ME and RAM

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

I have seen it mentioned on this board that Windows ME can handle up to
2GB of RAM. I currently have 250 MB. When I tried to add an
additional 250 MB, the computer would not boot up. I was told that ME
cannot handle 500 MB of RAM and that I should buy XP. What is the
truth?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

MajorSetback@excite.com wrote:

>I have seen it mentioned on this board that Windows ME can handle up to
>2GB of RAM. I currently have 250 MB. When I tried to add an
>additional 250 MB, the computer would not boot up. I was told that ME
>cannot handle 500 MB of RAM and that I should buy XP. What is the
>truth?
>
>Many thanks in advance for any assistance,
>Peter.

You should not have any difficulties whatever running WindowsMe with
500 (probably actually 512) mb of RAM.

There is a configuration setting that needs to be entered if you
*exceed* 512 mb of RAM and there can be hardware-related issues that
arise if you go beyond 1 gb of RAM. Insofar as I am aware nobody has
ever been able to get Windows Me to operate with more than 1.5 gb of
RAM installed and available.

Try your computer with just the new RAM module installed and see if it
boots up okay. If not then the new module is defective or not
installed properly. If it boots okay then reinsert the original RAM
and try again. It could be that your two sets of RAM are not
compatible with each other, although in that situation most
motherboards will just reduce the RAM speed to the lowest common
denominator.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

<MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1126374269.499269.200690@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I have seen it mentioned on this board that Windows ME can handle up to
> 2GB of RAM. I currently have 250 MB. When I tried to add an
> additional 250 MB, the computer would not boot up. I was told that ME
> cannot handle 500 MB of RAM and that I should buy XP. What is the
> truth?

I have 512MB of RAM in my ME system right now. I bought it with 256M and
the upgrade was to just plug in a second memory module, after ensuring that
all the parmeters for the RAM were the same. I went to the trouble to get
the same manufacturer, since I've seen mixed vendor RAMs cause problems at
work, but in theory this shouldn't have been necessary.

- Bill

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Peter,

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
mike.maltby@gmail.com


MajorSetback@excite.com <MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote:

> I have seen it mentioned on this board that Windows ME can handle up
> to 2GB of RAM. I currently have 250 MB. When I tried to add an
> additional 250 MB, the computer would not boot up. I was told that ME
> cannot handle 500 MB of RAM and that I should buy XP. What is the
> truth?
>
> Many thanks in advance for any assistance,

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

That's BS. Am running 98SE on one PC, has 512MB of RAM installed. And the
full amount of RAM is noted in 98SE. Same PC also boots ME, same thing.
The numbers are probably 256 and 512 MB, not 250/500. The former are
numerical multiple units of 1024 based on binary, as are all RAM.
Irregardless, your numbers are inaccurate.

Wherever you heard the info, put a "don't believe" stamp on him/her/it.
<MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1126374269.499269.200690@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I have seen it mentioned on this board that Windows ME can handle up to
> 2GB of RAM. I currently have 250 MB. When I tried to add an
> additional 250 MB, the computer would not boot up. I was told that ME
> cannot handle 500 MB of RAM and that I should buy XP. What is the
> truth?
>
> Many thanks in advance for any assistance,
> Peter.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Mike M wrote:
> Peter,
>
> 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).

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply and sorry about my own tardy reply. For some
reason I did not have any problems booting up this time. I now have
640 MB of RAM with ME and am having no significant problems. I
initially installed the new 512 MB card by itself and got the following
message when I booted up.

Scanregw has caused an error in SCANREGW.EXE. Scanregw will now close.


When I tried to start MS Explorer I got a message that it had
encountered a problem and would close. This was followed by the ``Send
Error Report'', ``Don't Send'' options. I had no problem with Netscape
and the MS Explorer problem went away, for the most part, when I
rebooted. It still happens unexpectedly at times which is why I am
writing this through Netscape.

When I added an additional 128 MB (one of the two old cards I had), I
got a bunch of error messages such as.
Windows encountered an error accessing the registry and will repair the
registry for you and restart the computer.
WinWord has caused an error in VBE.DLL and will now close.
ExCel has caused an error in VBA332.DLL and will now close.
wmiexe has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL and will now close.

However after a couple more reboots, everything seems to be working OK.
No problems with MS Word, MS ExCel or MS PowerPoint.

Regarding Virtual Memory, I have it set for Windows to handle that. I
could not find Virtual Cache under Help.

Thanks again,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hi William,

Many thanks for your reply. For some reason I did not have problems
when I installed more memory this time. Perhaps I had a virus last
time. I have been pulling out all the stops lately to get rid of
viruses, spyware etc. The new card (512 MB) was made by Centon
Electronics while the old one (128 MB) came with the computer which was
a GenuineIntel. They are both in and, so far, no significant problems
apart from a few hiccoughs I mentioned to Mike.

Thanks again,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hi Ron,

Thank you very much for your message. I took your advice and installed
the new (512 MB) memory by itself. No major problems apart from the
errors messages I mentioned to Mike and the initial problem with MS
Explorer. It is a bit early to tell if the latter problem has gone
away. I'm currently using Netscape to be on the safe side. Anyway, I
subsequently installed one of the old cards (128 MB) as well and the PC
seems to still be working fine so far.

Thanks again,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hi Mike,

I added the following to c:\windows\system.ini.

[vcache]
MinFileCache=51200
MaxFileCache=512000

Actually the [vcache] was already there.

Should that work?

