Does anyone have Win98SE running STABLE with over 512MB of RAM

Felix Unger

I've searched and seen the previous post on this, but I still have
a couple of questions on this.

I installed another 512MB DIMM, all was recognised by the
motherboard during memory check at startup. But once windows
booted it started to behave a strangely, including the classic
symptom of being unable to launch a DOS prompt:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;253912

So I tried the System.ini fix involving the MaxPhysPages=40000,
but this would only seem to restrict Windows to using 1GB, and
the same problems arose (I took out the extra RAM and all was
well).

The questions are these:

1) What is Windows 98 (SE)'s memory restrictions, MS isn't exactly
clear on this with quotes such as:

"If a computer that is running any of the versions of Windows that are listed above contains more than 512 megabytes (for example, 768 megabytes) of physical memory (RAM), you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:......."

AND

"If your computer has more than 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of memory (RAM), the computer may reboot continuously when you try to start Windows Millennium Edition (Me) or Windows 98.

Or, when you try to install Windows Me or Windows 98 with more than 1.5 GB of RAM installed, Setup may stop responding (hang) or reboot continuously"

The latter quote from:

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

Which is where the MaxPhysPage "fix" is from.



2) Does the other fix recommended in Knowledge Base article
253912, that involves setting the MaxFileCache to 512MB
effectively disable the memory above 512MB?


Any ideas?

Cake Fiend

I'm not trying to be smart here, and Mods feel free to delete my post if it seems too sarky, but why the hell are you running 98 on a system with more than 512MB RAM? Surely you'd be far better off using an OS that can use that memory better e.g. 2K or XP?

Putting that much memory in a Win98 system seems kind of like putting a 4litre engine into a car with moped wheels to me

KdjaCL

I had 640mb of ram in WIN98 Se running fine but you can pick up a cheap copy of W2k or XP for same price as RAM.
Should invest in that if you can.
Thats a lot of RAM that while it may work one day in WIN98 with some hacking in another OS it will work fine.


kdjac

Felix Unger

Fair enough question.

The reason for the RAM is that I am going to be using the machine
for video editing etc etc.

The reason why I'm using 98 is that the operating system
that I'd like is Win2000 Pro and that retails for around 300 euro,
whereas the RAM only cost around 80 euro.

98 runs d a m n quick with 512MB, XP1900 and a geForce 4600,
as it was designed to run on a lot less, as a gaming example
I get a 3DMark 2001SE score of 11000 plus. It's also old and
hence fairly stable by now, well supported and the drivers for
it are well entrenched.

Any ideas about the 1GB of RAM question?

po0k

I had a win98SE system running on 640megs, switched over to Win2k shortly after that.

€300 for an OS that actually works is ludicrous after they released that lemon of all OSes, "ME"....They shouldn't be allowed distribute such crap as it was not fit for the purpose nor of merchantible quality.

JohnK

Originally posted by Felix Unger

The reason why I'm using 98 is that the operating system
that I'd like is Win2000 Pro and that retails for around 300 euro,
whereas the RAM only cost around 80 euro.

You can get it from Komplett for €183.12 + shipping. Its SKU: 102956

its the oem version

Felix Unger

JohnK: The OEM edition is AFAIK only to be sold when buying
the guts of a new machine (HDD, Processor and MB)?
And if there's anyway that there could be a licensing
issue with it, I might as well save my money and go
the the pirated route. I'll check it out again though
in more depth, I'd still like to get the 1GB working
under 98 though.


KdjaC,SyxPak:
Did you do any of the alterations to the INI files
mentioned at the top of the post to get it working?

JohnK

It would seem that it is legal to sell the oem version in Norway and Komplett are from Norway...

There was a thread about WinXP oem a few months back: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74566 if you want to take a look.

You could always email Komplett and ask.

Typedef

Windows 9X cannot reference over 512mb of ram.

This was a known issue, for techs when I worked for Gateway and that was the 'standard' answer techs were told to give.

astrofool

exaxtly, even if u did get it running with more than 640mb ram, the video editing software can't use the memory over 512 in win98 anyway.

Gerry

Find some way of getting win2k cheaper, I'm not saying pirate it ( that would be up to you ), but you can get a student discount on win2k, ( if you aren't a student get someone who is to do it ).
Even if you got all the ram working in win98, its just not cut out for doing intensive work like video editing. It doesn't make very good use of memory, even if it can see it, and crashes continuously.

You are wasting your time with windows 98. Even microsoft admit its not a real operating system.

http://www.securityoffice.net/mssecrets/hotmail.html#_Toc491601844

I particularly like the quote
"To summarize:
Make the message clear: Windows 2000 is a modern operating system; it’s not Windows 9x."

That whole article is a really good read by the way, if anyones interested in how microsoft managed to convert hotmail from freebsd to windows.