Windows Forum
If I replace a 128MB sdram dimm with a 512MB will it affect the operating system files. A couple of weeks ago I tried to upgrade the memory in another computer with W98 and the Windows operating system files were creamed. Had to reintall Win98 and all associated programs.
sli
as long as the memry is of the same type and speed it won't matter, if they are are different types and speed you have to consult the manual of the motherboard (which you always have to do anyway)
Leopold
by thechas
Well, having RAM that is not fully compatible with the motherboard can cause problems with a few system files. VXD files in particular.
However, I suspect that you ran into the W98 large RAM bug.
The is a bug in the core W9X code that can cause a number of problems with more than 511MB of RAM installed.
I limit all of my 9X boxes to 384MB of RAM to assure that I avoid the bug.
Microsoft supports 3 work-arounds for the bug:
1. Reduce installed RAM to less than 512MB.
2. Add a maxmem statement to the system files to limit the amount of RAM that Windows uses to less than 512MB.
3. Upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP.
Links to a couple of Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles:
Chas
by fred07
Hi
There are several tweaks that may be used with w98
using 512RAM
The only one I use repeatedly and succesfully is to utilise a bios that allows you to assign RAM to your video card whether it is on board or not as long as bios has it dedicated so that w98 will see less than 511.
I always dedicate at least 64mg's and on the on board video I dedicate 128mg's RAM.
My pc I am on now reads 524mg's RAM and w98se only sees 480mg's RAM
This is a really efficient workaround of the problem TheChas mentioned above.
Even assigning 32 mg's RAM to get bellow the 511 glitch works just fine
Remember that as long as win does not see it you are fine and your pc will work at greater efficiency.
fred
by wlbowers
Your problem probably wasn't the hardware but the dumb operating system.
Windows Vcache determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts.
Vcache presets the memory addresses that it will be able to use.
The problem is that memory over 511meg allows Vcache to set memory addresses that are used by the system files.
So in effect the system eats itself. So if you lock up the computer and crash it enough times, well it's reload time.
You can utilize the 512meg by setting a maximum vcache size in the system.ini file.
Edit the system.ini file and scroll to the
[VCache]
add the following line
MaxFileCache=307200
The above sets a working Vcache max of 300meg. Remember a meg of ram is actually 1024.
This problem affects computers running 95 through ME.
Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q253912
Lee
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