This guy I just got some free old stuff from (TV, VCR, Stereo stuff) has this AST Ascentia M Series lappy, sporting a whopping 266mhz cpu & 64mb EDO ram. It has WinME on it, though I am quite sure that's not the OS it came with new. Looks like a clean ME install though, as I didn't see the W95 or 98 pieces in folders like update CD's leave behind.

It was loaded with junk. AVG with pieces of the original Norton still there. Yahoo everything. IncrediMail everything.
Booted super SUPER slow. I got it going better by removing all the junk. The lappy came from somebody else I know, and this guy just wants to play the games on it - you know, the hearts, solitaire, etc.

I started running into problems with lockups occurring randomly, like there just wasn't enough memory. Also took some trickery to get a real mouse (USB) recognized, so I could avoid the touchpad.
It was getting better and better, well as much as a 266mhz can get I guess.
AVG would NOT fully uninstall, giving me some BS about local machine installation failed and access is denied blah blah. I figured to use the AVG uninstaller we link here.
Same goes for the Norton pieces left behind. It was listed in Add/remove but crapped out on the uninstall there with a unable to locate the installation log file BS.

Problem one is, this ME won't auto detect FULLY any of my pen drives.
It is supposed to see them and install without any pointing to drivers BS. It sees and even names the drive correctly, then asks for files it should have. NO FLOPPY DRIVE here.
Only ONE usb port, where I have the extra mouse at.

I gave up on the usb drives for now, and tried to finish the rest of the trimming. The TIF's, cookies, temp. Done.

NOW comes a weirdo dealie.
I tired a PS2 mouse to free up the lone USB port (see fine on boot), but when I tried to run a scandisk/thorough, the scan stopped UNLESS I kept moving the mouse pointer while over the scan window. If I stopped moving, or had the pointer off the window, the scan stopped.

I went back to the USB mouse and re-ran scandisk. DONE.

Now comes Defrag. I have the AV "mostly" removed, and definately not running, and the screenie off. Turned defrag on and left the room.
Came back later to find it frozen solid on 10%, though likely it was 10-50% as I remember it stays at 10% for a bit even when it further.

ONLY way to get unfrozen was to pull the plug.

RESULT:

"The following file is missing or corrupted
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32.VXD

Type the name of the Windows Loader (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32.VXD)"

I actually typed that at the prompt, and it gave me some more BS and returned to the same message.

That' where I am at with it.

I do not have any CD (original or winME) with it.
I have a WinME for HP in a pile.
I have a old compaq desktop rig with WinME installed and working, but no CD for that (as yet - might be found yet).

With no floppy, trying to go DOS with CDROM and install a single file may be a trick. I can burn a boot disk on CDR from the Compaq WinME.

Obviously a new install would be better, but all I can put on is Win98SE unless the HP WinME CD will let me do a repair?

What A drag.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 0

Might want to read this article.

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/news/news10.htm

That may have had 98 on it. Possibly 95 originally.

In response to Reply # 0

That file is a hardware library that gets built at the time of install.

It's probably there and may not be corrupted either.

You can try and copy one from another machine, and it may work even if the hat=rdware is different.

It can also happen if a driver is loaded wierd or a change is made. M$ has a KB on the Umax scanner driver mess-ups, but it could be lots of things.


(Lots and lots.)

LurkHere

In response to Reply # 2

Decided to give booting in safe mode a try.
Didn't get very far.
Got the following message again,

"Yor program caused a divide overflow error."

Had that before, followed by the File missing or corrupted stuff.
This time that part was left out.

Meanwhile, I got one of those adapters to use a laptop drive and connect it to a regular ATA ribbon cable. Did that on another lappy to recover all the stuff - dead video on that one.

Well, the computer does not see the drive when attached to this adapter. I wonder if it is because this lappy drive is ATA-3 vintage.
The drive from the dead screen lappy was an ATA-5, like my lappy has.

AND, I got another item from the pile of parts I aquired. There is this USB box you stick lappy drives in a clone to a new drive in the lappy. You can do other things as well. BUT, that too would not show this ATA-3 thing. I didn't install that USB dealie's software, as I doubt it will help. But, maybe.

One thing I noticed, the ATA-3 drive has the jumper pins closer together than the usual (ATA-5) drives. Maybe thinner prongs to.
Had a hard time getting it jumped for slave. Ended up using a clip from mini jumper wire. This still failed to get the drive seen.

