dual channel problems

[Triplefour]

i might have posted this before im not sure..
i ordered OCZ platinum dual channel kit 2x512 and they work seperately just fine but together, in dual channel or not in dual channel mode, windows wont load.
i am using win98se...dont tell me i need XP to use dual channel mode, do i?
in dual channel mode, it does post and i can get the command prompt, and if i fresh install win98 then i can get it to boot and play games and everything...but when i run unreal tournament 2003 (i dunno about other games i dont have other games at the moment) certain parts of levels just run REALLLY choppy. the benchmark gives way lower scores than if i just had 1 stick in there.
ive tried this in 3 different motherboards... 2 gigabyte ga7n400 and an asus a7n8x
i got same result everytime
so i RMA'd the ram, thinking i got crappy ram somehow,
the ram came back..its the same ram so i had doubts...sure enough, it does the same exact thing.
i cant just keep sending it back!
is there something really obvious im not seeing?
do i have to do something to the timings? or my windows swap file? or do i need windows XP...or...well im out of or's
why cant i even run them as 1 gig? i tried mixing it with other sticks of 512 and i cant get it to make 1 gig either.
whats the damn secret?!
someone tell me please

 

[johnjkr1]

Windows 98 does not properly address more than 512 mb of memory, so there is your problem. Here is an article that discusses the issue. The basic jist, if you want a gig of memory, but 2k or XP.

http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/3835.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q253912

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,646598,00.asp

and directly from SOYO, a motherboard maker:

"It transpires that Win ME, Win98 and Win95 cannot deal with main memory sizes in excess of 512MB.

This problem may occur more readily with Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) video adapters because the AGP aperture is also mapped to addresses in the system arena.

For example, if Vcache is using a maximum cache size of 800MB and an AGP video adapter has a 128MB aperture mapped, there is very little address space remaining for the other system code and data that must occupy this range of virtual addresses."

And here are the three suggested workarounds:


Physically remove any memory in excess of 512MB [!]

Use the System Configuration utility to limit the amount of memory that Windows uses to 512MB or less.

Use the MaxFileCache setting in the System.ini file to reduce the maximum amount of memory that Vcache uses to 512MB (524,288 KB) or less."

And the unspoken fourth solution: upgrade to Windows 2000.

Knowledgebase also admits that the addressing restriction has been identified as a failing in Windows. Installing Win2K obviated the problem. All 768MB ran faultlessly.

 

[Triplefour]

damnit
i dont want xp or 2k.
but i guess i have to...
thanks for the enlightenmnent. now i can stop banging my head against the wall.

 

[johnjkr1]

You could just run one stick of 512 if you need 98 so bad..that would get the job done

 

[MichaelZ]

dude, just move on. i used to run 98 on my P4 1.5 rig

single channel 512MB of ram + Win 98 = blue screen hell. and you're trying to run a GIG @ dual channel!?!?