Peculiar RAM problems with an old Asus mobo setup?!?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Darth Joules
  • Start date Start date
D

Darth Joules

I'm have an odd prblem with the memory in one of my PCs. The PC in
questiion is built around an ASUS P3B-F mobo with a P2 450Mhz CPU and
2 sticks of Crucial 256Mb SDRAM PC133....OS is Win98.

Large programs flag up a "not enogh memory" window and starting a game
(like Mobile Rally 1) flags a different window with loads of numbers
and something about low memory.

I ran Norton to see if there was any problems with any hardware and
sure enough the memory fails its test almost immediately. OK, so I
think I've got one dead stick of SDRAM and all I have to do is change
it. Now here's where things start to get odd.

The 2 stick of SDRAM sit in DIMM slots 0 and 1. So I removed the
stick from slot 1 and started the PC. PC saw it had only 256Mb of
RAM. Ran Norton on it, waited and it passed.

Then I pull out the stick in slot 0 and take the stick that was in
slot 1 and put into slot 0. I got exactly the same test result as the
first time on one stick....which means nothing wrong with either
memory stick.

So leaving the stick from slot 1 in slot 0, I put the stick originally
from slot 0 into slot 1. So now they're in the opposite way round to
what they were origanlly. Switched the PC on, say it has 516Mb of RAM
and then run Norton.....the memory fails the test immediately.

OK, this time I move the stick now in slot 1 to slot 2. PC still says
it has 516Mb of RAM, so it knows it's there, but fails the Norton test
again!!!

What on earth is going on??? I don't think it could be a dusty DIMM
slot, the mobo is pretty dust free. The memory works fine if there's
either stick inside, but together they fail and I get all the problems
when using games and large progs as mentioned in the beginning.


Cheers,

Darth Joules
 
I'm have an odd prblem with the memory in one of my PCs. The PC in
questiion is built around an ASUS P3B-F mobo with a P2 450Mhz CPU and
2 sticks of Crucial 256Mb SDRAM PC133....OS is Win98.

Large programs flag up a "not enogh memory" window and starting a game
(like Mobile Rally 1) flags a different window with loads of numbers
and something about low memory.

I ran Norton to see if there was any problems with any hardware and
sure enough the memory fails its test almost immediately. OK, so I
think I've got one dead stick of SDRAM and all I have to do is change
it. Now here's where things start to get odd.

The 2 stick of SDRAM sit in DIMM slots 0 and 1. So I removed the
stick from slot 1 and started the PC. PC saw it had only 256Mb of
RAM. Ran Norton on it, waited and it passed.

Then I pull out the stick in slot 0 and take the stick that was in
slot 1 and put into slot 0. I got exactly the same test result as the
first time on one stick....which means nothing wrong with either
memory stick.

So leaving the stick from slot 1 in slot 0, I put the stick originally
from slot 0 into slot 1. So now they're in the opposite way round to
what they were origanlly. Switched the PC on, say it has 516Mb of RAM
and then run Norton.....the memory fails the test immediately.

OK, this time I move the stick now in slot 1 to slot 2. PC still says
it has 516Mb of RAM, so it knows it's there, but fails the Norton test
again!!!

What on earth is going on??? I don't think it could be a dusty DIMM
slot, the mobo is pretty dust free. The memory works fine if there's
either stick inside, but together they fail and I get all the problems
when using games and large progs as mentioned in the beginning.


Cheers,

Darth Joules
Click to expand...

FIrst of all, drop Norton, ignore anything it reports, and test with
something better, like Memtest86:
http://www.memtest86.com

Next, have you edited your "system.ini" file to limit the vcache to
<=512MB? This is a known issue with WIn98, everyone is subject to
this error if the system.ini file isn't edited. The line that needs
added to the file is under the already-existing header [vcache]. The
value is in kilobytes. The optimal setting might be

[512MB - (video card memory)] * 1024 (kilobytes per MB)

The number I included allows for a 128MB video card, but would be fine
for a video card having less memory too.