I was looking at USB floppy drives, as I was thinking of getting one for my lappy one day anyway. Thing is, do these USB floppies get seen before the OS boots, so that it would work for using bootdisks, let alone accessing for moving files to and from?
If it needs to have the OS going, that's no option.

Then I am back to making up a CDRW with files (and bootdisk files) to copy over using DOS commands.

Would have been so much better if the drive would have been seen with that adapter.

Found the VMM32.vxd on the desktop with WinME, and it's quite big on that box. 1000+k worth.

If I can be sure Win98SE would load enough drivers and/or I could score them for that old of a lappy, I would just redo the drive with 98. WinME is supposed to see all these USB devices without needing drivers - not this lappy.

I wonder if there is a way to implement the system restore through DOS?

OR, if I had my hands on a WinME retail like version, it might do a repair for me. And if the CPU were bigger on this, I could use WinXP on it. I had XP running on a AMD 550 mhz box with a 4g drive. Was fine.

IOW's, I am still looking for an easy out on this. Trains link info does not sound like a fun exercise.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 3

WinME, depending on the motherboard, could well have USB troubles just like 98 did. Run into a few of them and then you had to have the right driver too.

Try reading the drive with XP or above.

In response to Reply # 4
Sun May-30-10 06:41 AM by Ghouldini

OK, hooked it up to a winXP rig.
The adapter failed once again to show something.
Then I put it in that other USB thing.
Hooked to the front USB port, which goes thru a Koutech 2.0 PCI card, the sucker was finally seen, but was major slow to do anything.

I then moved the USB cord to the back of the rig where the jack is 1.1 (directly off thye mobo), and it went better.

I renamed the VMM32.vxd file in Windows/system to old, and copied the one over from the Compaq WinME install. It showed`as the same size as the stocker was.

I then went into the VMM32 folder, where no files are showing.
On the Compaq, there is a bunch in there.
EDIT - not a bunch, just one. Not sure where I saw that bunch.?

My guess is that is where the defrag croaked, while moving those files. So one or more of those could be missing or damaged. I don't know which ones were in there, but I could copy over the ones from the Compaq VMM32 folder.

I also have access to the restore folder, but not sure that will do me any good from the XP OS.

Going by the Repair VMM link earlier, Don't know how to access registry info how I got it now, to see a list of what was there.

And now that it is showing, I aint stopping that lappy drive.
I'll dig up another monitor get the Compaq booted up for some file grabs I guess.

EDIT - I copied the ONE file from the Compaq folder and stuck it in the empty AST lappies empty vmm32 folder.
On boot up it said windows didn't finish and recommended safe mode. IOW's F8 action screen, though I didn't hit F8.
Went with safe mode and got the same overflow message.
Tried again with normal boot, and got the message plus the missing corrupt same old vmm32.vxd thing.

Maybe it's the registry where it got hosed.
Or there were more vxd files in that folder.
I quit for now. Nap time.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 5

OH yeah, want to add the following info:

From 1st post, I said.........
"The following file is missing or corrupted
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32.VXD

Type the name of the Windows Loader (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32.VXD)"

I actually typed that at the prompt, and it gave me some more BS and returned to the same message."

That BS was the following:
"XMS cache problem. Registry services may be inoperative for this session."

-------

I have been googling the 2 errors. Came up with some stuff to try.

I also forgot to mention something that may apply here.
Other than defrag quitting, and thus the file it was on when it froze being the cause of this, I before that did some trimming. The usual stuff.
BUT< I also removed a line from one of the .ini using msconfig about a printer that no longer will be used and had also zapped printer and scanner software from Add/remove. I wiped this line after add/remove, since I felt it might hasten boot time since it won't be looking for any non-existant printer, especially with the software being gone now.

I should have remmed it out instead, but then again that may have no connection to this bootup problem.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 6

And some more info -----

"If vmm32.vxd cannot be found, or is damaged, you must reinstall Windows (the file is created when windows is installed.

It cannot be copied from any source.)"


SO, copying the same file from the Compaq sounds like it wouldn't work if that was it.

NEXT, ran Hitachi Drive Test.
Results are:

"One or more corrupted sectors found"

1. Erase disk - entire disk will be rewritten
2. Sector Repair - corrupted sectors are rewritten

Note - Erase - blah blah
.....- Repair will cause data loss in the repaired file...."


SO, either the corrupt sector(s) are from the defrag freezing, or the corrupt sectors caused the defrag fail, and maby they are bad sectors not just corrupt.


My Ultimate Boot disk would not spin up in this lappy, but the Hitachi one did.

Should I let HDT fix the sectors, or try to go bootdisk and get system restore to run first?

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 7

Try the Sector repair first.

Until that is straightened out. . . .
All else is a waste of time.

In response to Reply # 8

While he library is built at install, you can try and copy one. (You'll Google where it has worked. It's a crap shoot from either end.)

If it was a Umax scanner... there is a M$KB on it.

LurkHere

In response to Reply # 9
Mon May-31-10 07:50 PM by Ghouldini

No umax scanner software was on it. Epson scanner and some printer stuff which I forget now the brand. Not HP, maybe Lexmark.
Removed that crap in add/remove.

One sector repair went thru. I think. I was outside weed-whacking, and came in to find some result info, which I didn't recognize.

Tried booting, still same error. I didn't think that would change, just thought to try it. Then I re-ran the HDFT and it still said it found corrupt sector(s). So I am running the sector repair again.

If that don't get rid of the corrupt sector finds, those might be BAD sectors and need to be marked as such. That option was not there, but I've seen it in other apps. SInce I don't have a retail WinME, and don't have drivers I could load with 98SE, I don't want to do the wipe job. And if they are BAD sectors, then wiping will not solve the problem. Eventually something will get screwed again.

Unless of course that lappy is so old, that any drivers it needs might already be in Win98SE, and then I could use that.

I am going to try the boot disk CD I made to get system restore to run whether or not this sucker still trows corrupt sectors to the HDFT app.

Maybe if I can get it back to booting up, I can use scandisk to mark the bad sectors.

----------

EDIT - test fix results same as before:

Drive info ----
Serial number K3456606

Failure code : 0x70 - defective devices


I am guessing this means BAD sectors. Not just corrupt.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 10

Going to need to zero write the drive, better yet get a different hdd.
Found that Failure code : 0x70 - defective devices showed up a lot for IBM hdds. And the Low Level was recommended.

DBAN will do the same thing but using the default setting, it lay 3 layers and bury the problem.

Check you PMs.

In response to Reply # 11

PM sent.


Tried the boot CD I made. Followed instruction page that said how to use a boot disk to get WinME's restore going.
Had to edit system.ini to run progman.exe.

I remember doing that once before way back.
Anyway, I got an error trying to open sys.ini.

I tried to dos the file list with "dir" and it scrolld so fast I can't hit the pause fast enough to see if sys.ini is indeed in the windows folder. I will have to put it back in the USB device that let me see it earlier.
That's if I want to continue to try getting it back as it was before the freeze out.

----

For this thread, the lappy in question here came with Win95 originally, and was then upped to WinME - I think by a clean install, no upgrade/overwrite deal.
Only drivers found online appear to end at Win95 and WinNT.
If so, the original owner who gave this lappy to somebody I know, either had access something I can't find or WinME has all the drivers with it to complete the install.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 12

The dir /P

Pauses after each screenful of information.


And as refresher.
http://www.computerhope.com/dirhlp.htm

In response to Reply # 13

Yeah that worked, and showed it is there, but I still get an error while the loading sys.ini window is up.
That was a M$ article telling me how to get it to run.

Ahhhh, enough of this for tonight. Think I got a sun burn on the back of my neck to deal with now. Seems it was mostly cloudy while I was weed-whacking, WTF.
No ozone left folks. We all gonna die soon.
2012 Dec. The Mayans say so.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 14

UPDATE

I gave up on trying to invoke the system restore, and proceeded with sector repair using Hitachi Drive Fitness Test. 2 runs of that failed to get a clear reading.
Next up went with the Erase drive option. 2 passes there, and 1 SeaTools zero write, failed to clear the drive.

I used Partition Magic 8 to format/partition, and then tried to install Win98SE. That told me it couldn't read the last sector.
I proceeded anyway, and 98 ran its full scandisk routine, which shows you the blocks of sectors as they get scanned. At 83% the scan quit, without any error or 98 marking the area bad. It just hung.

So I wiped the partition back to unallowcated space, and redid the primary partition with PM8 but only around 3 gig in size. I left the remainder as unallocated space. That area should have covered the "bad" sector(s) area.

