RAM PROBLEM

[GAMEBOY]

I recently installed 512 megs of ram on my sysytem. I know that my motherboard can handle a 512 stick, and a 256, but i dont know if it can handle 628 megs total. The reason i dont think it can handle it is because when i try to do anything with all 628 it gives me a low memory warning and freezes. I was wondering if any one can tell me if it might be my BIOS that is causing the problem. and if so tell me how to get to my bios

OS: Windows ME

My computer is a custom build from compaq. It was brand new last year.
I dont know what my motherboard is thought...

Thanks

[ajzchips]

Windows 9x and ME cannot support more than 512MB of memory. They'll give a low memory warning... absurd but true.
You can read more about it at microsoft's knowledgebase.

[Denniss]

They DO support more than 512MB of memory but somtimes you got error messages because the Win9x VCache device(HDD Cache ) has sometimes problems with more than 512MB of memory .
Solution :
Edit System.ini - Find [Vcache]
Add Line : MaxFileCache=512000

[edwin]

You might throw out the 256MB stick as it is pretty useless then.

Best solution is to get a decent operating system that can benefit from all that RAM.

[soupy]

If he is doing memory-intensive stuff like photoshop, odds are the ram will come in handy. Just make sure to limit vcache, like Denniss said.

[GAMEBOY]

hey Denniss, thanks a lot. the advice you gave me worked great. i am finally operating smoothly with all 768MBs of RAM.

[ajzchips]

If one does a websearch for "MAXFILECACHE=512000" and "MAXFILECACHE=524288", he'll get hits for the resolution of the exact same problem.

I just don't remember if Windows uses (for their .ini, etc) files 1K=1000 or 1K=1024... anybody knows?

I can't try this because I only have 512MB of RAM.

[ajzchips]

Oops, getting old..., "524288" is the right figure, so GAMEBOY, you might want to squeeze in some extra bytes....