SillyDog701

[malcolm33]

I have been told by a tech that WIN 98 SE will not support any RAM DIMM larger than 128 MB. I asked this because I have been trying to upgrade my Athlon K7-850/Gigabyte mobo from 2 X 128 MB to 3 X 128 MB, and the BIOS auto-detect won't recognize the 3rd DIMM.
However, my wife's Athlon K7-600/Tyan mobo is running 2 X 256 MB DIMM, and the message at bootup says "512 MB." And prior to that, she had 3 X 128 MB DIMM's and it said "384 MB" !
So, is it a MS 98 SE problem and/or a mobo problem ? Is the BIOS lying when it says "512 MB" ? Should I get MS WIN 2000 Pro ? Anyone ?
BTW, both machines are owner-built desktops, and the DIMM's are SDRAM, PC133, 168-pin, 3.3V, unbuffered.
Thanks

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98)

[izanbardprince]

I have been told by a tech that WIN 98 SE will not support any RAM DIMM larger than 128 MB. I asked this because I have been trying to upgrade my Athlon K7-850/Gigabyte mobo from 2 X 128 MB to 3 X 128 MB, and the BIOS auto-detect won't recognize the 3rd DIMM.
However, my wife's Athlon K7-600/Tyan mobo is running 2 X 256 MB DIMM, and the message at bootup says "512 MB." And prior to that, she had 3 X 128 MB DIMM's and it said "384 MB" !
So, is it a MS 98 SE problem and/or a mobo problem ? Is the BIOS lying when it says "512 MB" ? Should I get MS WIN 2000 Pro ? Anyone ?
BTW, both machines are owner-built desktops, and the DIMM's are SDRAM, PC133, 168-pin, 3.3V, unbuffered.
Thanks

Hello,

Windows 98 can handle up to a gigabyte of memory before you start getting major problems.

Due to technical limitations in 9x/Me, if you have more than 256 megs of RAM, they will run slightly slower because they cannot efficiently address it, but it WILL work.

I think it's a mobo problem.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)

[Mandrake]

Re Win2k: Windows 2000 is at least 10x more stable than 98SE, the only Windows maybe more stable in Windows XP, but I think they are on par. Get Win2k for better speed and stability!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030322

[malcolm33]

If I get Win 2K Pro, can I install it "over" the 98 SE (so I don't have to uninstall/re-install all my programs) or do I have to do a "clean" install ?
Thanks again very much.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98)

[Mandrake]

Windows 2000 can be upgraded from 98 SE, but a clean install is a much better option.

Doing a clean install makes sure you get rid of all the old 98 bugs and instability problems... Its very easy to screw up the upgrade, and end up with a useless computer that needs a clean install anyway!

If you wish, try the upgrade - but I, nor anyone else on the SillyDog701 message board can be held accountable if you lose your data, or other important files

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030322

[Edward]

Due to technical limitations in 9x/Me, if you have more than 256 megs of RAM, they will run slightly slower because they cannot efficiently address it, but it WILL work.

I think it's a mobo problem.

The motherboard I have, will accept up to three 256 Mb SDRAM's, 768 Mb total. I currently have 128 Mb's in slots 1 and 2, with a 256 Mb in slot 3.

Not having any problems, but I learned the SDRAM modules for this motherboard must have the memory chips on both sides of it, otherwise the BIOS only recognizes 1/2 the amount instead. Why this is, I have no idea...

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20030208 Netscape/7.02