In Windows ME with all updates, I wanted to try real-mode drivers for my CS4236B 
onboard sound, since the Win98 drivers seem to be a little buggy in WinME.  

I removed traces of the old (win9x) drivers through [ System Properties -> Device 
Manager ] and [ Control Panel -> Sounds and Multimedia -> Devices ]

Then I ran the setup program for the Win 3.1 drivers.  Everything went fine, rebooted, 
got a 'VSNDSYS.386 not present' error.  So I added "device=vsndsys.386" to the [386enh] 
section of the system.ini file (tried both 'msconfig.exe' and a regular text editor). 
 Everything worked great the next reboot (sound worked fine), but Windows ME seems 
to automatically delete the new entry from system.ini .  

I am running the patched IO.SYS / COMMAND.COM so that I can load the real-mode driver 
in CONFIG.SYS.  

I should probably note that when I run 'msconfig', I get an error that it cannot 
sync the environment variables.  This has happened only since I patched the startup 
files and created AUTOEXEC.BAT & CONFIG.SYS.  

Tip: Run a free scan for common Windows errors ad

re: System.ini entry gone on reboot Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 2:16 pm Posted by madman420 (15 messages posted) Well, I really looked around for an answer and I think my situation is pretty rare. I decided to just make a workaround for the system.ini lines that Windows ME is automatically removing every reboot. I added a line to c:\autoexec.bat that over-writes the c:\windows\system.ini file with a replacement system.ini file that has the entries that keep getting removed: copy d:\dos\system.ini c:\windows\system.ini This 'fixes' the change WinME makes on every reboot by simply overwriting those changes with mine the next time the PC starts. (I'm using the patched start-up files to allow for autoexec.bat/config.sys) It seems that the "Unable to synchronize the environment variables..." error with 'msconfig' is caused by trailing spaces in autoexec.bat and menu entries in config.sys. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: System.ini entry gone on reboot Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 1:58 pm Posted by Ed (741 messages posted) Your actions are unwise! Windows ME is trying to protect you from a Blue Screen Of Death, by refusing to load (incompatible) Windows 3.1 drivers. You NEED the Win98 drivers, as a Win3.1 file is NOT a real mode (i.e. a DOS) driver: it is an (incompatible) protected mode driver. Ed On Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 2:16 pm, madman420 wrote: >Well, I really looked around for an answer and I think my situation is pretty rare. > I decided to just make a workaround for the system.ini lines that Windows ME is >automatically removing every reboot. > >I added a line to c:\autoexec.bat that over-writes the c:\windows\system.ini file >with a replacement system.ini file that has the entries that keep getting removed: > >copy d:\dos\system.ini c:\windows\system.ini > >This 'fixes' the change WinME makes on every reboot by simply overwriting those changes >with mine the next time the PC starts. (I'm using the patched start-up files to >allow for autoexec.bat/config.sys) > >It seems that the "Unable to synchronize the environment variables..." error with >'msconfig' is caused by trailing spaces in autoexec.bat and menu entries in config.sys. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: System.ini entry gone on reboot Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 2:23 pm Posted by madman420 (15 messages posted) Okay... I can see why you are a windows user. My actions are not unwise. Microsoft went to extra lengths to "disable" DOS-mode drivers (and even DOS-mode itself) with Windows ME - everyone knows that. But, for the most part, Windows ME is just Windows 98 SE with some updates & less compatibility testing. The driver that I speak of *WORKS* in Windows ME just fine. As a matter of fact, it seems to work better than the Win98 driver (for CS4236B sound). I have *patched* start-up files: command.com, io.sys, and regenv32.exe - which effectively re-enable the DOS-mode (If you boot from the "emergency boot disk" or the Windows ME CD-ROM, you get real-mode DOS, that's what these patches use). I have used the patches for years with no trouble at all (besides the fact that the startup logo doesn't appear). This is my first shot at loading real-mode or 16-bit protected-mode drivers in the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. Like I said, everything works when I try it, however, when I reboot, *my* settings get wiped out (in system.ini). OpenWatcom (a sophisticated C/C++ development environment) supplies DOS, Win16, and Win32 facilities for debugging purposes; *their* line (for a 16-bit virtual device driver) doesn't get removed: device=C:\WATCOM\binw\wdebug.386 There must be some workaround for this (some registry setting?) Thanks for reading my posts, but if you don't have any information that could lead to a solution, don't tell me what color to paint my bikeshed. Thanks. On Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 1:58 pm, Ed wrote: >Your actions are unwise! Windows ME is trying to protect you from a Blue Screen Of >Death, by refusing to load (incompatible) Windows 3.1 drivers. You NEED the Win98 >drivers, as a Win3.1 file is NOT a real mode (i.e. a DOS) driver: it is an (incompatible) >protected mode driver. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Incompatible protected mode drivers Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 9:44 pm Posted by Ed (741 messages posted) I upgraded from Win3.1 to Win98 myself, so I've experienced this same problem - many many years ago! The answer is that the 16-bit protected mode Win3.1 driver you are loading is incompatible with your 32-bit Win98 hardware: Windows is detecting the incompatibility, and is deleting the driver from system.ini (so that it does not load), as the alternative to offering you the Blue Screen Of Death. The solution is to upgrade to a 32-bit Win98 protected mode driver (e.g. from www.DriverGuide.com). You appear to believe that protected mode Win3.1 drivers function like real mode DOS drivers. They do not. Real mode (i.e. DOS) drivers will function correctly under Win98/ME, since DOS still underlies the 9x O/S; but it is not possible to fool the 9x O/S into loading an incompatible (i.e. Win3.1) protected mode driver. There is no workaround for an incompatible protected mode (i.e. non-DOS) driver. The only protected mode drivers that Win 9x will load are Win 9x drivers. Ed On Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 2:23 pm, madman420 wrote: >Okay... I can see why you are a windows user. My actions are not unwise. Microsoft >went to extra lengths to "disable" DOS-mode drivers (and even DOS-mode itself) with >Windows ME - everyone knows that. But, for the most part, Windows ME is just Windows >98 SE with some updates & less compatibility testing. The driver that I speak of >*WORKS* in Windows ME just fine. As a matter of fact, it seems to work better than >the Win98 driver (for CS4236B sound). I have *patched* start-up files: command.com, >io.sys, and regenv32.exe - which effectively re-enable the DOS-mode (If you boot >from the "emergency boot disk" or the Windows ME CD-ROM, you get real-mode DOS, that's >what these patches use). > >I have used the patches for years with no trouble at all (besides the fact that the >startup logo doesn't appear). This is my first shot at loading real-mode or 16-bit >protected-mode drivers in the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. Like I said, everything >works when I try it, however, when I reboot, *my* settings get wiped out (in system.ini). > OpenWatcom (a sophisticated C/C++ development >environment) supplies DOS, Win16, and Win32 facilities for debugging purposes; *their* >line (for a 16-bit virtual device driver) doesn't get removed: >device=C:\WATCOM\binw\wdebug.386 > >There must be some workaround for this (some registry setting?) > >Thanks for reading my posts, but if you don't have any information that could lead >to a solution, don't tell me what color to paint my bikeshed. > Thanks. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Incompatible protected mode drivers Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 11:58 pm Posted by madman420 (15 messages posted) You're dumb. 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