diff --git a/src/save.c b/src/save.c
index c7598d3a..aeac8c91 100644
--- a/src/save.c
+++ b/src/save.c
@@ -1281,7 +1281,7 @@ void get_sym_type(const char *symname, char **type, struct int_hashentry **pinta
     else fd=fopen(name,fopen_read_mode);
 
     if(fd==NULL) {
-      dbg(1, "get_sym_type(): xSymbol not found: %s\n",name);
+      dbg(1, "get_sym_type(): Symbol not found: %s\n",name);
       my_strdup2(1162, type, "");
     } else {
       char *globalprop=NULL;
@@ -1559,7 +1559,7 @@ int load_sym_def(const char *name, FILE *embed_fd)
   if(!embed_fd) {
     if((lcc[level].fd=fopen(sympath,fopen_read_mode))==NULL)
     {
-      if(recursion_counter == 1) dbg(0, "l_s_d(): xSymbol not found: %s\n",sympath);
+      if(recursion_counter == 1) dbg(0, "l_s_d(): Symbol not found: %s\n",sympath);
       my_snprintf(sympath, S(sympath), "%s/%s.sym", tclgetvar("XSCHEM_SHAREDIR"), "systemlib/missing");
       if((lcc[level].fd=fopen(sympath, fopen_read_mode))==NULL)
       {
diff --git a/src/spice.awk b/src/spice.awk
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index e4e40290..c255ceb4
--- a/src/spice.awk
+++ b/src/spice.awk
@@ -169,8 +169,8 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
      sub("#" iprefix "#", iprefix,$i)
      gsub(/,/, "," iprefix,$i)
      ## 20160301 add '?1' if missing in format string
-     if(i>1 && ( $(i-1) !~/^?/) )  {
-       $i = "@1 " $i
+     if(i>1 && ( $(i-1) !~/^\?/) )  {
+       $i = "?1 " $i
      } 
      $0 = $0  # reparse input line 
    }
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
 
 
  # .probe tran v( ?1 DL[3],DL[2],DL[1],DL[0] , ?1 WL[3],WL{2],WL[1],WL[0] )
- if($1 ==".probe" && $4 ~/^?/ && $7 ~/^?/ && NF==9) {
+ if($1 ==".probe" && $4 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && $7 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && NF==9) {
    num1=split($5,name,",")
    num2=split($8,name2,",")
 
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
    }
 
  # .save v( ?1 DL[3],DL[2],DL[1],DL[0] , ?1 WL[3],WL{2],WL[1],WL[0] )
- } else if($1 ==".save" && $3 ~/^?/ && $6 ~/^?/ && NF==8) {
+ } else if($1 ==".save" && $3 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && $6 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && NF==8) {
    num1=split($4,name,",")
    num2=split($7,name2,",")
 
@@ -233,13 +233,13 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
 
 
  # .probe tran v( ?1 LDY1_B[1],LDY1_B[0]  )
- } else if($1 ==".probe" && $4 ~/^?/ && NF==6) {
+ } else if($1 ==".probe" && $4 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && NF==6) {
    num=split($5,name,",")
    for(i=1;i<=num;i++) {
      print $1 " " $2 " " $3 " " name[i] " " $6
    }
  # .save v( ?1 LDY1_B[1],LDY1_B[0]  )
- } else if($1 ==".save" && $3 ~/^?/ && NF==5) {
+ } else if($1 ==".save" && $3 ~/^\?[0-9]+$/ && NF==5) {
    num=split($4,name,",")
    for(i=1;i<=num;i++) { 
      print $1 " " $2 " " name[i] " " $5
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
  
   for(j=2;j<=NF;j+=1)  		# start from 2 not from 3 20070221
   {
-    if($j ~/^?/) continue	# handle the case that $2 not pinlist  20070221
+    if($j ~/^\?[0-9]+$/) continue	# handle the case that $2 not pinlist  20070221
     arg_num[j]=split($j,tmp,",")
     for(k=1;k<=arg_num[j]; k++) {
      arg_name[j,k]=tmp[k]
@@ -289,14 +289,14 @@ function process(        i, iprefix)
 
