1GB of RAM with Win98SE

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guesswhat - 08 Jul 2005 21:57 GMT

I just upgraded the memory in one of my Win98 systems from 768 to 1GB.
Windows does not load with 1GB of RAM. I tried the MaxPhysPage=40000 ... it
made no difference. To get Windows to load, I have to limit the amount of
memory to 905MB ( and System Properties only reports 898MB ). I know the
motherboard can handle up to 3GBs so that's not the problem.

Is there a fix for Windows98SE so that it can use the entire 1GB of RAM?

TIA

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Eric P. - 09 Jul 2005 09:16 GMT

<QUOTE> from a old USENET posting
With more than 512 mb of RAM and Windows 98 (also Windows 95 and Windows
Me) you *must* limit the amount of that RAM that Windows can map for use
as disk cache to not more than 512 mb.

You do this by adding the following entry to the [vcache] section of the
system.ini file:

MaxFileCache=512000

That will resolve the memory related problems, or at least 99 and 44/100%
of them, with memory amounts up to 1 gb.

There are other factors that can come into play above 1 gb and an absolute
memory limit (MaxPhysPage) in the [386enh] section of system.ini may be
necessary there. This latter item is usually only encountered on machines
where multiple operating systems are installed and there is a large amount
of RAM installed for use by another O.S. such as Windows XP.

The vcache entry only affects disk cache size and does not prevent or
limit in any way the ability of Windows to use the full amount of the
installed RAM for Windows components, application program code, and/or
user data files.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
-- Microsoft MVP
<\QUOTE>

Windows 98 & WinME Memory Management
http://aumha.org/win4/a/memmgmt.htm

> I just upgraded the memory in one of my Win98 systems from 768 to 1GB.
> Windows does not load with 1GB of RAM. I tried the MaxPhysPage=40000 ... it
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> TIA

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guesswhat - 09 Jul 2005 18:22 GMT

Thanks for the info. Eric. The MaxFileCache setting you mentioned, I
already implemented when I upgraded from 512MB to 768MB. Now that I have
1GB, I have to limit memory to 905MB ( as mentioned in the original post ).
The machine is only running Windows 98SE and no other OS.

The only other info. that I found for this problem, is something to do with
AGP. However, that article didn't give a very good explanation and did not
provide a solution.

> <QUOTE> from a old USENET posting
> With more than 512 mb of RAM and Windows 98 (also Windows 95 and Windows
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
> >
> > TIA

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Eric P. - 09 Jul 2005 19:41 GMT

Maybe this has nothing to do with Windows 98SE.
It might be a hardware problem caused by the kind or number of memory
chips you use or even by video using some of your RAM.

> Thanks for the info. Eric. The MaxFileCache setting you mentioned, I
> already implemented when I upgraded from 512MB to 768MB. Now that I have
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> AGP. However, that article didn't give a very good explanation and did not
> provide a solution.

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guesswhat - 09 Jul 2005 20:22 GMT

The memory chips I'm using are all Crucial. 2x256MB DDR400 CL3 and 1x512MB
DDR400 CL3.

Even if video is using the RAM, why would the total amount of RAM not be
displayed in Windows? Windows showed all the RAM when it had 768MB...

> Maybe this has nothing to do with Windows 98SE.
> It might be a hardware problem caused by the kind or number of memory
> chips you use or even by video using some of your RAM.

Reply to this Message

Eric P. - 09 Jul 2005 20:41 GMT

The motherboard manual or manufacturers website will tell what kind and
how much memory you can use.
Best is to post in the forum that handles your brand of motherboard.

> The memory chips I'm using are all Crucial. 2x256MB DDR400 CL3 and 1x512MB
> DDR400 CL3.
> Even if video is using the RAM, why would the total amount of RAM not be
> displayed in Windows? Windows showed all the RAM when it had 768MB...

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guesswhat - 09 Jul 2005 23:04 GMT

I finally solved the problem. Windows now runs with and recognises 1GB of
RAM.

It turns out the problem was caused in the config.sys file. More
specifically, a switch I was using with EMM386. Now I just have to figure
out how to configure EMM386 to work with the 1GB and maintain Conventional
Memory over 600KB.

> The motherboard manual or manufacturers website will tell what kind and
> how much memory you can use.
> Best is to post in the forum that handles your brand of motherboard.

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Don Phillipson - 10 Jul 2005 13:40 GMT

> I finally solved the problem. Windows now runs with and recognises 1GB of
> RAM.
> It turns out the problem was caused in the config.sys file. More
> specifically, a switch I was using with EMM386. Now I just have to figure
> out how to configure EMM386 to work with the 1GB and maintain Conventional
> Memory over 600KB.

First try renaming both CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT and a reboot. Standard
Win98 implementations do not need these
files (do not need to load DOS utilities the
way Win95 did.) E.g. Win98 does not use
EMM386 to manage memory.

Signature

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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