I'm Back, with another suggestion:
Just finished building my new system sat night, (my first build), some programs acted funny, some crashed. I ran Norton, and if failed my 2 memory sticks at address 255,xxx,xxx, in otherwords, the upper blocks were not being read properly. I also had some problems installing everything, which I don't know how much effect that may have had on installing windows, since that starts from DOS, which generally doesn't go past 640k.
(this will work for Win98SE, maybe Win95 & WinME as well)
Anyway, I found a way to continue using my 2 sticks, without the problems with the upper register of memory. I told windows I only had 224 Meg of RAM, so windows would never address the bad section of memory. You do this in the system.ini, which is most easily done using <start> <run>, and enter msconfig. Under system.ini, 386ENH, add a new line:
MaxPhysPage=xxxxx ( the x's being a hexidecimal number)
I used MaxPhysPage=0E000
This tells Win98 I only have 224 Meg RAM. I rebooted then went back into Norton, it said I had 224 Meg Physical RAM, and tested my memory perfectly.
Here is a conversion for an assortment of RAM sizes:
MEG - Actual--------------Line to add
960 (1,006,632,960) MaxPhysPage=3C000
896 (939,524,096) MaxPhysPage=38000
832 (872,415,323) MaxPhysPage=34000
768 (805,306,368) MaxPhysPage=30000
704 (738,197,504) MaxPhysPage=2C000
640 (671,088,640) MaxPhysPage=28000
576 (603,979,776) MaxPhysPage=24000
512 (536,870,912) MaxPhysPage=20000
448 (469,762,048) MaxPhysPage=1C000
384 (402,653,184) MaxPhysPage=18000
320 (335,544,320) MaxPhysPage=14000
256 (268,435,456) MaxPhysPage=10000
224 (234,881,024) MaxPhysPage=0E000
192 (201,326,592) MaxPhysPage=0C000
160 (167,772,160) MaxPhysPage=0A000
128 (134,217,728) MaxPhysPage=08000
96 (100,663,296) MaxPhysPage=06000
I only showed up to 960 because Win 98 will not work properly above 1 Gig.
My mem problem is occuring on a Soltek SL-75KAV, which outside of that issue is absolutely flawless so far. I have ran into memory problems in the past in upgrading other systems in our house, and it seems almost any PC133, (or whatever your using), will work OK up to a point, and if you exceed a certain level of memory, then it becomes a little unstable, and may require a different type, like Unbuffered Registered memory or something like that.
I am not a tech, so I don't know all the technical answers behind how it all works, but I have read many articles from other techs, one in specifics mentioned an Abit board with KT133A chipset, (same chipset my Mobo uses), and said if you are going to increase your memory beyond 256, you should spend a little more on Unbuffered Registered memory, and mentioned it would be a little more stable.
Another idea, which I haven't tried yet, it to pump the memory voltage one notch. I've heard of people doing this for the CPU's, even though they don't overclock, just to help add stability??? can't vouch for that one.
on another issue, I couldn't even get windows to install on my system, but Soltek comes with Redstorm overclocking, which overclocks the system automatically to find it's most stable boost in performance. Without bumping the voltage, it took my 1G Athlon T-Bird, bumped it up to 1057 Mhz, (not a huge overclocking), and then everything installed perfectly. I tried manually to reduce the speed to 1020, and the system won't even boot up past POST. Weird, I don't get it, but my system cranks for no more than it is. My wife has a 1.2GHz (TBird on Abit KT7A), w/ata100, I'm using an old dinosaur HDD til my new one arrives, and my system almost matches hers in every test I've ran so far, (except mine boots faster). Can't wait for my new ATA100 HD to get here this week
Anyway, hope some of this helps a little,
Danella (Dan + Carmella)
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