Windows xp/games/memory

AtolSammeek · Mar 23, 2002

I have windows xp pro
Amd 1800+
K7T266 Pro MS 6380
1.53 gigs of ram

I been with xp Pro for about week and a half. The problem I have is it dont like anything over 1 gig of ram. It will run. But it runs unstable and games Will not run right Saying No Vurtual Memory and it shows (-1500mb vurtual memery.) I played aroudn with the setting in the control panel. Windows run more stable but its still not right.

And one other problem is I have one of the newer Ati TV cards and windows xp dont like it so I have 3 OS on my system. Win xp Pro, Win 98 and Lunux

svtcobra · Mar 24, 2002

Im almost wondering if you may have some bad memory...I found this great tool over at Mushkin's website that will test your ram in DOS mode so there wont be any windows programs making use of the memory while it is being tested. Check it out here:

http://www.memtest86.com/

read the instructions for it..It recommends running it two or three times to make sure all possible errors are found. One thing about it is that it takes a long time to run. With 512mb it took me one hour per test and I ran it 3 times. With 1.5 you should expect 3 tests to take close to 9 hours so I would just run it and then go to bed. It will run continuously over and over again till you stop it.

AtolSammeek · Mar 24, 2002

hay thanks LOL my memory is from Muskin Hum it look like it take 3 hours for mine.

SuperCheetah · Mar 24, 2002

This is an earlier post from Rick on a similar situation:

"Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed (Q253912)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
If a computer that is running any of the versions of Windows that are listed above contains more than 512 megabytes (for example, 768 megabytes) of physical memory (RAM), you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

You may be unable to open an MS-DOS session (or command prompt) while Windows is running. Attempts to do so may generate the following error message:

There is not enough memory available to run this program.
Quit one or more programs, and then try again.
The computer may stop responding (hang) while Windows is starting, or halt and display the following error message:

Insufficient memory to initialize windows. Quit one or more memory-resident programs or remove unnecessary utilities from your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files, and restart your computer.

CAUSE
The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache to that size if needed. These addresses are allocated in a range of virtual addresses from 0xC0000000 through 0xFFFFFFFF (3 to 4 gigabytes) known as the system arena.

On computers with large amounts of RAM, the maximum cache size can be large enough that Vcache consumes all of the addresses in the system arena, leaving no virtual memory addresses available for other functions such as opening an MS-DOS prompt (creating a new virtual machine).

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

Use the 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.

For additional information about how to use the MaxFileCache setting, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q108079 32-Bit File Access Maximum Cache Size
Use the System Configuration utility to limit the amount of memory that Windows uses to 512 megabytes (MB) or less.

For additional information about how to use the System Configuration utility, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q181966 System Configuration Utility Advanced Troubleshooting Settings
Reduce the amount of memory that is installed in your computer to 512 MB or less.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION
Vcache is limited internally to a maximum cache size of 800 MB.

This problem may occur more readily with Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) video adapters because the AGP aperture is also mapped to addresses in the system arena. For example, if Vcache is using a maximum cache size of 800 MB and an AGP video adapter has a 128-MB aperture mapped, there is very little address space remaining for the other system code and data that must occupy this range of virtual addresses.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click to expand...

I know it doesn't apply to XP, but some of this info might help

Also, what programs are you running a. when not gaming and b. when gaming.

With that much ram I would disable the virtual memory cache in the setting of XP because you really don't need it. I've done this with only 512MB of ram and gotten a performance increase!!!

I find it strange that your ATI card is having problems with XP. Exactly what model is it? And have you installed the latest drivers and whatnot with it? Could you elaborate on the problems you've been having, like what kind of error messages are you getting, etc.

AtolSammeek · Mar 24, 2002

Ok the video card I have is gf3 ti 500. And the info you have for win 98 will help with my Three OS system 98/xp/Linux.

SuperCheetah · Mar 24, 2002

Maybe your having driver issues with your GeForce3 TI 500. Have you tried installing different drivers and seeing what kind of results you get. Also, try reinstalling the graphics card entirely if new drivers don't help. Reinstalling may eliminate some unforseen problem you had before.

TechSpot

Windows xp/games/memory

svtcobra TechSpot Paladin Posts: 761

AtolSammeek TS Rookie Topic Starter

SuperCheetah TS Rookie Posts: 709

AtolSammeek TS Rookie Topic Starter

SuperCheetah TS Rookie Posts: 709

Similar Topics

Add New Comment