Re: Pls. see my post starting "ATTN" below
Okay, I moved your reply up here because I made this new thread to follow more easily.
You may have bad memory, not a Doze failure of the usual incomprehensible kind. Trouble is (as in a case recently experienced) - if the failure is above the 640K of base memory (I think) -- even though initial memtest may stop counting before max size is reached:
Well, we put in brand new memory. Let me give you a short update:
Andrei has: a new motherboard, Tyan Trinity 400, a brand new memory bank of 256, and an old one (tested and works) of 256 to make 500 Ram, a new video card, a newly updated IE (as of last week), runs Win 98, on a Celeron 400.
I don't know what 640K of base memory means... the DOS startup screen tells us we have all 500 RAM
Doze may recognize it all anyway. Or in your case, maybe Doze won't! But you need to find out what is tested at boot-up before even DOS loads, and whether than number is anytime *less* than the max value.
By this do you mean the number that comes up on the black screen before Windows opens? If so, that number is always 500. Dos and the Bios recognize the whole memory amount.
You may have actual memory failure, not a 'leak'; depends on *when* you are looking at memory size -- at boot or, only after Win starts.
I'm looking at memory after Windows starts, and the only thing in startup beside TweakRam, is Anytime Organizer. Tweakram gives me a number, which should be at least 382-386, and sometimes it comes up 332 or less.
Do you mean: while DOS is starting and you see the BIOS info passing by and memory test: you sometimes see *less* than your installed memory?
Nope, DOS and Bios always register 500 RAM.
(If your BIOS has a 'silent boot' feature and it is turned ON: you won't see this early bookkeeping stuff)
We don't have a silent boot, and I always see my screen run the info past me. Including the tagline, "I am Andrei" that my friend put in there. ;)
If you are now regularly checking only Windows' version of how much memory you have, and sometimes - immediately after Windows starts - you see less RAM: I think I'd reboot a few times and see if you can catch a lower reading on the memtest which occurs before DOS is loaded.
I expect Windows to use a certain amount, and what should be left over is approximately 382-386 RAM. I have never seen a lower reading on the DOS/BIOS screen, but I'll look. I can reboot a few times and check that.
In a notebook, recently - the initial memtest indeed showed "40" MB for what should have been 80. In this case though, Windows recognized the full 80. What the memtest was *really* reflecting was: a 'stuck-bit' at a particular address. This was proven by diags. New memory fixed all the BSOD and other symptoms.
This part is greek to me, sorry. John was gonna read this and help me understand it, but it stormed and I couldn't get on last night.
It may be worth your while to observe a series of boots, looking only at the turn- on memtest. Hit f-8 to avoid waiting for Doze to load, so you can test again. If you see a similar symptom to above: power down, remove mem and clean edges with 97% (ie conc.) Isopropyl alcohol and reinsert. Obey static-electricity drill, natch.
I can try that, like I said, but it is new memory. I suppose new memory can still get dirty?
That might cure it, but you'd have to again try several boots. It's clear that Windows will recognize memory which the memtest has 'rejected'. (Bad memory in bottom 640K should.. halt the boot, freeze display - at least for some kinds of failure)
Hmmm, I don't get this part either... sorry. Hopefully John can read this tonight if it doesn't storm, but I wouldn't bank on it. Stupid storms.
PS re the query above, about WHEN all this started: could it have been just after you bought more memory ?? If so, well.. time to run diagnostics on your motherboard and make it "loop" for continual memory test. That would be better than the above tool-free tests.
No, it started happening and THEN we bought more memory. It's also a brand new motherboard, do we still need to run diagnostics on it?
Thanks, and hopefully the storms will stay away long enough for me to run these tests I'm supposed to!
Nightowl >8#