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Max memmory windows 98se

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by jon_w31

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can someone tell me the maximum amount of memory windows 98 will take. I have fitted 512MB PC133 to a system and it will not boot.(windows gives an error message saying it needs to be restarted. but same thing happens again). I have tried the 512MB memory module in a millenium based system and it works fine.

6 replies

by mdelyea

It depends on your hardware configuration. Some computers can take more than 512mb and some can't. In fact very large amounts of RAM (more than 512mb) will cause problems in almost all machines under win98. I believe the amount of RAM which win98uses most efficently is 196mb or thereabouts. Large amounts of RAM means windows has to keep track of large amounts of memory addresses. Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns where the overhead needed to keep track of the addresses exceeds the benefit of the extra RAM.

by mdelyea

I should have added that you should remove some RAM to take you below 512mb. Also it could be a flaky (possible ESD damage) DIMM. Try swapping the various DIMMS in an out singley to see if the problem recurs.

by thechas

The answer is very configuration dependant.
It depends on the hardware, motherboard and BIOS.

In fact, the memory limits are the same for 9X and Me. The fact that more memory works in the Me box is more an issue of it's different configuration than the OS itself.

There are 2 MS Knowledge Base articles on memory problems with 9X/Me. 1 for 512MB, 1 for 1GB.
Q184447 and Q253912

I myself limit my 9X boxes to 384MB to avoid the problem altogether.

It has also been noted that W98 can run slower with more than 196MB of RAM.
But, this is also very hardware and application dependant.

The work-arounds from Microsoft are to limit the memory that Windows can use to less than 512MB.

The only "fix" is to upgrade to W2K or XP.

Chas

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