MS-DOS compatability mode error

[Frink]

Hallo,

I've just bought a new hdd and installed windows 98 and loads of other stuff on it, but I'm getting a problem with the hdd drivers.

In the system Properties Performance tab it says that Compatability-mode paging reduces overall system performance, and that all my hdd disks/partitions are using MS-DOS compatability mode file system.

The net result of this is that my disks are really slow.

Any ideas?

I've looked at loads of Microsoft support articles, but none seem to make much sense to me.

If I reaload the drivers, it says the ones I've got are the best.
The Device Manager has no Hard Disk entries under Disk Drives, only a floppy disk. The Hard Disk Controllers lists a primary and secondary IDE controller (both dual fifo) and a VIA bus Master PCI IDE Controller.
The Primary IDE controller has a yellow ! on it, but the others are all ok.

If anyone can help I'd be grateful. How do I get a Hard Disk entry in the Disk Drives section, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

- Frink

 

[Snickle]

Did you remember to install the CD that came with the motherboard? Win98 is better at drivers than Win95 but still needs drivers for the chipset on the motherboard to properly identify the resources on the motherboard.

 

[Deuce199]

What size is your hardrive? Does it use UDMA100? Then you will need to download the new udma100 drivers for intel ide controllers from there website. I had the problem to with win98 and this fix it up no problem.

 

[RougeElf]

I have the same problem with me hard drives. I have a 40gb seagate 5400rpm, and a Quantem fire ball 8.4gb (I think 5400rpm. The both worked fine, but I had problems with the 40 gig. I noticed that the hard drive light was always on, I looked under the System proberties, Performance tab. And and found the error Compatability-mode paging reduces overall system performance. I beleave that its becuse of a virus but I am un sure, when I boot with me 40gig as slave or master I get a message from my BIOS saying that the Boot setor is to written to, Y to accept any other key continu. The loger I left the drive hooked up it started to make me other dirve do the same things it was, like, it also had the MS-DOS compat. mode, but it has not shown the message from the BIOS. But the hard drive light stays on all the time.

I tryed delelting the partions and such but the same thing happens. O yeah, when I was deleting the partion on the 40gb I got the BIOS meassage saying the the boot setor is to be writtin to. I am useing win98, and had no problems before.
I tryed to find drivers from the manufat. but did not find yet.
I have a socketA 1.3ghz AMD with 3d now, CD-R, 256mb pc100 ram,
I haven't tryed to fix it really I was seeing if any one else knew what is going on first before I started to try trail and error... Its worked fer me before, but its always nice to have help

Thank you, Elf
P.s. if you need more info other then what I gave let me know.

 

[jmatt]

These have been copied from previous posts & my own experiences .
Overkill I know , but there are a lot of reasons .

-------------------------------------------

If it's not to late , go back to a good copy of the registry
( before your problem )

Press F8 during bootup ( when , verifying DMI pool message comes on ) or Press
Ctrl during bootup , depends on your computer .

Select , Command prompt only . ( NOT Safe mode Command prompt )
After the C prompt , type , scanreg/restore
Follow the prompts and select a registry dated prior to the problems .
When finished , type win & press Enter .

When you get your comp. up & running , use the system below . It gives
you 14 days of registry backups .

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/regback1.html

--------------------------------------

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager , click on the + next to Disk drives .
Double click on the drives you have installed ( 1 at a time or if you know which drive is the
problem ) , click on Settings & untick DMA .

----------------------------------------

Go to Start > run , type in msconfig , on the general tab , click on
advanced and check if the Force Compatibility mode disk access box is
checked , uncheck if it is .

-----------------------------------------

FOR WINDOWS 98/98SE only!
GO TO > START > RUN: key in "msconfig" > hit "ENTER."
At the "System Configuration Utility" (GENERAL) Tab,
UNCLICK both "Process Config.sys file" & "Process Autoexec.bat file," then Restart.
This fix does away with the conflicts between the two equally troublesome Intel and Microsoft
IDE controller drivers.

-----------------------------------------------

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q190303

The Windows 98 Startup disk includes a set of generic real-mode CD-ROM drivers. These drivers
work with most Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) ATAPI-compliant and Small Computer System
Interface (SCSI) CD-ROM drives.

This article describes how to configure your computer to use the real-mode CD-ROM drivers from
the Windows 98 Startup disk. This may be useful when you need real-mode drivers for your CD-ROM
drive, or when you are unable to configure the Windows 98 protected-mode CD-ROM drivers to
function correctly.

---------------------------------------

If you view the information on the Performance tab (Control Panel >
System), you may see a message:

Compatibility Mode Paging reduces overall system performance

Some drives are using MS-DOS compatibility

This means that your floppy disk drive or CD-ROM drive are operating
in MS-DOS compatibility mode. We'll discuss only hard disks operating
in MS-DOS compatibility mode here.

