Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Memory issues, Win98 & Gforce4 Ti 4600

0 helpful
9 replies

by niggiebro

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I'm wondering if anyone has resolved the memory issue that happens in Windows 98 when upgrading the video card to a Nvidia Gforce4 TI 4600.

I've read the Microsoft knowlodge base information regarding this issue and tried their recommendations, but didn't help.

FYI, the problem with Windows 98 is that it does not support great amounts of RAM.
I have 1 GB of RAM and the Nvidia card has 128 MB.

Microsoft recommends; (1)changing the vcache amount to 512 MB, (2)editing MSconfig to limit usage of RAM to 512 MB, or (3)removing the physical RAM to 512 MB or less.

I'm just wondering if maybe there might be a 3rd party program or if someone has resolved this issue some other way, thanks.

Regards,

Roger

9 replies

by thechas

Sorry, the Windows 9X large memory bug is in the 'core' code.
The ONLY other work-around for the bug, is to upgrade to Windows XP.

The bug is VERY configuration dependant.

I have seen systems lock up, or slow down SIGNIFICANTLY with 512MB installed.

You can try changing out other hardware in your system, but as far as I know, once the bug is triggered, you need to wipe the drive and start over to get past it and still have your large RAM.

I would be remiss, if I did not point out that W98 actually slows down when you have more than 196MB of RAM installed.
196MB is where W98 reaches maximum benchmark performance.
As you add more RAM, W98 begins to slow down. Consider this another 'feature' from Microsoft.

Yes, some tasks will benefit from the increased RAM. But, Windows itself runs slower with more than 196MB of RAM.

I limit my W9X (and Me) boxes to 384MB of RAM to avoid the bug.

Chas

by cg it

First, your GF4 graphics card doesn't come into play with the addressible physical system memory issue in W9X.

Second is, sorry to say, there is no fix and the work around is to use less than 512MB with W9X or to upgrade the O/S to W2K and XP. Both do not have this addressing problem.

by dragonnite

Sorry but TheChas and Dr the Corp are on the money. Also note that I have experienced Win98 having difficulty reading past slot 0 and 1 when addressing RAM mem greater then 512. I have upgraded the motherboard on one of my Win98 machines and with the same video card has yours and had a multitude of bugs, crashes, blue screens of DEATH with 1 Gig Ram. Although the Motherboard reads 1 Gig+ of Ram memory, Win98 does not. I am safely running 768 Ram (1-512 DIMM and 1-256 DIMM)

Email me if you want to review system configs

by swat3commander

Agree you overloaded your car and can't push. No really you just overloaded your memory remove a chip drop your memory down to 392 and windows works great from there.

Theres bugs in windows 98 that can't see memory over 400mb and up and makes more problems.

But also note any new pc today you can still overload your memory. If they make those 1gb memory chips. What's inside those new towers today 4 or 6 slots?

This discussion is closed to new replies.