Broken 3537 after failed 3538 J upgrade

RoboStallion · Nov 30, 2006, 11:41 PM

Urgh. Scuse the long post, but I thought I'd try to give as much info as possible.

I've been using KX drivers with Windows 98 SE since 3520, with very few problems.
My 3537 got a little flaky, but after upgrading to 3538 J (while slightly inebriated) . I got the dreaded "NTKERN, MMDEVLDR could not load the device driver. (code 2) "message in Device Mangler and nothing I can do will fix it.

My PC is based on an FIC SD11 500Mhz Athlon mobo with AMD KT233 Northbridge and VIA 751 Southbridge and a VIA 3038 USB controller.

I have 3 sound cards: a Gravis Ultrasound PnP and two CT 4760s (SBLive Platinums) with the gold sockets. One 4760 is running Creative drivers, the other has had each new revision of the KX drivers as they appeared, with 3537 being the most stable. The GUS is fine, as is the 4760 with Creative drivers. I'm using Geoge's VIA Latency patch 0.19.

Here is a list of what I have tried at varoius times over the past week:

Completely wiped every trace of all KX drivers form the hard drive and the registry.
Restored the registry from before the 3538 install.
Re-installed 3537 about a billion times
Tried 3538 J drivers,
Re-installed Ntkern.vxd and mmdevldr.vxd using Sytem File Checker.
Replaced kx.sys in the system32\drivers folder.
Pulled out the card and put it in a different PCI slot.
Tested the card in another PC (it works)
Re-installed the Via 4-in-1 v 4.35 drivers and the AMD chipset and UISB drivers.
Done a Windows refresh install. (Setup from within Windows)
Disabled ACPI although it was working fine before with it enabled.
Upgraded DirectX from 9.0b to 9.0c
Tried using an SB 0060 Value which also failed to load the drivers in a similar way.

Still I get the yellow exclamation mark by the 4760 in Device Mangler.

Scouring the web for fixes, it seems that this problem only seems to apply to sound cards after installing USB devices.

Re-installed Uhcd.sys, Usbhub.sys and Usbd.sys with System File Checker.

When I rebooted after upgrading to 3538 J, I seem to remember (wasn't taking all that much notice) that Windows 98SE discovered a USB device which hadn't been there before. Then all my IRQs changed and the broken 4760 wasn't getting an IRQ assigned.
I have to set the config manually and give it its old I/O address (1880-18f9F) in order for it to get an IRQ at all.

Once, just once, it flickered into life, but testing with DXDiag crashed Windows into an instant reboot and it never got it going again.

Digging around in the registry I found where the KX drivers load, namely

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA \0000

The key DevLoader has the value "ntkern, mmdevldr.vxd" If I remove just the ntkern value, then Device Mangler is quite happy, but KXmixer won't load. Which seems to point to something in vmm32.vxd; ntkern.vxd is compiled as part of it when Windows loads, but I think that the IRQ re-assignment may have something to do with it as well.

I know people are going to suggest a fresh 98SE install, but I am really unwilling to do this as I have got an awful lot of stuff on this PC. Any ideas, anyone?

**dj_stick** · Nov 30, 2006, 11:56 PM

use kX's uninstall applet

then download and install Drivercleaner

follow the instructions and use it to remove all traces of the kX install in safe mode

reboot then re-install 3537full

Doug W · Dec 1, 2006, 12:24 AM

If that doesn't work try here:

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...ght=98se+hangs

Editorial follows:
Personally I feel that 3534f is by far the best version for Win 98SE. I have it loaded on 2 computers. Since UFX and ProFX are both available for 3534f it gives me everything I need for recording.
End speech.

Russ · Dec 1, 2006, 06:21 AM

In case you have not realized it yet, 3538j is not compatitable with Windows 98SE. The last version to support Windows 98SE/ME was 3538h (and it did not work great with those OS's). As mentioned above, it is probably best to use 3537 or 3534f with Windows 98SE/ME.

RoboStallion · Dec 1, 2006, 09:20 PM

Ta-da! All sorted! DJ Stick & Doug: I combined your advice and ran DriverCleaner - amazing what else it found, left over from 6 or 7 years ago... installed the Unofficial 98SE service pack 2, upgraded my ATI Radeon 7500 drivers, installed 3534f, reinstalled my network drivers and everything worked almost perfectly first time. Everything now seems 100% more stable, and I can concentrate on the music again.

Thankyou so much for your help and obvious dedication to the cause. KX t-shirts all round...

