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Help: I need to Get 2GB installed RAM working in Win98SE


EGOvoruhk

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Speaking of RAMDisks, the max size you can create is 2Gb. see this MDGx tip on how to use RAMDisks:

http://www.mdgx.com/newtip12.htm#RAM

Hi, erpdude8! :hello:

You're right: the max size for XMSDSK is 2Gb. That's because it is FAT16, which has an upper upper limit is 2Gb. It also causes XMSDSK to behave strangely and throw errors, refusing to load, with more than 2GB of RAM installed. Although I never faced such a problem myself, I've read that, strictly for these cases, the solution is to let it load below the top of the memory, by ommiting the "/T" switch, which is otherwise mandatory for use with Windows. See the last lines of this TechArena post (#2), by Mark-Allen Perry, about it. BTW: no, it cannot be made FAT32, because its format is part of how it's coded...

Edited by dencorso
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Does the WinME virtual memory manager work with Win98SE?

If so, I think this would be the only way to get 2 GB working, otherwise the most is a little more than 1.5 GB.

No. VMM.VxD 4.90.0.3000 does not work with Win 98SE. It refuses to load, even after downversion patching, as I had predicted elsewhere. But now I know for sure, because I've tried it. So this is the first known example of Win ME .VxD file that won't load in Win 98SE, despite what version it claims to be...

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1. Somebody mentioned to me and many other people you can tell windows to allocate memory to the HD.

2. There is a memory leak problem that was removed that could be turned on again to slove this.

3. It should automatically work but I never reached over 1Gig margin.

4. You might have to go into the registery and edit some settings??

5. You can probably allocate memory to memory you have installed as limited storage.

6. AGP cards???? can be directed to use other memory I just forget where to. In most cases you need to tell it in the settings and it can see the extra memory it just has to reach it.

7.

You want stone age? Get a computer with an early version of DOS. That's stone age. :angry:

DOS is not stone age nore is Basic get one of those mini Super computers that schools had with the big cassette on it back when they said computers was going to get bigger.

The MicroComputer is the average Labtop/PC desktop.

Even a Super Computer is not stone age and those where the first ones. People still use Micro-computers

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I have a problem viewing images in the article. I get "403 Forbidden" error.

Hi, Xeno86! :hello:

Download them from this link. HTH.

@everybody: Do you all want real stone age? Try the EDVAC or the ENIAC.

Then again, without them we wouldn't be here today, ain't it so? :)

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"6. AGP cards???? can be directed to use other memory I just forget where to. In most cases you need to tell it in the settings and it can see the extra memory it just has to reach it."

Anyone has a clue on how to do this and if it could be possible to address the memory problem by changing the video card memory usage?

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You may want to take a look at this for those wanting to use Win98se with 2gigs of RAM:

http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=24516

As for Max Monroe's RAM problem, try out the tips at the site mentioned above. If they work, great. If not, upgrade to Win2k or XP since they can handle large quantities of RAM pretty well.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the guy at that forum only says "I have discovered universal solution which is not connected with the values of MaxFileCache and MaxPhysPage. [...] I think the concept could be worth of money for multi boot users." - and that's the end of it; the solution is never revealed, nor pointed to. Thanks for the effort, anyway. :unsure: As for the upgrade, I'm already multibooting XP; the idea was to try to avoid ditching win98 (hint to BenoitRen - I'm not the enemy), of which I'm quite fond, having had it as my main OS over XP. :}

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I've done some tests to find out more about the relationship between XMSDSK, MaxFileCache and the number of simultaneous DOS windows. Here are the results:

Motherboard = Intel D201GLY2

Total system RAM = 1GB

IGD Aperture Size = 128MB Minimum possible (AGP Aperture)

IGD Share Memory Size = 32MB Minimum possible (Video RAM)

OS = Win98SE

Memory map for top 1 GB:

E000 0000 - EFFF FFFF System board extension for ACPI BIOS

FEC0 0000 - FEC0 0FFF System board extension for ACPI BIOS

FEE0 0000 - FEE0 0FFF System board extension for ACPI BIOS

FFF8 0000 - FFFF FFFF Unavailable for use by devices

Minimum XMSDSK = 264192 = 258MB. Windows will not boot with any less

Maximum XMSDSK = 886784 = 866 MB

Minimum MaxFileCache = 2048 = 2MB. Could use 1MB but no advantage

Maximum MaxFileCache = 624640 = 610MB with minimum XMSDSK = 264192 = 258MB

Maximum XMSDSK+MaxFileCache = 888832 = 868 MB. Only 1 DOS window possible

Address space per extra DOS window = 4MB Reduce XMSDSK+MaxFileCache accordingly

Maximum simultaneous DOS windows = 109 Limit, even if more address space available

Notes

MaxFileCache must be defined when using XMSDSK with 1GB system RAM.

