Can't boot into Safe Mode

Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB RAM
modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at anything over 1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the System.ini file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally. However, if I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something goes wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.

Hi letterman!

Your last comment did make me laugh! One of the reasons why I changed the
motherboard was because my existing system got just so bogged down it
literally ground almost to a standstill. It was an old Socket 7 with just
128MB of RAM. I found it just couldn't cope with modern day demands 'though
the old OS seemed to accept everything I threw at it (hence no upgrade to XP
or Vista). So I wasn't going to mess about and probably went to overkill
with the RAM, it wasn't terribly expensive and appropriate for the mobo and
future proofing a later OS system as & when it becomes necessary.

I didn't realize at the time that 98se doesn't like that amount of RAM
according to MS, but after making the necessary adjustment to the [386ENH]
section of system.ini and I have no problems with it (as yet!). Wanted to go
into Safe Mode to configure some drivers I was reloading (looking for
'ghosts') and found the issue described above.

What do you reckon?

Sandy.

" wrote:

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:45:02 -0700, Sandy
wrote:

Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB RAM
modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at anything over 1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the System.ini file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally. However, if I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something goes wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.


Just curious why you need that much ram for Win98?
I got 384 megs and thats plenty.

Now if you were running Vista, you'd probably need to add 10 more gigs
to satisfy their bloatware.

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, or are you just speculating?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

"Sandy" wrote in message
...
Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB RAM
modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at anything over
1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the System.ini
file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally. However, if
I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not
enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something goes
wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.

Sandy wrote:
Hi letterman!

Your last comment did make me laugh! One of the reasons why I
changed the motherboard was because my existing system got just so
bogged down it literally ground almost to a standstill. It was an
old Socket 7 with just 128MB of RAM. I found it just couldn't cope
with modern day demands 'though the old OS seemed to accept
everything I threw at it (hence no upgrade to XP or Vista). So I
wasn't going to mess about and probably went to overkill with the
RAM, it wasn't terribly expensive and appropriate for the mobo and
future proofing a later OS system as & when it becomes necessary.

I didn't realize at the time that 98se doesn't like that amount of RAM
according to MS, but after making the necessary adjustment to the
[386ENH] section of system.ini and I have no problems with it (as
yet!). Wanted to go into Safe Mode to configure some drivers I was
reloading (looking for 'ghosts') and found the issue described above.

What do you reckon?

Sandy.
I reckon that if you are just using Win98se and not any other OS on your PC,
you should remove one of the 1 GB sticks, set the value MaxFileCache=512000
under 386Enh and be done with it.

Hi again Gary, Letterman & Buffalo!

No speculation, it's a fact! Thanks to the other guys... I'll try taking
out a module to see if that's enough. I would have done that first if there
was no other way but was reluctant to do so since they're hellish difficult
to get back in on an MSI.

Sandy.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, or are you just speculating?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

"Sandy" wrote in message
...
Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB RAM
modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at anything over
1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the System.ini
file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally. However, if
I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not
enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something goes
wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.

wrote:
On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:22:28 -0600, "Buffalo"
wrote:
I fully agree. You dont need 2 gigs for Win98. Remove one of them,
and save it for an upgrade or sell it to a friend. Win98 originally
ran on computers that only had 32 megs of ram. That's low, but it
worked. My 384megs is fine. (one 256 and one 128 stick). If I
stumble across another 256 for a reasonable price I might upgrade to
512, and I might see a very small improvement. But anything over 1
gig is just not needed, and if Win98 does not allow it, you might
actually be causing problems or slowing the computer down.


When I upgraded from 512MB to 1 GB of ram on my Win98SE ststem, there was
quite a big improvement in my games, such as Doom2,Quake2, Half-Life and
Unreal Tournament. Other than those games, the speed improvements in
surfing, etc were minimal or non-existant.

Buffalo wrote:
I reckon that if you are just using Win98se and not any other OS on
your PC, you should remove one of the 1 GB sticks, set the value
MaxFileCache=512000 under 386Enh and be done with it.

ERROR.
I meant to say put the value MaxFileCache=51200 under the [vcache] header in
System.ini, and NOT under the [386Enh] header.
When you use the above setting, it still lets Win98SE use all of the 1GB of
physical ram for programs, it just limits the amt of memory that 98 can use
for 'addressing' or something like that.

