modem ISA
on chip time clock
1.44 floppy as the B: drive
1.2 floppy as A:
RGB Color monitor
DOT matrix HP printer
everything works
I'm just a collectin fool :)

[Discover]

Dan and Micro,

Thanks for the help.

I have too had xmsdsk working on Me but not too great. When I finally disabled Norton Protection off the recycle bin things smoothed out alot. However, and this goes for Win 98 as well, Setting the Temp files to the ramdisk causes problems. Download Accelerator locks up and on Me other programs seem to crash. So I now have remarked Set Temp=D:\Temp in my autoexec.bat. I'll come back later and work with it some more.

I would like to get my Windows cache to run in Ramdisk on Win98..
Speed corp suggested doing this at http://www.speedcorp.net/guides/ramdrive/
but like I said setting the Temp to ramdisk is causing other programs not to work.
Got any ideas?

On Me when running Norton scandisk I get a nasty note about running out of memory. Remove the ramdisk and it runs fine. But for Me it may be diminishing returns....

On both Os's I have set the Cache for Netscape to the ramdisk. Works fine and I think speeds browsing??

About IO.sys. Does anyone have the file Micro is talking about? I'm afraid to try yours Dan.... What do you think?

Ned

[dannjr]

Discover & Micro
I just checked and yes I do have the hidden files exposed on this WinME machine, and its very posible that the IO.sys file could be differnt due to the fact that my WinME is a Developers version from a well known source..(A partner of Microsoft)

You be the judge I don't have a retail version, and this is definetly not Beta.
It was a clean install

My install of ME is also slightly differnt in the fact that it installs to 0ver 730meg where a normal install of ME is around 600meg. At least I think its 600meg.. so anyway there could be a slight differnce...

Micro
Could you .zip one up and send It to me I'll post it.. Or you post it either way...

Discover If your gonna keep going on the winME then keep a detailed log of what you do to it... That could save you from repeating steps...

Thanks
Dan

[Micro]

Originally posted by Discover:

About IO.sys. Does anyone have the file Micro is talking about? I'm afraid to try yours Dan.... What do you think?

Ned[/B]

The IO.sys file you want is easily restored.
From the "run" line, type "msconfig", select
"extract file", then "io.sys", press start, restore from "C:\Windows\Options\Install", restore to "C:\".

[Micro]

Originally posted by dannjr:
I just checked and yes I do have the hidden files exposed on this WinME machine, and its very posible that the IO.sys file could be differnt due to the fact that my WinME is a Developers version from a well known source..(A partner of Microsoft)

Micro
Could you .zip one up and send It to me I'll post it.. Or you post it either way...

Thanks
Dan


The developer's versions I have, don't have any different versions of IO.SYS. ;)
You may just be looking in the wrong place.
The IO.sys used by Windows is in the root of the install partition. (C:\ on a regular install)(It does not appear on the CD)

The IO.sys in the Windows\command\ebd folder is only there to be copied to the "StartUp Disk", not used by the OS, as it is designed to not function with the rest of the GUI.
The difference between the 2, is that the IO.sys in the EBD allows access to real DOS, that's why it is copied to the StartUp Disk (EBD).

Oh, and I have been here since this "tweak" thread started, I just didn't have anything that needed saying until now as the discussion focused on NT/2K and Win98 versions. :D

The only way, that I know of right now, that you can get a ramdisk to run in WinMe (without downgrading and destabilizing the kernel, with that hideous me-dos patch) is with RamDisk98.
The Ramdrive.sys in Win9x depends on "real DOS mode" being fully loaded ahead of the GUI and this doesn't happen in ME.

Additionally, before you can sucessfully move protected system files to a ramdrive in ME, they have to be excluded from SFP (System File Protection) or they will be immediately restored to there designated places and ME will use them insteadof the ones you move to the ramdrive.
You can exclude files from SFP, by opening C:\Windows\System\SFP\sfpdb.sfb in any text editor and placing a ; before the line containing the file you wish to exclude.
You MUSTthen change the sfpdb.sfp file's attribute to "read-only" or it too, will be restored to it's orignal state as soon as SFP checks it.

You also want to watch out for loss of network function when moving things to a ramdrive, as drivers in ME don't take kindly to not finding files in out of the ordinary places. Your NICs may cease to function (communicate) on the first reboot AFTER moving the files.

[dannjr]

Nope that was the only IO.SYS file I have in that particullar size but then I must be special...
Since I have other things to get done all I asked is that someone upload me the IO.SYS file, so if someone needed it, that there was a backup of it someware...
Unfortunatly I really don't have time for WinME and a Ramdrive right now.. The rest of the OS ramdrives and Ramdisk works fine...

