Memory Limitations in 98SE?

[Tim M]

Are there any memory size limits in Win98SE?

Recently I upgraded a perfectly working machine from 128MB PC133 to 1GB of PC133 and now I get the dreaded "blue screen" when waking up the monitor from the O/S turn off Power scheme.
When pressing any key to continue, I can see a frozen part of the screen saver and some other garbage at the top of the screen.

The BIOS and the O/S recognize the installed memory and everything else appears to be okay.

Any help would be appreciated,
Tim M.

[Megaman_Overclocked]

Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME have the ability to address up to 4GBs of virtual memory, but only 2GBs of physical RAM. The catch is that these operating systems will not reliably use RAM beyond the 512MB mark.

[mike breck]

Hi Tim M

While Megaman_Overclocked is correct, there are work-a-rounds.

Win98 can have problems with more than 512MB of Ram without editing the VCache. Your easiest option is to download Cacheman and it will do it for you.

http://www.outertech.com/

HTH

[galaxian]

Start > Run > System.ini
Scroll to the [vcache] section and add the line

MaxFileCache=512000

Save, exit and reboot

The fix is easier than loading a piece of "useless" software that wants to "Optimize your Disk Cache" (why?), "Periodically recover memory" (why?), and "Watch & monitor several important system values" (why?), etc.

[Familyman]

Start > Run > System.ini Scroll to the [vcache] section and add the line MaxFileCache=512000 Save, exit and reboot

I wish Microsoft would explain things that way so novices like me would know what to do.

Thanks

[edit] This was over my head.

[Tim M]

Thanks all,
Added the line to System.ini but NO difference.

After reading some other docs, I wonder if adding "MaxPhysPage=40000" to the [386Enh] section will do anything for it? What do you think?

Tim M.

[galaxian]

Adding that line is just like taking a stick of ram out. If they were 128/256 that is just as good of an option.

BTW "I get the dreaded "blue screen"
Since there is no "standard" blue screen, what is the error you are getting?

[mike breck]

Go to Display Properties>Advanced>Monitor and make sure the "Reset Display on Suspend/Resume" is ticked.

Try disabling your screensaver. If you have the monitor set to power down, then you don't need a screensaver anyway. In fact you don't need a screensaver period. Modern monitors do not have "burn in" problems that very old monitors had. Screensavers are entirely "cosmetic" these days.

To be quite honest, I don't use any power management settings at all. I find them more trouble than they're worth and therefore just set them all to "never". If I'm not using the monitor, I just turn it off.

These power saving functions were really invented for laptops and have just been added to desktop systems where they are not needed.

Whether, you manually edit the VCache or use Cacheman is up to you. Although I have always edited my own VCache settings, I don't have any hangups about recommending Cacheman to people who don't want to do it manually.

If it does the job, then that's good enough for me.

[Tim M]

Mike-
"Reset Display on Suspend/Resume" is ticked and turning off the screen saver does not help.

galaxian-
are you talking about the "MaxPhysPage=40000" line or the "MaxFileCache=512000" line that is like removing a stick of ram? I will get the exact error message from the machine and put it in my next posting.

[Tim M]

Here is the fatal exception error message:

A fatal exception 06 has occurred at 0000:0000179A. The current application
will be terminated.
*Press any key to terminate the current application.
*Press CTRL+ALT+DEL again to restart your computer. You will lose any unsaved
information in all applications.

[galaxian]

06: Invalid Opcode Fault

This error is returned if any one of the following conditions exists:

The processor tries to decode a bit pattern that does not correspond to any legal computer instruction.

The processor attempts to execute an instruction that contains invalid operands.

The processor attempts to execute a protected-mode instruction while running in virtual 8086 mode.

The processor tries to execute a LOCK prefix with an instruction that cannot be locked.

All of which makes it sound like memory issues.

Can you motherboard handle 1GB?
Have you tried the sticks of ram individually?

My comment above was in regard to the MaxPhysPage. What that does is place an upper limit on the amount of ram usable to Windows. Ie: Just like removing memory.

[Tim M]

The m/b specs say that the max mem is 1.0GB.

In regards to the "MaxPhysPage" line, I found a MSKB article thru http://aumha.org/ about setting it to the value mentioned in an earlier posting.

The URL to that article is:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;304943

Please clarify.

[galaxian]

With a Gig installed, and the PC getting errors, one solution is the MaxPhysPage.
This restricts the amount of memory that windows and any running programs can see and use.
AND, this is just like removing a stick of ram.

So, if you have installed smaller chunks of ram, like 128/256, just remove a stick. You may as well use it somewhere else.