VOGONS


First post, by Gelip

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I use FIX95CPU by LoneCrusader and PATCHMEM by Rudolph. OS work OK but only with 2 GB RAM.

Now I am trying to run the installed system after changing RAM to 8 GB and I have such a error:

Insufficient memory to initialize Windows.

Quit one or more memory-resident programs or remove unnecessary
utilities from your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and restart
your computer.

Press any key to continue...
The attachment 8_GB_RAM.png is no longer available

Reply 1 of 14, by OMORES

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Cregfix isn't required for this configuration. Loading it when it's not needed usually doesn't cause issues, but I did run into a 6th Gen motherboard where I had to disable it to get Windows 98 to boot.

My guess is that your problem is related to himem.sys. Make sure you're using the version that comes with Windows 95, not himemx. Also, try running himem.sys with the /M:1 or /M:3 switch.

My latest video: NT 4.0 running from M.2 PCI-E AHCI SSD.

Reply 2 of 14, by Gelip

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@OMORES

/M:1 - not helped and still same error
/M:3 - PC reboots

Reply 3 of 14, by Gelip

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F..k, why can't I edit the post, I have to write a post under post now ๐Ÿ™

If I add any value e.g MaxPhysPage=48000 in SYSTEM.INI then I have a different error:

Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device number 3, service B.
Your Windows configuration is invalid. Run the Windows Setup program
again to correct this problem.

Press any key to continue...
The attachment MaxPhysPage.png is no longer available

Reply 4 of 14, by asdf53

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Here are some tips for a working 4GB system in this post: Re: Questions about a P4 build

Does this help?

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.EXE /NUMHANDLES=64

Reply 5 of 14, by Gelip

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@asdf53
Yeeeaaaa - this works. FIX95CPU + PATCHMEM + HIMEMX.EXE with CONFIG.SYS
I tried use larger values โ€‹โ€‹/max but 3.25 GB is probably the max how much you can enter. At 3.5 GB there is already Insufficient memory... error

device=C:\WINDOWS\himemx.exe /max=3407872 /numhandles=64

Now OS see 3.25 GB RAM (3329.0 MB) in properties:

The attachment 3.25_GB.png is no longer available

But now there are problem with sound card - start sound broken but not in loop.

After changing /max to 2 GB (2097152) or 1 GB (1048576), there are no sound problems ๐Ÿ˜€

I thought that everything was ok but another problem appears - after installing the drivers 66.94 NVIDIA GeForce 6200 PCIe graphics card - the system does not start and restarts over and over again ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™

I will now test several configurations with FIX95CPU + PATCHMEM with or without HIMEMX.EXE:

  • 8 GB RAM + HIMEMX.EXE with /max=2097152 or /max=1048576 + VBEMP 9x driver on NVIDIA
  • 8 GB RAM + HIMEMX.EXE with /max=2097152 or /max=1048576 + VBEMP 9x driver on iGPU
  • 2 GB or 1 GB RAM without HIMEMX.EXE + NVIDIA and 66.94 driver
  • 2 GB or 1 GB RAM without HIMEMX.EXE + iGPU and VBEMP 9x driver

I will check which of the above configurations will not cause any problems but it takes time. In some time I will describe the observations.

Reply 6 of 14, by asdf53

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If there's a bootloop or it hangs at boot, you can try the following: Hit F8 before the system boots to open the boot menu, then select "Logged (Bootlog.txt)" and continue. After the failed boot, bring up the boot menu again and select "Command prompt only", then "edit c:\bootlog.txt" and scroll to the bottom. The last driver it tried to load before it fails will sometimes give you a clue what the problem could be.

I remember there's a bug that prevents Windows 9x from booting if you have a card with too much video memory (512 MB or more). There is a patch for that by rloew called NVSIZE.

Reply 7 of 14, by Gelip

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There are no errors in the bootlog.txt file, all drivers loaded successfully - even NVIDIA:
https://pastebin.com/wfVryNkd

My GeForce 6200 PCIe card has only 64 MB RAM so the patch is not needed?

Reply 8 of 14, by Gelip

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Yes, it is the fault of the NVIDIA driver because after uninstalling it in a forced Safe Mode, the system boot OK.

Normal Safe Mode does not work because it will not processing the CONFIG.SYS file and there is an Insufficient memory... error.
You need to boot Command prompt only using F8 and start Safe Mode in this way:

win /d:m

Now possible uninstall NVIDIA drivers from Device Manager. You also need to delete WINDOWS\Inf\Other\NVIDIANVAGP.INF and WINDOWS\Inf\NVAGP.INF files.

Reply 9 of 14, by asdf53

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You will not see any error message in bootlog.txt, because if the driver causes the system to crash, it doesn't have time to write an error message. This is why nvcore.vxd likely causes your problem.

