Curley_Boy

Thanks for the link but I already tried this player (and just about every other commerical or open source one there is). Nothing seems to work! I thought I might be missing some codecs so I've tried the kazaa-lite standard pack and that made no difference. If you run commerical software like PowerDVD or WinDVD the disks will play and you get the overlay problem. With free players like VLC or Media Player 6.4 or Real etc.. (those that can play DVDs with external codecs) don't seem to detect the disks. I have a dual boot set up with 98(1st) and NT. Now I know theres nothing wrong with how this machine is set up because 98 plays just about anything out of the box with no problems (ditto with all the other OSes I've had on it) NT is the only one with this major headache. Unfortunately Media Player Classic doesn't seem to work under NT or I would use that (I do for just about everything else on 98)

Not in a million years. Sorry Every other componant is more than upto the task, but the processor is far too slow. Try NT3 instead, although I guess that would be fairly slow as well.

Why hasn't anyone replied to this sooner? Okay. You need to be running the 1.1 Dos version of the game, since the W95 ver doesn't work in XP. Here's a quick step-by-step guide to get everything up and running from the setup program onwards: 1. Download and install VDMSound. http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/vdmsound/VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi?download 2. Install and then locate MINST.EXE on your Mech2 CD, right click on the .exe and choose 'run with vdmsound'. 3. Continue through the setup program (and ignore any errors it throws at you, use autodetect for the sound card settings. Whenever you wish to run Mech 2 you must do so by running the mech2.exe with vdmsound. If you want CD Audio and Hi-res graphics you need a few more files: Nolfb (can't find this atm but i can email it to you, its only a few k in size) Sapucdex, can be downloaded from: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=1715 To install nolfb just extract the .zip file into your mech2 folder and create a .bat file in the same folder containing the following: nolfb.com mech2.exe Save the file and run it with vdmsound. To enable cd audio support extract sapucdex to your windows\system32 folder and then you need to edit a few files: Firstly autoexec.nt (which is also located in your system32 folder). Edit with notepad or a similar program and replace the line: lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe with lh %SystemRoot%\system32\sapucdex.exe Finally add "REM" (no quotes) to the line beginning something like: Set blaster = A220 I5 etc.. e.g. REM SET BLASTER = A220 etc... Save the edited file. Now locate autoexec.vdms (it's in the folder where you installed vdmsound). Edit this and again replace the line ending with mscdexnt.exe with sapcdex.exe as before. Everything should work ok now, if not just tell me and we see if we can sort something out. If you want to run Mech2 from a shortcut on your desktop, edit the .bat file I mentioned earlier and put dosdrv.exe above the other two entries then make a shortcut to this file on your desktop. (no need to run the new shortcut with Vdmsound now) Phew! Hope that helped.

Gaming on NT 3.51 is pretty much out of the question. Nearly all Win32 games (even really old ones) require some form of DX (for which there is no support in NT 3.51). Your system is fast enough to play Quake, but you need a different OS (95+ or NT4+), as DOS Quake won't run under NT and GL and win quake requires a minimum of NT4 (as they make use of DX). NT 3.51 is fine for office work, web browsing and basic video playback, but gaming is a strict nono I'm afriad.

Not quite sure which forum to post this in 'security' 'tips n tweaks' or 'applications' (I guess it's a bit of all 3) Anyhow... Yesterday the file associations for .exe files went missing from explorer. I couldn't find anything wrong with the system (no unknown processes, did a full scan with an uptodate virus / adware scanner etc...) The problem was fairly easy to correct (just replace the 'exefile' entry in the .exe key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. I just thought it was a fluke by a misbehaving program (although this is an almost fresh set up, and as such all the apps installed are tried and tested). Today I boot up and find .bat's and .com's are gone (repeat 'repair' actions). What on earth is going on?? Once I can discount but twice, something fishy is going on. Nobody else has access to this machine (nobody knows the admin password or even uses it aside me), and the network is barred from the net via a hardware based firewall. Can anyone help me get to the bottom of this? Windows NT4 SP6a (IE 6 SP1 +shell update)

I'm setting up a dual boot system with NT4/98. I don't want IE6 on either of them, and I can't find a link anywhere for IE 5.01 Suggestions anyone?

Thanks m8 Old browsers are difficult to find these days

This is really starting to annoy me. I simply cannot install the hotfixes being offer my MS onto my XP system. Either from with Windows Update site or by downloading the hotfixes manually and apply them. I even tried extracting the files and overighting the flawed componants using the recovery console (but that just rendered the machine unbootable). I don't know how it's happened but somehow I suspect the OS thinks the patches have been applied (incorrect entry in the registry or from a file in the Uninstall Information or Windows Updates folders in Program Files?) When the patches install I get a confirmation message and a reboot prompt, and a sucess notification in the event log, but when I check the file versions on my system against those on the security bulletins, it is obvious the patches have NOT been applied. I just don't know what else to do! Can somebody offer me a way to clean out my Hotfix/Windows update history (or something simlar) so that I can FORCE these damned things to install plz. It doesn't matter if I lose my update history as I have manually kept a list of hotfixes applied and those I have workarounds for. I am have problems specifically with MS04-007 (and the two previous revisions for IE6 SP1 (MS04-004 and MS03-048) In addition the WMP9 MS03-021 patch will not apply. Thankyou Windows XP Pro SP1 (with all relavent hotfixes that the PC will accept! ) P.S. WFP is disabled on the computer in question, is this a potential problem in this specific case?

