OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram_at_cnct.com>
Date: Wed Dec 23 01:11:47 1998

Jason Willgruber wrote:
>
> I do agree that 4 MB can do a good amount of stuff (even run IE3.02 for win
> 3.1). Minix would be great, but my friend wanted to have Win'95 on it,
> which is why I threw in the 120MB HD and 14.4 modem. I figured that since
> my IBM laptop runs Win'95 fairly good with a 386-20, 120MB HD, and 6 MB RAM,
> that the Tandy (486-20) would run it great with 10 MB RAM, until I
> discovered that the RAM wouldn't work, and it only has 4 MB.
>
> Would a new BIOS chip solve the problem, or does the RAM limitation have to
> do with the M/B? I know in my Tandy 1800HD (same as 3800HD, but a 286),
> when I put in the 4 MB chips, the computer boots, and recognizes 1 MB out of
> each of the chips, then runs down a huge list of memory errors, then works
> fine (after the errors are done).
>
> If a new BIOS won't work, has anyone ever ran Win'95 with 4 MB RAM? How
> does it perform?

I've no idea how Win95 _works_ with 4MB RAM, since it doesn't _work_
with 16MB -- though with 16MB it boots within a few minutes. I took
a system on which I'd loaded Win95 (P90, 16MB) and dropped it to 4MB
(I'd have preferred to use a smaller increment, but that's the SIMMS
I had). Win95 seemed to be booting normally (the disk was thrashing
like a barracuda), but after 48 hours I decided the machine was
better off either dead or with a real OS, so it's got Linux. Which
installed fine with the 4MB configuration. And screamed when I
beefed it back up to 16MB.
-- 
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram_at_cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING:  The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
Received on Wed Dec 23 1998 - 01:11:47 GMT

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