Hmm... sounds like a similar problem as this guy...
http://groups.google.com/groups?thr...Dd%26filter%3D0
http://groups.google.com/groups?thr....news.dfncis.de
http://groups.google.com/groups?thr...Dd%26filter%3D0

Well...
If you had a EPOX EP-8KHA+, the problem was apparently fixed by EPOX...
http://www.tweakers.net/meuktracker/1187

But since it's an ABIT IT7... I dunno...

We've had a guy already with a similar problem, which never got resolved:
showthr...?s=&threadid=19
showthr...?s=&threadid=45

Are you using the most up-to-date BIOS: ABIT IT7 BIOS ID 9W, BIOS compile date: 7/02/2002 (HPT 374 BIOS Version 1.21)?
http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webj...+%2F+IT7E&#Bios

Hoping the other moderators can help here...

I, of course, recommend you contact ABIT (http://www.abit.com.tw) or HighPoint (http://www.highpoint-tech.com/) tech support. Perhaps if a new BIOS comes out for the ABIT IT7 using the HPT 374 BIOS Version 2.31 (not sure if that's possible or if it will), it may fix the problem, who knows...

That's strange. I mean, I've got a FastTrack100 "Lite" (mainboard embedded) and haven't had any problem getting EMS under Win2k. Weird, weird, weird!

My recommendation? Get an MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU 😀

Thanks for all the links, Stiletto, but all of the long ones seem to have been truncated and bring up error 404s. I suppose if I wasn't feeling kinda lazy, I could hunt down the pages you linked myself...

The EPoX link worked, though, and I see what you're talking about there. That's the exact error I get when using EMM386 to get EMS, so it may be a similar issue (though they're entirely different chipsets). I've got all my updates (I'm something of a driver and BIOS nazi), so if it's an issue with the Abit board, they haven't fixed it yet. I have a copy of QEMM 9, but it didn't seem to be having much more luck than EMM386, but I have to admit I didn't play with it much, because the memory count it does on every boot was getting annoying (it slowly counts to 256megs twice over each time).

No problems on your end with the RAID, eh Snover? Dang. Well, there goes that theory. I am pretty sure it's the RAID's ROM that's eating all the UMBs in DOS, but I guess that doesn't explain Win2K.

The only constant between all of my Win2K installs has been my sound card (forgot that I kept that, too) and the CD I've been installing Win2K from. Somehow I doubt it's the sound card, and I don't think I've got a bum Win2K CD.

Sorry, I'm not gonna buy a new motherboard just to test it out, though. 😁 I'm beginning to think it's just me. EMS and me don't get along, or something.

I dunno, dude. It's just S-T-R-A-N-G-E. Perhaps my embedded RAID loads through the VIA chipset and interfaces directly with the mobo, bypassing the need for extra UMB usage. That said, I don't use EMM386, I use whatever VDMSound uses to get EMS. That said, when I run mem, I've got enough memory for a 619Kb program. 😁

In case you're somehow interested:

1C:\WINNT>mem /c
2
3Conventional Memory :
4
5  Name                Size in Decimal       Size in Hex
6-------------      ---------------------   -------------
7  MSDOS              12256      ( 12.0K)       2FE0
8  KBD                 3280      (  3.2K)        CD0
9  HIMEM               1248      (  1.2K)        4E0
10  COMMAND             3648      (  3.6K)        E40
11  FREE                 112      (  0.1K)         70
12  FREE              634640      (619.8K)      9AF10
13
14Total  FREE :       634752      (619.9K)
15
16Upper Memory :
17
18  Name                Size in Decimal       Size in Hex
19-------------      ---------------------   -------------
20  SYSTEM            180208      (176.0K)      2BFF0
21  MOUSE              12528      ( 12.2K)       30F0
22  MSCDEXNT             464      (  0.5K)        1D0
23  REDIR               2672      (  2.6K)        A70
24  DOSX               34848      ( 34.0K)       8820
25  FREE                 832      (  0.8K)        340
26  FREE               95984      ( 93.7K)      176F0
27
28Total  FREE :        96816      ( 94.5K)
29
30Total bytes available to programs
31(Conventional+Upper) : 731568 (714.4K)
32Largest executable program size : 633824 (619.0K)
33Largest available upper memory block : 95984 (93.7K)
34
35   1048576 bytes total contiguous extended memory
36         0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
37    941056 bytes available XMS memory
38           MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

(I did a little manicuring to keep it from stretching the site out 😀)

That said, I'm assuming you're trying to get stuff running from within the Windows 2000 command shell?

