Memory Issue

[mrblonde]

Hi all,
I have a PC on the network that is getting lock ups and error messages. I have added RAM (128) and the PC has plenty of space on the HD (3-4 more Gigs). Errors included "not enough memory to open word" and "not enough memory to open Disk Defragmentor."

Any suggestions.

Mat

 

[Voyager1]

Make sure there is no memory management specified in your CONFIG.SYS file. Click "Start", "Run" and type in SYSEDIT and press return.

You can "rem" out any references to EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS. Reboot and try it again.

Windows needs HIMEM.SYS to run, but Windows 9x will load it anyway if it's not in CONFIG.SYS. - Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[mrblonde]

There are no references to either of the files you mentioned in Config.sys, or any other of the files in System editor. Any other thoughts?

 

[spacekowboy]

check virtual memory

leave it/put it, on windows doing it and reboot

and does it show all 128mgs in windows?

X-)

 

[hotfusion]

Also run a defrag as if the drive is badly fragmented windows is reluctant to write swap file to it. Maybe run System Monitor to confirm that you do have free physical memory. Many apps. running on startup?

 

[mrblonde]

I checked the startup folder in the start menu. However, I'm not sure what to check in the registry settings, because there are quite a few items that pop up in the system tray. I checked virtual memory and that is configed by Win98. Also checked the amount of RAM on the PC, it's what it should be at 128.


Please any other suggestions would be most great.

 

[paulwood]

Are you running any real mode drivers, ie for NIC's, disk drives or CDRom's?

 

[Shad007]

are you running any virus protection utilities?..if so..make sure the virus strains are updated...

 

[mhughes]

try this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/suppor... memory &rnk=4&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98

 

[mrblonde]

I'm not familar with real mode drivers Paul~ could you explain them to me?

 

[paulwood]

Mat,

Glad you asked X-)

It's a historical inheritance from Intel processor modes (for details see Internet!). Windows 9x can run a mixture of real mode (16 bit, Dos, Win3.x) and protected mode (32 bit, Win9x) programs. Without going into deep detail (for fear I might get out of my depth!), Windows 9x boots up into real mode at the start, then switches to protected mode and replaces any real mode drivers (.drv) it has loaded with protected mode drivers (.vxd .386). If it can't find a suitable replacement, it will use the real mode drivers. Problem with this is that it uses up memory that cannot be used for anything else and is prone to crash the system if it goes wrong.

For some CDRoms, NICs and other peripherals the installation program will install real mode drivers, either in config.sys, autoexec.bat combination (like CDRoms) or one of the other sys files. There may also be a DOS setup program. Generally speaking, you do not nead to install real mode drivers if you are not using DOS.

Hope that helps some!

 

[thedudemann]

Check the swapfile size. Or else the virtual memory. I guess the virtual memory should be 3 times the size of the ram...am I correct? You may have to increase the swapfile, which is just another name for virtual memory. Go to Control Panel==>System==>Performace==>Virtual Memory==>and click "Let me specify my own virtual memory" increase it if nessecary. See if it works!

 

[mrblonde]

Paul~
I looked in my SYSEDIT, and there are all sorts of refrences to .drv files. You mentioned NIC's & CD ROMS are there particular lines I should be looking to REM out? Which would be the key files? Do you know everything? Thanks for any help you can give me!

Mat

 

[paulwood]

No I don't, you should see some of the posts I've done X-) but don't get too excited yet, just because they're there doesn't mean they are causing the problem.

Quite honestly it would be a tad dangerous for me to suggest removing any .drv files without knowing whether Windows has corresponding .vxd drivers. Things could stop working bigtime.

To find out if a NIC is using real mode look under it's properties in the network properties and for a CDRom or harddrive look at the performance tab in Control Panel > System. The drivers for these may be loaded via autoexec.bat and config.sys. Other than these I really wouldn't suggest removing any real mode drivers without knowing exactly what will occur. The best you can do is to make sure that you have the absolute latest drivers for all hardware.

Also, while you are at it, run msconfig from the Start > Run box and remove all the stuff you don't need running on the startup tab. You can also see (and disable) most other things from there, but be careful!

 

[spacekowboy]

from what i can tell, windows is corrupt, try reinstalling it over itself one time for me. if the memory is all detected, your virtual mem is set for windows to manage and there is disk space, all i can see is bad ram or the op sys is corrupt. im hoping the latter.

X-)