For testing, try to reduce the maximum available RAM to a low amount in your config or remove RAM sticks (to 512MB maybe), then install the Windows standard VGA driver, reboot, and make sure to switch it to 256 colors to "activate" it. If it works, then the Nvidia driver is your problem, if the standard VGA driver also does not work, it is likely a resource conflict. What I do in this case is, boot in safe mode and delete everything from device manager (Regedit->HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->delete ENUM key), reboot and re-detect all hardware, but don't install any hardware that's not necessary (sound cards and so on), then install the graphics driver last.

Reply 10 of 14, by Gelip

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8 GB RAM + HIMEMX.EXE with /max=2097152 + VBEMP 9x driver on NVIDIA
Win95 boot OK, VBEMP driver max 32-bit resolution is 1280x1024 but preformance is poor ๐Ÿ™

The attachment NVIDIA_VBEMP.png is no longer available

8 GB RAM + HIMEMX.EXE with /max=2097152 + VBEMP 9x driver on iGPU
Win95 boot OK, VBEMP driver work in native monitor res 1920x1080 32-bit and performance is good ๐Ÿ˜€

The attachment iGPU_VBEMP.png is no longer available

P.S. I noticed that the system also starts without a /numhandles=64 switch

Reply 11 of 14, by Gelip

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asdf53 wrote on 2025-09-03, 11:00:

... remove RAM sticks ...

Yes, yesterday I test NVIDIA drivers + one 1 GB RAM module - desktop work even in 1920x1080 32-bit but any games - NFS3 (patched), CueClub cause screen flicker ๐Ÿ™

From this forum I learned that the PCIe GeForce 6200 card is not good for games in Win9x:
Geforce 6200 PCIe Windows 98SE - Random black screen
Re: Best hardware for Need For Speed Porsche 2000 / Unleashed

My priority is to use Win95 for MIDI production/edition on an external synthesizer so I really satisfy VBEMP 9x on iGPU on FullHD ๐Ÿ˜€
My favorite MAGIX music studio 3.0 deLuxe edition software (which I once bought in 2000) works best in Win95 ๐Ÿ˜€

The attachment magix.png is no longer available

Reply 12 of 14, by wierd_w

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Win98 needs about 1.5gb of address space for virtual addressing and aliasing.

If it does not get that, because RAM is present at those addresses it needs 'unused', it acts strangely or slowly.

Really, you shouldnt have more than 2.5gb of actual RAM in a win9x machine, and that's WITH these patches.

I do hope you get it working. I'm just pointing out the elephant in the room.

Reply 13 of 14, by Gelip

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wierd_w wrote on 2025-09-03, 13:17:

Really, you shouldnt have more than 2.5gb of actual RAM in a win9x machine, and that's WITH these patches.

Yes, you are right after all Win95 is enough 8 - 64 MB RAM but if you want to boot the system when there are more than 3.25 GB physical RAM in the computer, you need to use HIMEMX.EXE with parameter /max = 2097152

P.S. I checked my other 2K monitor (2560x1440 native resolution) with the VBEMP 9X driver and Win95 works but only in 16-bit colors and only when the monitor is connected with a DP-DP cable.
For the first time in my life I see Win95 in such a high resolution ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€

The attachment w95_2560x1440.png is no longer available

The specification of the motherboard shows that by HDMI the maximum resolution is 2560 but when I connect the monitor with a HDMI-HDMI cable it does not work and warning appears:

The attachment HDMI.png is no longer available
The attachment spec_B85.png is no longer available

Maybe I have a bad cable?

I haven't done long tests with a sound card yet, but I think that now there should be no problems with sound and MIDI

Reply 14 of 14, by Gelip

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Gelip wrote on 2025-09-03, 14:59:

I haven't done long tests with a sound card yet, but I think that now there should be no problems with sound and MIDI

Today I did a long Sound Blaster Live! card test on Asus B85M-E (Haswell 4 Gen CPU + 8 GB RAM) in Win95 OSR2 with iGPU + VBEMP 9x driver.
For an hour I played MIDI files on the external MIDI synthesizer using vanBasco's Karaoke Player - no any problems ๐Ÿ˜€
Over the next hour I listened to MP3 using Winamp - no any problems ๐Ÿ˜€

Everything works stable, I'm happy now ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€

The attachment w95b85.png is no longer available

AIDA64 and HWiNFO32 sometimes do not work with the AHCI driver. I changed the SATA to IDE mode in the bios and now these programs work:

The attachment no_AHCI.png is no longer available

P.S. I don't know why there are problems with Asus P8H61-M LE R2 (Sandy Bridge 2 Gen CPU) . Both motherboards have exactly the same PCIe to PCI ASMEDIA bridge chip.