Doug W · Dec 2, 2006, 02:58 AM

You're welcome,

If you are recording - You gotta have these 2, or if you are just playing music:

UFX from Max
use the 3537 version-It gives you an error message but installs just fine.
http://www.electricstart.de/
Plugins link
FX in uniform 3537 beta (by Max M.); par. EQ, graph. EQ, GainX, PeakX, Crossover etc

ProFx by Lex
http://members.home.nl/nahutec/ProFx/profx3x.htm
Scroll down for 3534f version

Nov 30, 2006, 11:41 PM	#1
RoboStallion DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Broken 3537 after failed 3538 J upgrade Urgh. Scuse the long post, but I thought I'd try to give as much info as possible. I've been using KX drivers with Windows 98 SE since 3520, with very few problems. My 3537 got a little flaky, but after upgrading to 3538 J (while slightly inebriated) . I got the dreaded "NTKERN, MMDEVLDR could not load the device driver. (code 2) "message in Device Mangler and nothing I can do will fix it. My PC is based on an FIC SD11 500Mhz Athlon mobo with AMD KT233 Northbridge and VIA 751 Southbridge and a VIA 3038 USB controller. I have 3 sound cards: a Gravis Ultrasound PnP and two CT 4760s (SBLive Platinums) with the gold sockets. One 4760 is running Creative drivers, the other has had each new revision of the KX drivers as they appeared, with 3537 being the most stable. The GUS is fine, as is the 4760 with Creative drivers. I'm using Geoge's VIA Latency patch 0.19. Here is a list of what I have tried at varoius times over the past week: Completely wiped every trace of all KX drivers form the hard drive and the registry. Restored the registry from before the 3538 install. Re-installed 3537 about a billion times Tried 3538 J drivers, Re-installed Ntkern.vxd and mmdevldr.vxd using Sytem File Checker. Replaced kx.sys in the system32\drivers folder. Pulled out the card and put it in a different PCI slot. Tested the card in another PC (it works) Re-installed the Via 4-in-1 v 4.35 drivers and the AMD chipset and UISB drivers. Done a Windows refresh install. (Setup from within Windows) Disabled ACPI although it was working fine before with it enabled. Upgraded DirectX from 9.0b to 9.0c Tried using an SB 0060 Value which also failed to load the drivers in a similar way. Still I get the yellow exclamation mark by the 4760 in Device Mangler. Scouring the web for fixes, it seems that this problem only seems to apply to sound cards after installing USB devices. Re-installed Uhcd.sys, Usbhub.sys and Usbd.sys with System File Checker. When I rebooted after upgrading to 3538 J, I seem to remember (wasn't taking all that much notice) that Windows 98SE discovered a USB device which hadn't been there before. Then all my IRQs changed and the broken 4760 wasn't getting an IRQ assigned. I have to set the config manually and give it its old I/O address (1880-18f9F) in order for it to get an IRQ at all. Once, just once, it flickered into life, but testing with DXDiag crashed Windows into an instant reboot and it never got it going again. Digging around in the registry I found where the KX drivers load, namely HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA \0000 The key DevLoader has the value "ntkern, mmdevldr.vxd" If I remove just the ntkern value, then Device Mangler is quite happy, but KXmixer won't load. Which seems to point to something in vmm32.vxd; ntkern.vxd is compiled as part of it when Windows loads, but I think that the IRQ re-assignment may have something to do with it as well. I know people are going to suggest a fresh 98SE install, but I am really unwilling to do this as I have got an awful lot of stuff on this PC. Any ideas, anyone?

Dec 1, 2006, 12:24 AM	#3
Doug W HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Montevideo, MN USA Posts: 973 Rep Power: 0	If that doesn't work try here: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...ght=98se+hangs Editorial follows: Personally I feel that 3534f is by far the best version for Win 98SE. I have it loaded on 2 computers. Since UFX and ProFX are both available for 3534f it gives me everything I need for recording. End speech.

Dec 1, 2006, 06:21 AM	#4
Russ HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 5,563 Rep Power: 62	In case you have not realized it yet, 3538j is not compatitable with Windows 98SE. The last version to support Windows 98SE/ME was 3538h (and it did not work great with those OS's). As mentioned above, it is probably best to use 3537 or 3534f with Windows 98SE/ME.

Dec 1, 2006, 09:20 PM	Thread Starter #5
RoboStallion DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Ta-da! All sorted! DJ Stick & Doug: I combined your advice and ran DriverCleaner - amazing what else it found, left over from 6 or 7 years ago... installed the Unofficial 98SE service pack 2, upgraded my ATI Radeon 7500 drivers, installed 3534f, reinstalled my network drivers and everything worked almost perfectly first time. Everything now seems 100% more stable, and I can concentrate on the music again. Thankyou so much for your help and obvious dedication to the cause. KX t-shirts all round...

Dec 2, 2006, 02:58 AM	#6
Doug W HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Montevideo, MN USA Posts: 973 Rep Power: 0	You're welcome, If you are recording - You gotta have these 2, or if you are just playing music: UFX from Max use the 3537 version-It gives you an error message but installs just fine. http://www.electricstart.de/ Plugins link FX in uniform 3537 beta (by Max M.); par. EQ, graph. EQ, GainX, PeakX, Crossover etc ProFx by Lex http://members.home.nl/nahutec/ProFx/profx3x.htm Scroll down for 3534f version