Urgent Help Required

Edit: this problem has now been solved. See post no.15 for details. Thanks to everyone who offered advice.

I have a serious problem with my girlfriend's computer. All of a sudden, it only seems to be able to detect 127MB of RAM when it should find 128. When I try to load my RAM tool (Cacheman), it can't start up, and I get an Out Of Resources error when I try to run most programs.

I think there must be some kind of fault with the top 1MB of RAM, so there's a problem when Windows tries to load stuff into it.

Does anyone know anything about this?

System specs: (It's crap, her mum and dad went and got conned...)

800 MHz Cyrix-III CPU
128MB SDRAM (I think it's PC100 rather than PC133)
Gigabyte 810E motherboard with all sorts of integrated crap.
128k NTL cable modem
Running Windows 98 SE with all available updates and tons of apps.

Please help - things started to go wrong while I was working on the machine and whatever happened will therefore be my fault...


edit: arrgh... keep getting page not found errors when I try to post! sorry about the multiple posts, I thought the posts wouldn't have come up because of the page not found errors. Admins: please delete two of the threads... :unsure: :huh:

edit 2: I see they're gone now - :) cheers.

I would post some screenshots of errors etc., but Paint Shop Pro doesn't work.

Fine, I thought... I'll just use Microsoft Paint...

Uh-uh - even Paint won't run!

IE is the only program I seem to be able to use!

HEEEEELLLP!

I've gotten a few errors saying 'invalid read of address FFFFFFFF' - does this mean there's an error reading the top addresses of the RAM?

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Originally posted by Lamsey@19 February 2003 - 00:16
I've gotten a few errors saying 'invalid read of address FFFFFFFF' - does this mean there's an error reading the top addresses of the RAM?

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Either the program accessed address FFFFFFFFh, or that's what Windows thinks. If it reads memory that doesn't exist, a value of all 1s (eg. FFFFFFFFh) is returned.

So is the software screwed or is it the RAM? The fact that almost all programs are doing it suggests to me that its the RAM.

Anyone got any ideas? I don't like to pester RN for his time, God knows so many other people probably do.


edit: I gotta leave the computer now (gotta go home), so don't worry if you don't see me posting.

Wow, sounds like your PC is falling apart. If I were you, I would burn my stuff onto CD, then reformat my HD and do a clean install of Windows. Might help you. Just a suggestion.

Or sounds like you are working with a bad module. If all else fails, go buy a new RAM module. Better than reformatting their computer. Also, do some searches on RAM trouble on Google.

did you try throwin in a new stick of ram to see if that fixed the problem?

I've seen it do the ram thing before (-1) but that was by default, not a memory
problem. If its a compaq then i would say throw it away :D but thats just my
guess.

Forgot to add, check online for her computer model to see if there were any
problems with it on the manufacturers website. I had a friend who bought
a dell, and they gave her a bad stick of ram. To bad when i found out it was
a day after her warranty expired. :angry:

Have you tried just taking the modules out then putting them back in? mayby one just got loose in its holder? Can also try removing one module at a time then turning on the PC and see if one of the modules has gone bad. would definately try this before doing anything else. Alot of problems can be caused by cards or wires just getting loose.

There is always a 1MB or 2MB discrepency in windows when showing total installed ram. That meg is there, just not reported by windows. I doubt that being 1MB short will cause your system to fail.

Try reformatting window if that doesnt help try putting another stick of ram in and if that doesnt work the motherboard is trashed. I had the same problem with my old piece of crap motherboard. Get her a new NForce2 motherboard or something I'm almost sure thats the problem.

If you dont find help here I recommed the reader-helps reader section of Web-user to help you out with pc problems. They will help.

Try disabling the "15M-16M Memory Hole" in that computer's BIOS.

first of all, get rid of that "RAM tool" you are using. Those kinds of software tools are worthless. Since Windows is prone to failure and the readed "blue-screen-of-death" you are better off making it run as lean and efficient as possible. I, as well as my power-user friends run that way and rarely have a prblem. It would be best that you limt what is runnig in the background. Click Start>Run and type "msconfig" Click the "Start" tab and unclick any and all programs you don't need to run upon start up. If they contiunue to run upon startup than you need to go into those programs' "options" and uncheck the appropiate box.
As far as your memory goes, Windows does not always register your total memory. Big f**king deal! As much as you have, unless you are editing video or cr4eating graphics you have plenty.

OK, problem solved... I took out her RAM and put in some of my old PC100 and everything's running a little more smoothly... no more 'out of system resources' messages or anything. Haven't had a BSOD since last night either.

It still only detects 127MB or RAM but I'm beginning to think this is unrelated... it might be because of the crappy motherboard.

Many thanks to everyone who gave advice. :)


A few points with regard to harrycary's post:

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first of all, get rid of that "RAM tool" you are using. Those kinds of software tools are worthless.

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Wrong. These tools usually greatly improve stability on Windows 9x machines. My mum's computer used to get BSODs all the time until I installed Cacheman, and she hasn't had one since.

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It would be best that you limt what is runnig in the background. Click Start>Run and type "msconfig" Click the "Start" tab and unclick any and all programs you don't need to run upon start up.

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I tried that - I'm not daft! I have downloaded a tool which creates a control panel applet for doing this - very handy. I will post this on my webpage soon. B)

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Big f**king deal! As much as you have, unless you are editing video or cr4eating graphics you have plenty.

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Not when you&#39;re getting &#39;out of resources&#39; messages; that means there&#39;s a problem somewhere. Read the whole post before you go swearing at people. <_<

Don&#39;t get me wrong, harrycary, I appreciate you taking the time to give me advice, I just think you should try and be a little more informed.


Thanks again to everyone who helped me out. If anyone wants some (simple&#33;) advice, feel free to PM me - I think I&#39;ve got a debt to pay to the community.

all that is happening with your PC is that it&#39;s not recognizing all the ram you have on the computer....you probably have a bad sector on the ram chip. It tends to happen. Just buy a new thing of ram and you should be fine. I&#39;ve had that problem before. Just buy a new 128 stick which shouldn&#39;t be that much maybe 50 at the most? anyways that&#39;s all the problem is. But with the address thing.....it sounds like you have a conflict with something. I would check your IRQ&#39;s and see if anything is assigned to the same IRQ slot.

xmetalxmikex

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Just buy a new 128 stick which shouldn&#39;t be that much maybe 50 at the most?

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£16 for PC133 over here in the UK.
As it happened, I had some old PC100 which did the trick.
Prob solved, btw... check my post above. Thanks though.

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you probably have a bad sector on the ram chip

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If the chip has a bad sector on it, then it would fail the POST and the system wouldnt boot the OS at all. Can&#39;t people READ when I said there is always a discrepency in 1 or 2MB of ram Windows reports? It&#39;s a wide known fact. Stop coming up with your "theories" of make-believe computer issues.