VOGONS


>512MB with Windows 98...

Topic actions

First post, by PowerPie5000

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I've been running 768MB RAM with my Win98se box and i've noticed it's been getting quite unstable (now that i'm using it more). It seemed ok to begin with without installing patches or messing around with configs. I've since installed the unofficial service pack which is supposed to fix the 512MB RAM limit, but it's made no difference. Memtest reports all modules as ok too!

I'm thinking about maybe dropping down to 512MB (2 sticks) to see if it solves anything... Does anyone else have stability issues with more than 512MB? Random freezes/lockups etc...?

Reply 1 of 23, by BigBodZod

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Have you looked at the MGDX site for 98/98SE patches just for this yet ?

http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm#98SE

I patched both 98SE and ME to run on a machine with 1GB of RAM.

No matter where you go, there you are...

Reply 3 of 23, by Gamecollector

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Why someone need more then 512 Mb RAM in Win9x?
For me - Windows ME is rebooting at the msmouse.vxd loading with >512 Mb RAM.

Last edited by Gamecollector on 2013-04-20, 19:09. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 23, by Gamecollector

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
vetz wrote:
Gamecollector wrote:

Why someone need more then 512 Mb RAM in Win9x?

To dual boot with Windows XP/Windows 2000?

1) Install Win9x with 512 MB RAM.
2) Run msconfig.exe and set /maxmem=512 parameter.
3) Install any amount of the RAM, Win9x will see only 512 Mb.
4) Profit...

Reply 6 of 23, by vetz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Gamecollector wrote:
1) Install Win9x with 512 MB RAM. 2) Run msconfig.exe and set /maxmem=512 parameter. 3) Install any amount of the RAM, Win9x wil […]
Show full quote

1) Install Win9x with 512 MB RAM.
2) Run msconfig.exe and set /maxmem=512 parameter.
3) Install any amount of the RAM, Win9x will see only 512 Mb.
4) Profit...

I'm sure this is good for people who experience issues, but for us where everything works, I don't see any reason to limit Win98 to not run with the installed memory in the computer.

3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes

Reply 7 of 23, by Stojke

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Just install the unofficial SP3, works with 2GB. Or Virtual Machine.

Note | LLSID | "Big boobs are important!"

Reply 8 of 23, by Gamecollector

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

By the way, the msconfig with /maxmem is just editing the MaxPhysPage value in [386enh] section of system.ini. So - just set this value to 1FFFF (512 MB). This method is working even with the Win9x installation process. Now I don't need to remove DIMMs if I want to reinstall WinME...

Asus P4P800 SE/Pentium4 3.2E/2 Gb DDR400B,
Radeon HD3850 Agp (Sapphire), Catalyst 14.4 (XpProSp3).
Voodoo2 12 MB SLI, Win2k drivers 1.02.00 (XpProSp3).

Reply 9 of 23, by PowerPie5000

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Gamecollector wrote:

By the way, the msconfig with /maxmem is just editing the MaxPhysPage value in [386enh] section of system.ini. So - just set this value to 1FFFF (512 MB). This method is working even with the Win9x installation process. Now I don't need to remove DIMMs if I want to reinstall WinME...

The unofficial service pack (as early as v1.2 ) already includes the memory fix, so i'm thinking maybe my motherboard or even the Powerleap adapter isn't playing nice with the RAM maxed out? I'm now running 512MB with no issues at all... It would mainly crash when copying large files (especially from USB sticks) when i had more than 512MB RAM.

Stojke wrote:

Just install the unofficial SP3, works with 2GB. Or Virtual Machine.

Can it be installed over the older Service Pack 2.1a? Or do i need to do a clean install of Windows 98se again?

Reply 10 of 23, by sliderider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I like this thread on the subject

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/145982-using- … ram-update-fix/

Look for posts by someone named 'gosh' who claims to be a former tech support rep for MS and how his comments are responded to by the community. His comments are basically of the "Windows 98 sucks so you should upgrade to XP" type and he gets smacked down for his lack of knowledge of the current (unofficial) state of Windows 98 before the mods step in to diffuse the situation before it explodes into a 9x vs NT flame war.

