My son is attempting to install windows 98. He has entered the product code
and it came up in Safe Mode. When he restarted, he got an MDIS error. What is
this and how can he correct it?

"Dab" <Dab@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FDD04F9C-5E98-4155-8F17-C6E0B93C7B12@microsoft.com...

Is this an older machine or a new one?

If it's an older machine...I'd probably run a ram test first.


If it's a new machine...win98 can have problems with some of the newer
hardware...such as lack of drivers etc.

If the machine has more than 512 megs of ram...
do the installation with only 512 megs...
then post back for instructions as how to modify vcache settings

Are you sure you don't mean an "NDIS" error?

Windows protection error in NDIS with a CPU that is faster than 2.1 GHz
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312108

The issue is only supposed to occur with Win98 original version (First Edition, or
FE), not with Win98SE (Second Edition).
Is your processor 2.1GHz or faster? Are you installing Win98, or Win98SE?

For Win98FE, there was a hotfix available to correct this, but MS pulled all special
hotfixes when the Win98 support period ended, despite repeated requests from a
number of MVPs that they keep the hotfixes available.....their legal department
nixed the idea.

The hotfix (for Win98FE only) used to be available from other sources
online...Google for the file named: 312108usa8.exe and you will likely find some
sources for it. As untrusted sources, you must check them for viruses and other
malware.

Post back with the further info requested re: your processor and operating system.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm


"Dab" <Dab@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FDD04F9C-5E98-4155-8F17-C6E0B93C7B12@microsoft.com...

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
news:eYfIm8gVIHA.2368@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

The catch is that the NDIS FIX file 312108usa8.exe is itself
a Windows file, i.e. will not run at a DOS prompt, thus is of
no value to someone prevented by the NDIS error from
installing Windows. (MS did not respond when notified of
this approx. 2003. . . )

But there are random factors as well. The NDIS problem
(in my experience) occurred at one of the reboots integral
to installation of Win98 (and may have been a divide-by-zero
error but by persistence I found that at the 6th or 8th attempt
the error simply did not occur and installation completed normally.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

replies inline.....
"Don Phillipson" <ey925@ncfSPAMBLOCK.ca> wrote in message
news:e4jSrfkVIHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
That's simple enough to work around, if you have access to another computer with a
floppy drive, preferably with WinZip installed on it. Save the update
312108usa8.exe to that other computer (friend, library, whatever), then right-click
it and select Open with WinZip. In WinZip, extract the single file, ndis.vxd, to a
floppy disk, then bring the floppy to the problem computer, copy the file from the
floppy to the Windows\System folder using the COPY command from DOS, and overwrite
the existing file.


Well, if the error occurs during installation, it makes it more difficult, but you
may be able to pause the installer while you perform the switch I describe above.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
news:eQkBcolVIHA.4448@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...


The win98 patch has a self-extracing switch option /c /t:<path>
so you don't even need winzip.

The fast cpu patch for win95 was the same.

of course IIRC it still has a gui-based interface that needs to run

"philo" wrote in message news:ucLUevqVIHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
Yes, you can use the command line switches to extract the files. However, you don't
need to run any gui-based interface to copy the updated ndis.vxd from the location
you extract the files, to the Windows\System folder. All you need is the DOS COPY
command.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
news:eQkBcolVIHA.4448@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

OK, we are very nearly there thanks to GV, but
not quite. . . . Details to be posted later with the Final Solution.

MS file 312108usa8.exe runs in Safe Mode and writes to
c:\windows\system the NDIS.VXD file (version 4.10.2224.)
The catch is that there are earlier versions (mostly 4.10.1998)
in the instal CDs (in NET9.CAB) and during the OS instal
process these overwrite c:\windows\system\NDIS.VXD
even if the new file has been put there and made RO. So . . .

What DOS tool can be used to compact the good NDIS.VXD
and put it into NET9.CAB (already copied to the hard drive.)
This seems well worth trying. (I won't say how many times
installation crapped out at the first reboot, because I do not
understand how, years ago, installation of Win98FE on a
2.8 GHz PC worked OK at the 5th or 6th trial . . .

Once that is done, results can be neatly summarized (with
a note on multiple variants of NDIS.VXD) and we can keep
Win98 running until the cows come home.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

in Safe Mode and writes to


I live in the state of Wisconsin...
Cows come home pretty frequently here...
thus no win98 on fast machines <grin>

"Don Phillipson" <ey925@ncfSPAMBLOCK.ca> wrote in message
news:eCspSWvVIHA.3452@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
If there are any DOS tools that allow you to add or replace files in a .CAB file, I
am not aware of them. Perhaps this can be manipulated to do what you want....I
don't know:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~pittman/arch..._cabinet_files

The only consumer product I found that claims to be able to do this from Windows, is
WinAce, which is not free:
http://www.winace.com/

From their description:
- compression of the following formats: ACE, ZIP, LHA, MS-CAB, JAVA JAR
- decompression of: ACE, ZIP, LHA, MS-CAB, RAR, ARC, ARJ, GZip, TAR, ZOO, JAR

You *could* copy the .cab file in question from the one computer to a floppy, using
DOS commands, then bring the .cab on the floppy to a Windows machine and use
something like WinAce to replace the ndis.vxd in the .cab with the newer version,
then copy the updated .cab back to the old computer from the floppy disk.

That's all I've been able to come up with thus far.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

glee wrote:

Make .cab files with:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;310618&

Aha! In all these years I never knew about that useful freebie.
My own dilemma was solved by reinstal from scratch from
a Win98SE CD with the later NDIS.VXD. (There turned out to
be at least four sizes or dates of this file, but I think all those
compiled in year 1999 work OK.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)