More memory for a windows 98SE computer

[ND22]

Because I still use windows 98 to play old games such as need for speed SE, HP, HS, PU I have an installation of windows 98SE on my oldest working computer from 2000 still running great. I tried yesterday to upgrade the memory and ran into troubles.
Original configuration:
Duron 750 MHz; lucky star K7VAT motherboard with VIA KT 133 chipset; 768 MB of ram 3*256 dimms; geforce 2 gts 64 MB; 30 + 60 GB hard drives; 1 cd-rom + 1 cd-rw; 1 network card.
I installed a 512 MB sd-ram dimm from another PC and I can’t get past POST even with just this one module installed. I can not even enter the BIOS setup or do anything else because the PC locks up at start up. If I put back the old dimms everything is ok. I strongly believe this to be a hardware problem but if anyone has any idea I would appreciate any help.

Edited September 8, 2013 by ND22

[LoneCrusader]

Definitely a hardware issue. Probably the 512MB SDRAM module is somehow incompatible with the motherboard, or possibly the CPU.

A look at the manual reveals that there are some potential issues. If the DIMM has more than 18 chips it is not supported. Assuming the 512MB DIMM is PC-100 or PC-133, then the CPU FSB must be either 100MHz or 133MHz also.

[Arminius]

To be honest with you 768 MB of memory ought to be enough for any game designed to run on Windows 98. If you are looking to improve performance upgrade the CPU instead. According to the manual your board can take up to an Athlon 1200MHz if you can find one. If not then go for at least an Athlon 1000MHz.

[LoneCrusader]

To be honest with you 768 MB of memory ought to be enough for any game designed to run on Windows 98. If you are looking to improve performance upgrade the CPU instead. According to the manual your board can take up to an Athlon 1200MHz if you can find one. If not then go for at least an Athlon 1000MHz.

Still depends on the game. WarCraft III for example was designed to run on Windows 98, but can sometimes still get laggy with 2GB of RAM depending on the number of players, etc. You can never have "too much" RAM, provided you have the right patches to handle it.

[ND22]

After 5 days of tinkering I arrived to the conclusion that this particular board will not support 512 mb dims; thank you for your help. As I side note I do not use RLOEW patch for Windows 95/98/ME but my system with 768 mb of memory installed is running just fine and the entire amount of memory is recognized by Windows.
I tried last night the pencil trick on my CPU and after 3 failed attempts the fourth was successful and I have now a 1000 MHz Duron running Windows 98SE. I did try to go higher with a 10.5 multiplier but the system will not boot. Anyway I am very pleased to have successfully over clocked in September 2013 a system from 2000!
I don’t think I will search for a replacement CPU because I have access to a lot of old computers at my workplace ( and I had become attached to this pc that I bought with my own money back then).
Because the hospital I work for is replacing the computers as each system breaks down or a new one is purchased and does not discard the old systems but put them into storage I have now over 100 pc’s ranging from 1997 to 2002; many of them don’t work anymore because they either broke down or because of inappropriate storage in a basement with very high heat right next to the room with the central heating system but I have many that still do: a few old P2, many P3 and I found 2 P4 form which I took the 512 mb dims; there are many more that I did not have the time to test if they are ok or not but the ones that are still have the original installation of Windows NT and 2000 on them! I will try to see if I can put some of them to good use again.

[rloew]

After 5 days of tinkering I arrived to the conclusion that this particular board will not support 512 mb dims; thank you for your help. As I side note I do not use RLOEW patch for Windows 95/98/ME but my system with 768 mb of memory installed is running just fine and the entire amount of memory is recognized by Windows.

At 768MB of RAM, my Patch would have had no effect on your system. You would only need it if you had other issues, such as a super-sized Registry or Gigabit Ethernet.

[ND22]

Today I took one Pentium 4 system with me home! Windows 2000 SP4 is installed on it but is running very slow, I would say agonizing slow despite a very powerful configuration; I intend to wipe the hard drive and install Windows 98SE on it for better performance! Before I do that how can I find out the original install date of Windows? I know that a visual basic script in XP can show the install date but that script doesn’t work in 2000.

[jaclaz]

Today I took one Pentium 4 system with me home! Windows 2000 SP4 is installed on it but is running very slow, I would say agonizing slow despite a very powerful configuration; I intend to wipe the hard drive and install Windows 98SE on it for better performance! Before I do that how can I find out the original install date of Windows? I know that a visual basic script in XP can show the install date but that script doesn’t work in 2000.

Well, it would be queer, if there is enough RAM for 2K, that a 98 system could be so noticeably faster.

It seems to me like either you have some issues with hardware or have some conflicting driver/whatever or anyway you are not having 2K runnning "correctly":

With less than 256 Mb (without any antivirus) or less than 512 Mb if an antivirus is running a 2K will be very slow because it will swap to hard disk as mad , but you can easily verify this observing the behaviour of the system in Task Manager.

jaclaz