VOGONS

Editing Io.sys to use himemx instead of himem.sys

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First post, by Jamesnp

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Hello,i need to get into win98 safe mode with 2 gb of ram but i guess i have to do this edit or a patch (links are dead in google search)
I find this post on vogons.

"Windows 9x will not boot into Safe Mode with more than 512 MB of RAM installed unless something is done to stop HIMEM.SYS from loading – usually by replacing it with HIMEMX."

Can anyone please point out a link to the io.sys patch or the edit tool and which strings i need to change to use himemx in io.sys?

Reply 1 of 10, by wierd_w

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A better idea is to limit the ram used by editing system.ini

In the 386enh section, add/change MaxPhysPage to 40000.

Eg,

[386enh]
MaxPhysPage=40000

Reply 2 of 10, by Jamesnp

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I tried maxphyspage with no luck, it gets stuck "himem is testing extended memory"as the same way before. Thank you for the suggestion

Reply 3 of 10, by Harry Potter

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Try editing the config.sys file and replacing the line for HIMEM.SYS to himemx. 😀

Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter
Working magic in the computer community

Reply 4 of 10, by wierd_w

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There is also a version of himem.sys that supports over 2gbram.

Reply 5 of 10, by analog_programmer

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Won't it be easier to replace HIMEM.SYS by renaming HIMEMEX.EXE to "HIMEM.SYS" and putting it in the relevant windows folder?

wierd_w wrote on 2024-12-13, 12:12:

There is also a version of himem.sys that supports over 2gbram.

Which one?

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Reply 6 of 10, by wierd_w

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The one from win98se supports >2gb ram.

Win98se itself chokes, sputters, and bluescreens like crazy with that much present, (unless you patch the vmm, or set maxphyspage) but himem.sys is just fine with it.

Reply 7 of 10, by Harry Potter

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I heard that there were programs that limit the available RAM. I also heard that you can use a resizable RAM drive to eat much of a system's memory. Try XMSDSK at https://dosprograms.info.tt/indexall.htm#utils. 😀 Try it!

Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter
Working magic in the computer community

Reply 8 of 10, by analog_programmer

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wierd_w wrote on 2024-12-13, 13:54:

The one from win98se supports >2gb ram.

Win98se itself chokes, sputters, and bluescreens like crazy with that much present, (unless you patch the vmm, or set maxphyspage) but himem.sys is just fine with it.

I thought that OP's problem is exactly with win 98(se). I've never tried win 98SE on a machine with more than 256 MB RAM.

The word Idiot refers to a person with many ideas, especially stupid and harmful ideas.
This world goes south since everything's run by financiers and economists.
This isn't voice chat, yet some people overusing online communications talk and hear voices.

Reply 9 of 10, by Harry Potter

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Well...mine has 1GB RAM. I've had problems with it related to memory, though.

Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter
Working magic in the computer community

Reply 10 of 10, by Jamesnp

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I used xmgr.sys and rename it to himem.sys.
Since Windows 98 safe mode skips autoexec.bat and config.sys, i had to do the rename.
Thanks for all replies

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