Now Win98SE install proceeded. All was well until the CD drive started getting snippy and not seeing where some files were on the install CD when restart started asking for drivers for things.
Some of course were not on the CD.
When I got it running enough to hit the desktop, I loaded my pen drive drivers so I could move files from the other Win98SE computer and any files I tracked down off the web.

Finding the files even with google is no easy task. Most of the F'ers want to load some stupid driver scan software, instead of just giving you the darn download. Further complicating things, were, the company AST who made the lappy, went thru 2 new owners before disappearing back in 2002. Fortunately, there was the "way Back Machine" and their caching of sites web pages, over the years. I found the DL pages, and even more surprising was that they cached the actuall downloads.
Unfortunately, these were no higher than Win95 or WinNT drivers. I figured I could maybe still use them in Win98, so I grabbed a bunch.

I ended up using none, as I found the 98 drivers with better google search wording and persistance. Only the video driver was I forced to use a Win95 version, a german site one at that. It works, fine, but if I up the color to "True" from "High", the window shrinks in size.
So I left it at "High".

Even the Zonet modem card (plugs in slot) I got the driver for.
But trying to setup an internet connection with the connection wizard gets me the error :
"Cannot load the Remote Network Access Library {RASAPI32.DLL}. The following error occurred: The system cannot find the file specified."

The file is where it is supposed to be. Since I did get that card installed last, maybe during install some file still needed didn't get installed, causing the RASAPI32 from working.
Don't really matter, since the Zonet card has a weird slot to connect to a phone line. Meaning it needs a special cable/adapter, which isn't with this laptop.

SO, it's running pretty good so far, and I got the M$ security CD (Sp1 + some more gunk) loaded as well.
Of course that stupid M$ CD loads WMP 9 without asking you.
And there is still the issue of just how long this drive will stay OK.

Been looking at eBay for possible replacements if the lappy owner wants to go that route. I could use a higher end (more recent) drive I have left over from another lappy I worked on earlier.
Right now it's loaded with wimpy games I had socked away. More than what it had. I even had a copy of "Elf Bowling" which it had before the wipe.
It actually boots pretty good now, for a 266mhz.
64mb ram was more than I had with my HP6330 back in 98/99/00.
Still, I'll up that for them if I run into any freebie sticks.
Currently (2) 32mb sticks of 60ns 144p EDO SODIMM 3.3v

Thanks for the help everyone.

If anyone knows about the stupid internet connection error, it would be interesting to figure that out, in case I find a way to connect the modem card to a phone line.
There WAS a normal hole in the lappy for the usual phone jack, but it's cover plated. No modem inside. Just these 2 card slots. The Zonet's a 56k V.92, surprisingly.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 15
Thu Jun-03-10 02:09 AM by ADZIRK

An oldie but goodie site

http://www.useyourbrain.co.uk/computing-missing-files-6.htm


http://www.lostmydrivers.com/modem-drivers/zonet/zonet-zfm5620mt-modem-driver-windows.html

Don't know the modem number, but as you can see, this oldie site has a bunch and yours might be among them.




Adzirk

In response to Reply # 16

YUP, that's where I ended up too (2nd link), and you were close....

http://www.lostmydrivers.com/modem-drivers/zonet/zonet-zfm5600-cf-56k-v.92-data-fax-pcmcia-modem-driver-windows-linux.html

Driver for that isn't the problem I don't think. Something with M$ Dun going on.
I read where one guy with same error question if he needs to regsrvr the file (rasapi32.dll) but didn't get an answer. I didn't try that.
I just don't see how on a fresh install that would be it.

As for the rasapi32.dll, unlesws that's a newer version, the lappy install has it, and it's the same as my main 98SE rig has.

I also read where removing all the DUN stuffs in add/remove and redoing might fix it. So I got a couple of things to try tomorrow.

BTW this Zonet makes a noise when the system is booted up, almost like a dial tone is starting. It is set to run at startup. Hmmm, maybe it turned on like that helps kill the connection wizard from doing it's thing. I'll try not having it at bootup.

Gamer Rig______

In response to Reply # 17

Well I went into add/remove and then windows stuff, and removed DUN.
Rebooted. Then re-ticked it.
Of course it wanted my 98SE CD.
And of course it couldn't find the files.
I targeted it to the CD and to the 98 folder.
Then it went.

NOW, the internet account wizard works normal.

It still needs a cmos battery. Hopefully it's a normal one like our desktops use.

Gamer Rig______