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Where is this driver loading from? 1

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hotfusion

Technical User
Jan 20, 2001
755
GB
Not exactly a matter of life or death, but I'd appreciate being educated if someone has the time: (WIN98SE}

Upon boot-up, the screen would display a line from AUTOEXEC.BAT regarding the sucessful loading of a DOS sound driver. I rem'd out the line and it no longer seemed to load but then discovered that if I restart in MS-DOS mode,the following lines appears before the prompt:

C:\>C:\WINDOWS\cwcdata\CWRDOS.EXE
Bad command or file name

The 'bad command' is simply because I renamed the dos driver in the location stated, not an issue here. Before I renamed the file I would get a line or two announcing the driver had been initiated.

Can anyone tell me exactly where this darned thing is loading from? It isn't from AUTOEXEC.BAT and it isn't from CONFIG.SYS as I have completely removed both files.
Many thanks for any enlightenment.
Andy.




Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
 
Check with msconfig. Go to Start, Run and type msconfig, then launch.
If Win98 has this app, you should go to the Startup page and find what is launching it.
In Windows, the Autoexec and Config files are no longer as important as they were under DOS. The app is being launched because a link eto it exists in your Registry, not because of the Autoexec line.
If msconfig is not part of Win98, try to download StartupCop or something similar. Maybe even just check your Startup folder in the Start/Programs menu.

Pascal.
 
Thanks for your suggestions, pmonett.
I'm certain the instruction to load this driver cannot originate in the registry or any of the files listed under MSCONFIG, as the line occurs when restarting in MS-DOS mode, well before any of the Windows files are initiated.

Any other ideas?
Andy.

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
 
And when you start in Safe Mode you don't see a line about it ?

Pascal.
 
Are there any other autoexec files? Multiboot creates others at times.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
pmonett - since rem-ing out and then totally removing the relevent line in AUTOEXEC.BAT, I see nothing about this driver when booting into Windows - safe mode or otherwise. However, when dropping down to MS-DOS the line appears there before the 'Copyright Microsoft Corp' bit and the DOS prompt.

edfair - I've searched the C: drive for *.BAT and found nothing with lines referring to that executable.

Where the heck is it coming from??
It's a simple soundcard driver, this bit being the DOS component. I've seen certain anti-virus software loading on another computer at a similar time from presumably a similar location if that helps at all.

Thanks all for your contributions so far

Andy.....Mystified.

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
 
hotfusion,
I'm going to take a swing here...[wink]

When you restart in MS-DOS mode, it's not truly without accessing the Windows Registry. The only way to do that is with a Win98 boot disk. Using MS-DOS mode from the shutdown menu allows certain drivers to continue to run in the background that you wouldn't get with the 98 boot disk.

Therefore, I suggest you run a registry cleaner to fix your headaches. Just recently, I read an article in a mag about Glarysoft Registry Repair 1.42 which is one of the only good ones out there with a free trial without limitations. Personally, I like Registry Mechanic, but it costs $30 to get the full repairs.

It may not sound like a winning answer, but definitely worth a shot. Where else could it be coming from?

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
The other drivers can be autoexec.* and config.* with the * being .w40 and .dos. They load on different conditions.
It is a longshot anyway.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
OK.....
I've searched the registry for any instances of 'cwrdos.exe' and even 'cwcdata', but no references to either string anywhere,(which surprised me actually.) so I can only assume it isn't loaded from the registry either.

To sumarise, then:
Nothing on the root of C: to initiate the driver,
no batch files anywhere with lines which would launch it,
and no reference to it in the registry.

I'm not going to strain too many brain cells over this one, but as I said in my initial post, I am intrigued as to how this driver gets loaded at such an early stage.

If anyone has any more ideas, I would be very interested to hear them.
Thanks all,
Andy.

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
 
OK, then...

Did you have a look at DOSSTART.BAT? It might be in there.

Also, if you run Hijack This!, it will show you a complete list of all startup folders/entries in all system files, not just the registry. If it's not in DOSSTART.BAT, I would go hunting with that program which will surely help.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
Check the SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI filesin the Windows directory. Use SYSEDIT to access these files.

Also check the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files int the root directory.

Also check the STARTUP folder in your Windows Start menu for any batch files.

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember
 
I'm slightly confused.......
I did a search for *.bat on C: and thought I looked through every file for lines referring to this driver file, but on searching specifically for DOSSTART.BAT as suggested by cdogg, there it was, containing just the one line I needed.

Mystery solved, and my apologies for leading you all a bit astray by insisting I'd seen every batch file, when somehow I'd managed to miss this one.

Many thanks to you all for your contributions, and a star for cdogg for putting me out of my misery!
Andy.

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
 
awesome, glad that was it!
[thumbsup2]

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
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