[Lobo]

Man you guys are smart, I'm still trying out how to ram this disk in :)

[Discover]

Hey guys,

I hate to bother you all again but... Now I've really screwed um Me on the 2 kids computers. Regarding restoring Me to its' pre DOS tweak: It seems that when I tweeked the io.sys file I lost the original file as well. I have tried using Your IO.SYS file Dan and I have tried using the file in the location you suggested Micro. Both cause a system halt and a message about a non system disk that needs to be removed. So if anyone has an IO.SYS file that I can try please send it to the forum or to me. Thanx.

With this ramdrive we began experiencing a low memory warning at various times. As in trying toi send an email or run sdcandisk from norton. So I have removed the ramdisk but still have the problem??? We have 256MB RAM

Got any suggestions?

I did place in the sys.ini file under vcache
minfilecache=8192
maxfilecache=8192
chunksize=512

And also followed some of the other tweaks suggested by cablenut.com. However, the low mwmory warning came only after the ramdisk and DOS conversion.

Please let me know if you guys have any ideas or IO.SYS fiels
Thanks again,
Ned

[dmsmed]

I connect at 784kbps, will this tweak benefit DSL as well?

[dannjr]

Discover
Ok I figured maybe someone may have emailed the files by now but if they haven't and I know they haven't done so for me...
Anyway have you heard of radio shack or a local computer shop I can safely say Radio Shack I hope.. there like everywhere U.S.A and there pushing WinME...
Grab a couple of floppy disks take one and copy the junk OS files to it just in case...
Next run down to the local Radio shack/ Computer shop where they have WinME running..
Hand them the disk with one of the kids standing there with a tear in the poor childs eye and say can you make me a boot disk please off the WinME machine...
If the place is worth anything they'll do it for free...
When you get back with the disk.. Boot from the floppy having copied the junk IO.SYS your relitivly safe.. Now remembering where it is on the drive find it and Delete it..along with the command.com file..
Next at the "A:\" prompt type "sys c:\" this will put the boot sector back in place.. Hopfully where it belongs... this is what it will look like on the screen. Or should.

A:\sys C:\

Yes I did try this last night on the WinME I have here it did work I also checked about the files that are on the boot disk and found that the sys.com is part of the boot disk...

heres the list of fileson the boot disk from Microsoft... http://support.microsoft.com/support /kb/articles/Q262/5/02.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=Boot%20disk&rnk=81&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WINME (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q262/5/02.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=Boot%20disk&rnk=81&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WINME)
You could also try and I did not try to extract the files from the CABS on the harddrive.. but here is a hint on how to.. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q129/6/05.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=Boot%20disk&rnk=8&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WINME
Good luck

dmsmed
Yes this will benifit you if not the speed of your connection it will by making life easier on your Harddrive its been working good on the win98 win98SE machines and the win2k machines...

Has it speed up my connection well not allot.. But it has reduced Latency related to the network drivers having to swap on the hardrive....
Have some fun with it...

WinME won't be fun just a warning.. As you can see with the problem Discover is having with it...

[ 03-03-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[Micro]

Originally posted by Discover:
Hey guys,

I hate to bother you all again but... Now I've really screwed um Me on the 2 kids computers. Regarding restoring Me to its' pre DOS tweak: It seems that when I tweeked the io.sys file I lost the original file as well. I have tried using Your IO.SYS file Dan and I have tried using the file in the location you suggested Micro. Both cause a system halt and a message about a non system disk that needs to be removed. So if anyone has an IO.SYS file that I can try please send it to the forum or to me. Thanx.

With this ramdrive we began experiencing a low memory warning at various times. As in trying to send an email or run sdcandisk from norton. So I have removed the ramdisk but still have the problem??? We have 256MB RAM

Got any suggestions?

I did place in the sys.ini file under vcache
minfilecache=8192
maxfilecache=8192
chunksize=512

And also followed some of the other tweaks suggested by cablenut.com. However, the low mwmory warning came only after the ramdisk and DOS conversion.

Please let me know if you guys have any ideas or IO.SYS fiels
Thanks again,
Ned

All you really need is already on your system. :cool:
What you want to do is reverse the changes that crappy MeDos patch performs.

Edit "C:\CONFIG.SYS" and "C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT" changing them as described below:

* Remove from "CONFIG.SYS" the line: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS.
* Remove from the bottom of "AUTOEXEC.BAT" the line: C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM.

Using Msconfig.exe with the "extract file" command, restore the following files from C:\Windows\Options\Install -

* "IO.SYS" to "C:\".
* "COMMAND.COM" to both "C:\WINDOWS\" and "C:\".
* "REGENV32.EXE" to "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM".

AFAIK, these are the only changes the MeDos patch makes by default. You MUST restore them ALL, BEFORE allowing the system to reboot.

The problem with this patch, is that while WinME is based on the Win9x kernel and it's supporting files, it is NOT the Win9x kernel and it's supporting files. The distinction between the two is important, not only to stability, but compatibility with the OS's supporting files and drivers.

That, and the fact that the author of the patch was conceited enough (or inexperienced enough) not to bother even posting directions for it's removal. :mad:

Hope that solves your problems.

BTW - forget the vcache settings, they've been virtually useless as a tweak since vcaching was improved after Win95. The Vcache is dynamic to allow for best performance on an overall basis. Making it static only hinders performance on a PC that is not dedicated to a single (or very few) task(s). Most home PCs have to be able to perform many varied tasks and while a static vcache may speed up a couple, it will slow down others.

[dannjr]

Thanks Micro :) U just reminded me of something here you don't want to run vcache at all.. in winME...

[Micro]

Originally posted by dannjr:
Thanks Micro :) U just reminded me of something here you don't want to run vcache at all.. in winME...

I'm not sure you meant that exactly as you stated it. :confused:
But you certainly don't want to run any version of Win9x with vcache disabled, if you intend to get any thing done. That's one of the easiest ways there is to see Blue screens on a PC thats not dedicated to a single task.

[dannjr]

Originally posted by Micro:
I'm not sure you meant that exactly as you stated it. :confused:
But you certainly don't want to run any version of Win9x with vcache disabled, if you intend to get any thing done. That's one of the easiest ways there is to see Blue screens on a PC thats not dedicated to a single task.
Im sorry it was early... :)
WinME does not like second party vcache added to the system.ini...It makes the harddrive to strange things....
There was nothing meant by it.. Thanks

Peace :)

[ 03-03-2001: Message edited by: dannjr ]

[Discover]

Thanks Dan and Micro,

I tried both methods of restoring IO.SYS COMMAND.COM and REGENV32.EXE without success.

Dan with your method:

I had made a startup floppy when installing Me and had already tried copying the IOS.YS and COMMAND.COM from it. In explorer I removed the hidden and archive attributes and then rebooted from the floppy then copying to respective directories in C:. However, the startup disk does not contain the REGENV.EXE.

After copying the IO and COMMAND files and removing the IFSHLP.SYS and WIN.COM files I reboot and get the message: Invalid system disk Replace the disk, and then press any key

Micro with your method:

The 3 files are not located in
C:\Windows\Options\Install

There is a IO.SYS in C:\windows\command\EBD.
I tried it but it didn't work.

I cannot find any unaltered REGENV32.EXE on the hard drive. I even looked in zipped files in the CAB area.

This is why I am still asking for copies of these files.
Thanks again,
Ned

PS:

My system is an HP Pavillion that I recently purchased. The CD that came with the system only works on the Pavillion computer. In order to access files on the CD I have to restore the entire system. This wipes out all the other applications like Microsoft Word. This sucks! I know the files I need are on the CD but I don't know how to break in to get them!

[Buggyman]

er...Micro ?
I run the Vcache settings in my win/98se and it works fine! No Blue screens!

[Micro]

Originally posted by Discover:
[My system is an HP Pavillion that I recently purchased. The CD that came with the system only works on the Pavillion computer. In order to access files on the CD I have to restore the entire system. This wipes out all the other applications like Microsoft Word. This sucks! I know the files I need are on the CD but I don't know how to break in to get them![/B]

Ahh, yes, the old restore CD BS.
I sent the files zipped to your E-mail addy in your profile.
Let me know if they don't get there for some reason. :D

[Micro]

Originally posted by Buggyman:
er...Micro ?
I run the Vcache settings in my win/98se and it works fine! No Blue screens!

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. :D

Seriously though, I take it you don't do a lot of graphics, cad, or database work?
Or keep the machine up 24/7?
The longer the OS stays up and in use without rebooting with a static vcache, the greater odds. It's just a waiting game. The more memory intensive usage, the sooner it happens.
You can run a static vcache with gaming and "general" use machines, but if you use yours for serious work , I'd highly recommend against it.
If it works for you, great !
But I think you'd be hard pressed to show any real improvements in speed or stability.

[Buggyman]

Originally posted by Micro:
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. :D
How did you know I was blind???

Seriously though, I take it you don't do a lot of graphics, cad, or database work?
Nope just Internet browsing and Chatting.

Or keep the machine up 24/7?
Now that I do!

The longer the OS stays up and in use without rebooting with a static vcache, the greater odds. It's just a waiting game. The more memory intensive usage, the sooner it happens.
Well... I do reboot after tweaking.

You can run a static vcache with gaming and "general" use machines, but if you use yours for serious work , I'd highly recommend against it.
Browsing the Internet not serious?... You're kidding right?

If it works for you, great !
It does

But I think you'd be hard pressed to show any real improvements in speed or stability.
Well on that point you are right because My PROVIDER has admitted they have problems. So it's too early to tell on that yet.

The point I'm making is that we can't assume one thing over another.
I think Cablenut has done me a GREAT favor by some of the tweakings he's gave me.I'm not up to spec as outlined by my provider because of what is THEIR problem. But Cablenut has helped me gain some of it back.

All this means one thing, Tweaking is setting up your pc to what works BEST for you!
Peace Friend :D

[ 03-04-2001: Message edited by: Buggyman ]

[ 03-04-2001: Message edited by: Buggyman ]

[mrloc]

Hey guys... I've got the tweak to work with MSTCP.DLL,NDIS.VXD, and VTCP.386....I want to know what other internet related files I could add to speed up my system. I'm on cable running 98se. Any help would be usefull. Thanks

[ 03-04-2001: Message edited by: mrloc ]

[dannjr]

mrloc
You can add the Winsocks...
As outlined on page 7 of this thread by JonG..
A couple of people have tryed adding IE into it also..

Discover
Keep us up to date...
I hope the files Micro sent helped...
Micro thanks...

Guys what can I say... this aint a vcache debate.. We could start a new thread on vcache and list the several sizes to make and why...Like, Large small medium
server/games/photo/power user/
In fact heres a progy that will allow you to setit many differnt ways...
It's free and only for win95 and win98.. http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/cb.htm
have fun with it...

[Eike]

Hi all,
just wondering, if you are sure this tweak can speed up anything at all. From what i understand, ndis.vxd and all the other drivers are loaded into memory once you start your online-journey. After that all the needed drivers will stay in memory - at least if you don't use a swap-file whatsoever.
How can a ram-drive be faster than anything actually loaded into your ram?

I guess there will be an advantage, if you have very small amount of ram and your system pages a lot to your swapfile, but with 256+ MB ram you won't touch that a single time.

Nevertheless i tested the tweak. The creation of the ram-drive worked flawless (btw: there is no need for compatible-mode, just use: XMSDSK 2048 G: /C1 /T /Y and you are set). The files are copied over to the ramdrive and internet-, gamingaccess etc. worked without any problems. BUT there is no difference in speed or throughput or whatsoever. And that seems to me the proof of what i guessed above.

But i am openminded to every input concerning this topic. Maybe my thoughs are totally wrong. Any hint will be welcome.

Stay tuned, Eike

[Eike]

Just forgot to mention, that i use win98 se.

[dmsmed]

What is the minimum amount of RAM required for this tweak in W98 & W2000?

Does this tweak write the web pages to the ram-drive as well?

Eike,
I can't see how this tweak would improve throughput, but it's obvious it would help latency. As I mentioned in another threat it would be cool would be to get the DNS to cache to the ram-drive.

[Bigpoppapump]

Has anyone put together some instructions for this tweak somewhere? Like Cablenut or DannyJr? Im dying to try this out.

[dannjr]

Eike
where did you get the command lines for the XMSDSK 2048 G: /C1 /T /Y There is no documentation on the added command lines when I went to use the added command lines the way you have them there it simply bypassed the xmsdsk...
I'll work on this later.. Why don't you copy & paste your autoexec and config here so I can see it better in my own head...

As far as memory management here...
Its gonna save the hardrive from having to swap the info back and forth all the time reducing Latency or here is a quote below from cablenut

"First let us try to understand what a .sys file goes through...
In Windows 2000 it has 2 pools of phyiscal memory it uses for kernel modem activities.

NON_PAGED POOL

and PAGED_POOL

NON_PAGED pool is memory that cannot be written to disk and is resident in memory all the time (once it is loaded it is "locked" in the memory).

PAGE_POOL is memory that can be written to disk and resident in memory whenever nescassary (can be loaded/unloaded from pool).

Windows 2000 loads .sys files to the PAGED_POOL

Each sys has its own memory address where it is loaded i.e. the 0x748b1824 hex address (to be fancy it is called a kernel mode address).

Notice how when you try to move a .sys file on the hard drive it won't let you it will say it is "in use" this means a .sys has some hard drive queries...

--------------------

Head webcheese and geek guru @ http://www.cablenut.com
sorry for not retyping all the other info on how it works but most of this has been asked and answered in earlier post unless you or I are missing something here...

dmsmed
Its only using 1 meg of ram to run the randrive and ramdisk I have ran this on as low as 32meg installed on win98

DNS theres a good question since I just got back I really havent had time to play with it but this might be a good thing to look into


Bigpoppapump
page three about half way down for win2k for about two pages there is a good start...
by cablenut here in the thread
ANd for win98/win95 on page 7 by JonG
Will it get up on one of the web sites eventually...

Did I
miss anything :)

[dmsmed]

In W2k exactly what does this tweak run on the ramdisk/ramdrive which wasn't running on it before?

[dannjr]

Win2k= ramdisk
Win98 & Win95= ramdrive

Unless you use the third party software...
Personally I like the Microsoft files there more stable...