can Windows ME support 512 megs of ram

[alucard2050]

i have an HP that on their website it is stated that my system can support 512 megs. i have two 256 chips. each one works on their own but not together. the only info i have recieved from HP website is how to install it. DAH! I know how to do that. someone told me today that ME will not support 512 and that 256 is the limit. Is this true? Is there any way around it? Thanks for the help.......

[Truman]

It support at least 512 megs, I did not try more than that.

[alucard2050]

if i try to install both chips i get the blue screen of death each time windows loads up. i can't even get it into safe mode if i use both chips. it says WINDOWS PROTECTION ERROR and something about vxd. what really sucks is when i ask computer stores around here each money hungry one of them says, "Well, bring your system in here and we will run some tests on it". Greedy rascals. any help is greatly appreciated..

[Truman]

sorry, I have no idea.

[Vidbox]

Sounds like a motherboard/jumper problem to me. You did say you have an HP didn't you? A company notorious for hardwiring things (cards & chips) to it's motherboard forcing a return to it's service stations

[alucard2050]

yes it is an HP. but i have no idea on where to look and switching jumpers. any suggestions?

[alucard2050]

btw, when i have both chips in, all 512 megs is in the BIOS. if that helps.

[Operationz]

HP + ME = a bunch of problems waiting to happen

[biomecheng]

Are both chip the same brand and type? If not 95% this is the problem. Get two identical 256MB chips and they will work fine...

[alucard2050]

LOL. before my HP i had a Gateway. i hated it. and for a while i was useing Windows 98 and i was having all kinds of problems with it. so far my HP and ME have been fine until now. i think with everything there is always some kind of a stump to get around.

[alucard2050]

yes, both chips are identical. same company same everything

[bugande]

You seem to have a bad memory socket. Have you tried both sockets one at a time? Maybe the second bank is bad?

[alucard2050]

yes, i have tried both sockets and both chips in each one and vice versa. they work one at a time just not both at once.

[bugande]

Hmmm, my father has the bad socket problem. I run ME with 768 mb 3-256chips no problems. Hope you find an answer. Good Luck. Eric

[alucard2050]

thanks for the help anyway. i guess my next step is to get aggrivated at it and toss the whole sytem out the window. LOL. Anyone else with some suggestions?

[pacmania_2001]

I thought it depended on the motherboard what amount of RAM was the limit

[alucard2050]

i had thought that at one time too. but like i said, i have been to the HP site and gave them the serial number and model number and they said that my system supports 512.

[koinhelgo]

Having just gone through this problem...here goes
I have an asus mboard and v-card and when I upgraded from 512 to 1024 i got all these problems _ i didn't figure it was the ram until after four attempted re-formnats and installs.
When I went back to one 512 stick again there was no problems.
Apparently the problem is (according to my stockist) is even the same ram sticks (which mine was) can be slightly differnt if coming from different batches, slightly different voltage tolerance and frequency responbse. I haev just ordered three new sticks to get the same batch and ram that will work - so I now will have an excessive 1.5 gigs of ram but it will work and I won't have to re-order three new ones if i ever wanted to upgrade in the future.
So order two new ones of exactly the same ram, or use one 512 stick if the board supports it.
I know someone else who did this and his ME supported three 512 sticks (1.5 gigs ram) with no probs and he has almost exactly the same set up as me - but hios g-card is ASUS 8800 and mine is 7700.
Regards

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

Okay, just a hunch...

How many memory banks are there in your HP. If there are only 2. My hunch won't work. If you've got four, it might be that your board supports 512 MB using 4 x 128 MB.

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[ghengis2k1]

you need to look at you're HP motherboard manual to see what kinda memory and how much it supports. if you don't have one.. call HP.. they should have all the info..

good luck!

[neomaine]

Methinks I've found the answer at....ATI....sorry about that but I just happen to be looking. Here's what they have to say:


Difficulties under Windows 9x/ME with more than 512MB of memory installed in the system
In some instances, after installing more than 512MB of system memory under Windows 9X/ME, you may experience various operational difficulties.

These issues can occur due to how the 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (VCache) for Windows 9x/ME reserves memory.

On systems with more than 512 meg of system memory, VCache may reserve all of the virtual addresses available in the system thus leaving no virtual addresses for other applications/hardware (such as AGP graphics adapters) which require them. When this occurs a variety of operational difficulties may occur in the system.

This issue with VCache does not affect Windows 2000.

If you are using an AGP graphics card ensure that the AGP Aperture Size is set to default (or 64MB) in the CMOS setup for the system before proceeding.*see note below

To determine if VCache is the source for your difficulties, try reducing the amount of memory that is installed in your computer to 512 MB or less. If the issue does not reoccur, replace the memory and try the VCache settings outlined below to determine if the system will function normally with additional RAM installed.

Set the MinFileCache and MaxFileCache setting in the SYSTEM.INI file to reduce the maximum amount of memory that VCache uses to 512 megabytes (524,288 KB) or less. Remember to save the changes to the SYSTEM.INI file and restart the system.

NOTE: The values for these settings are in kilobytes. 1024 kilobytes = 1 Megabytes

For example, if you want to create a 512-MB cache that cannot exceed 514-MB, the lines would be as follows:

[VCache]
MinFileCache=524288
MaxFileCache=526336

For additional information on VCache, please refer to the following articles on the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

"Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed
32-Bit File Access Maximum Cache Size
If you have any questions about the information above, contact ATI Technical Support and reference INFO-BASE file # 3835


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[alucard2050]

hello neomaine! thanks for the info. but i am only running 256 right now and i want to upgrade to 512. i guess i could look into your suggestion and maybe tinker around with the vcache. but i'm not going to go to far with it. toooo inexperieced.

[kinneera]

This topic came up once before, and someone made the suggestion that the timing on the memory chips may be different. (ie, one could be 7 ns and the other 6 ns, or whatever). Apparently this can totally hose things. Don't know how to check for this problem, though.

[alucard2050]

i have 2 slots for ram. HP says that this system will support 512. 2-256 chips. i am 99.9% sure both the chips are identical. maybe someone knows how i can check the speed.....