"DOS/16M error [6] Insufficient memory to load program"

[JMHar]

I'm in the process of wiping the HD of numerous laptops at my job, using Norton Gdisk from a boot diskette. After that completes I then check each hd using Norton Diskedit to verify that the process was thouroughly done. In most cases these 2 steps execute without a hitch, but in a few cases there have been problems (see https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?p=335754 for an example). One problem I'm facing is that upon trying to run "Diskedit" I get the following message:

DOS/16M error [6] Insufficient memory to load program
Insert disk with \COMMAND.COM in drive A
Press any key to continue...

I checked the memory and it has 128Mb RAM (I know not a lot, but it should be more than sufficient for a PC DOS program). I even switched out and boosted the RAM up to 512 MB (256MB is what most of them have) but still get the same error.

Any suggestions or anyone know what the problem is?

 

[Nodsu]

DOS is an ancient and primitive "OS" - it can't handle more than 640KB of memory on its own. You need to construct a boot floppy that loads at least himem.sys. Some programs may want emm386.sys or similar loaded too.