Day-to-day running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM

[dencorso]

Also about your disclaimer, I also unplug the machine from the wall and hold down the power button to help discharge the electricity going through it. It's amazing on MBs with lights on them, how long they'll stay lit, even after you pull the power cord.

 

Sure! My A7V600-X can go on almost one full minute before the LED finally goes dark. It's never too much to mention it, on motherboards with no charge indicator, one can easily fry a new memory stick because of not waiting long enough. Better safe than sorry!

[Dave-H]

Thanks for all the help, guys! Dencorso, I actually have installed the patch already and I hopped down to my local computer shop just to see if they would have any 1GB DDR sticks but sadly, they didn't. But I might have a computer downstairs that I can try out with it that has 4 slots since I have plenty of 512MB modules. I didn't use the /M switch but I can always go back and fix that. I'm excited to have more than 1GB of RAM on Windows 98. I have a HP Media Center Pavilion that this could possibly work out on. I rescue many Pentium 4 and even a few very early Dual Core computers from the local computer shop and take them home instead of watching them go for recycle. But the sad thing is, many of them only have 2 slots on the motherboard which makes them hard to push past 1GB unless you have the 1GB sticks.

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find some 1GB sticks of the right type on eBay.

There are many recycling firms that sell such bits of old hardware, I've had several old pieces of kit from them for my system.

[Tommy]

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find some 1GB sticks of the right type on eBay.

There are many recycling firms that sell such bits of old hardware, I've had several old pieces of kit from them for my system. 

 

That's actually what I did, I found a 2GB kit on an auction for 4.99USD and it was nearly over and nobody bid on it so I did. I won it so aside from that and shipping, it was only 7.28USD. I didn't think that was too bad at all. If the need arises, I may even look for more kits like that. The surprising thing is, I'm starting to like Windows 98 more than Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is quite good to me but once in a while gets a bit temperamental and gets to the point I need to hit the reset button. I haven't seen a BSoD on Windows 98 in ages.

[jaclaz]

 The surprising thing is, I'm starting to like Windows 98 more than Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is quite good to me but once in a while gets a bit temperamental and gets to the point I need to hit the reset button. I haven't seen a BSoD on Windows 98 in ages.

 

Windows 2000 or your peculiar install of Windows 2000 with a zillion of mods, patches, modified kernels, wrappers and what not?

I mean, the former has not given issues of any kind in several installs, some still running, in the last 10 (ten) years, of course with it's limits on hardware and programs on them, the second (which I understand may be need patching in order to run on more modern hardware and running originally non-compatible versions of programs) is obviously far less stable.

 

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Well... I do agree with jaclaz! And what's more scary, even MS does!!!

Find here the report of the NSTL reliability study they've comissioned, a classic MS continues to keep available.

And, then, there's also the report of the ZDLabs reliability study, also still available (thanks to the Internet Archive, of course!).

Although this is off topic, there's also the report of the ZDLabs performance test, which link I provide here just to keep things somewhat related as together as possible.

[Tommy]

I think part of my problem isn't from the mods themselves, but it seems temperamental to wireless network adapters. When I get a BSoD, it's usually something network related. As for Windows 98, I had a laptop I used a wireless network adapter on and I've never seen such problems. When I'd download something using the adapter, it seemed as though it was always corrupt or had a bad crc checksum. Even though they work, I don't think wireless networks were designed for anything under XP, but that's just what I think.

[rloew]

Network adapters, in particular Gigabit adapters, can cause problems with DMA Memory.

I originally developed the /M option in my RAM Limitation Patch to address this issue.

[Tommy]

And my test is a success! My HP Pavilion Media Center edition had 4 slots on the motherboard and 512MBX4=2GBs less for the onboard graphics. Now I cannot wait to get the RAM for the computer this is to be used on. But it totally works!

 

 

Thanks for the awesome patch, Mr. Loew! I love rockin' Windows 98!

[Tommy]

Here's an update: My await RAM came today and I was able to throw it into my machine and voila, it booted up fast and without problems! It recognizes all 2GBs of it. I'm going to throw in an actual AGP card and my Windows 98SE computer will be quite a decent one. I will post screenshots later when I get to it.

[TELVM]

... on motherboards with no charge indicator, one can easily fry a new memory stick because of not waiting long enough. Better safe than sorry!

 

...  [WARNING: It goes without saying that, of course, when adding the new stick, you must turn off the machine and, preferably, remove the cord from the wall socket, just to be sure, and then still wait for at least one minute for any caps to discharge, before adding/replacing hardware, as always.]

 

^ That's sound advice. Even the smaller secondary caps in a PSU can store quite a bit of energy if not discharged:

 

 

Not to mention the bulk caps:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC6Va8nLVS0

[dencorso]

This topic has been updated!

What's New?

on post #2:

ragnargd's new machines have been added, the old one removed.

Also: post #2 has been divided in two, to avoid problems with post size limits.

Let's keep the list up-to-date:

If you are using 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM, do PM me your info and you shall be added to the list!

[dencorso]

This topic has been updated!

What's New?

on posts #2 & #3:

ragnargd's five new machines have been added and  the two old ones updated.

Let's keep the list up-to-date:
If you are using 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM, do PM me your info and you shall be added to the list!

[dencorso]

This topic has been updated!

What's New?

on post #2:

Dave-H's machine (2) has been updated.

Let's keep the list up-to-date:
If you are using 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM, do PM me your info and you shall be added to the list!

[98SE]

On Thursday, December 25, 2014 at 9:42 AM, dencorso said:

The thing that changed most for me is working with pictures (using software like PrintShop Pro and LView). In all other things I usually do it was less noticeable. But my setup is peculiar since, having 3 GiB, I ended up allocating 1.5 GiB for windows and the other 1.5 GiB for a huge RAMDisk (only feasible with RLoew's non-XMS RAMDisk), in which I put the TEMP directory, and things like the Temporary Internet Files, Cookies and History, and all the things I'd like to go away on reboot. Then again, there's another aspect: Win 98SE becomes way more stable (crashes less) after adding RLoew's RAM Limitation Patch. That is quite noticeable for a day-to-day user, but may elude the casual user. VMM.VxD's memory management is not just fixed, but actually improved by RLoew's patch, in my experience. And the patch is not that expensive... what's the actual cost of one single hamburger (not cheeseburger) at the McDonald's nearest to you?

It's been awhile but on the Dollar Menu they used to be $1 plus tax.  Then they got rid of it.  That would be bad to mislead people that a McDonald's hamburger is close to the price of the Limitation Patch. .  The cost of about 7 McRib sandwiches sounds about right.

How much do Hamburger's cost in your area?

How things have changed since then.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-first-mcdonalds-burger-stand-2014-9

[rloew]

Maybe in the US. Not necessarily elsewhere. 7 McRib sandwiches won't last very long. My Patch still works ten years later.