Incredable shrinking ram

  • Thread starter Thread starter salaryman
  • Start date Start date
S

salaryman

Please help me with a puzzle: I started getting "insufficient RAM" error
messages in my second win98se computer. Lo and behold, Norton Systemworks
reported 65 megs of physical ram, which perplexed me as I knew I had two 128
meg dimm's in my two available slots. I powered down the computer, cleaned
the contacts with alcohol, re-inserted the chips, ran Norton again-still 64
megs. I took one of the dimms out (#2), still 65 meg. I took the second dimm
out, exchanged it with the first, still 65meg. Swapped the dimm's from the
slots, still 65meg.
My question: is there some way that Win98se is screwing me up here? The
motherboard, the BIOS, was not touched, could they be at fault? By doing all
of the swapping around of the dimm's and the fact that the computer seems to
run fine(maybe a little slow) I have concluded that the dimm's are ok. Think
I'm wrong? Memory is cheap enough that I could just buy more, but if the
problem lies elsewhere, then I've just wasted my money. Any ideas for me?
 
Please help me with a puzzle: I started getting "insufficient RAM" error
messages in my second win98se computer. Lo and behold, Norton Systemworks
Click to expand...

Uninstall Systemworks, it causes more problems than it
solves.

reported 65 megs of physical ram, which perplexed me as I knew I had two 128
meg dimm's in my two available slots.
Click to expand...

Are you certain the PC formerly reported (and used) the full
capacity of the installed modules? How long had system been
configured this way?

What specific motherboard make/model, or at least the
chipset? OEM model numbers may not be helpful.

What memory modules, how many chips on them?
Being a hardware forum this is where to start rather than
Win9x.

I powered down the computer, cleaned
the contacts with alcohol, re-inserted the chips, ran Norton again-still 64
megs. I took one of the dimms out (#2), still 65 meg. I took the second dimm
out, exchanged it with the first, still 65meg. Swapped the dimm's from the
slots, still 65meg.
My question: is there some way that Win98se is screwing me up here?
Click to expand...

Doubtful, usually it's an issue of the motherboard chipset
not supporting the density of the memory. For example,
Intel BX or Via 693 (and older) can't use modern PC133
memory.

HOWEVER, this would account for your system seeing less than
the true capacity of the memory, but NOT the aforementioned
symptom of "insufficient ram". Are there particular
scenarios that will cause this message? Do you have a fixed
maximum swapfile setting, OR insufficient free space on the
drive holding the swapfile (insufficient for it to expand
large enough)?
The
motherboard, the BIOS, was not touched, could they be at fault? By doing all
of the swapping around of the dimm's and the fact that the computer seems to
run fine(maybe a little slow) I have concluded that the dimm's are ok. Think
I'm wrong? Memory is cheap enough that I could just buy more, but if the
problem lies elsewhere, then I've just wasted my money. Any ideas for me?
Click to expand...

If it is an unsupported memory density issue there is
nothing wrong with the board nor bios. IF that is the
problem you may need memory sold as "PC100", but we have
insufficient details as of yet, to be certain.

The BIOS should report the amount of memory it detects.
Likewise http://www.memtest86.com 's memtest utility will
too. You might want to run that to confirm stability, at
least a couple hours continuous.
 
salaryman said:
Please help me with a puzzle: I started getting "insufficient RAM" error
messages in my second win98se computer. Lo and behold, Norton Systemworks
reported 65 megs of physical ram,
Click to expand...

WHY would you use Norton? It's CRAP!

Right click My Computer -> Properties... That's how much memory Windows is
detecting. Or reboot and what does the screen say for the memory count?
(May need to hit ESC or TAB if you have a BIOS Logo at boot)
My question: is there some way that Win98se is screwing me up here?
Click to expand...

Why do you say Windows is screwing up? Norton is what you're saying is
reporting the wrong memory size.

Start with the simple stuff... what does the Computer see on the POST screen
even before Windows starts to load?
 
salaryman's log on stardate 05 stu 2004
Please help me with a puzzle: I started getting "insufficient RAM"
error messages in my second win98se computer.
/...

Any ideas for me?
Click to expand...

How about some additional info, for start? MBO, chipset, memory
configuration, when does that message pop up?
 
Back
Top