Win2000 and adding more SDRAM

[Fred]

I have a PC which has a Win2000 OS. It currently works with two DIMMs of
256 and 128MBs. It has an on-board VGA device using 8MB of this memory.

If I use a 512MB DIMM the PC typically boots up as normal and runs for a
period of time before crashing or hanging. I have swapped the memory
configurations including just istalling this one DIMM and at slow clock
rates (100MHz) and CL3, but still the system crashes or hangs after only a
few minutes.

I have extensively used Memtest to test this stick for a few hours and
cannot find any errors at all even when different memory speeds and CAS
latencies are used.

I see from some news articles that Win2000 may not boot up after adding
memory. This is different where the OS now just seems very unreliable.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DL]

If the sys functions as normal when you revert back to original memory, then
it means sys does not like the memory stick.
You used memory from a reliable manu? checked with eg Kingston or Crucile
for compatible memory for yr sys?

 

[General Schvantzkoph]

I have a PC which has a Win2000 OS. It currently works with two DIMMs of
256 and 128MBs. It has an on-board VGA device using 8MB of this memory.

If I use a 512MB DIMM the PC typically boots up as normal and runs for a
period of time before crashing or hanging. I have swapped the memory
configurations including just istalling this one DIMM and at slow clock
rates (100MHz) and CL3, but still the system crashes or hangs after only a
few minutes.

I have extensively used Memtest to test this stick for a few hours and
cannot find any errors at all even when different memory speeds and CAS
latencies are used.

I see from some news articles that Win2000 may not boot up after adding
memory. This is different where the OS now just seems very unreliable.

Any help would be appreciated.

Run Memtest86 with the cache disabled and the extended tests enabled.

 

[Fred]

Run Memtest86 with the cache disabled and the extended tests enabled.

Have just done that. It took over 12 hours and found no errors at all!

I used Memtest-86 v3.1

It saw 504MB of RAM due to the graphics card as indicated before.

Belarc Advisor found 504MB as well.

However when I ran Crucial System Scanner it found only 496MB!

 

[William W. Plummer]

I have a PC which has a Win2000 OS. It currently works with two DIMMs of
256 and 128MBs. It has an on-board VGA device using 8MB of this memory.

If I use a 512MB DIMM the PC typically boots up as normal and runs for a
period of time before crashing or hanging. I have swapped the memory
configurations including just istalling this one DIMM and at slow clock
rates (100MHz) and CL3, but still the system crashes or hangs after only a
few minutes.

I have extensively used Memtest to test this stick for a few hours and
cannot find any errors at all even when different memory speeds and CAS
latencies are used.

I see from some news articles that Win2000 may not boot up after adding
memory. This is different where the OS now just seems very unreliable.

Any help would be appreciated.

One of my machines would crash every few days. Memtest ran just fine.
But I decreased the bus speed to 100 MHz from 133 MHz and it hasn't
crashed since.

 

[Fred]

One of my machines would crash every few days. Memtest ran just fine.
But I decreased the bus speed to 100 MHz from 133 MHz and it hasn't
crashed since.

Many thanks. I tried that with the related options and had the same
problems. This system will crash within 2 minutes of starting.

I rang Crucial who said there was an option regarding virtual memory in
Win2000 and should be sending me an email. Unfortunately I haven't received
it yet.

She confirmed I am using the correct memory.

 

[Dan Seur]

Fred - I find no suggestion in this thread that you, if at all possible,
try that stick(s) in another compatible W2k machine. That might help
further isolate the problem.

 

[Fred]

I have a PC which has a Win2000 OS. It currently works with two DIMMs of
256 and 128MBs. It has an on-board VGA device using 8MB of this memory.

If I use a 512MB DIMM the PC typically boots up as normal and runs for a
period of time before crashing or hanging. I have swapped the memory
configurations including just istalling this one DIMM and at slow clock
rates (100MHz) and CL3, but still the system crashes or hangs after only a
few minutes.

I have extensively used Memtest to test this stick for a few hours and
cannot find any errors at all even when different memory speeds and CAS
latencies are used.

I see from some news articles that Win2000 may not boot up after adding
memory. This is different where the OS now just seems very unreliable.

Any help would be appreciated.

A very nice lady at Crucial on their freephone support number suggested that
I increase the virtual memory setting on

settings>system>advanced>Performance Options>change

and change the Initial size and Maximum size to twice the installed memory.
Previously the Initial size was set to 374MB, ie less that the installed
memory.

So far so good.

I can't believe I'm the only one to have this problem yet could find
anything on the Microsoft knowledge base.

 

[Noozer]

Many thanks. I tried that with the related options and had the same

problems. This system will crash within 2 minutes of starting.

I rang Crucial who said there was an option regarding virtual memory in
Win2000 and should be sending me an email. Unfortunately I haven't received
it yet.

Right click MY COMPUTER -> Properties -> Advanced... There should be a
setting someplace in here called "Memory Usage" with the choice of
"Programs" and "System Cache". Most stable set to PROGRAMS.

 

[kony]

A very nice lady at Crucial on their freephone support number suggested that
I increase the virtual memory setting on

settings>system>advanced>Performance Options>change

and change the Initial size and Maximum size to twice the installed memory.
Previously the Initial size was set to 374MB, ie less that the installed
memory.

So far so good.

I can't believe I'm the only one to have this problem yet could find
anything on the Microsoft knowledge base.

Well it shouldn't help... that is, previously with machine
running less memory, you had even more need for a larger virtual
memory usage, but now with more memory, any problems resulting
from insufficient pagefile should be occurring lower frequency,
not higher. Although, I would suggest a minimum of 512MB for any
box with 512MB memory or less, unless system is an odd
combination of left-over parts that simply doesn't have enough
HDD space to accomodate that.

 

[Fred]

Well it shouldn't help... that is, previously with machine
running less memory, you had even more need for a larger virtual
memory usage, but now with more memory, any problems resulting
from insufficient pagefile should be occurring lower frequency,
not higher. Although, I would suggest a minimum of 512MB for any
box with 512MB memory or less, unless system is an odd
combination of left-over parts that simply doesn't have enough
HDD space to accomodate that.

It did help. When I posted my previous posting it had run for an hour
without crashing. Unfortunately after that it stilled crashed but only
every 1/2 hour or so. A vast improvement over 2 or so minutes previously.
Updating the BIOS seems to have cured the problem altogether and the machine
has been running for over 12 hours without any ado.

 

[kony]

It did help. When I posted my previous posting it had run for an hour
without crashing. Unfortunately after that it stilled crashed but only
every 1/2 hour or so. A vast improvement over 2 or so minutes previously.
Updating the BIOS seems to have cured the problem altogether and the machine
has been running for over 12 hours without any ado.

Your problem seems unique to your hardware yet you did not
mention specific hardware.

Some boards have nagging little memory problems resolved with a
bios update. Crashing after 1/2 hour is still a very significant
problem, don't know what to make of the chance in frequency
unless there were also bios or OS changes made.

 

[Fred]

Your problem seems unique to your hardware yet you did not
mention specific hardware.

Some boards have nagging little memory problems resolved with a
bios update. Crashing after 1/2 hour is still a very significant
problem, don't know what to make of the chance in frequency
unless there were also bios or OS changes made.

The MB was a MS-6378 v1. I updated BIOS from v1.4 to v1.9. None of the
updates mentioned anything about memory problems IIRC. I suppose I am a bit
dubious of any system using CPU memory for on-board graphics. It doesn't
sound an ideal solution potentially slowing the system down.

I searched and found an article in a group some years ago which suggested
updating the Win2000 OS over the top of the existing one to solve a problem
which sounded similar. Hence with Memtest working OK presumed it was a
Win2000 problem. On the other hand Memtest doesn't exactly tax the graphics
capabilities of the MB and test for potential interactions.

 

[kony]

The MB was a MS-6378 v1. I updated BIOS from v1.4 to v1.9. None of the
updates mentioned anything about memory problems IIRC. I suppose I am a bit
dubious of any system using CPU memory for on-board graphics. It doesn't
sound an ideal solution potentially slowing the system down.

Yes, integrated video using shared PC133 or slower system memory
do lower performance, though it might still be quite adequate for
most common tasks like office, websurfing, email. Fortunately
integrated video is still evolving to take advantage of newer
chipset and memory architectures so that a dual-channel DDR based
integrated video can be good enough for almost anything but
modern 3D gaming, and very little performance penalty over a
separate video card, especially relative to the $ saved.

I searched and found an article in a group some years ago which suggested
updating the Win2000 OS over the top of the existing one to solve a problem
which sounded similar. Hence with Memtest working OK presumed it was a
Win2000 problem. On the other hand Memtest doesn't exactly tax the graphics
capabilities of the MB and test for potential interactions.

Reinstalling the OS overtop of itself can work but sometimes only
bits and pieces are fixed but still nagging little bugs.
Ultimately you might need reinstall whole OS clean, especially if
there were memory errors during first install, reinstall, or
while running that OS for a while.

If you suspect the video driver to be a problem you might seek
newest driver from Via, not MSI.

Integrated video boards can be finicky about memory timings, you
might try manually settting lower timings... or rarely faster
timings can help instead for some odd reason. If all else fails
you might consider replacing the motherboard ( & memory ) with
one more modern, DDR based, which would also allow upgrading the
CPU further in the future.

 

[Fred]

Yes, integrated video using shared PC133 or slower system memory
do lower performance, though it might still be quite adequate for
most common tasks like office, websurfing, email. Fortunately
integrated video is still evolving to take advantage of newer
chipset and memory architectures so that a dual-channel DDR based
integrated video can be good enough for almost anything but
modern 3D gaming, and very little performance penalty over a
separate video card, especially relative to the $ saved.



Reinstalling the OS overtop of itself can work but sometimes only
bits and pieces are fixed but still nagging little bugs.
Ultimately you might need reinstall whole OS clean, especially if
there were memory errors during first install, reinstall, or
while running that OS for a while.

If you suspect the video driver to be a problem you might seek
newest driver from Via, not MSI.

Integrated video boards can be finicky about memory timings, you
might try manually settting lower timings... or rarely faster
timings can help instead for some odd reason. If all else fails
you might consider replacing the motherboard ( & memory ) with
one more modern, DDR based, which would also allow upgrading the
CPU further in the future.

Many thanks for the info. At present the PC is reliable with no hangs or
crashes. It seems the BIOS update has cured everything.

 

[need help]

-----Original Message-----

support number suggested
that the installed
memory.

It did help. When I posted my previous posting it had run for an hour
without crashing. Unfortunately after that it stilled crashed but only
every 1/2 hour or so. A vast improvement over 2 or so minutes previously.
Updating the BIOS seems to have cured the problem altogether and the machine
has been running for over 12 hours without any ado.

Help!!! I ran into the same prob - added more memory &

keep getting crashes. Error message says "machine check
exception" & then some numbers. I did the steps you
outlined and changed the initial size of the memory to
712, but still have the same problem with crashing. Any
other ideas out there???

 

[Fred]

Help!!! I ran into the same prob - added more memory &
keep getting crashes. Error message says "machine check
exception" & then some numbers. I did the steps you
outlined and changed the initial size of the memory to
712, but still have the same problem with crashing. Any
other ideas out there???

Have you run Memtest86? and checked the integrity of the memory?

Did you update your BIOS?

Did you also place the largest memory, if different sizes, in slot 0?