Removing the older ASDWIN v2.00 driver from Win95, 98.


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Posted by Mike B. on February 21, 1999 at 17:39:41:

I had the old Alesis Serial driver v2.00 installed (the asdwin.drv file) on my PC and recenty got the new version - v3.04.
There is a readme.txt file that came with this download, but unfortunately it didn't contain instructions on how to remove the old driver.
Instructions for doing this was supposed to be in section 5 of the readme.txt file, but unfortunately this section was missing.

To remove the old driver you need to remove references to the older asdwin v2.00 driver from Windows 95-98 by editing the system.ini file.
You can do this with any text editor, but the simplest method is to go to C:\Windows and type: EDIT SYSTEM.INI at the MS-DOS prompt.
(You can use the "Find" feature to easily locate occurances of "asdwin.drv" if you like.)

1. Remark out the following lines in your Windows system.ini file:
Under the [drivers] header
rem midi1=asdwin.drv

Under the [asdwin.drv] header
You can "rem" out everything here.

2. "Save" your edited system.ini file in C:\windows - and be sure to save this as an ascii text file only!

3. Delete (or rename) the asdwin.drv file located in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
(You must do this in MS-DOS mode, or you will get an "access deinied" message if you attempt to
do it while in Windows. When Windows is running, it is "using" the driver and therefore won't let you delete this file.)

{ A WORD ON UNDOING YOUR EDITS - in case you mess up}
If you are not comfortable editing the system.ini file and deleting files from C:\windows\system, I suggest renaming the asdwin.drv file and using "rem" statements in the
system.ini file instead of deleting everything. This way, if you mess up and have problems starting Windows, you can "undo" your edits by starting your PC in MS-DOS mode.
Go to the Windows directory and start the MS-DOS editor. Remove the word "rem" from each line you edited in the system.ini file. Save your system.ini file back to what it was
and also rename the asdwin.drv back to it's original name. Windows will be back to the way it was before you edited it and should start up fine for you.

4. If Windows 95, 98 starts OK after you made these editing changes - THEN -
INSTALL the new Alesis v3.04 driver according to the directions in the readme.txt file that came wth the driver.


I followed this procedure and had no problems installing the newer Alesis Serial driver -v3.04.
I don't believe you need to remove anything from the Windows registry, and this procedure is
relatively safe if you are comfortable editing the Windows system.ini file. Not many are comfortable
removing things from the Windows registry - and for good reason.


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