Thanks again,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hello Dave,

Yes I understand the 2^n business and its basis. I'm not sure why I
inadvertently said 250 and 500. Presumably I was preoccupied with the
primary issue. Anyway, thanks for letting me know that you had no
problems with 512 MB on ME. It is helpful to know that it can be done.

Cheers,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Mike M wrote:
> Peter,
>
> Please read KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts
> of RAM Installed" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912). It tells
> you all you need and until you limit vcache to 512000 or similar you are
> going to have PROBLEMS. Not all the time but they will jump up and bite
> you in the butt at the most inconvenient of times unless you limit vcache.
>
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby@gmail.com
>

I added the following to c:\windows\system.ini.

[vcache]
MinFileCache=51200
MaxFileCache=512000

Now Windows will not start up. All I get is the wallpaper. Just
before this happens, I get the message,
"Explorer has caused an error in <unknown>. Explorer will now close"

I am posting this from another PC.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Peter,

Please read KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts
of RAM Installed" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912). It tells
you all you need and until you limit vcache to 512000 or similar you are
going to have PROBLEMS. Not all the time but they will jump up and bite
you in the butt at the most inconvenient of times unless you limit vcache.

--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


MajorSetback@excite.com <MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote:

> Thank you for your reply and sorry about my own tardy reply. For some
> reason I did not have any problems booting up this time. I now have
> 640 MB of RAM with ME and am having no significant problems. I
> initially installed the new 512 MB card by itself and got the
> following message when I booted up.
>
> Scanregw has caused an error in SCANREGW.EXE. Scanregw will now close.
>
>
> When I tried to start MS Explorer I got a message that it had
> encountered a problem and would close. This was followed by the
> ``Send Error Report'', ``Don't Send'' options. I had no problem with
> Netscape and the MS Explorer problem went away, for the most part,
> when I rebooted. It still happens unexpectedly at times which is why
> I am writing this through Netscape.
>
> When I added an additional 128 MB (one of the two old cards I had), I
> got a bunch of error messages such as.
> Windows encountered an error accessing the registry and will repair
> the registry for you and restart the computer.
> WinWord has caused an error in VBE.DLL and will now close.
> ExCel has caused an error in VBA332.DLL and will now close.
> wmiexe has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL and will now close.
>
> However after a couple more reboots, everything seems to be working
> OK. No problems with MS Word, MS ExCel or MS PowerPoint.
>
> Regarding Virtual Memory, I have it set for Windows to handle that.
> I could not find Virtual Cache under Help.
>
> Thanks again,
> Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Peter,

Yes that should work although personally I feel there is no need for the
MinFileCache entry but I don't see it being a problem.

Cheers,
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


MajorSetback@excite.com <MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> I added the following to c:\windows\system.ini.
>
> [vcache]
> MinFileCache=51200
> MaxFileCache=512000
>
> Actually the [vcache] was already there.
>
> Should that work?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

As my previous message suggests, that I now have major problems with
that much memory. I was also getting this message
``Windows has encountered an error accessing the registry and will
repair the registy for you and start the computer.''
Well, it certainly restarted the computer, over and over, and kept
giving the same message along with other stuff like.
"Explorer has caused an error in <unknown>. Explorer will now close"
"Explorer has caused an error in VBE.DLL. Explorer will now close"
"Explorer has caused an error in VBA332. Explorer will now close"
"Explorer has caused an error in KERNELL32.DLL. Explorer will now
close"
"Cannot launch Direct OCR"

I tried to reinstall Windows ME but was unable to do so until I
switched the memory cards back to 256 MB.

Thanks,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

The errors you are seeing are not a result of the amount of memory you
have installed. Check that all your memory is properly seated, it is
quite possible that your problems are due to either faulty memory or
wrongly seated memory.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


MajorSetback@excite.com <MajorSetback@excite.com> wrote:

> As my previous message suggests, that I now have major problems with
> that much memory. I was also getting this message
> ``Windows has encountered an error accessing the registry and will
> repair the registy for you and start the computer.''
> Well, it certainly restarted the computer, over and over, and kept
> giving the same message along with other stuff like.
> "Explorer has caused an error in <unknown>. Explorer will now close"
> "Explorer has caused an error in VBE.DLL. Explorer will now close"
> "Explorer has caused an error in VBA332. Explorer will now close"
> "Explorer has caused an error in KERNELL32.DLL. Explorer will now
> close"
> "Cannot launch Direct OCR"
>
> I tried to reinstall Windows ME but was unable to do so until I
> switched the memory cards back to 256 MB.
>
> Thanks,
> Peter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote in message
news:eOocG8JvFHA.596@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> The errors you are seeing are not a result of the amount of memory you
> have installed. Check that all your memory is properly seated, it is
> quite possible that your problems are due to either faulty memory or
> wrongly seated memory.

Depending on the motherboard, I've also seen this sort of trouble when the
memories were not compatible with each other. Some (many I've worked with)
don't handle memories with different timing characteristics, especially
access times, well. In theory, the chipset should be able to set different
banks to different speeds, but sometimes the BIOS doesn't bother to do it.
Or the way the board was built defeats the capability. Another fun glitch I
found was that the memory was banked in pairs. Four sockets, two per bank,
and they weren't contiguous. Bank 0 was slots 1 & 3, bank 1 was slots 2 &
4. Putting the modules in the wrong slots (i.e.: 512M in 1&2, 256M in 3 &
4) got some damn strange behavior. Reported size was 1024M (which should
have been a clue to the user) but half of it really didn't work. Since the
BIOS defaulted to fast memory check, it didn't catch the problem.

- Bill