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To much ram

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15 replies

by toms2005 Feb 19, 2003 last reply Mar 22, 2003

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I just increased my ram from 600+mb to 1024 mb and now my system is acting up. When I booted I got an error vm486mg message. It says there might be a conflict either in my autoexec or config.sys. I REMMED out some statemnents and now when I boot allI get is my C> prompt.I reinstalled my old ram and the system seems ok. Is there any major change when going over 1gig of ram?? What tweaks would I have to make. Running win98se, 1200mhz, trying 1024mb ram.

15 replies

by d_v ant Feb 19, 2003

There is a known issue with Win98 and large amounts of RAM. See the following Microsft article for details...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;253912

Be sure to remove any spaces from the url after pasting

by toms2005 Mar 22, 2003

Good Ol Bill did it again

by dklippert Feb 19, 2003

Win 98 has problems with that much RAM. See if this helps:

http://aumha.org/a/memmgmt.htm

by toms2005 Mar 22, 2003

Good Ol Bill did it again

by yelhsa3840 Feb 20, 2003

if the mainboard doesnt support that much ram you might be skrewed

by toms2005 Mar 22, 2003

My MB supports 1+ gig ram.

by cg it Feb 20, 2003

yep as DV Ant said, there is a know issue with W9X [includes ME] with addressing memory above 512MB. This is a known issue with no real fix via service packs.

If you go back to 512MB or less, your problems should resolve itself. W98 seems to like 256MB or 384MB or memory, but at 512MB there are some issues [sorta depends upon the quality of the module].

W2K and XP do not have this issue with addressing memory above 512MB. If you have your heart set on using 1GB or more, switch to W2K orXP.

by toms2005 Mar 22, 2003

thanks but can't see making Bill ritcher at this point

by thechas Feb 20, 2003

The W98 /Me RAM bug is VERY configuration dependant.

I limit all my 9X boxes to 384MB.

In benchmark tests, W98 actually has the 'fastest' performance with 196MB.

What happens with more than 511MB of RAM installed, is that Windows can run out of address locations for virtual device drivers and may even recognize only 1K of the installed RAM!

Chas

by toms2005 Mar 22, 2003

tried almost all n your answer. Finally returned the 512mb of ramand now am running Cacheman. Works pretty good. Thanks.

by csmith Feb 20, 2003

The tweak stated by Microsoft will allow you to go to 1 Gig.
To get to 1.5 Gig RAM, disable virtual memory, but the system will be very unstable.
The problem in the Windows memory manager is that it uses a program in conventional memory to manage exetended memory.
When the installed memory gets above 512 Meg it runs out of conventional memory.
Therefore the shortage is actually in conventional memory.
Anything done to expand the amount of free conventional memory (below 1 Meg), or reduces the footprint of the Windows memory manager, allows more installed RAM in Win98.
Have you considered installing 512 and setting the installed memory setting to 512Meg -64K?
Then run Cacheman (Free download from cnet.com), and reduce the disk cache to 2 Meg.
This will allow Photo editing and other memory hogs to run smoothly.
Regards, Chris