To force Windows to attempt to reinitialize the protected-mode IDE
driver you'll have to remove the noide entry from the registry:

1. Start the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services
\ VxD \ IOS
3. Delete the NoIDE entry
4. Search your registry for BAD_IDE (You can Search the registry by
pressing F3 while working in the registry editor.
5. Delete any BAD_IDE values you find
Or,
1. Select NOIDE.INF in the \Tools\MTSutil folder on the Windows 98 CD.
2. Right-click NOIDE.INF
-or-
Hold down the Shift key and press the function key F10.
3. Choose Install to remove the NOIDE entry.
From,

http://members.home.net/scotterpops/fixes/fixes8.html

After you update the registry, restart Windows. Windows will then
attempt to initialize the protected-mode driver for the controller.
If no problems are encountered, the file system and virtual memory
will operate in 32-bit mode, and Device Manager will not display an
exclamation point in a yellow circle for the IDE channels.

If the protected-mode driver is not initialized properly, an error
message will be displayed and the NoIDE registry entry will be
re-created.

---------------------------------------

There are several reasons why your Hard Disks might be running in
MS-DOS compatibility mode:

An "unsafe" device driver, memory-resident program, or virus hooked
the INT21h or INT13h chain before Windows loaded .
The hard disk controller in your computer was not detected by Windows.
The hard disk controller was removed from the current configuration
in Device Manager .
There is a resource conflict between the hard disk controller and
another hardware device .
The Windows protected-mode driver is missing or damaged .
The Windows 95 32-bit protected-mode disk drivers detected an
unsupportable configuration or incompatible hardware .

Microsoft recently released an update for Windows 95 OSR 2 & OSR 2.1,
to fix a problem that would stop the computer from responding (hang)
while the hard disk was being accessed, when using an IDE (ATA) hard
disk and controller that support Ultra DMA mode.

To install this update, follow these steps:

1.Download the Remideup.exe [143KB] file to an empty folder
2.In Windows Explorer, double-click the Remideup.exe file you
downloaded in step 1
3.Follow the instructions on the screen

-----------------------------------

You can lock and unlock a hard-drive from the A:\>_ prompt in REAL
mode DOS?

LOCK sets it in a DOS compatibility mode so disktools can directly
access the drive.

UNLOCK unlocks it .

For instance
UNLOCK C:

You have a problem whan it says unlock failed...or you are running
DOS from a dosbox .
You don't do disk jobs like that in protected mode... THAT's a NO-NO
(you should not run fdisk in a dosbox...)

In case you did not know , FORMAT needs to lock a drive to be able to
format it .
After formatting a hard drive in DOS , you must reboot .

_____________________________________

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/Forum2/HTML/028152.html

My 2 cdrom drive are missing
in system/performance I get message:
Performance status
Memory: 64.0 MB of RAM
System Resources: 72% free
File System: Some drives are using MS-DOS compatibility
Virtual Memory: MS-DOS compatibility mode
Disk Compression: Not installed
PC Cards (PCMCIA): No PC Card sockets are installed.
Select an item, and then click Details for more information.
Compatibility-mode paging reduces overall system performance.
Drive C is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.
Drive D is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.
Drive E is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.

Last time this happened I did an over the top re-install is there an
easier way ?

Well there are a few possibilities here.
Re-installation of Windows is not really necessary.
Try these suggestions first.

Go to Device Manager ( Windows key + Pause/Break keys together, then
select Device Manager tab) and see what Conflicts you have in there.
Most probably Hard Disk Controllers will have exclamation marks on
some entries. IE. yellow!

Also check your Autoexedc.bat and Config.sys files for CD-Rom entries,
(Start/Run and type in sysedit) this is normal when you install the
Dos CD-Rom drivers, you don't need them for Windows. Type rem in front
of the entries followed by a space if found, IE. Rem Cd rom blah blah
blah etc. there may be 2-3 entries concerning the Cd-Rom. Then close
down, wait 15 seconds and boot the PC back up again.

Next the Registry, go to this key and see if you have the NOIDE entry
there, in the righthand window.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\IOS

If you have the Win98 CD handy, there is a file on the CD called
Noide.inf ( \tools\mtsutil) right click on the file and select
install, this will remove the NOIDE entry in the registry. Close down
and again wait 15 secs, then boot up the PC again.

No cdrom , copy Noide.inf to a floppy from another
computer & install it .

------------------------------------------

Another possibility .

