192 MB RAM not enough for Scandisk/Defrag?

[Shady]

OK, similar to an earlier post. I'm running 98SE, PII 400, with 192 MB ram. Everything "seems" fine, but when I try to run Scandisk or Disk Defrag, I get an error message that says I don't have enough memory to run the program & to close open programs and try again. First of all, nothing else is running. CTL + ALT + DEL only shows explorer and systray. When I run MSCONFIG I have selected ONLY those two to start. When I run SYSEDIT, my Config.sys has my sound card (SB LIVE). Autoexec.bat is empty. I tried to re-install 98SE but that two tells me I don't have enough memory to run. In reading some stuff in the past, I seem to remember HIMEM.SYS needs to be somewhere in Autoexec.bat somewhere, but I'm not sure exactly what has to be there. I think I'm close, but need a little push in the right direction! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

Thanks,
Slim

[ixl]

Hi Slim, welcome to the forums.
Win 9x will load himem.sys whether you like it or not, so that's not the issue. Also, the amount of RAM is not the issue, as that is plenty.
What is the size of the drive, and the partition, and what is the cluster size of the partition?
Is this a new system? New drive? Have you used an up-to-date virus scanner recently?

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Charles M. Kozierok ( ixlubb@PCGuide.com )
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...

[Paleo Pete]

It's conventional memory, not RAM that's being referred to in the error message. Conventional memory is limited to 640K and that's that. No more, end of story. To get around the error you'll have to optimize the conventional memory.

The Micro$oft wait-for-me-to-load-forever knowledge base has some good info concerning optimization of memory, quoted from an article form Micro$oft's Tech Net:

Optimizing Conventional Memory
The methods for conventional memory management under Windows 98 are the same as for MS-DOS 6.x:

In Config.sys, load himem and emm386 (using either the ram or the noems switch), and load any required real-mode drivers and applications using devicehigh or loadhigh statements.
Remove as many real-mode drivers and TSRs from Config.sys and Autoexec.bat as possible, and instead use new protected-mode drivers and applications created for Windows 98.
Use buffershigh, fcbshigh, fileshigh, lastdrivehigh, and stackshigh to ensure that reserved memory is taken out of the upper memory area.
Do not load smartdrv in your configuration files, except in configuration files for an application that you run in MS-DOS mode. Windows 98 uses an improved method for disk caching, so loading smartdrv typically wastes memory that could be used by MS-DOS-based applications.
You can still run the MEMMAKER utility provided with MS-DOS 6.2x to load real-mode drivers in the upper memory blocks (UMBs). This utility is available in the Tools\Oldmsdos directory on the Windows 98 compact disc.

For more information about MS-DOS mode and other configuration issues related to MS-DOS-based applications, see Chapter 25, "Application Support." For specific information about MS-DOS memory settings, consult the Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2x Technical Reference or other books on MS-DOS memory management.

PC Guide Memory Optimization Information (http://www.pcguide.com/opt/opt/ram-c.html)




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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Shady]

uh, what? LOL. Thanks for the quick response people.
OK, I printed all the Memory links associated with your post, Thanks.
I just installed a Maxtor 27 G 7200 spin H/D about a month ago. Formatted first. I install Win98SE on it with no problem. Ran the latest Nortons, no problems. But still having the memory errors.
I will try the commands that it says to "Maximize Conventional Memory Under Windows 95" and let you know the results. Thanks again, Slim

[ixl]

Before you start chaning things...
Go to a DOS box, type "CHKDSK C:" or whatever the drive letter is, and tell us how many bytes are in each allocation unit. That may be the problem due to the size of the drive.

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok ( ixlubb@PCGuide.com )
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...

[Shady]

OK. I rank CHKDSK C: and these are the results.
26,631,900 Kilobytes total disk space
25,399,876 Kilobytes Free

4,096 byte in each allocation unit
6,657,975 total allocation units on disk
6,349,969 available allocation units on disk

655,360 total byte memory
590,560 bytes free

I'm going to boot to a win98 startup disk, access my CDRom and reload Windozes over what I have.

On a screw up note, I tried to enter all the commands in the Config.sys the way it says in the "maximize conventional memory" and NOW my video flashes every second! On/Off so I can barely see the screen. I then removed everything in config.sys, but still video is screwed up! So then I changed the settings to 640-480 and its fine, when I try to change back to 800-600, it flashes again. I will also post this in Video area, but I think reloading Windozes will cure all! Thanks for the assistance,

Slim http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

[ixl]

There's your problem: 4,096 bytes in each allocation unit. Clusters that small are supposed to be used only for smaller partitions. Did you manually set the system to use smaller clusters? Or use something like "EZ Drive"?
See this MS KB article for details: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q229/1/54.ASP

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[Shady]

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif OK< Yeah I used that "EZ Drive" crap. Is there anyway I can "fix it" without a big deal? Do I need to Format? If so, how should I go about formatting the drive? Partitions? Its a 27 Gig 7200 spin. I would like it to run fast so 2 or three other "drives" on the 27 G wouldn't be a problem. I also have a 6 Gig installed where I keep all me "important" stuff http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

A continuous thanks................. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[ixl]

27 GB can only be a Maxtor, right? Check their web site for an updated version of EZ Drive, as I will bet you are not the first to have this problem. If not, clal their tech support and ask them what to do . You should not have to reformat, or at least, don't do it while any other options remian.

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[Shady]

OK, I can run scandisk on my D: (second H/D) with no problem, but still not C: Says not enough memory. Tell me how to cut/paste mem /c and I will post it. I have NO upper and NO reserve Memory. 647,168 total. 57,616 used. 589,552 free. Extended XMS is a ? Total Memory Used is a ?

Hope this makes some sense.

[ixl]

the problem is the allocation unit size. Have you tried contacting Maxtor about this, assuming it's a Maxtor drive as I suspect?

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.