1GB RAM With Win 98SE?

jerryd wrote on 5/10/2002, 6:44 AM

I just purchased a 1.6Ghz AMD XP system with 1GB RAM (2 512 sticks DDR). It would not load Windows 98SE until I removed one of the sticks. Did I have a bad RAM stick or will 98SE not support more than 512 RAM?

Comments

defucius wrote on 5/10/2002, 9:14 AM

See this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q184447

It is not clear if, after this tweak, your system will use the memory above 768. You might be better off moving to win2k, or xp.

Also, you might need to do this if you stick with win98:

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

If these does not help, you might want to

1) swap the two sticks and make sure they both works. There is a thorough memory check option in your bios. Turn that on will usually find the physical problem with your memory stick. it take several minutes to complete the test.

2) check you motherboard manual and make sure it supports 1 gb of memory.

craftech wrote on 5/11/2002, 8:34 AM

W98 will not make much use of ram above 512. W2000 manages memory much better than w98. If you like w98se, then just leave out the extra stick of ram.

jerryd wrote on 5/11/2002, 2:29 PM

Thank you both for your expertise & suggestions. Look's like Win 2000 is the way to go.

Caruso wrote on 5/13/2002, 1:14 AM

Question, Jerry.
If I read your post correctly, your new system came pre-loaded with XP. I can see why you might like to dual boot it to make use of Win98 at times, but, I don't understand why you would need Win2k if you already have XP. Those two OS's are really similar. Just curious. Care to comment?

Caruso

jerryd wrote on 5/13/2002, 5:54 AM

Actually, my system came with NO OS. I had been using and was very familiar with 98SE- that's why I wanted to stay with it.

Former user wrote on 5/13/2002, 1:35 PM

A box like this really deserves Win 2000 at the very least. Really no point in continuing with Win98 at all. The stability alone is more than worth the upgrade. I haven't used 98 (any flavor) since 1999 when Windows 2000 came out. Haven't had an app crash since then either.

Win XP (with a few tweaks here and there) is even better yet.

Cheers,

Cuzin B

DataMeister wrote on 5/14/2002, 1:50 AM

I just wanted to add the I've used Windows 2000 for over a year and did find a few compatiblility problems with a few programs that accessed OpenGL features. However, now that I'm using Winodws XP the compatiblity seems to be much better. And you still get the stability beyond anything you could imagine in Windows 98. I haven't crashed this machine yet, even though I have had an application or two crash here and there. Pretty cool I must say.

Go with Windows XP if you can. Besides, you might want to play some games down the road. XP is much, much more compatible than Windows 2000 when it comes to games.

JBJones