I'm having problems installing applications that use varients of the windows installer. The problem is that I have no c:\ partition on my system drive. Drives are set up as follows: A:\ (floppy) F:\ (physical disk) [pri master, NTFS] (XP installed on this) G:\ (physical disk) [pri slave, Dynamic NTFS] H:\ {CD-RW/DVD drive) [sec master] Most installer programs are no problem and just accept that the machine doesn't have a C:\ partition, but as mentioned some programs that use the windows installer (eg Far cry, Nvidia detonators) refuse to install. To get round this atm I either extract the files manaually where possible or install the program on another PC and copy it across over the network. Is is not possible to fool the install program into thinking f:\ is c:\ ? Or disabling the check for the drive label?

I like sysinternals Process Explorer progam, but find on balance that I prefer the 7.x version. (since I have lost my own copy) does any only have a link to the final build of this?

Ahh someone else who still uses NT 3 1/2 and a bit! I'm in a bit of a rush but here goes: Well there are a vast number of programs that work well in this wonderful little OS and here are a few of them: (for most of these 32Mb RAM highly recommended). Web Browsers: IE 5.01 (16bit) can be downloaded at: ftp://ftp.indo.net.id/pub/win3.x/browser/ie501.zip **Note: It's a bit wobbly and rather bloaty to say the least but it's still servicable if IE is your browser of choice. Before you run the setup program included, make sure you delete the .cab file that contains the Win 3.x TCP stack and dialer (or it will screw up the NT 3.51 version). Netscape Navigator 4.08 / Communicator 4.75 / 7.02: Nearly all of Netscape's browsers work and are availiable on their ftp server. I managed to get all upto and including 4.75 to install sucessfully. (although I have heard that others managed to get later versions to run) In any case there is a lot of junk that comes with these browsers (media players / instant messaging etc) these program DON'T work under NT 3.51 so don't bother installing them. The final version I had sucess with can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape7/english/7.02/windows/win32/ Mozilla: The installers that come with these browsers don't work so use the zipped versions available on the mozilla.org ftp server. The last working version is 1.3.1 ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.3.1/mozilla-win32-1.3.1-talkback.zip Firefox doesn't seem to work, infact the last version I managed to get up and running was Phoenix 0.5 Opera: Officially opera only supports 3.62 under Win 3.x, but I have yet again heard rumours that 6.x versions can be used. In all honesty Opera can be a VERY wobbly browser unless it is set up just right so I would save yourself the hastle and skip it. Plugins: (plugins will only install and work in Netscape or Mozilla based browsers) Flash player works upto version 6, which can be downloaded at: http://www.future-tech.com.tw/Eng/download.htm Quicktime / DivX / Windows Media Sorry your out of luck here, all the older versions of these programs don't support the new encoding/formats used. Real Player: You can install upto realplayer 8. (although embedded video links do work you will only hear the audio from them). http://proforma.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html Sun Java: Seems to work right upto and including the lastest version. Acrobat Reader: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobatreader/win/3.x/ (make sure you use the 32bit version) For media players your in luck. (but again files encoded using modern versions of Quicktime / DivX and WM won't work) Winamp (1.x & 2.x) Winamp seems to work ok. Make sure that you set your plugins to use 'wav out' rather than Direct Sound (for obvious reasons). Also the video support in later versions doesn't work and as of yet I haven't managed to fix skin support (but I'm guessing all that is needed is a registry patch). For Mpeg / Mpeg 2 support lots of potential players here: http://www.win31.de/esoft.htm File sharing / Instant Messaging: I can't seem to find any programs in this catagory that work in NT 3.x sorry. You might be able to find a command line based irc program but I don't know for sure. Shell and GUI: Calmira is a shell that replaces progam manager with an explorer style shell. You will need to locate the 32bit compatible version. (I can't find it... but the search goes on). System Admin: www.sysinternals.com is the best place to go for these (although NT comes with the basics). As a general rule command line based ones have a better chance of sucess but basically it's a case of trial and error. Power archiver is an excellent prog for dealing with nearly every compression format there is. I haven't tried the GUI version but the command line version works fine in NT3. (Make sure you add your install dir to your path list for ease of use later). Office 97 (or it's associated viewers) work ok. Paint Shop Pro 3.12 (32bit) shareware works ok... yeah I know Hope the above helps, just post here again if you get stuck (although I'll be on holiday for the next week or so!)

