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Scandisk/Defrag problem

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21 replies

by kenone

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I have multiple PC's 650mhz - 900mhz, Win98SE, 256meg Ram, 19 gig hard drives, all pIII's. I cannot run either scandisk or defrag in Windows, (DOS works fine), I get an error message that the system does not have enough memory to run the program (obviously incorrect). I have seen posts at a couple of sites about a download from MS to fix this problem, but I can't find the posts nor can I find the download at microsoft.com. Does anybody know where this patch is????

21 replies

by selfcipher

You could delete the applog file to clear the defrag file, check in FDISK that everything is correct. I think Gateway's site has that issue fix.. Under BIOS I think...

by ann777

Try running "defrag g0" (that's defrag g zero, not the letter o) at the MS-DOS Prompt.

If you still get the memory error, boot to DOS and run defrag g0

by ann777

ScanDisk Out of Memory Error Message

SYMPTOMS
When you run ScanDisk, you may receive the following error message:

Your computer does not have enough available memory to complete this task. If any other programs are running, quit one or moreof them and then click OK.

CAUSE
Your hard drive has too many files and folders for ScanDisk to run.

RESOLUTION
To scan your disk, run MS-DOS Scandisk.exe in the Single MS-DOS Application mode.

MORE INFORMATION
Theoretically, the maximum number of files and folders that ScanDisk can scan is 52,416. The practical number may be somewhat lower.

by kenone

Scandisk & defrag both run fine from DOS - Only Win98SE has a problem with them

by darkchilde

Hello,

I haven't heard of such a patch, but have you tried running Scandisk & Defrag from Safe Mode?
Hope this helps.

by zoile

Hi,

With win98 go to start/run and type msconfig and press ok , ucheck everything that loads on startup (remember what is checked) and reboot. Run scan or defrag and run msconfig again and put back the checks and reboot.

Hope this helps.

by rwg1936

CAUSE
This issue can occur if you are running Windows on a hard disk that is
larger than 8 gigabytes (GB) in size and has a cluster size less than 8
kilobytes (KB). This configuration may be created if you use a third-party
disk tool to create a partition on a hard disk that is larger than 8 (GB)
in size and has a cluster size less than 8 KB.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, contact the manufacturer of the third-party hard
disk tool to inquire about a possible update to thesoftware that resolves
this issue.

MORE INFORMATION
The standard FAT32 cluster size of 4,096 bytes only applies for hard disks
smaller than 8 GB. The third-party hard disk tool may change the cluster
size to 4,096 bytes per allocation unit.

The default cluster sizes are listed in the following table.

Hard disk size Cluster size
-------------------------------
512 MB to 8 GB 4 KB
8 GB to 16 GB 8 KB
16 GB and larger 16 KB

by kenone

No third party tools were used on these machines and other machines which were set up identically still work, also Scandisk & defrag did work on these machines when they were originally deployed.

by jmatt

Maybe this is the MS patch you have seen , but it applies to more ram than you have .
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q253/9/12.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0

"Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed
( more than 512mb )

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
--------------------------------------------
http://www.windows-help.net/windows98/troub-29.shtml
---------------------------
http://windows.about.com/compute/windows/library/weekly/aa071300b.htm
----------------------------------
http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/resources1.html
Windows Resources vs. Memory

-----------------------------------

http://windows.about.com/compute/windows/library/weekly/aa081100a.htm

-----------------------------------

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-06-08.htm
More Resource Leak-Tweaks

-----------------------------------

http://www.pcforrest.freeserve.co.uk/resources.htm
System Resources
GDI and User Resources explained

-----------------------------------

Free up Conventional Memory
http://www.geocities.com/thegorx/Windows/Help/Cmem.htm

-----------------------------------

http://www.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/11.htm
http://www.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/12.htm
http://www.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/13.htm
http://www.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/14.htm

by kenone

Yes I saw these "workarounds" and tried them - I even tried removing half the memory in the machines - no go

by nemesis_bob

It is possible that you partiition are4 not correct on the units.

You will possibly need to fdisk ,format and reload the operating system.

You could possibly take a look at how you have set up the hard drives in Cmos

by kenone

Anything is possible but, all machines are originally setup the same, same BIOS,Image, etc., and everything DID work after initial deployment.

by halbrook

Close all running programs and disable all nonessential items in your system tray this will usually free up the memory you need

by mehmetbotas

if the disks are formatted with the disk manager programs you see such a problem.
i have these problems also.
may be a solution:
try to back up all disk to another disk and format the problem disk using dos format(i mean open it a startup disket and type "format c: /s " ) and turn your back up's to the formatted disk. i think this will solve the problem

by kenone

NO third party software used in setup. Some third party programs loaded after MS Office, but, again, everything worked when deployed.

by kenone

To All: Anna777 is on the right track I think. All the effected systems have millions of files (in one case over 10 million) all are running graphics editing software of some type. Just offloading files from "C" root doesn't solve the problem. Microsoft apparently is aware of the problem because they refuse to respond to "support" requests, a dead giveaway to a guilty conscience.

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