iosubsys failure

0din · 07-01-2005, 11:22 PM

Bear with me. I know it's alot to read, but I feel it's necesarry to outline hte entire situation on this one, as it might help you help me.

I recently had to reinstall windows 98 over my existing installation. After it didn't resolve the original issue I foolishly installed it to another directory. Now I'm kicking myself because I know better. I have a ton of unreplaceable apps & work, therefore I need to run windows from the original directory. Since then I reinstalled again over the original and deltree'd the new directory. Afterwards a bunch of .VXDs wound up missing & I get an error... "While initializing device IOS: 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" I resolved the vxd issue by manually extracting them to their proper homes (except for vshinit.vxd & viagart.vxd, because they're McAfee files). I've tried everything to fix the iosubsys problem. I've added the maxfilecache line=6144 to the system.ini file, renamed the iosubsys folder & reinstalled, and renamed smartdrv.exe & reinstalled yet again. Still... nothing. I can't even boot in safe mode.

**Terrister** · 07-03-2005, 12:59 PM

It sounds like your Windows directory may be to far gone to repair. I see no choice but install to a new directory. Your data should still be there. You will have to reinstall programs. You will want to copy your Favorites folder from the old windows folder and any other data that may be needed before you delete it.

07-05-2005, 11:24 PM

Hi there,

what i would suggest to u is, arrange a win98 bootable cd (or a win98 cd) & a win98 bootable floppy.
Insert both the floppy & cd in their respective drives,
B sure to make the boot order in the bois as floppy-cd-hdd.
when in the a: prompt, change into the drive/directory of the folder of the newly installed (redundant) windows folder.
type deltree *.*
This goes for all the directories newly created.................
now change the drive to ur cd-rom drive
ex:- g:
install the setup using the command setup.
b sure to type the command in the directory where the setup.exe is placed.
in DOS mode it asks for the location where u want to install the windows files.. choose the previous location i.e, old windows directory...

skip the step of arranging a bootable floppy , changing boot order if u can access the command prompt by pressing shift+f5 during bootup.

*the win98 bootable floppy contains the atapi drivers to access the cd-rom in DOS mode.

C Ya
In Hell

07-01-2005, 11:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
0din Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1 OS: windows 98	iosubsys failure Bear with me. I know it's alot to read, but I feel it's necesarry to outline hte entire situation on this one, as it might help you help me. I recently had to reinstall windows 98 over my existing installation. After it didn't resolve the original issue I foolishly installed it to another directory. Now I'm kicking myself because I know better. I have a ton of unreplaceable apps & work, therefore I need to run windows from the original directory. Since then I reinstalled again over the original and deltree'd the new directory. Afterwards a bunch of .VXDs wound up missing & I get an error... "While initializing device IOS: 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" I resolved the vxd issue by manually extracting them to their proper homes (except for vshinit.vxd & viagart.vxd, because they're McAfee files). I've tried everything to fix the iosubsys problem. I've added the maxfilecache line=6144 to the system.ini file, renamed the iosubsys folder & reinstalled, and renamed smartdrv.exe & reinstalled yet again. Still... nothing. I can't even boot in safe mode. Last edited by 0din; 07-01-2005 at 11:24 PM. Reason: minor addition

07-03-2005, 12:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
Terrister Moderator Hardware Forum Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: West Georgia, USA Posts: 7,098 OS: Xp	It sounds like your Windows directory may be to far gone to repair. I see no choice but install to a new directory. Your data should still be there. You will have to reinstall programs. You will want to copy your Favorites folder from the old windows folder and any other data that may be needed before you delete it. __________________

07-05-2005, 11:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
UnknownFromHell Guest Posts: n/a OS:	Hope it helps u out Hi there, what i would suggest to u is, arrange a win98 bootable cd (or a win98 cd) & a win98 bootable floppy. Insert both the floppy & cd in their respective drives, B sure to make the boot order in the bois as floppy-cd-hdd. when in the a: prompt, change into the drive/directory of the folder of the newly installed (redundant) windows folder. type deltree . This goes for all the directories newly created................. now change the drive to ur cd-rom drive ex:- g: install the setup using the command setup. b sure to type the command in the directory where the setup.exe is placed. in DOS mode it asks for the location where u want to install the windows files.. choose the previous location i.e, old windows directory... skip the step of arranging a bootable floppy , changing boot order if u can access the command prompt by pressing shift+f5 during bootup. *the win98 bootable floppy contains the atapi drivers to access the cd-rom in DOS mode. C Ya In Hell