Any more than 512 MB of RAM toastes Video

[macaw]

Any more than 512 MB of RAM toastes Video any way around this? I know it is not the chips or the slots,because I've mixed and matched chips and slots. Video is totaly un readable. I remove one chip and reboot and everything is fine.
Ane Ideas, I'm running win98se and II've heard there may be a conflict.

 

[Snickle]

There is a limit in Win98 of 512MB of RAM and it appears you have run into it. It has to do with vcache.

 

[cdogg]

You can read this FAQ for some explanations/suggestions:

faq615-2438


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[Snickle]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q253912

 

[rockerfellerz]

I have run a win98se machine with 640 megs ram and didn't have a problem. I don't know if windows actually used the memory or not, although adding this line to the system.ini file under the 386enh section is supposed to help
" ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 "
In any case it didn't screw up the video. Is it possible that the motherboard doesn't support that much memory? It seems unlikely but could be. In that case a bios update might help.

 

[mudskipper]

rockerfellerz, I have also had some win98 machines with over 512 MB RAM in them and they worked fine. Unfortunately, this is the exception--not the rule :-( . There is a known issue, and you are right...there are some 'tweaks' that you can do to windows to get it to work, but after 'tweaking' windows, most people lose most of the benefits of having the extra RAM in the system.

macaw--as long as you are running win98, the others are right. You will have the best results if you limit yourself to UNDER 512 MB.

You say that the video messes up on you. If it does this as soon as you turn on the machine (can't see POST), then if you ever decide to go to a newer OS, then you will want to take rockerfellerz suggestion to look for a BIOS flash that will allow your motherboard to accept that much RAM.

I hope that this helps! Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, let's get one thing straight...

There isn't an exact limit to the amount of RAM Windows 9x/ME can run with (except of course the MS spec of 2GB). Some systems have problems with more than 320MB, 384MB, or 512MB. I've seen other systems run just fine with 768MB or even 1GB. It's not a science!!

The limit seems to depend more on the type of hardware you're sportin', software you have installed, and version of Win9x/ME.

Tweaks like rockerfellerz mentioned only remove conflicts; they don't force Windows to actually use the extra RAM. Only very few apps like some Adobe and CAD-related products that are customized to look for large amounts will actually benefit. Win9x's kernel basically ignores it, so most apps (over 90% easy) won't benefit.


Bottom Line:
If you are using a product/game that requires large amounts, better to upgrade to Win2K or WinXP to avoid headaches down the road...otherwise settle with 512MB or less


Other tweaks include:
- setting the aperture size in the BIOS to 32MB or 16MB
~not recommeded if you don't have a 32MB AGP card or better
~do not set below 16MB to avoid complications
- adding a MinFileCache & MaxFileCache line to System.ini under [Vcache]
~good to use when you have 512MB RAM or more
~you would use "MaxFileCache=524,288" for example to limit vcache to 512MB
~not recommeded to have it set less than 128MB
~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein