MS-DOS program - not enough memory!

G

Guest

We have in our office a DOS program which worked very well on Windows 98 without any problems.

Now we upgraded to a new PC with Windows XP, and when ever I try to run the program, a message appears: "Not Enough Memory"!

I tried to set in the properties 'compability' to Windows 98, but nothing changed.

What gives? Anything I can do to make it work in WinXP?
 
J

Jim Macklin

You probably have a DOS program looking for assigned
extended or expanded memory, you can set aside memory by
adding the correct entry using MSCONFIG to edit the boot.ini
file I think.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| We have in our office a DOS program which worked very well
on Windows 98 without any problems.
|
| Now we upgraded to a new PC with Windows XP, and when ever
I try to run the program, a message appears: "Not Enough
Memory"!
|
| I tried to set in the properties 'compability' to Windows
98, but nothing changed.
|
| What gives? Anything I can do to make it work in WinXP?
 
G

Guest

Thanx. Can you (or anyone) give me directions how to do that? I'm not familiar with the config and .ini files.

If possible, give me step-by-step instructions what to do. I really appriciate your help!

Sam
 
G

Guest

It doesn't have an official name...!

It's a program designed especially for our office, we're doing weekly deliveries to steady customers, and that prints out weekly, and we do have non-steady customers as well, and we keep track of every order, balances, payments & credits, customer information, and so on. Of course it also have total balances and credits, active and inactive customer reports, daily activity reports and much more.

I don't think that explaining the program will help you answer my question. I'm almost sure there are many DOS programs with 'not enough memory' message.

That should be a simple setting or code in config.sys or boot.ini, etc.

Can you help me?
 
D

David Candy

Yes but you have to give up something for more memory. I really wanted to know did it use networking but your description actually helps me place the program. A custom line of business app (I didn't need to know all the features of it though). It would be helpful to know the technology but it doesn't matter. Is it network aware.

If it was a game Jim's answer would be the most likely solution but it's unlikely for a LOB app.

Type in Start Run
notepad %systemroot%\system32\config.nt
and
notepad %systemroot%\system32\autoexec.nt

In Autoexec

If it doesn't use the CDRom put REM in the line in front (look at the other lines that are comments (REMark))
If it doesn't use a network put REM in the line in fromt
If it doesn't use DPMI (you can guess this one)

Ditto for Config. If you don't use Setver put REM in front, don't rem himem.sys (not using this usually reduces free memory)

Most, but not all, programs like yours require high Files= numbers. Increasing the number reduces memory. Some programs may give memory messages if files is too low (MS word uses low memory for any error, incl those that have nothing to do with memory).

The manual/instructions that came with the program should have the system requirements. Look for them and post them if you need to post back.
 
J

Jim Macklin

try this http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/windowsxp.html
This is an article on making old DOS version of WP work on
XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/mem.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/dos.mspx



| It doesn't have an official name...!
|
| It's a program designed especially for our office, we're
doing weekly deliveries to steady customers, and that prints
out weekly, and we do have non-steady customers as well, and
we keep track of every order, balances, payments & credits,
customer information, and so on. Of course it also have
total balances and credits, active and inactive customer
reports, daily activity reports and much more.
|
| I don't think that explaining the program will help you
answer my question. I'm almost sure there are many DOS
programs with 'not enough memory' message.
|
| That should be a simple setting or code in config.sys or
boot.ini, etc.
|
| Can you help me?
 
R

RobertVA

Right click on the program's shortcut. Click "Properties". Does the
resulting dialog have a "Memory" tab? If it does you could try making
adjustments to the virtual machine's memory there, including the "Uses HMA"
checkbox.

Sam02 said:
We have in our office a DOS program which worked very well on Windows 98 without any problems.

Now we upgraded to a new PC with Windows XP, and when ever I try to run
the program, a message appears: "Not Enough Memory"!
 
A

Alex Nichol

Sam02 said:
We have in our office a DOS program which worked very well on Windows 98 without any problems.

Now we upgraded to a new PC with Windows XP, and when ever I try to run the program, a message appears: "Not Enough Memory"!

As setup, XP is rather restrictive on DOS conventional memory.. For the
best amount, edit the windows\system32\config.nt and autoexec.nt files.

In config.nt have (apart from the large number of REM lines) just
EMM = B=4000 RAM
(note the exact spaces - either side of the first = and before RAM,
none next to the second =) and

dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40
(or higher files= if needed)

and in autoexec.nt have

REM Install DPMI support
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

with other earlier lh lines REM ed out, and then any SET or PATH lines
that may already be present at the end.

This should give about 612K for a program, run from a shortcut made to
its .exe file. R-click the shortcut, Properties and on the Memory page
you can set an explicit value - rather than Auto - for any EMM or XMS
memory it may need, and for initial environment space
 

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