FSB questions pertaining to CPU and Memory

[gekko7]

Hello all,

I have an ASUS A7V33-X motherboard...an AMD 2400+ (266 FSB)...Kingston KVR333x64c25/512 memory (2modules)...Windows ME. When I assembled this sytem I installed both sticks of RAM. The system was highly unstable,lock-ups,blue screens, errors of all sorts...nothing really consistent. I removed one stick, system is very stable. The BIOS for my FSB is set on Auto. My question is this: could the FSB be causing a problem with the memory when both sticks are used?
I really need to use the extra memory. When both sticks are installed the boot screen shows them as a gig, so I know the board is recognizing both modules. I know they are both good sticks too...swapped them back and forth, also through each of the 3 slots, no difference. I do not believe it is a software problem, as the system runs fine with only 512k (1 stick). BTW, the memory is pc2700...DDR333. Would getting an AMD CPU with a FSB of 333 solve this issue?
Any help would be greatly appreciated,thankyou. I have also sent off a similiar repot/query to ASUS Support. I will post their reply too. Thanks!

 

[cdogg]

The problem is not hardware related, as long as your motherboard supports 1GB of RAM. It appears that you have discovered another known issue...

Win95/98/98SE/ME all shared the same problem with memory. Once you reach a certain point (usually more than 512MB or 768MB), stability diminishes. You'd be lucky if Windows would even boot.

The problem is that ME will not use the memory efficiently. It doesn't know how to properly handle more than 512MB. Mi¢ro$oft has released several articles about this. You can also see a FAQ that I wrote to learn more:

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

-OR-

faq615-2438

There are workarounds like adding a "MaxFileCache entry" to your system.ini file, but there's no point since that entry is restricting the OS's ability to use large amounts of RAM efficiently. You're better off upgrading to WinXP or sticking with just 512MB.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein