Win98 Memory Speed Problem

[parks]

I read all the posts and threads on the vcache and related memory issues. I have the unofficial SP for win98. Here is the problem. I run a Shuttle AN35 I have 3 sticks of memory 1 512 PC2700 1 512 PC2100 and 1 256 PC2100. I have the Maxpagefile or whatever set to limit the threshold below the 1GB limit imposed by Win98. The problem is win98 "cycles" whenever 2 different speed rated sticks are used concurrently. I have tested them in all possible combos and it works fine as long as I don't mix the PC2700 with ANYTHING else. (when i get the spare $, I'll simply add another PC2700 512) unitl then is there anyway to force win98 to see or lock the PC2700 as a PC2100? XP has no problems with this as i run xp1 and 2 and have run 2000 and NT server as well at 1 point or another.

[soldier1st]

well don't run pc2700 and pc2100,have it all one type of ddr,say your mobo supports 2100 then run all 2100,running 2100 and 2700 and 3200 in one board will cause problems so it's not 98's fault,it's your fault for mixing different kinds of ddr memory,i run pc3200 and that was with 4 sticks of pc3200 256x4.

[parks]

The shuttle mobo bios can and does control it by slowing down the fastest chipset to match . same as with an IDE setup. NOTE that xp sp1 and sp2 have (in fact I have run NT and 2000) with No problems. Win 98 does seem to have have a distinct problem dealing with memory. Thats what i am curious about all references to memory management only deal with quantity never speed.

[randiroo76073]

As far as I have read mixing memory causes probs in 9x-ME, can't remember reason, but you should run the same speed, ie 2x2100 or 2x2700, not 1&1.

PS: I'm running 1gb[2x512] ddr2700 w/ no probs

[eidenk]

I am running 1x256 2700 (SpekTek) + 1x256 3200 (Samsung) on an Abit NF7-S (FSB 166) without problems on Win Me. The same sticks have been working together on another mobo, an MSI (FSB133) under WinMe as well. I understand (maybe wrongly) that it is the BIOS that is dealing with that and that my 3200 stick performs only as a 2700.

I had problems upgrading my 2700 stick with other 2700 sticks from other brands and I would meet with BSODs right after boot until I tried that 3200 Samsung.

Ideally I'd like to have 2x1GB 3200 (I probably will) with one gig of ramdrive for the swap, temporary files and internet caches and 1 gig for the OS. If I manage to setup a ramdrive which is not an easy task. My system already rocks but this should make it rock even more.

I have read that 9x does not support more than 512 MB. Is this another myth ?

I had several people swearing to me that 98-Me does not support partitions of more than 80 gig and that was a good reason enough to upgrade to XP but it is not true as I have a 200 IDE and a 250 SATA drive in one single partition each spining under WinMe. I think they just had old BIOSes on their old mobos.

[azagahl]

If I manage to setup a ramdrive which is not an easy task.

Should be easy with xmsdsk (aka furd19_i.zip). RAMDISK does not support >32 MB, so use xmsdsk instead. There is a SafeList section in IOS.INI. List xmsdsk.exe there so Windows does not use harddrive compatability mode.

You can also mount a drvspace volume on RAM disk with "scandisk /mount". Put temp and IE cache files on drvspaced portion and swap on non-drvspaced portion of RAM disk if you want!

FYI a huge, blank drvspace volume can be zipped twice with PKZIP down to a few KB, this can be expanded at runtime with two applications of PKUNZIP.

I use 1 GB FAT16 (32 KB clusters) swap partition at top of 2nd drive. But I would use RAM disk if I had 2 GB RAM

I have read that 9x does not support more than 512 MB. Is this another myth ?

Yes; I can run fresh install with 1 GB RAM and use it w/o problems.

Supposedly there is a bug if the disk cache gets > 512 MB, so either limit the disk cache (MaxFileCache=524288 in SYSTEM.INI) or just install Unoffical SP 2.0 RC2. In SYSTEM.INI it helps me to set EMMExclude=A000-FFFF; I think this is due to my SB Live! Value sound card.

I had several people swearing to me that 98-Me does not support partitions of more than 80 gig

I've used 200 GB without much trouble. FDISK does not show more than 32 GB. Also scandisk may have problems above 127 GB? If so, just use ME scandisk / defrag. Also you can run Setup.exe with /is option to avoid scandisk.