BTW, what value did you add to the System.ini file under the [386Enh]
header?
Was it a MaxPhysPage=? setting? If so, you can remove that line when you
remove the 1GB ram stick.
A MaxPhysPage setting of 60000 limits the amt of physical ram that Win98SE
can access to 1.5GB (some 98 systems will work with that much, but not many)
while a setting of 40000 limits the amt of physical ram to 1GB. If you set
that value to below 40000, then you are limiting Win98SE to use even less
than 1GB of physical memory.

Sandy wrote:
Hi again Gary, Letterman & Buffalo!

No speculation, it's a fact! Thanks to the other guys... I'll try
taking out a module to see if that's enough. I would have done that
first if there was no other way but was reluctant to do so since
they're hellish difficult to get back in on an MSI.

Sandy.


Buffalo wrote:
I reckon that if you are just using Win98se and not any other OS on
your PC, you should remove one of the 1 GB sticks, set the value
MaxFileCache=512000 under 386Enh and be done with it.

ERROR.
I meant to say put the value MaxFileCache=51200 under the [vcache] header in
System.ini, and NOT under the [386Enh] header.
When you use the above setting, it still lets Win98SE use all of the 1GB of
physical ram for programs, it just limits the amt of memory that 98 can use
for 'addressing' or something like that.

BTW, what value did you add to the System.ini file under the [386Enh]
header?
Was it a MaxPhysPage=? setting? If so, you can remove that line when you
remove the 1GB ram stick.
A MaxPhysPage setting of 60000 limits the amt of physical ram that Win98SE
can access to 1.5GB (some 98 systems will work with that much, but not many)
while a setting of 40000 limits the amt of physical ram to 1GB. If you set
that value to below 40000, then you are limiting Win98SE to use even less
than 1GB of physical memory.





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, or are you just speculating?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

"Sandy" wrote in message
...
Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB
RAM modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at
anything over 1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the
System.ini file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally.
However, if I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not
enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something
goes wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.

Noted!

Yes I used the "MaxPhysPage=40000" entry as per the MS KB article. I'll let
you all know how I get on by & by... I'm away for a week so watch this space
when I come back!

All the best,

Sandy

"Buffalo" wrote:



Sandy wrote:
Hi again Gary, Letterman & Buffalo!

No speculation, it's a fact! Thanks to the other guys... I'll try
taking out a module to see if that's enough. I would have done that
first if there was no other way but was reluctant to do so since
they're hellish difficult to get back in on an MSI.

Sandy.


Buffalo wrote:
I reckon that if you are just using Win98se and not any other OS on
your PC, you should remove one of the 1 GB sticks, set the value
MaxFileCache=512000 under 386Enh and be done with it.

ERROR.
I meant to say put the value MaxFileCache=51200 under the [vcache] header in
System.ini, and NOT under the [386Enh] header.
When you use the above setting, it still lets Win98SE use all of the 1GB of
physical ram for programs, it just limits the amt of memory that 98 can use
for 'addressing' or something like that.

BTW, what value did you add to the System.ini file under the [386Enh]
header?
Was it a MaxPhysPage=? setting? If so, you can remove that line when you
remove the 1GB ram stick.
A MaxPhysPage setting of 60000 limits the amt of physical ram that Win98SE
can access to 1.5GB (some 98 systems will work with that much, but not many)
while a setting of 40000 limits the amt of physical ram to 1GB. If you set
that value to below 40000, then you are limiting Win98SE to use even less
than 1GB of physical memory.





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, or are you just speculating?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

"Sandy" wrote in message
...
Hi again Guys!

Since my last post I've upgraded my mobo to an MSI and have 2x1 GB
RAM modules installed. I quickly learned that Win98 grunts at
anything over 1GB
and ideally likes 512MB. However making an adjustment to the
System.ini file
as per MS KB article there's no problem with booting normally.
However, if I
wanted/had to boot into Safe Mode, then of course the startup files,
presumably including the system.ini, are by-passed resulting in "not
enough
memory to initialize windows".

Is there a work-around to this or have I lost this important bit of
functionality? The only other alternative as I see it if something
goes wrong
is to then rely on Scanreg /restore.

Cheers,

Sandy.

Sandy wrote:
Noted!

Yes I used the "MaxPhysPage=40000" entry as per the MS KB article.
I'll let you all know how I get on by & by... I'm away for a week so
watch this space when I come back!

All the best,

Sandy

Be sure you put the value MaxFileCache=512000 under the [vcache] header
in System.ini regardless of the way you limit your physical ram ( ie:
removing 1 stick or ram or using the MaxPhyspage= setting).