ScanDisk should be run with Thorough test to make sure all clusters on RAM drive work.

A different motherboard will produce different results.

MaxPhysPage was undefined throughout.

I did not have 2GB RAM to test.

Edited by diskless
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I've done some tests to find out more about the relationship between XMSDSK, MaxFileCache and the number of simultaneous DOS windows. Here are the results:

[...]

I did not have 2GB RAM to test.

Way to go, diskless, way to go! :thumbup Keep on the great work! :thumbup

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  • 1 month later...
then...somebody has get to install win98 on a 2gb computer? im trying it and i cant... :(

It is possible to do it. Read this old post of mine. Andy Aronoff's post at techarena seems not to exist anymore, so I reproduce it here. AFAIK, Andy was the first to describe how to do it.

Date: 13 May 2005 02:11 GMT

Re: Can't start up with 2 GB RAM

Hi, Ron.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Try reducing the MaxPhysPage parameter even further, to 30000 (=768mb) or even 20000 (= 512 mb).

As it turns out, what was keeping the PC from booting was the MaxFileCache value. I was able to boot with MaxPhysPage=38000 and MaxFileCache=30000. If MaxFileCache was above 200000, the PC wouldn't boot. Below 200000, it would boot, but running an MS-DOS program would throw the error, "There is not enough memory available to run this program." The error occurred at 40000 but not at 30000.

I'm now able to boot into W98 SE and run MS-DOS programs. That's exactly what I wanted.

regards, Andy

If that's not enough, be sure to read thoroughly all that's been posted about "Win 9x/ME with more than 512MB" (and follow the links therein), including the present thread from the begining and also these others:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=105373

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=99263

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=79756

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=59765

Good luck!

Edited by dencorso
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I've got 2 1GB sticks of RAM in my system. I know (or assume rather) I can't use 2GB with 98, but I need them installed because it's a multi-boot system. I installed 98 with just one of my sticks in, and then went about trying to work how to get the second one in. I began my search, and I was directed to this site for help. I finally got my system to boot with MaxPhysPage=38000 and MaxFileCache=30000, but now I have a different problem. Once in Windows, I can't get a command prompt to load without it telling me I have low memory. This also happens when trying load applications, or games

Any help would be appreciated. For now, I'm just going to start messing with the values, hoping to come across some magic, but I'm just shooting in the dark

Thanks in advance :thumbup

Here is the easiest solution to limiting memory with Win98:

1. Run [msconfig].

2. Click on the [Advanced] tab.

3. Put a "check" next to [Limit memory to].

4. Then change memory value to read [512].

5. Reboot.

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then...somebody has get to install win98 on a 2gb computer¿? im trying it and i cant... :(

It is possible to do it. Read this old post of mine. Andy Aronoff's post at techarena seems not to exist anymore, so I reproduce it here. AFAIK, Andy was the first to describe how to do it.

Date: 05/13/2005

Re: Can't start up with 2 GB RAM

Hi, Ron.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Try reducing the MaxPhysPage parameter even further, to 30000 (=768mb) or even 20000 (= 512 mb).

As it turns out, what was keeping the PC from booting was the MaxFileCache value. I was able to boot with MaxPhysPage=38000 and MaxFileCache=30000. If MaxFileCache was above 200000, the PC wouldn't boot. Below 200000, it would boot, but running an MS-DOS program would throw the error, "There is not enough memory available to run this program." The error occurred at 40000 but not at 30000.

I'm now able to boot into W98 SE and run MS-DOS programs. That's exactly what I wanted.

regards, Andy

If that's not enough, be sure to read thoroughly all that's been posted about "Win 9x/ME with more than 512MB" (and follow the links therein), including the present thread from the begining and also these others:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=105373

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=99263

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=79756

http://www.msfn.org/board/Win9x-512-MB-RAM-t59765.html

Good luck!

The problem is...i can't get install windows98...how I modify system.ini if it was not created yet? :S

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