DOS Memory in Win2k can't exceed 600K?

[Mikefive]

I have a bizarre problem and a number of questions I need educated about. We run a DOS program that the vendor claims will run under all versions of Windows except ME. However, they include the following information.

"When looking at hardware, keep in mind that our software requires 600K of low DOS Memory to operate. Intel Pentium 1, 2 and 3 up to 700MHz are ideal. Faster Pentium 3s and 4s are fine, provided they have at least 600K of DOS memory."

Say what??? To my knowledge, DOS memory has nothing to do with hardware. It's all about how the O/S addresses memory. Hardware has nothing to do with it. Am I wrong about this?

I installed this app (including their recommended tweaks... files=150 and a few environment variables) on a P600, freshly formatted and loaded with Win2k and all recent patches as of this week, including SP4. For all intents and purposes, this machine does NOTHING ELSE but run that application. Doing a mem command reveals that it has 598K of conventional memory and the application fails.

My technically challenged associate called the vendor, who reiterated their documentation, which says... "If it's Win2000 and it's under 600K, our software won't run. There's nothing we can do about it."

I'm ready to chew glass over this. If it works under Win2k some of the time, WHEN? How? Obviously it CAN work. If it wouldn't work under any circumstance, they would've said so. Right???

I need to get this app running and will be calling the vendor soon. Can anybody educate me about this? Is it truly affected by hardware and I'm just ignorant? Is conventional memory affected by loading different service packs or patches?

I explained the only changes I made to the DOS environment Does anyone have any suggestions for gaining 2k more of conventional? Unfortunately, I'm not a DOS guru.

Thanks for any help.

 

[wolluf]

afaik, you're correct - hardware spec is irrelevant to the amount of available dos memory. Other than running memmaker on win9x machines, I'm no dos memory expert either! But surely the company who supply software can tell you what settings they use to get 600K?

PS - I'm on XP machine at the minute & it shows 655360 bytes (640kb) memory available to dos, largest program size 627440 bytes (612kb) without doing anything to environment (I'll check my 2k & see if that shows similar)

 

[wolluf]

2k the same - try removing the files & environment variables you put in?

 

[ashpp]

In Winnt\system32. There is a file called autoexec.nt. In the file REM out

lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir

then load a command prompt and do mem /c.

 

[Mikefive]

Thanks for the responses, all. Much appreciated.

ashpp... I am somewhat familiar with config.nt and autoexec.nt. But I'm not sure what some of those things in there do.

mscdexnt.exe... Looks like a driver to access the CDROM drive. Yes? (That would be a perfect candidate to be removed, since that application doesn't need access to the CDROM drive.)
dosx... ??
redir... ??