Breaking 512mb RAM in Win98SE

[Thingamabob]

long story.......

i just bought a ATI Radeon 9200, unfortunately the drivers are currently incompatible (for my card) with WinXP\2k and i had to reformat my pc to install Win98SE.

i have 512mb pc2100 micron memory installed and i am using full paging to memory. I bought another 256mb of memory to install into my pc, however when i did my computer did not boot. after removing the memory and lookign around i noticed that the memory barrier for Win98 is 512mb.

after looking around on some microsoft knowledge database q&a's i found some things that lead me to believe that there is a work around for the amount of memory that windows is limiting itself to.

i know that with my vid card (128mb) + ram (512mb) i am at the limits of my memory availability.

is there anyone who knows how i can work the problem..???

thanks!!!!

:wow:

[The__tweaker]

I don't think you can get around this problem. Some machines work with 512 or more, others don't. If ya comp works fine with 512 then you should be happy and stick with that.

Btw it should not be any problems at all finding drivers so that you'll be able to run XP or Win2k. I don't know what the latest ones for Ati is called but have patience and you'll get more answers from the Ati users around the forum.

Btw what are your system specs? Mobo/chipset etc..

[Thingamabob]

This is my current system config:

p3 1.4ghz
ECS mainboard P6S5AT
512mb pc2100 ddr
Hightech (ATI) Radeon 9200 128mb
sb live value
10/100 nic
silicon image ata 133 pci raid
2 wd 40gb hd in raid 0
creative usb v.90 hardware modem
usb zip 100 (bootable from mainbaord)
ms usb internet pro keyboard
ms usb wireless mouse explorer
2 usb 4 port hubs
usb printing service
2 game controllers
(i ms sidewinder gamepad - i saitek cyborg 3d gold joystick)
52x sony cdrom
16x/40x sony dvd
52x/24x/52x sony cdrw
floppy
enermax 400w psu with heat sensor - self switching

:blah:

[Thingamabob]

I should have stated about my video card.....

brand new card and i get infinite loops and drawing errors... and i'm not even in 3d mode... just on the desktop....

i don;t know how to fix the problem.....

i've tried damn near everything... this is a brand new system, driver updated, bios updates... firmware updates....

no response from ati... i have no idea about this though... any thoughts would be nice...

thanks:shoot3:

[Dyck15]

Did ya happen to OC that card? If ya did, then that means you did it too much. Bring it down a bit.

[Thingamabob]

nope... i just put the card in my system less that 1 week ago... and i have not overclocked it...

[Mr. C]

You may well have seen all this info, but here are some links that may be pertinent.

http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/3968.html

#4 might be an option on that page

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q253/9/12.asp&NoWebContent=1

http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/3835.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810509

Truth is, Windows 98 is not designed to work with more than 256MB of RAM. Serious flaw in the OS. Many use more, but that depends a good deal on your hardware and tweaking skills.

The more you go beyond the 256MB barrier, the more likely you are going to experience system instabilities.

[Thingamabob]

thank you - i've been diggin on the internet for answers for the past couple of days and ran accross much of what you posted....

unfortunately... the majority of the problems i am having stem from my video card... i probably should have posted it differently....

the memory was just one thing along the way....

[Thingamabob]

i emailed my mb manufacturer last night and this is the reply i got today from them:

Dear Sir/Madam:

I don't think the problem you have relate to motherboard chipset driver at all, but if you still update chipset driver, you can go to www.sis.com download latest driver .

The ATI9700 are power hunger device, make sure your power supply can support enough power < W> or current <A> . Change different power supply if necessary.
Make sure you has been fully remove previous VGA driver and device under real DOS MODE first before you install new VGA card



______________________

argh... love people that can't read.... and what is he talking about by removing my vga driver from real dos mode..??? i have no clue about that one...

if anyone knows let me know....


_____________________________


What's your vector Victor..??
:shrug:

[Mr. C]

How about we back up a step?

Try putting that 256Mb of RAM in your system - after removing the 512.

Does it boot?

If so, does the video card situation improve?

[Thingamabob]

as i stated in a previous post...... the vid card problem is strictly related to winxp.

RIGHT NOW i am running win98se for compatability reasons. the memory deal happened while installing this os. two seperate problems for two oses. right now the card works flawlessly in win98se, i was just wondering if i could hack 98se into accepting more memory.

and i really should have made this two different discussions... but they kind of blended into each other as i abandoned one os for another... sorry about the confusion...

my largest concern is the infinite loops and the drawing errors in winxp. if i can find an absolutely different way to remedy the video issue that no one has thought of, i would... but right now all the OEM's are blaming one another in the emails i get for either poor software support or chipset issues, neither of which are really the issue. the main problem is that the ATI Catalyst drivers are improperly programing the card in windows xp according to windows error reporting.

this means to me that windows xp is having an issue with either a) the drivers for the card, or b) the card itself. but from browsing on the internet i find that this error is common to windows xp accross different platforms with different combos of video cards and mobos. (mouth-full) at this point it seems to more related to the os than it does the hardware or the chipset drivers, whether for the mobo or the video card itself.

i really would like to know if there is someone who has had the same issue and has resolved it, and how they came about it... but for now i will accept troubleshooting the issue, but i don't know where to go from here as i troubleshooted it until i could not think of anything, even from tech support. that even includes turning down system settings for more compatability. (i.e. slowing down memory speed, processor speed, windows video card vga comapatability adjustments, etc.)

:shrug:

i just want my new card to run in xp...i hate the 9x kernel :cry:

[Wiggo]

Well ya won't get 98 to address more memory as it's physically impossible but have ya loaded its missing files?

[Thingamabob]

missing files..????

[Wiggo]

Read the link m8 in my last post. :rolleyes2