1 . Press Delete at bootup .
2 . Press Enter on Standard CMOS Setup .
3 . Use the arrow buttons to get down to Primary Master .
4 . Use the Page up or Down buttons to set on Auto .
5 . Repeat for Primary Slave .
6 . Press Esc .
7 . Use the arrow buttons & go to IDE HDD Auto Detection .
8 . Press Enter .
9 . Should select correct drives .
10 . Press y & Enter , for all drives .
11 . Arrow down to Save & Exit .
12 . Press y & Enter .

If Auto in steps 4/5 dos'nt work , manually put all the info for the
HD in by using the page buttons . The info is usually on the back of
the HD .

--------------------------------

http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/tsmsdos.html

http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/mscompat2.html

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q130/1/79.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q175/6/29.ASP

http://search.microsoft.com/us/Sear...i=06&i=08&i=01&i=03&i=05&i=07&i=09&p=1&nq=NEW

http://search.microsoft.com/us/Sear...i=06&i=08&i=01&i=03&i=05&i=07&i=09&p=1&nq=NEW

http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/msdos-compatibility.html

http://216.167.71.32/techfiles/msdos-compatibility.html

 

[cdogg]

jmatt's post is complete, however here's a cut-down version of what you'll want to try:

Thread602-242425

-AND/OR-

http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/msdos-compatibility.html

~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[mudskipper]

RougeElf - Yeah, MSDOS Comp. Mode can be caused by a boot sector virus. Do you have a boot sector virus? Maybe, maybe not. Your error about the boot sector changing when booting the computer sounds like it; However, getting the message when partitioning can be due to your BIOS level Master Boot Record virus protection.

Unpartitioning and repartitioning will not get rid of a boot sector virus. What you want to do is to clear out the Master Boot Record on the infected drive. You boot to a clean boot disk and run a dos-based anti-virus, or you can boot to a clean boot disk and fdisk /mbr on the infected drive(s).

If it turns out that you do have a virus, then be sure to check any/all floppies that have been in your system. You most likely were infected when you booted to an infected floppy disk (or had a disk in the drive, turned the computer on, and your computer tried and failed to boot to the floppy). Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[RougeElf]

What is mbr???

 

[cdogg]

It stands for master boot record

Do a search on yahoo or google to learn more...


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[RougeElf]

Ello,

I seamed to have fixed me problem. Okie I found a disk manager disk fer me 40gig, and tryed to rewrite the MBR and nope it didn't work, the system still laggy, like at boot warm or cold, the auto detect took for ever, when nor takes like 5-6 sec... Well I was looking fer a disk of mine WindowsME but I couln't find it and I thought maybe it was in the 2nd Cd-rom (52x) but did not have the power hook up that cd rom, so I got into the case I DIDN'T TRUN OFF THE POWER TO THE SYSTEM, I know thats bad when you unplug the power from my other Cd-rom which was plug(is) in, when I unpluged the Cd-rom RW the stuck on hard drive light went off I pluged it into the other cd drive and no disk in drive then I put it back to the CD RW drive and the system rebooted on it own. But ever since then the system has been working well, no stuck on light, not laggy, and the internet works better, and the MS Dos compat. mode is gone. O and the hard drives don't make as much sound. The 40gig norm makes no noise when in norm use, just a light humm.
I have not tested overall system prefoments but so far its good....

But why when I unpluged the Cd-rom RW drive did me troubles go? With the system still up and running in windows, mind you. Becuase I have hooked both drives up at the same time with power to each and the 8gig, (I only have 3 plugs of power for three drives) and still had the same slow laggy comp...????

I hope this helped.

Elf

 

[Frink]

Hallo again,

jmatt, you wrote:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager , click on the + next to Disk drives .
Double click on the drives you have installed ( 1 at a time or if you know which drive is the
problem ) , click on Settings & untick DMA .


But I don't have any hard disk entry in my Disk Drives section.
How do I get one in there?
Is it anything to do with my config.sys or autoexec.bat? These were initially empty (which I thought was a bit wierd)

- Frink

 

[jmatt]

Frink , if you don't have any drives listed ( generic included ) & everything is working OK . Leave it as it is .

config.sys or autoexec.bat empty is OK .

 

[RougeElf]

The only thing is when you try to use your Cd-rom drive in Dos you wont be able to with out the command line in the autoexec file ... I think you can have it in ether config or autoexec ....

 

[NemoX]

Im glad Im not the only one with this problem!!
Im running Win98 SE, 1 GHz AMD, Asus A7v MB, 512 mb SDRam. Ive got a Quantum Fireball 30 Gb, and I have a primary and secondary driver for the HD, the 3rd driver is from via I believe. (Im at work so I dont have the info with me)
Even after formatting the HD twice the problem persists. I dont know whether to update the bios or to find a new driver to replace the via driver with, of course SE says I have the best drivers, lol . Ill be checking this forum frequently.Keep the great tips coming!!
NemoX