I recently tried running some DOS programs in Win XP, and to my chagrin discovered that I have no way to allocate EMS [Expanded Memory] unless I use a slow emulator [aka DosBox] due to some motherboard issues.
After a good bit of research I discovered that the issue is the integrated LAN of the A7N8X. It seems that the BIOS reserves memory space for the LAN which conflicts with what EMS requires to be able to load.
This is where my technical ability ends, and perhaps it just requires a new BIOS [which translates to a new motherboard, I can't even imagine Asus or 3COM writing new BIOS just to enable people to use DOS programs], but I'm hopeful so am asking if there is another solution
1) Is there any way to reserve this memory space, or force Windows to use something different when it tries to load EMM [the EMS memory manager], or something along these lines?
2) Are there any alternatives to DosBox that might work a little more smoothly? Granted, it's a great program, but it's pretty choppy in terms of CPU cycles. And I'm not about to install a new NIC, though it's being considered.
So that nobody tries to diagnose this differently, I am 100% certain that the motherboard LAN is at fault.
Here's why:
I disabled the LAN in BIOS, and EMS and my DOS programs worked just fine. I enabled one LAN controller and EMS wouldn't load, then tried the other LAN controller and EMS wouldn't load [the A7N8X Dlx has two LAN ports, one's Nvidia and one's 3COM]. Again, when both LAN controllers were disabled in BIOS,
Thanks for any help!
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