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SDRAM LIMITS WINDOWS 98SE

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5 replies

by maggot

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I RECENTLY BOUGHT 2 512MB MEMORY MODULES FOR MY
COMPUTER. THE MANUAL STATES IT SUPPORTS THIS CONFIGURATION. INSTALLED FIRST MODULE, FIRED IT UP
IT WAS GOOD, INSTALLED SECOND MODULE OH-BOY!!
WHAT A MESS, IT BLEW OUT THE DRIVERS FOR THE VIDEO
CARD:GFORCE2 100/200 64MB. AND ALL SORTS OF THINGS TO FIX. TOOK COMPUTER BACK TO VENDER THEY
FLASHED THE BIOS, AND TESTED THE MEMORY SLOTS
ALL WAS FINE BUT THEY DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM WAS. "OH YES I BOUGHT THE MEMORY FROM THEM" BOARD HAS A ONBOARD VIDEO CARD 16MB,
BIOS CONFIGRATION IS SET TO PCI, BIOS IS AMIBIOS-
AMERICA MEGATRENDS.
I'VE DONE SOME RESEARCH ON MICROSOFTS SITE. IT LOOKS LIKE WINDOWS ONLY SUPPORTS 512MB RAM.
PLEASE HELP!! OH-YEA COMPUTER WORKS JUST FINE ON 512MB RAM.

5 replies

by wcp

As posted by so many, Windows 98 and ME become very unstable once it reaches 512MB RAM and beyond.
Option 1: stay under 512 MB
Option 2: add ?MaxFileCache=512MB? (without the quotes) under [Vcache] in System.ini.

by maggot

ANSEWER IS AS I SUSPECTED. APPARENTLY OPTION 1 IS THE BEST CHOICE. IS IT CORRECT THAT OPTION 2 WOULD ALLOW MORE RAM TO BE INSTALLED BUT WOULD RESULT IN A SLOW DOWN IN SYSTEM PERFORMANCE?

by thechas

Technically, there is no specific memory limit with Windows 98.

On a "real-world" basis, Yes, there is a bug in Windows 98/Me, they CAN have problems with large amounts of RAM.
The memory limit is VERY configuration dependant.

Just 1 additional real or virtual device driver can trigger the bug.

Some (very few) users have no problems with 1GB.

While Microsoft documents problems with RAM amounts greater than 512MB and 1GB, users have reported problems with 512MB too.

I limit ALL of my W9X boxes to 384MB just to assure that I do not run into the bug.

I saw a benchmark test post once where Windows 98 had the best score with 196MB of RAM.

Since your system is working fine with 512MB, I suggest that you stay there.

Thereare 2 ways to have more than 512MB of memory and run Windows.
1. Switch to Windows 2000
2. Switch to Windows XP
Neither have the 1GB memory bug.

Chas

by thechas

Keep in mind that 4 years ago 256MB was considered an extravagent amount of RAM.
Only servers and CADD stations could justify having that much RAM.

Very few motherboards in 1998 supported even 512MB of RAM.

My point, the Windows 9X code was NEVER tested with 1GB of RAM. The technology just wasn't there!

It is only in the last 18 months that systems with the capacity for large RAM fields, and the cost of RAM have come together to allow the average user to put together systems with 1GBor more RAM.

Since Microsoft has W98 (and Me) in extended support mode, the only fixes that will be published are for security issues.

Chas

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