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=393216




Dave
 
I'm have an odd prblem with the memory in one of my PCs. The PC in
questiion is built around an ASUS P3B-F mobo with a P2 450Mhz CPU and
2 sticks of Crucial 256Mb SDRAM PC133....OS is Win98.

Large programs flag up a "not enogh memory" window and starting a game
(like Mobile Rally 1) flags a different window with loads of numbers
and something about low memory.

I ran Norton to see if there was any problems with any hardware and
sure enough the memory fails its test almost immediately. OK, so I
think I've got one dead stick of SDRAM and all I have to do is change
it. Now here's where things start to get odd.

The 2 stick of SDRAM sit in DIMM slots 0 and 1. So I removed the
stick from slot 1 and started the PC. PC saw it had only 256Mb of
RAM. Ran Norton on it, waited and it passed.

Then I pull out the stick in slot 0 and take the stick that was in
slot 1 and put into slot 0. I got exactly the same test result as the
first time on one stick....which means nothing wrong with either
memory stick.

So leaving the stick from slot 1 in slot 0, I put the stick originally
from slot 0 into slot 1. So now they're in the opposite way round to
what they were origanlly. Switched the PC on, say it has 516Mb of RAM
and then run Norton.....the memory fails the test immediately.

OK, this time I move the stick now in slot 1 to slot 2. PC still says
it has 516Mb of RAM, so it knows it's there, but fails the Norton test
again!!!

What on earth is going on??? I don't think it could be a dusty DIMM
slot, the mobo is pretty dust free. The memory works fine if there's
either stick inside, but together they fail and I get all the problems
when using games and large progs as mentioned in the beginning.


Cheers,

Darth Joules
Click to expand...

"Out-Of-Memory" calls in windows although can be RAM are more usually
not enough disk space to allow the Virtual Memory to run or programs
running the background that are badly installed/badly
written/out-of-date or have compatibility problems with windows or
another program running.
1st trim your start up group,

http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/startup.html
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/startup/list.html
Then clean and compact the Registry,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/house.html
Then delete the win386.swp from dos just in case it's damaged and on
re-boot windows will make a new repaired one as per,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/easy.html

HTH :)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm
 
Darth said:
I'm have an odd prblem with the memory in one of my PCs. The PC in
questiion is built around an ASUS P3B-F mobo with a P2 450Mhz CPU and
2 sticks of Crucial 256Mb SDRAM PC133....OS is Win98.

Large programs flag up a "not enogh memory" window and starting a game
(like Mobile Rally 1) flags a different window with loads of numbers
and something about low memory.

I ran Norton to see if there was any problems with any hardware and
sure enough the memory fails its test almost immediately. OK, so I
think I've got one dead stick of SDRAM and all I have to do is change
it. Now here's where things start to get odd.

The 2 stick of SDRAM sit in DIMM slots 0 and 1. So I removed the
stick from slot 1 and started the PC. PC saw it had only 256Mb of
RAM. Ran Norton on it, waited and it passed.

Then I pull out the stick in slot 0 and take the stick that was in
slot 1 and put into slot 0. I got exactly the same test result as the
first time on one stick....which means nothing wrong with either
memory stick.

So leaving the stick from slot 1 in slot 0, I put the stick originally
from slot 0 into slot 1. So now they're in the opposite way round to
what they were origanlly. Switched the PC on, say it has 516Mb of RAM
and then run Norton.....the memory fails the test immediately.

OK, this time I move the stick now in slot 1 to slot 2. PC still says
it has 516Mb of RAM, so it knows it's there, but fails the Norton test
again!!!

What on earth is going on??? I don't think it could be a dusty DIMM
slot, the mobo is pretty dust free. The memory works fine if there's
either stick inside, but together they fail and I get all the problems
when using games and large progs as mentioned in the beginning.

Cheers,

Darth Joules
Click to expand...

..


Norton Diagnostics' memory tester has a known problem with more than
256MB:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nunt.nsf/pfdocs/1999090713442709

They test OK one at a time, so your DIMMs are probably fine.

