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Editing the system.ini file

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muthabored

muthabored

Technical User
May 5, 2003
391
US
I need to add the following line to the vcache section of System.ini:

[vcache]
maxfilecache=6144

The problem is that Windows 98 will not boot because of an I/O Subsystem Failure error:

An I/O subsystem driver failed to load. Either a file in the .\iosubsys directory is corrupt or the system is low on memory.

How do I get to the system.ini file to add this entry?
I tried the safe mode with command prompt only and entered edit system.ini and a blue screen appeared but there was nothing on it.
 
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Just change to Windows directory
from prompt type
CD WINDOWS ( you're should now see C:\WINDOWS>)
Edit system.ini

TT4U

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These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
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TekTippy4U:

Thank you...that got me in but adding that line didn't seem to help (bummer). I have a Windows 98 Second Edition CD and was wondering if there's a way to use the System File Checker even though I can't get Windows to boot up.

Thanks in advance
 
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No....it;s a win32 GUI module.....but you can Scanreg /restore if it recently went bonkers (within 4-5 days)
get to a command prompt
Scanreg /restore
choose a date that is previous to problem and says "Started" ..use the arrows to select yes or ok (i think it defaults to no)....reboot (ctrl+alt+del)

TT4U

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Hey, thanks again.
Unfortunately, I'm still unable to get past this error:

While intializing device IOS:
Error: An I/O subsystem driver failed to load.
Either a file in the .\iosubsys subdirectory is corrupt or the system is low on memory.

I've tried Microsoft's suggestion (adding the line to the vcache section of the System.ini file) and now this but I can't get beyond this. Does this mean I'll have to re-install Windows 98 SE? Is there such a thing as a repair for Windows 98?
 
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muthabored

Can you get into safe mode? (press Shift as "Starting Windows 98..." appears on screen and choose Safe Mode from the menu)
If so, try running SFC from there.

John
 
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jbarnett:

I'm unable to to get into Safe Mode...drat!
 
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muthabored;
have you disconnected everthing but the keyboard, monitor and mouse?
the iosubsys contains vxd and port drivers....I'm thinking you have a zip drive or usb device attached maybe.....disconnect them all

Did you try Scandisk fom the command prompt?

TT4U

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Oops...I neglected to mention that this is a laptop (IBM Thinkpad 20). Yes, I ran scandisk (ran a surface scan as well) and nothing turned up.
 
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hi tsuji and muthabored;
the ms article says to reinstall 98 after renaming the folder....

i thought maybe, you can avoid that possibly by renaming system.ini to system.old and then copy system.1st to WINDOWS , and rename that to system.ini.
not sure how many apps will need reinstalling from changed reg settings, but this method is a 1/3 reinstall basically starting windows in it's 'original' hardware detection phase from what it does during setup. (worth a shot)...
either do a full reinstall which will require the 98 CD or similar backup/ghost image
or a partial install (system.1st trick) in which case if the .cab files and all setup files are in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS or anywhere on drive, the 98 CD is unnnecessary.
also, not completely sure how any IBM diagnostic partition on drive - or similar manu. quirk (if any) will effect all this.

TT4U

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These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
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btw - system.1st is in C:\ (Root) and needs to be copied to windows.
also attribs need to be removed first (to even see the file in DOS)
from C:\>
cd windows
ren system.ini system.old
cd\ (to get back to c:\)
attrib -h -s -r system.1st
copy system1st c:\windows
ren system.1st system.ini
reboot

if she boots up and starts hardware detection and everything goes thru, then once in Windows - go to C:\ and reset the Hidden and Read attributes to the Orig. system.1st (for safe keeping). If you have to do a whole reinstall, it doesn't matter then.
hope it works out for you

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs
 
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ooooops
I left out a line ...drats!
(italics are what i have written and bold is what needs to be added)
from C:\>
cd windows
ren system.ini system.old
cd\ (to get back to c:\)
attrib -h -s -r system.1st
copy system1st c:\windows
cd windows (to get over to win directory, now rename the "copied" file)
ren system.1st system.ini
reboot

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs
 
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Hello TekTippy4U and all,

The way I read the ms article is that iosubsys folder is damaged in a way the os does not like it.
msq311108 said:
CAUSE
This issue can occur when the IOSubsys folder is damaged.
Click to expand...
Replace with the original system.ini will less likely to cure the problem and make custom settings no longer available.

regards - tsuji
 
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hi tsuji;
this folder is built during the hardware detection phase....(as setup parses the machine during harware detection it'll probe for correct drivers and port drivers to install I would imagine - and also rebuild the monolithic Vmm32.vxd file)
I mean, i was thinking to maybe rename iosubsys too, so as to invoke a complete hardware rebuild....(Forgot to mention that too ....ooops again ...it may or may not work)

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs
 
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TekTippy4U & tsuji:

Afterin attempting all of the suggested fixes found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (in addition to your suggestions, of which I thank you), I've decided to upgrade the PC to Windows XP Pro. I appreciate all of your help!

Muthabored
 
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Muthabored - good luck with the XP install (laptops can be tricky to get drivers for when not using original o/s)!
 
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