Note: running from COMMAND.COM instead of CMD.COM yields 4.1Kb less "total bytes available" and 4.2Kb less "largest executable program size". This appears to be caused by having two "COMMAND" running in conventional memory (the second is 4.1Kb). Don't ask me why "largest executable program size" is 4.2Kb less while the second COMMAND is only 4.1Kb...guess that's Microsoft Math.

Well, I was talking about EMM386 under true DOS (which I have on a seperate hard drive).

I've got enough conventional memory under Win2K to run most stuff, and I know how to disable CD-ROM extentions and stuff to get more.

But wait a minute, there, Snover... Mem isn't reporting that you have any EMS, either. It's all XMS. Have you actually tried running an EMS game? My mem is coming up with a similar report, and all EMS games are reporting no EMS available.

Maybe I'm just trying the wrong games. Where's my Master of Magic CD? Hmm...

I can run DreamWeb CD fine, which is on the list of worst memory pigs.

I had a game once that wanted over 600KB conventional memory free. I can't remember what it was, though. It's a good thing it didn't want EMS, too. Never would have happened.

Oh, no, DreamWeb CD needs EMS too.

I know. I was talking about that old DOS game I had that used >600KB conventional.

Anyway, I've tried MoM and it complains there's no EMS, so I don't know. I guess I'm just SOL.

I think I've got an old 486 sitting around here, but it's such a pain...

I'll take that off your hands 😉

NStriker wrote:

Well, I was talking about EMM386 under true DOS (which I have on a seperate hard drive).

If you're using DOS then I suggest UMBPCI.SYS. As far as I can tell it should be compatible with your motherboard's chipset.

It's at :

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/umbpci_e.html (Most recent release)
or
http://members.aol.com/axcel216/umb.htm (Axcel's more detailed page)

If you need EMS, then I'd follow AXCEL216's tips.

I was under the impression that this was EMS under W2K, as per the subject. :p Wrong?

Snover wrote:

I was under the impression that this was EMS under W2K, as per the subject. :p Wrong?

If you look carefully at his quote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
...was talking about EMM386 under true DOS (which I have on a seperate hard drive).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which says to me, Dual-Boot (or perhaps, access-from-DOS-floppy boot).

NStriker wrote:

Thanks for all the links, Stiletto, but all of the long ones seem to have been truncated and bring up error 404s. I suppose if I wasn't feeling kinda lazy, I could hunt down the pages you linked myself...

Colin: Messageboard bug?
All the links worked when I initially posted it. Then I went back and edited something - and then they apparently all broke.
(So it seems, the board truncates long URL descriptions but keeps the long links. And then when you go and edit, it swaps the URL desc. into the link. Unnerstand?)

I'll fix the links later.

That doesn't make sense.

Testing...1...2...3...4...
http://www.longlink.nowhere/long1/link1/long2 … longenough.html

No mate, I just did several different edits and the link remained intact. Perhaps you did a copy-paste of the HTML-outputted material accidentally?

Sorry if I got confusing. Sometime I get a little long-winded and use a few too many commas. 😁

I am talking about EMS under Win2K, but was also mentioning that I was also having difficulties under actual DOS.

Yeah, it's a dual boot, but I did it in an odd way so that I could use NTFS on my C drive (Win2K) and FAT32 on my D (DOS). I literally change the boot drive in my BIOS when I want DOS.

UMBPCI? Never heard of it, but it sounds interesting. I'll take a look.

Unfortunately, my darn sound card has never worked terribly well in real DOS, but it does alright from a DOS box under Win9x (also on my D drive).

NStriker wrote:

Unfortunately, my darn sound card has never worked terribly well in real DOS, but it does alright from a DOS box under Win9x (also on my D drive).

Place it in your CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\whatever\UMBPCI.SYS

If it comes back with something like:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
UMBPCI c't 11/95 - Siering/Schapers/Stiller
V3.40 - support for new Intel/VIA/ALI/SIS chipsets + P2 - Uwe Sieber 06/02
Using xxxx-xxx
Intel i845E w/AGP found
Program installed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You're probably good to go. One other note, you can use it with Windows9x, but place "LocalLoadHigh=0" under the [386Enh] group in your SYSTEM.INI file. This will prevent Windows from gobbling up most of the UMB's. EMS memory takes a little more setting up.