    for(j=2;j<=NF;j++)
    {
-    if($j !~ /^?/)
+    if($j !~ /^\?[0-9]+$/)
     {
       printf "%s ", $j # if not a node just print it
     }
     else
     {
      nmult=$(j++)
-     sub(/?/,"",nmult)
+     sub(/\?/,"",nmult)
      if(nmult+0==-1) nmult=arg_num[j]
      for(l=0;l<nmult+0;l++)
      {
diff --git a/src/verilog.awk b/src/verilog.awk
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 44463e38..400e6519
--- a/src/verilog.awk
+++ b/src/verilog.awk
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ begin_module && $1 ~/^\);$/ {
    {
     pin=""
     if(j>7) {printf ","}
-    if($j !~ /^?/)
+    if($j !~ /^\?[0-9]+$/)
     {
       pin=pin $j # if not a node just print it
     }
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ begin_module && $1 ~/^\);$/ {
     {
      nmult=$(j++);j++
 
-     sub(/?/,"",nmult)
+     sub(/\?/,"",nmult)
      nmult=nmult+0
      if(nmult==-1) nmult=arg_num[j]
      for(l=0;l<nmult;l++)
diff --git a/src/xschem.tcl b/src/xschem.tcl
index ffd1ea8e..dc0804ec 100644
--- a/src/xschem.tcl
+++ b/src/xschem.tcl
@@ -2645,7 +2645,7 @@ proc abs_sym_path {fname {ext {} } } {
     set fname [file rootname $fname]$ext
   }
 
-  if {$::OS == "Windows"} {
+  if {$::OS eq "Windows"} {
     # absolute path: return as is
     if { [regexp {^[A-Za-z]\:/} $fname ] } {
       return "$fname"
@@ -2656,21 +2656,32 @@ proc abs_sym_path {fname {ext {} } } {
       return "$fname"
     }
   }
-  # transform  a/b/../c to a/c or a/b/c/.. to a/b
-  while {[regsub {[^/]+/\.\./?} $fname {} fname] } {}  
+  if { $::OS ne {Windows}} {
+    # transform  a/b/../c to a/c or a/b/c/.. to a/b
+    while {[regsub {[^/.]+/\.\./?} $fname {} fname] } {}  
+  }
   # remove trailing '/'s to non empty path
   regsub {([^/]+)/+$} $fname {\1} fname
-  # if fname is ../../e/f
-  # and current_dirname is /a/b/c
-  # set fname to /a/e/f
-  set tmpdir $current_dirname
+  # if fname copy tmpfname is ../../e/f
+  # and current_dirname copy tmpdirname is /a/b/c
+  # set tmpfname to /a/e/f
+  set tmpdirname $current_dirname
+  set tmpfname $fname
   set found 0 
-  while { [regexp {^\.\./} $fname ] } {
+  while { [regexp {^\.\./} $tmpfname ] } {
     set found 1
-    set tmpdir [file dirname $tmpdir]
-    regsub {^\.\./} $fname {} fname
+    set tmpdirname [file dirname $tmpdirname]
+    regsub {^\.\./} $tmpfname {} tmpfname
+  }
+  if {$found } {
+    if { [regexp {/$} $tmpdirname] } { set tmpfname "${tmpdirname}$tmpfname" 
+    } else { set tmpfname "${tmpdirname}/$tmpfname" }
+    if { [file exists "$tmpfname"] } { return "$tmpfname" }
+    ## should we return path if directory exists ? 
+    if { $::OS ne {Windows} } {
+      if { [file exists [file dirname "$tmpfname"]] } { return "$tmpfname" }
+    }
   }
-  if {$found } {set fname "${tmpdir}/$fname"}
   # remove any leading './'
   while { [regsub {^\./} $fname {} fname] } {}
   # if previous operation left fname empty set to '.'
diff --git a/xschem_library/ngspice/led_driver.sch b/xschem_library/ngspice/led_driver.sch
index 8a67704d..e7da1ad5 100644
--- a/xschem_library/ngspice/led_driver.sch
+++ b/xschem_library/ngspice/led_driver.sch
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-v {xschem version=2.9.5 file_version=1.1}
+v {xschem version=2.9.8 file_version=1.2}
 G {}
+K {}
 V {}
 S {}
 E {}