win98 max ram capability

[lee m.]

does anyone know how much ram win98 will support?

[The TweakOholic]

Without making any changes to Windows, 512MB. With modification, between 1
to 1.5GB.

"lee m." <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:057b01c399c2$2f2365e0$a301...@phx.gbl...

[GIDustin]

What modifications are those? I added the
MaxPhysPage=40000 thing, and windows starts now, which is
better than before, but all my drivers fail to load due to
lack of memory, and once I run Auto-protect from NAV, then
it all shuts down again. Running 1.5GB DDR.

>.
>

[Robert Duffy]

Archived data from Rick Rogers MS-MVP - Win9x
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Win9x systems can *theoretically* utilize up to 2GB of physical RAM and 2GB of
virtual RAM. There are, however, a few other factors to consider here:

1) Most older motherboards can't handle that much
2) other problems can arise when you exceed 512MB and
3) the *practical* limit is more like 1GB.

For systems exceeding 512MB, you should add this line to the [vcache] section of
system.ini:

MaxFileCache=512000

And, actually, that line should represent 70% of the system RAM up to a maximum
of 524288. This tweak may also be useful on systems using 128MB or better, but
the upper limit is essential on systems exceeding 512MB of RAM

It has also been documented by Microsoft that you should not exceed 1.5GB of RAM
in many (but not all) systems using Win9x, please see:

Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of RAM [Q304943]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q304943

"Out of Memory" Errors with Large Amounts of RAM Installed [Q253912]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q253912

But, the question one needs to ask oneself is this: "Can I utilize more RAM?".
If you put in more RAM than you can actually use, then for all practical
purposes you are wasting money and will see no real increase in performance
beyond better caching of recently used programs (good if you restart them a
short time later, they will reload faster).

To tell if you can actually use more memory, use system monitor to watch the
swap file (monitor "swap file in use"). If you are continually actively
swapping, then more RAM will be of use to you. If you are not actively swapping,
then additional RAM will probably not bring any increases in performance beyond
the caching of recently used files.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Associate Expert - Windows XP
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Please reply only to newsgroup...

"GIDustin" <an...@gidustin.net> wrote in message
news:090d01c399e2$5ca82d50$a101...@phx.gbl...

[The TweakOholic]

"GIDustin" <an...@gidustin.net> wrote in message
news:090d01c399e2$5ca82d50$a101...@phx.gbl...

> What modifications are those? I added the
> MaxPhysPage=40000 thing, and windows starts now, which is
> better than before, but all my drivers fail to load due to
> lack of memory, and once I run Auto-protect from NAV, then
> it all shuts down again. Running 1.5GB DDR.
>

If memory serves me, by adding the MaxPhysPage line Windows only sees 1GB of
memory. Making the other 500MB useless.

Try the following.
1) add the MaxFileCache=524288 ( under Vcache in system.ini )
2) Remove the MaxPhysPage line

If the problem is solved congrats. If not, read on...

If Windows is still giving you problems, there is a utility which allows you
to use physical memory as a RAM drive. RAM drives have many uses. =o)
Personally I created one to handle IE caching ... which lightens the load on
HDD activity ( and hopefully helping extend the life of my drive well past
the cruddy 1 year warranty ). It can also be used as temporary storage if
you have files which change constantly. Also, you can assign the Windows
swapfile to it.

The utility is called XMSDSK and can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/util_e.html

HTH.....

[Ron Badour]

Here's some info on ram you might find helpful:

768 mb or more of ram:

"Out of Memory" Errors with Large Amounts of RAM Installed [Q253912]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q253912

This article contains instructions which basically say: add this line
in system.ini, under [vcache]: MaxFileCache=512000
***************************

1 gb or more of ram:

Error Message: Insufficient Memory to Initialize Windows [Q184447]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q184447
***************************

1.5 gb or more of ram:

Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of RAM [Q304943]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q304943

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP W98 System
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"GIDustin" <an...@gidustin.net> wrote in message
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