Got myself in a bit of a fix... I was trying to create an entry on my bootloader menu to run XP setup from in case I needed to use the repair option (as the XP CD I use came from the university's IT and support unit, and once I installed, I had to return it). I thought I'd give it a test run and try the repair option. Now usually when you ask setup to repair installations it's will prompt you on which areas you would like to repair... (registry, files, boot sector etc), however for reasons beyond my comprehesion this time round it didn't! And thus proceeded to overwrite my perfectly set up installation. Before it got to the registry repair phase I hit reset, loaded the recovery console, backed up the registry and attempted to re-run setup. Nothing... just hangs. No problem I'll try with those handy boot floppies I made, as I have a install cache for the XP files on my HD. No luck, as those only support access from the original XP CD. I'm really stuck atm. I can't use XP Home, NT4, or NTFS DOS to access my disks becuase they are dynamic ones! Is there any why I can edit the .sif file on the boot floppy to point to the install files on my HD instead of prompting me for the CD-ROM? Or will I have to get it from IT support again? Ah this will teach me... at least I have all my stuff backed up if the worst comes to the worst!

I can't start the messenger service on my XP Pro SP1 machine, keep getting error message 2280 (and the ms kb was of no help). I don't understand what's gone wrong. 1. I checked the .inf file which installs the service and made sure that all the necessary files and registry entries were present. 2. I made sure all the dependant drivers/services were loaded correctly. 3. I am logged in as an Administrator. The only other thing I can think of is a security policy might be in place that's preventing me from loading the service. (I don't know really, at this stage it's a total guess)! Is anyone aware of any security related settings that would prevent this service from loading, OR alternativley have come across this annoying error themselves and knows how to correct it?

Nope policy settings make no difference, and as previously stated all required drivers and services are loaded and are working correctly

I'm trying to setup a guest account that users can login into to access email (through firefox), play DVDs (through WinDVD) and type out documents (using wordpad). I've managed to secure the shell (progman) and other programs for use with this account, but one BIG loophole still remains: the common dialog box that is used by firefox and wordpad to open/save files. I want users to be able to save and load files from the "share documents" folder, but I don't want them to be able to access (ie read/list/write/execute) from ANY other folder/drive or UNC. This is proving impossible as obviously certain files need to be accessed from the hard disks for the profile (and associated apps) to load properly. I can hide the drives, but that doesn't prevent users from opening files they know the precise path of by typing it into the location box. This is a real problem, how do the rest of you manage?

I want to open .css files using wordpad (write.exe). I use the 'open with' option on the context menu to select the program and then make sure the 'always use this program to open this type of file' checkbox is ticked. Yet the next time I open the file it reverts to notepad. How do I force windows to use wordpad as the editor for this file?

Thanks m8 sigh... it's always the simple things you over look

But my problem is with the NT messenging service as opposed to MSN/Windows XP Messenger. If so what does repairing my MSN Messenger installation have to do with anything? (not trying to be rude, I'm just a bit confused about your advice).

I've been experiementing with NTFS disk compression on my XP machine. But I turned off compression on a number of files after I noticed a performance hit. However there remain some system files which I cannot decompress because they are in use. How do I get round this problem?

I didn't have to decompress the whole drive... the problem was a few files in the system32 folder that were in use and could not be decompressed because of this (some of them even in safe mode). So I loaded the recovery console, copied each file to a backup folder, then deleted the originals, then restored the files from the backup folder, cleared the dllcache and rebooted.

Thanks for the advice, no quick fix as such had to use safe mode / recovery console to decompress them all but its done now (time for a defrag methinks)

I'm having the ol 'Windows 2000/XP won't detect proper transfer speed of devices attached to 2nd IDE channel on a VIA system board' prob. Here is the registry key for my 2nd ide channel: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001 The 2 values I'm interested in are: MasterDeviceTimingMode and MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed (both dword) Assuming my hunch is correct what values in the data field will enable 'Multi-Word DMA Mode 2' transfer rates? (I think that is what it was anyhow!) Thanks in advance for any help given

After a sucessful couple of weeks testing on my NT 3.51 setup, I think it's time the shell got replaced (God however did we manage with *that* in the bad ol days ;() I've heard many wonderful things about Calmira (newshell just isn't up to scratch), but unfortunately none of the versions I have found work on NT. Anyone got download links to a compatible version plz?

Does anyone have a link where I can download a copy of flash player 6, for a mozilla/netscape/Opera etc.. browser? Flash player 7 doesn't work for my mozilla browser under NT 3.51, but Flash player 6 does for NS 7.02. Can anyone help me out? (and no copying the contents of the plugin folder from one browser to the other does not solve the problem. P.S Does anyone know of a player that can play Mpeg / Avi files under NT 3.51? (I've given up hope of DVD, WM, QT and DivX support but a player must exist that can manage the basics).

Thanks for the links.... finally i got flash working under NT 3! ta Windows Media Player doesn't work unless you have a minimum of NT4 SP3. Earlier versions than 6.4 *might* work under NT 3.51, but for web usage its the 6+ vers that are of any use these days.... do you have any links for a decent Mpeg/dvd/avi player? (winamp vid support requires DX, as does seemingly every other windows based media player for almost a decade!)