I recently updated the RAM on my computer. Around the same time I started getting The "This program has caused an illegal operation. You will be shutdown" message continuously. I have assumed that this is a Windows problem and so wiped the harddrive and reinstalled from scratch. I have since reinstalled AOL and even with just the Operating System and AOL running I am still getting the same message and getting dumped continuously. I have 192MG RAM Pentium III 650 OS 98SE.
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Illegal Operation
- Thread starter Dingeycat
- Start date
brendanhedges
Technical User
have you tried removing the ram and fitting the dimms into different slots on the mobo?
ie, put the dimm that was in slot one into slot two and the dimm that was in slot two into slot one.
ie, put the dimm that was in slot one into slot two and the dimm that was in slot two into slot one.
I agree with the above. Illegal operations are those where a program tries to write to an area of memory that it is not allowed to write to. They can be caused by bad memory.
Memory works by using the lowest number addresses first and only uses the high number memory addresses if it needs to.
If one of your Dimms/Simms is bad or intermittent than this is the kind of fault that will show up . The real fix for this is to put new "good" memory into your PC. In the meantime if you move the memory chips around then it's possible that you might put the bad chip in a place where it will be seen as the high end of the memory.
Then the "bad" chip might only be used now and then and most of the time you would have trouble free operation.
It will help if you close any applications that you are not using. When you leave an application open, even if it is minimized, it uses up some memory space. It forces the next application to go to the next, (higher up), available memory space and you go one step nearer to using the bad part of your memory and then it will fail.
Another thing you can do that might help is to increase the amount of virtual memory your system is using. Virtual memory is space on the hard drive that acts like memory. Windows uses it to store data that it is working on.
Depending on which version of Windows you are running there is a slightly different way to do this. In Win 95/98 right click "My Computer" and make your way to the device manager menu. You will see a button in there somewhere that is marked "Virtual Memory". Click on it and you have the choice to use the system default, (Let windows decide...), or you can use your own settings. I would go with a setting that is roughly twice the size of the amount of memory you have installed.
Hope this helps
Eujay.. Computer Technician, A+, AS Elect Eng
Memory works by using the lowest number addresses first and only uses the high number memory addresses if it needs to.
If one of your Dimms/Simms is bad or intermittent than this is the kind of fault that will show up . The real fix for this is to put new "good" memory into your PC. In the meantime if you move the memory chips around then it's possible that you might put the bad chip in a place where it will be seen as the high end of the memory.
Then the "bad" chip might only be used now and then and most of the time you would have trouble free operation.
It will help if you close any applications that you are not using. When you leave an application open, even if it is minimized, it uses up some memory space. It forces the next application to go to the next, (higher up), available memory space and you go one step nearer to using the bad part of your memory and then it will fail.
Another thing you can do that might help is to increase the amount of virtual memory your system is using. Virtual memory is space on the hard drive that acts like memory. Windows uses it to store data that it is working on.
Depending on which version of Windows you are running there is a slightly different way to do this. In Win 95/98 right click "My Computer" and make your way to the device manager menu. You will see a button in there somewhere that is marked "Virtual Memory". Click on it and you have the choice to use the system default, (Let windows decide...), or you can use your own settings. I would go with a setting that is roughly twice the size of the amount of memory you have installed.
Hope this helps
Eujay.. Computer Technician, A+, AS Elect Eng
You didn't say which kind of ram you had and which kind you added/replaced? If you added ram and mixed the wrong kinds it may lead to this kind of problem. I think it's that you can't mix ECC with non-ECC ram. But i'm not really sure about all the rules or if it would even boot if you did mix them. Just a thought you might want to check out. Justin
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu
it won't see the ecc if it is mixed and usal you will have turn on support for ecc in cmos to get it to work but if he got pc 66 and him board is running at 100 or 133 and it could have this type of porblem and some time you get a bad stick So long and thanks for all the fish.
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