Reply 11 of 23, by PowerPie5000

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
sliderider wrote:

I like this thread on the subject

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/145982-using- … ram-update-fix/

Look for posts by someone named 'gosh' who claims to be a former tech support rep for MS and how his comments are responded to by the community. His comments are basically of the "Windows 98 sucks so you should upgrade to XP" type and he gets smacked down for his lack of knowledge of the current (unofficial) state of Windows 98 before the mods step in to diffuse the situation before it explodes into a 9x vs NT flame war.

The thread would have been better off without his posts... I don't want XP on this machine (ever!). I also don't fancy spending $20 on a "Ram Limitation Patch" by R. Loew 😒.

I'm thinking maybe i should just do a fresh install of Win98 again and then install the latest/LAST unofficial service pack 3-b4. I can install Windows 98se fine with all 768mb RAM installed.

Reply 12 of 23, by nforce4max

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

It is annoying that there is these ram limitation issues with 9x, even dos back in the early days could have addressed up to 2GB provided it was "contentious".

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 13 of 23, by TELVM

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

To make W98SE run OK with 768MB of RAM, just add this line to system.ini , below [VCache] :

[VCache]
MaxFileCache=262144

Then add this line to system.cb (for safe mode):

[VCache]
MaxFileCache=65536

Let the air flow!

Reply 14 of 23, by PowerPie5000

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
TELVM wrote:
To make W98SE run OK with 768MB of RAM, just add this line to system.ini , below [VCache] : […]
Show full quote

To make W98SE run OK with 768MB of RAM, just add this line to system.ini , below [VCache] :

[VCache]
MaxFileCache=262144

Then add this line to system.cb (for safe mode):

[VCache]
MaxFileCache=65536

Thanks, but the unofficial service packs do this automatically. It seems people have different results depending on the figures used and hardware setup. I also read somewhere that the amount of VRAM and even certain Ethernet drivers can affect the overall RAM limit too (all about available memory address space afaik).

Reply 15 of 23, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I use HIMEMX in the config.sys on my machine to restrict the available memory, and it works excellently. (I have also read that HIMEMX may also be necessary if you want to use certain nVidia drivers with Windows 98, simply because HIMEMX is just that much more awesome.)

The only catch with HIMEMX is that when you try to launch Windows 98 in safe mode, it will still try to use HIMEM instead and the system may hang. There was some talk over at MSFN about editing IO.SYS (I think) to change the relevant reference to load HIMEMX instead, or you can just rename the old HIMEM and replace it with HIMEMX directly.

Reply 16 of 23, by PowerPie5000

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I think i've discovered the problem, and it appears to be CPU related! My motherboard/Powerleap combo doesn't like the A1 stepping Celeron (random crashes), but it appears to work fine with a B1 stepping Celeron. I find this quite odd.

Both A1 and B1 stepping Celerons are in perfect working order as a friend and i tested them thoroughly with other systems (with and without the Powerleap adapter, of which i have 2). I can only guess it's down to the SE440BX2 bios. It's all working fine so far using a B1 stepping Celeron (SL6C6). I'll just sell my other Celeron chip along with my spare Powerleap adapter (all fully working) seeing as i won't be using it.

Reply 17 of 23, by elfuego

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Stojke wrote:

Just install the unofficial SP3, works with 2GB. Or Virtual Machine.

Mhm, its true that I havent played with Win98 in a while, but I remember applying every single patch I could find including all possible solutions listed here already and I never got Win98 to wake up with 3GB RAM. I dont remember if I tried with 2GB though 😒

Well, maybe some day I'll try again when I get bored enough.

Reply 18 of 23, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I never got more than 1gb working. But I rarely try more than 512mb anyway. I usually setup a machine with 256-512mb and run stock 98se.

I've only once tried a machine with 2gb actually. My Asrock 775i65g with Core 2. I ended up installing with 512mb and then using the MaxPhysPage setting to restrict it to 1gb.

With more than 512mb you also need the Vcache tweaks too AFAIK. Otherwise Vcache will eventually use too much RAM. As others have said already.

Reply 19 of 23, by Hatta

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
vetz wrote:

I'm running 1024MB on my 440BX system with Win98SE and Win95 (limited to 768MB through settings), no problems whatsoever.

Really? I thought 440bx was limited to 3x256mb? The i440bx RAM FAQ says:

"No 512MB module will work in a board with the bx chipset, regardless what a vendor might tell you on the website."