Too much memory

I know that Win98SE has problems with more than 512MB RAM, but I added another 512MB to my system anyway. I have heard there is a workaround that will make Windows play nice with this much memory even though it may never handle the full 1GB I found some articles on the MS KB, but they were less than helpful. Can you point me in the right direction or tell me how to get this to work correctly?

Specific problem...while running Opera 7.54, Incredimail and Quicken 2003, when I go to backup my data in Quicken, it tells me that I have insufficient memory and to close some programs and try again. This all worked fine when I had only 512MB RAM. At any rate, when I click ok on the error message, I can complete the backup of the data (with or without closing any programs) with no more problems.

Other specifics....ASUS A7V600 mb, AMD 2500+, 1GB RAM (2x512), GeForce FX 5200 128MB AGP video, 120GB C drive, 200GB E drive, Lite-On CDRW, IOMagice DVD+-RW.

Other running programs....Norton AntiVirus 2004....Zonealarm
All programs and OS have latest updates applied where necessary....

 

Start by doing the following which may or may not be enough.

Start > Run > System.ini
Scroll to the [Vcache] section.
Remove any lines here that look like MinFileCache or MaxFileCache and add the following line

MaxFileCache=524288

Save, exit and reboot

Out of curiousity, what are you running that can take advantage of a gig of ram?

 

I tend to keep a lot of things open at the same time...IE (for those sites that don't work quite right in Opera)...Opera...Excel...Incredimail...Quicken...Realplayer...Notespad...a DOS box...Explorer...sometimes 2xEplorer...and perhaps an IM client or two...also the ever present NAV and Zonealarm

Haven't tried Sims 2 in a window yet, but that may be yet to come...

I have noticed that things tend to open quicker with the upgrade

I'll give your suggestion a try, currently my VCache section is empty. I'll let you know how I make out. Thanks !!

 

Whitphil thanks.... I tried it at 524288 and it did work...slowed things down quite a bit....also tried 786432 and that also seemed to work but with a little less slowdown....I guess I will have to experiment to see what works best...

tell me, does this limit how much of the 1GB RAM that windows "sees" or does it affect the size of my cache on the HD ?

Again, thanks !!

 

Setting this parameter should not affect performance unless you are running some amazingly large files.
All it does is place an upper limit on the file cache (vcache in ram) of 512MBs.
When it is allowed to go above 512, on a PC that has more than 512MBs of ram installed, the virtual addresses for the cache "get excessive" and result in "Out of Memory" errors being generated.

With the 512 limit in place, if you continue to get Out of Memory errors, the cause is as Tony indicates, a System Resource problem, with either too many apps active, OR a SpyWare infested machine.

Regardless of the setting, Windows will still see, and use if required, all of the installed ram.

 

That was the cause of the error on BOTH of 98SE machines. I only have 256 meg.

Also I have found that with ANY version of Windows, ( and that INCLUDES XP PRO ) running too many things at once can be the cause of MANY different problems. Especially programs that are set to auto update they have a NASTY habit of kicking in at the WRONG TIME.

BillyBob

 

Another Memory Question

Ok, I read the post about changing the vcache setting for 1gb or RAM.

My motherboard (SOYO KT600 Dragon Ultra Platinum) supports up to 3gb of memory. I already have 1gb installed and I have no problem with Windows. I have another 512mb stick of memory lying around and I tried it and I get the Windows boot message, not enough memory. If I take out the 3rd 512 stick it boots fine.

I do a lot of memory intensive technical graphics and other things that only permit me to run that specific program at the time. I don't want to switch to 2000 or XP because the program won't run under those OS's and I REALLY like and understand the program that I've been using.

Is there any way to use the 3rd stick and not get the error message on bootup?


Thanks

 

Did you try adding the entry to your system.ini? If not, give it a try. It can't hurt anything.

 

Theoretically, Win9x can support up to 2GBs of real and 2GBs of virtual, BUT the practical limit is 1GB, and depending on the PC config, could be even lower.
I have seen a "few" posts, with PCs with 1GB or more installed, but they are few and far between. Generally, with that amount of ram, windows won't even boot.
If you are actually getting a boot, and then the Out of Memory error, then insert the vcache setting. Above 512, that should be there regardless.

But, if you continue to get errors, you are above the supported limit of ram.

 

I added the line to the system ini file. but I added the one in the prior post. If I want to add the 3rd stick and get it to boot what should I change the line to? (512mb x 3)

 

Whenever a Win9x box has more than 512 installed, the vcache can take over all the virtual addresses.
As a result, you need to place an upper limit on the cache by adding a MaxFileCache=524288 line. Ie: keep the cache under 512MBs.

This is whether you have 768, 1Gb, etc

BUT, I would be extremely surprised if Windows even boots with 1.5GBs installed.

BTW Are you "really" going to use this additional ram. Ie: is it really worth all this trouble.
If you run Sysmon, while you run your largest app, do you have memory available? If so, adding more ram (even if it works) will just give you even more available ram.

 

Ok I think I confused a few people.

Right now I'm running Win98SE with 1gb of RAM (512mb x2). Windows boots fine and aside from the occassional annoying "blue screen of death" error I have no problems.

When I install the 3rd stick of RAM (512mb) windows begins to boot, I get the Wiondows 98 screen and then it stops and I get an "out of memory" error message on the screen. If I take out the 3rd 512mb stick I have no problems.

It would be nice to add the 3rd stick because I would love to be able to run Designer / Photoshop / Photopaint / Corel Draw all at the same time as I use the latter 3 to edit images in before I put them into Designer and it gets to be a pain to open one of them edit the image, save close and then reopen it again when I need to use it again.

If anyone can help with how to use the full 1.5gb of memory that I have I would greatly appreciate it. I added the one line to the system.ini file but didn't add the maxcache line.

Is there a way to use the 1.5mb and what would the 2 lines in the sys.ini file have to be changed to?

Thanks

 

What line did you add? You need to add the MaxFileCache line to the system.ini.

 

Low resources

I don’t know if this would apply to your situation, but I experienced the "low resources" message with Quick Books also and my issue was simply too many pages open within the program itself. Once I closed all but one, backup worked fine.

 

If the error message refers to 'low resources', you can add all the RAM that you want and the problem will not be fixed by this. The 'resources' being referred to are three 64 kb segments of memory for System, User, and GDI (Graphic Device Interface). You cannot change the sizes of this. You can use the Resource Meter [Rsrcmtr.Exe] to monitor this if you have it installed. It first appears in the the System Tray when started.
http://fp.computers.pcc.edu/pmcg/memory_vs_resources.htm
The only way to get away from this and have a windows based OS is to use a NT based system (W2K, XP).

 

I do not know about the fix you are refering to, but I have 5 systems here running 768 Megs with no problems. 4 systems using PC133 and 1 system using PC800 (RD Ram) ECC...

 

512 plus 512 = 1024.

I was also told by a couple of friends NOT TO go over 768 with Win98.

They had tried it and had the same problem.

BillyBob

 

Argent:

The problem occurs (sometimes, dependant on your hardware config), when you go above 512.

If, for example, you upgrade your video components, you may find you all of a sudden will be getting errors.

The resolution is to constrain the file cache (vache) to less than 512.

Some Win9x boxes will run at 1GB. Few will run above 1 GB.