This is the next problem that needs to be addressed in win9x and in winme.

this is caused by lack of CONVENTIONAL memory and occurs REGARDLESS of how much ram you have installed....


look in google"conventional memory" for more info...


"you do not have sufficent memory to run this program...close one or more programs and try again..."

this comes up regardless of how much ram memory you have installed and all the various memory managers dont work to resolve this problem...

i have tried over 15 programs...

you may notice windows gets slower and slower after a reboot and then you will this message after running heavy programs...

"you do not have sufficent memory to run this program...close one or more programs and try again..."

i understand from an article that the issue is CONVENTIONAL MEMORY which windows me assigns to buttons,icons,etc,frames...etc..etc..

for some reason not clear it cant address more than 32 meg or 64 meg...cant remember the figure in the article..

i cant remember the article now.

the question is can this be fixed?

Its vital for it to be be fixed so that it can compete with latest bloatware of vista....


vista is supposed to have really advanced memory management so this will not happen says Bill Gates the inventor of the modern computer.

so what would need to be amended in winme dll wise or kernal wise to allow this to happen...

"you do not have sufficent memory to run this program...close one or more programs and try again..."

What needs to happen is to have programs that behave well. Also, turning off Active Desktop may help.

I have been examining this problem today. There are ways how to supress this problem by editing drivers which are in config sys and autoexec.bat. let most of them work in upper memory by "devicehigh" or "lh" parameters.

640k is hardware limit and it cant be crossed. Certain aplications are using this small block of memory for many basic operations - for instance TV tuner, and also there are some aplications which are poorly written and they consume all available system resources...

I had same problem with upper memory. I installed there so much drivers as possible, but then when i wanted to enter windows i gived me error message that i dont have enough memory to start...

At these times i was trying to use memory manager called UMBPCI and in it is included program called umbfill. it can allocate all free upper blocks and it prevents windows to consume them (and then fail to start). Maybe it can be written similar dos based "driver" which can handle conventional memory...

With a Windows application, it's nothing to do with conventional memory! It's probably a Vcache issue.

Also, I only saw that with virtual memory being disabled on a PC that barely has enough RAM.

well i tried some settings, it is not just Vcache based, there are various situations when this error occur.

1. When TV tuner is running, Command.com cannot be executed in windows - not enough memory.
2. When Command com is already executed TV tuner can start, but generated image is frozen.

this error was resulted by poorly written application.

Command.com also couldnt be executed while ultima online was running. Then i applied some new settings in config sys and now i can execute it without any limits. this is still being examined so i am not sure what is responsible for this.

YES...YOU ARE RIGHT.

it's not vcache based butsomething else...

what did you adjust in msconfig?

i have only the bare essentials enabled in msconfig...

To my knowledge Windows UI does not use conventional memory, except for loading vmm32 modules and command.com instances when one runs a DOS box/session/window [command console].
Everything else is loaded in extended memory (XMS).
But native MS-DOS [real mode = available before Windows UI loads and after Windows UI exits] uses conventional memory extensively.

Guide to increase conventional memory + how to load everything "high" [in Upper Memory Area (UMA)]:
download + install W95-11D.EXE [1.3 MB, freeware]:
http://www.mdgx.com/95.htm
and then read MEMORY.TXT.
Example:
http://www.mdgx.com/mem7.htm

Other useful files from W95-11D.EXE:
EMM386.TXT
REGIONS.TXT
DOS9XMEM.TXT
WIN9XMEM.TXT

Best upper memory provider [freeware]:
http://www.mdgx.com/umb.htm

HTH

So i finished examinations of memory problems with windows 98.

My settings are recomended for systems which are using large ram, applications for Windows XP, older Ultima online clients or TV tuners, and also trying to use Dos apps in Real Dos Mode. If you are not trying to use newest applications you should better use settings recomended by MDGX. These settings have been also inspired by his web page so mostly thank to him

Autoexec.bat:
@echo off
@CTTY NUL
;Ramdisk tweak - i have 1,5 gb of ram
c:\dos\xmsdsk\xmsdsk.exe 524288 j: /c1 /t /y
C:\dos\COMMAND\label j: scorpion
;cd, mouse
c:\dos\shsucdx.com /d:AADVARK /Q /l:f
c:\dos\cmouse\ctmouse.exe
;sound
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
lh C:\dos\CFG801
lh C:\dos\DOS801
;localized keyboard (slovak)
mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\dos\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=852
keyb sl,,C:\os\COMMAND\keybrd2.sys
;Dos network and internet support
lh c:\dos\lsl
lh c:\dos\pciodi
lh c:\dos\ipxodi
lh c:\dos\tcpip
lh C:\ARACHNE\SYSTEM\PKTDRVRS\PCIPKT 0x60
;umbfill
c:\dos\umbpci\umbfill.com
CTTY CON

Config.sys
SWITCHES=/F /E
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
;following section looks weird but it has improved 3d performance
FILEShigh=196
FILES=196
BUFFERShigh=22,0
BUFFERS=22,0
LASTDRIVEhigh=z
LASTDRIVE=z
FCBShigh=1,0
FCBS=1,0
STACKShigh=0,0
STACKS=0,0
;end of weird section
DEVICE=c:\dos\himem.sys /numhandles=128 /hmain=64
device=c:\dos\umbpci\umbpci.sys
SET PATH=C:\os;C:\os\COMMAND;c:\vc;C:\os\SYSTEM;C:\DOS;
DEVICEhigh=c:\dos\qcdrom.sys /D:AADVARK
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:1280 /L:160 /U:160 /P /F
ACCDATE=C- D- E- F-
DEVICEhigh=C:\dos\setver.exe
DEVICEhigh=C:\dos\ifshlp.sys
DEVICEhigh=C:\dos\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
Country=421,852,C:\dos\COMMAND\country.sys

(large amount of buffers and files may help improve performance and lower possibility of error messages.)

Sections in system.ini:
[386Enh]
MaxPhysPage=50000
PagingDrive=J:

(ramdisk tweak, do not enter minimum or maximum. When swapfile is placed in ramdisk it is fast enough while resizing, max phys page is recommended - its presence can fix one bug regarding to amount of ram for windows)

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=131072
MinFileCache=4096
chunksize=2048
namecache=4096
directorycache=96

(vcache is mostly responsible for error messages regarding to ram)

Symptoms without settings:
- after each run of game Prey i was unable to open command line (type command in "run")
- command was unable to run when TV tuner was running
- no possibility to display large bitmaps (over 25mbs)

After using higher filehigh was most errors in XP apps were supressed, after applying vcache setting all errors with command com and drawing of large BMPs vanished.

This is a question for MDGx.

I visited the link suggested by you. I really found it very interesting. The part that interested me the most was patching Win98 installation with WinME files.

The question I have is this. Would I retain the capability to boot to dos & whether multiple dos boxes would be available.

The only reason I prefer WinME over win98 on older machines is the better built in driver support. I still have a number of clients who have legacy dos accounting applications with which they are extremely happy & don't see any need to upgrade either the software or the hardware.

BTW the quality & reliability of current hardware comes no where close to what was being sold 8 - 10 years ago.

Would very much appreciate your response.

You're very welcome.

98SE2ME does not impair 98 SE functionality, especially multi-boot and MS-DOS.
But you need to know about the currently unresolved bugs [see the "KNOWN BUGS + FIXES" chapter]:
http://www.mdgx.com/9s2m/READ1ST.TXT

98SE2ME options 1, 2 + 8 install WinME USB, Firewire + WDM Audio drivers.
All the details are in READ1ST.TXT:
http://www.mdgx.com/9s2m/READ1ST.TXT

HTH