RAM and VCache

Just wondering if my experience was a lone effort :-)
I have a dual boot WinME and WinXP system, ASUS motherboard using the now
discontinued RDRAM.
I increased the RAM from 512Mb to 1024Mb.
WinXP accepted it with out fuss, however WinME would not boot, and in fact
the PC shut down every time I tried.

I had and old gamers FAQ that suggested limiting vcache in WinME.
Luckily I could boot WinME in safe mode, so I added MaxFileCache=512000 in
the System.ini file.
WinME is now behaving itself again. :-)
Anyone had the same experience ?
Or is it just one of those "combinations of hardware" etc. ?

Whilst Win9x operating system such as Win Me can handle up to 2GB of RAM
(although often there are problems with greater than 1GB) it is essential
to limit the virtual cache to no more than 512MB since if you allow the
cache to exceed 512MB this will mean that you run out of upper memory
addresses and get Out of Memory errors. Note that this will still mean
that all memory is available to applications but is simply limiting the
amount used as virtual cache memory See KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory"
Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912).

See also:
MS KB 296773 - "Computer May Not Hibernate with More Than 192 MB of
Memory" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=296773). This makes reference
to an updated file vmm.vxd. Contact Microsoft, explain the problem, and
mention 296773 and you should be given details of how to obtain the patch
and the password of the day. Note that there should be no support charge
for this call other than for any telecom charges incurred in ringing
Microsoft.

MS KB 304943 - "Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of
RAM" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=304943).
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



"Sunny" wrote ...

Just wondering if my experience was a lone effort :-)
I have a dual boot WinME and WinXP system, ASUS motherboard using the
now discontinued RDRAM.
I increased the RAM from 512Mb to 1024Mb.
WinXP accepted it with out fuss, however WinME would not boot, and in
fact the PC shut down every time I tried.

I had and old gamers FAQ that suggested limiting vcache in WinME.
Luckily I could boot WinME in safe mode, so I added MaxFileCache=512000
in the System.ini file.
WinME is now behaving itself again. :-)
Anyone had the same experience ?
Or is it just one of those "combinations of hardware" etc. ?

Thanks Mike, looks like your reference :
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912
Is exactly what happened to me. :-)

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Whilst Win9x operating system such as Win Me can handle up to 2GB of RAM
(although often there are problems with greater than 1GB) it is essential
to limit the virtual cache to no more than 512MB since if you allow the
cache to exceed 512MB this will mean that you run out of upper memory
addresses and get Out of Memory errors. Note that this will still mean
that all memory is available to applications but is simply limiting the
amount used as virtual cache memory See KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory"
Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912).

See also:
MS KB 296773 - "Computer May Not Hibernate with More Than 192 MB of
Memory" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=296773). This makes reference
to an updated file vmm.vxd. Contact Microsoft, explain the problem, and
mention 296773 and you should be given details of how to obtain the patch
and the password of the day. Note that there should be no support charge
for this call other than for any telecom charges incurred in ringing
Microsoft.

MS KB 304943 - "Computer May Reboot Continuously with More Than 1.5 GB of
RAM" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=304943).
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP

snip