Mapping Bad Memory? (Solved)

[awkduck]

I have this 2003 era laptop, with soldered ram (512Mb). But the initial 640k (and some above) are fine. The laptop includes an additional 512Mb memory stick. With Linux I can use a kernel boot parameter (mmap) and tell the OS to ignore the bad on board memory range. It runs very stable that way, other wise the motherboard heats up and the usual bad memory issue arise.

What is the best way to deal with this in Win9x? A himem.sys configuration? Or maybe eat up the bad memory range with a ramdrive, that I never use?

Edited 4 hours ago by awkduck

[MERCURY127]

or use dos ramdisk like SRDISK, or write own pre-himem dos driver like BURNMEM, which will hide selected memory regions from himem via int15, or mod open-source himem XMGR for exclude some addresses... or use himemx or old himem from msdos, which [can be] limited first 64 MiB.

Edited January 13, 2022 by MERCURY127

[jumper]

Reserve custom memory ranges in:

My Computer -> Properties -> Device Manager -> Computer -> Properties -> Reserve Resources

If you can't boot in safe mode, exactly how many megabytes of low memory can be safely used?

 

[awkduck]

Never noticed the replies to this. Thanks, guys.

I used Memtest86+ ranges and added (beginning adjusted for first bad logged address [xxxx000] and end for last bad logged address [xxxxfff]  ) it to SYSTEM.INI > [386enh] > EMMExclude=xxxx000-xxxxFFF

I see that I have a reduced total amount of ram, listed under properties. It is equivalent to the quantity listed in EMMExclude=

Memtest86+ placed the bad memory at about 50mb thru to 65mb.

If in Dos only, I use XMSDSK (not at top of memory), create a 75mb ram disk, and then ignore it.

I initially thought EMMExclude has something to do with reserved UMB regions. Much latter, when exploring this machine again, I knew better.

Anyway, that is what I have done. If you have any corrections, advice, or warnings, I'm all ears.

EDIT: I had to use HIMEMX, as HIMEM.SYS complains about the detected bad memory; and prevents the loading of Windows.

Edited 3 hours ago by awkduck

[EliraFriesnan]

11 hours ago, awkduck said:

Memtest86+

Is not reliable to trust. The RAM can still pass it, but not load Windows.