Hello there I am having a really big problem here (well actually someone else but I was kindly asked to fix it) and it is giving me headaches. He has been running a dos based program on windows 98 for years but just now an update came out which causes errors during certain operations such as printing. The problem is there isn't enough conventional memory available. The FAQ from the site addressed this problem and offered a solution. Requirements for the program to run: * Minimal of 590 Kilobytes conventional memory free. * Minimal of 10 Kilobytes of Upper-Memory-Blocks free. * share.exe can not be loaded. * Filehandles=150 in config.sys. * Localloadhigh=on in system.ini. ----------------------- Solution: This applies for Win 95 and Win 98, not for NT. You have to check your config.sys and system.ini (Start/Run.. sysedit), the followings must be in: Config.sys: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe NOEMS DOS=HIGH, UMB FILES=150 BUFFERS=20 Autoexec.bat: ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND; MODE CON CP PREPARE=((852) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EGA.CPI) here 852 stands for Hungarian code page (chose else for other countries) MODE CON CP SELECT=852 LH KEYB HU, ,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\KEYBRD.SYS here HU is the Hungarian country code (chose else for other countries) System.ini: [386enh] at the end of this section LocalLoadHigh=On If you check your memory with the Dos command MEM/c/p the available memory under 1 MB should be between 625Kb and 700 Kb depending on the database size and you license structure.[/quote] Whatever I do I cannot get enough free memory. Even when I follow the steps above. I have 30 kb UMBs which are ALL being used. How can I make some of thos UMBs avaliable? ------------------------ This is how the autoexec.bat looked initially @echo OFF SET PATH=%PATH%;c:\DMI\WIN32\BIN;"C:\ProgramFiles\MicrosoftSQLServer\80\Tools\Binn\";"C:\ProgramFiles\EA\bin" SET WIN32DMIPATH=c:\dmi\win32 REM -disabled by Plato for SwingAll v1.1.1- SET CLASSPATH=C:\PROGRA~1\PLATOS~1\SWINGALL.JAR;. SET CLASSPATH=C:\PROGRA~1\PLATOS~1\SWINGALL.JAR;C:\PROGRA~1\PLATOS~1\SWINGALL.JAR;. mode con codepage prepare=((850) c:\windows\COMMAND\ega.cpi) mode con codepage select=850 keyb br,,c:\windows\COMMAND\keyboard.sys This is how the config.sys looked initially DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FF DOS=HIGH, UMB FILES=100 REM BUFFERS=40 REM - REMOVE 'REM' FROM FOLLOWING LINE IF YOU WANT TO LOAD THE REAL MODE CDROM DRIVER REM DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001 device=c:\windows\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1) Country=031,850,c:\windows\COMMAND\country.sys I thought I could change autoexec.bat into ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND; lh mode con codepage prepare=((850) c:\windows\command\ega.cpi) lh mode con codepage select=850 lh keyb nl,,c:\windows\command\keyboard.sys and config.sys into DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FF DOS=HIGH, UMB FILES=150 BUFFERS=20 Devicehigh=c:\windows\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1) Country=031,850,c:\windows\COMMAND\country.sys Didn't free up any UMBs though :( I really hope someone can help. That would be sooooooooooooooo great!!!

http://www.mdgx.com/mem7.htm

You might check my #5 here: http://computing.net/windows95/wwwb... which describes running memmaker to modify config.sys and autoexec.bat for 9X.

Thanks for you help, interesting reads (I haven't worked with Dos for ages and I cannot seem to remember anything anymore)! First there are a few things that I could try to give me at leat 10 kb free UMBs 'lh' and devicehigh means I loaded these drivers into UMBs, right. So maybe I should load some in the conventional memory. also this should give me more UMBs: 'device=c:\dos\emm386.exe i=E000-EFFF i=B000-B7FF NOEMS' I did try that but I wrote 'device=c:\dos\emm386.exe NOEMS i=E000-EFFF i=B000-B7FF' instead but then the computer didn't start up anymore I will also try moving DOS=High UMB to the second line instead of the third comments are more than welcome!

You could also right click the dos program from within Windows, choose properties. Then there is a tab on there (the name escapes me right now) which allows you to configure memory settings for the program. You never said if the person was running it from within Windows, or at the command prompt? If this equals that, then why does that equal this?

Memmaker does a pretty good job of configuring the emm386 line. Your Files=150 is kind of high but it's possible your dos program needs it. If not you should remove that line and the buffers= line. As I mentioned in the link, I always do that as 98 has default setting for those. The benefit of using memmaker instead of generic LH or DEVICEHIGH is it'll run the files in a specific place in the UMB. Also from a dos prompt do a MEM/C/P to see if DBLSPACE and/or DRVSPACE are loading. As mentioned in the link they should be removed or disabled.

Thanks DAVEINCAPS I will definitely look into memmaker. I will try it later today @Lupin3rd. He is using it from within windows. I actually just noticed that tab. ANy idea how I should configure the settings from there. If I entered the same as above it wouldn't make any difference I guess