Windows 9x/Me have Vcache related problems when lots of memory is
installed. Try this: Open SYSTEM.INI in a plain text editor such as
Notepad or Sysedit, go to the [vcache] section and edit/add the setting to
limit Vcache to less than 512MB(524288 KB). The amount must be entered in
KB's. "MaxFileCache=512000" would limit it to a maximum of 500MB.

In SYSTEM.INI, it would look like this:

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=512000

Try some lower settings if you wish. You may find that the system will be
more responsive with a lower setting.
 
Darth said:
I'm have an odd prblem with the memory in one of my PCs. The PC in
questiion is built around an ASUS P3B-F mobo with a P2 450Mhz CPU and
2 sticks of Crucial 256Mb SDRAM PC133....OS is Win98.

Large programs flag up a "not enogh memory" window and starting a game
(like Mobile Rally 1) flags a different window with loads of numbers
and something about low memory.

I ran Norton to see if there was any problems with any hardware and
sure enough the memory fails its test almost immediately. OK, so I
think I've got one dead stick of SDRAM and all I have to do is change
it. Now here's where things start to get odd.

The 2 stick of SDRAM sit in DIMM slots 0 and 1. So I removed the
stick from slot 1 and started the PC. PC saw it had only 256Mb of
RAM. Ran Norton on it, waited and it passed.

Then I pull out the stick in slot 0 and take the stick that was in
slot 1 and put into slot 0. I got exactly the same test result as the
first time on one stick....which means nothing wrong with either
memory stick.

So leaving the stick from slot 1 in slot 0, I put the stick originally
from slot 0 into slot 1. So now they're in the opposite way round to
what they were origanlly. Switched the PC on, say it has 516Mb of RAM
and then run Norton.....the memory fails the test immediately.

OK, this time I move the stick now in slot 1 to slot 2. PC still says
it has 516Mb of RAM, so it knows it's there, but fails the Norton test
again!!!

What on earth is going on??? I don't think it could be a dusty DIMM
slot, the mobo is pretty dust free. The memory works fine if there's
either stick inside, but together they fail and I get all the problems
when using games and large progs as mentioned in the beginning.

Cheers,

Darth Joules
Click to expand...

.


Norton Diagnostics' memory tester has a known problem with more than
256MB:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nunt.nsf/pfdocs/1999090713442709

They test OK one at a time, so your DIMMs are probably fine.

Windows 9x/Me have Vcache related problems when lots of memory is
installed. Try this: Open SYSTEM.INI in a plain text editor such as
Notepad or Sysedit, go to the [vcache] section and edit/add the setting to
limit Vcache to less than 512MB(524288 KB). The amount must be entered in
KB's. "MaxFileCache=512000" would limit it to a maximum of 500MB.

In SYSTEM.INI, it would look like this:

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=512000

Try some lower settings if you wish. You may find that the system will be
more responsive with a lower setting.
Click to expand...
This fix is only required in Win9X/ME systems with >512 meg of RAM as
it's minor bug in the Window's Vcache.OP has only 512 so this is not
the issue.
HTH :)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm
 
On Mon said:
"Out-Of-Memory" calls in windows although can be RAM are more usually
not enough disk space to allow the Virtual Memory to run or programs
running the background that are badly installed/badly
written/out-of-date or have compatibility problems with windows or
another program running.
1st trim your start up group,
Click to expand...

Hmmm....I am having problems with Win98 regonizing that it has a 500Mb
swap file on a disk partition. Explorer can see it and all it's 500Mb
used and un-used. BUT under one of the "Systems" windows from the
Control Panel it says that my swap file = 0Mb???


Darth Joules
 
Hmmm....I am having problems with Win98 regonizing that it has a 500Mb
swap file on a disk partition. Explorer can see it and all it's 500Mb
used and un-used. BUT under one of the "Systems" windows from the
Control Panel it says that my swap file = 0Mb???


Darth Joules
Click to expand...

http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/easy.html

HTH :)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm
 
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