Help getting Win98 software to install on XP ??

[Andy100]

Hello, i have a software program which is basically a radio decoder program.
It decodes via dedicated hardware (com port to radio scanner) various
signals such as morse code, ACARS etc. Anyway, it was built in the Win98
era.

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP ?. It
installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port i'm using. I
select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could not find
PEAKACAR.386. Please check that there is an entry in the [386Enh] section of
your windows SYSTEM.INI file which says "device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386"
and remove any other entries referring to PEAKACAR.386' .

This happens whatever COM port i choose.

Now i have looked in MSCONFIG and that line is already written in the .ini
file. I have also put the PEAKACAR.386 file into my Windows directory, the
System32 directory, the System folders and the folder in which the software
is installed, with no luck. So where do i need to put that file so WinXP
finds it ??

Don't know if it helps but the software actually installs itself to C:/ and
not C:/Program Files.

Please, can anyone shed any light on this ?

PS Sorry for the Cross-posting, wasn't really too sure which group to use !

Cheers
Andy

 

[Guest]

I don't know if this will solve your entire problem, but with the system.ini
file specifying "device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386", you want to make sure the
line matches where the file actually resides. If you moved the PEAKACAR into
your C:\WINDOWS directory, you should change the line to
device=C:\WINDOWS\PEAKACAR.386".

 

[Guest]

Hello, i have a software program which is basically a radio decoder program.
It decodes via dedicated hardware (com port to radio scanner) various
signals such as morse code, ACARS etc. Anyway, it was built in the Win98
era.

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP ?. It
installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port i'm using. I
select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could not find
PEAKACAR.386. Please check that there is an entry in the [386Enh] section of
your windows SYSTEM.INI file which says "device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386"
and remove any other entries referring to PEAKACAR.386' .

This happens whatever COM port i choose.

Now i have looked in MSCONFIG and that line is already written in the .ini
file. I have also put the PEAKACAR.386 file into my Windows directory, the
System32 directory, the System folders and the folder in which the software
is installed, with no luck. So where do i need to put that file so WinXP
finds it ??

Don't know if it helps but the software actually installs itself to C:/ and
not C:/Program Files.

Please, can anyone shed any light on this ?

PS Sorry for the Cross-posting, wasn't really too sure which group to use !

Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy,

Not sure if this is a WindowsXP issue. Have you considered to contact the
vendor of your software? They may provide a patch or an updated version.
Just a thought...

Markus M.

 

[Malke]

Hello, i have a software program which is basically a radio decoder
program. It decodes via dedicated hardware (com port to radio scanner)
various signals such as morse code, ACARS etc. Anyway, it was built in
the Win98 era.

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP
?. It installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port
i'm using. I select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could
not find PEAKACAR.386. Please check that there is an entry in the
[386Enh] section of your windows SYSTEM.INI file which says
"device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386" and remove any other entries
referring to PEAKACAR.386' .

This happens whatever COM port i choose.

Now i have looked in MSCONFIG and that line is already written in the
.ini file. I have also put the PEAKACAR.386 file into my Windows
directory, the System32 directory, the System folders and the folder
in which the software is installed, with no luck. So where do i need
to put that file so WinXP finds it ??

Don't know if it helps but the software actually installs itself to
C:/ and not C:/Program Files.

Hi, Andy. From your excellent description of the software, it appears
that it interacts directly with the hardware. No NT-kernel-based
operating system will allow that. So my educated guess is that no, you
won't be able to use this software as is with XP. You should contact
the software mftr. and see if they have produced an updated version
that will work with XP. Otherwise, you could keep a pc around running
Win98 or dual-boot.

Malke

 

[Andy100]

Cheers everyone for the input. The .ini does refer to where the file
actually is, but still can't get it to run, i think Malke maybe right in
saying it cannot be used on XP.

Thanks anyway

Andy

Hello, i have a software program which is basically a radio decoder
program. It decodes via dedicated hardware (com port to radio scanner)
various signals such as morse code, ACARS etc. Anyway, it was built in
the Win98 era.

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP
?. It installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port
i'm using. I select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could
not find PEAKACAR.386. Please check that there is an entry in the
[386Enh] section of your windows SYSTEM.INI file which says
"device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386" and remove any other entries
referring to PEAKACAR.386' .

This happens whatever COM port i choose.

Now i have looked in MSCONFIG and that line is already written in the
.ini file. I have also put the PEAKACAR.386 file into my Windows
directory, the System32 directory, the System folders and the folder
in which the software is installed, with no luck. So where do i need
to put that file so WinXP finds it ??

Don't know if it helps but the software actually installs itself to
C:/ and not C:/Program Files.

Hi, Andy. From your excellent description of the software, it appears
that it interacts directly with the hardware. No NT-kernel-based
operating system will allow that. So my educated guess is that no, you
won't be able to use this software as is with XP. You should contact
the software mftr. and see if they have produced an updated version
that will work with XP. Otherwise, you could keep a pc around running
Win98 or dual-boot.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Drew Tognola]

Andy,
Not that I've ever gotten any older program to run the in 'Compatability
Mode' but it's worth a try if it's not a driver issue. (
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/appcompat.mspx )
,
Right-click on the .exe file and then 'Properties', go into the
'Compatability' tab, check the box 'Run this program in compatability mode'
and choose Win98.
Drew

Cheers everyone for the input. The .ini does refer to where the file
actually is, but still can't get it to run, i think Malke maybe right in
saying it cannot be used on XP.

Thanks anyway

Andy

Hello, i have a software program which is basically a radio decoder
program. It decodes via dedicated hardware (com port to radio scanner)
various signals such as morse code, ACARS etc. Anyway, it was built in
the Win98 era.

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP
?. It installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port
i'm using. I select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could
not find PEAKACAR.386. Please check that there is an entry in the
[386Enh] section of your windows SYSTEM.INI file which says
"device=C:\WINACARS\PEAKACAR.386" and remove any other entries
referring to PEAKACAR.386' .

This happens whatever COM port i choose.

Now i have looked in MSCONFIG and that line is already written in the
.ini file. I have also put the PEAKACAR.386 file into my Windows
directory, the System32 directory, the System folders and the folder
in which the software is installed, with no luck. So where do i need
to put that file so WinXP finds it ??

Don't know if it helps but the software actually installs itself to
C:/ and not C:/Program Files.

Hi, Andy. From your excellent description of the software, it appears
that it interacts directly with the hardware. No NT-kernel-based
operating system will allow that. So my educated guess is that no, you
won't be able to use this software as is with XP. You should contact
the software mftr. and see if they have produced an updated version
that will work with XP. Otherwise, you could keep a pc around running
Win98 or dual-boot.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Alex Nichol]

I paid £200 for this software, is there a way i can make it work in XP ?. It
installs OK. When i run it, it asks me to verify which COM port i'm using. I
select COM1 (which is correct) then it says 'Error! Could not find
PEAKACAR.386.

That is an old driver left over from windows 3.1 days. There is no way
in which XP is going to let such drivers run - contact the makers of the
program