My father-in-law just got some new RAM for his computer. He plugged it in, everything seemed fine. He started testing all his applications, everything was fine. He started testign his games and all work except Age of Empires (II and expansion pack, I think).

He double checks everything, the only thing that doesn't work is Age of Empires. He reinstalls the game, reinstalls Windows (ME, I believe) and still no go. He takes out the addtional RAM (or replaces it with the old RAM - not sure on this point) and voila! everything works again. Plugs in the new RAM, A of E stops working again.

Any thoughts from the RAM gurus out there?

Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit

• You can have too much RAM,ShadowCrust, 00:28 AM, Aug-13-01
  • How much RAM?,Kuli (Guest), 02:05 AM, Aug-13-01
    • Defect module,ShadowCrust, 04:44 AM, Aug-13-01
      • RE: Defect module,Asrial, 00:21 AM, Aug-31-01
• RE: Here is a weird RAM question,Lord Gram, 06:51 AM, Aug-13-01
  • RE: And never ever..,Pred, 10:38 AM, Aug-13-01
    • I think I should clarify....,Lord Gram, 12:56 PM, Aug-13-01
    • This is probably right on ...,Llevram, 03:37 PM, Aug-13-01
• The apparent answer,Llevram, 11:31 AM, Aug-20-01
  • RE: The apparent answer,devnull, 04:48 AM, Nov-05-01
• RAM testing utility,ShadowCrust, 04:15 AM, Jan-21-02

for some games to work properly. This is true for DOS at least, I'm not sure about Windows, as I've never even tried to figure out what this monstrous operating systems does actually But since mainly old DOS games can have problems with too much memory, I'm not sure if it is the right solution in this case.

I recall this problem from my old Amiga - some games just didn't like to be offered 1MB RAM...

But how much RAM does he have now? A friend of mine runs AoE2 with 256 MB RAM or something like that and he has no problems whatsoever.

Furthermore, I can't really imagine that such a new game should have problems with a large memory-capacity! Though I can't think of another problem.

Maybe it's the other way around and AoE2 is the only program which uses the new capacity completely, thus being the only program which "finds" the non-working cluster (?) on the chip.

A defect module should be detected by the BIOS at the bootup - that is, if you've turned on the option "Test RAM at every start" or something similar in the BIOS.

A defect module should be detected by the BIOS at the bootup - that is, if you've turned on the option "Test RAM at every start" or something similar in the BIOS.

~~~~~

That test only counts the total, it doesn't test it all.

Combine that test, with starting Windows in SAFE MODE, with creating some RAM-DRIVES and you can easily test your memory.

Check the manufaturers homepage. If there has been anyone with the problem before they should have a fix on the page. Or use whatever tech help you can get there to work on it.

Lord Gram the Light

..get cheap RAM. If you paid a tiny amount for it, send it back and get better quality stuff *waves a little Crucial flag*

"You all laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're all the same."

I can't even understand myself now. That's what I get for writting posts just after I get up.

I should have said check the *publishers* webpage. It sure sounds like a software problem over a hardware one.

Lord Gram the Light

Since he got two 512K chips for something like $100 You get what you pay for, I guess. Anyhow, he returned those and got two others - we'll see how Age of Empires likes these chips.

p.s. Lord gram - I told him to try both

p.p.s He was running 2 x 128 and 1 x 256, tried upping it to 2 x 512 and 1 x 128. Why both with the 3rd chip at 128 .... I asked the same thing - he said just to fill up the slot

Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit

Well, after trying a second set of "better quality" RAM, he still had the same problems. After many tries at reinstalls and partial loads, he finally found that the drivers for his VIA chips (on the mother board) were apparently the weakest link. When those were left out of the equation, everything else worked (even the MS software - Age of Empires).

Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit

There are some Reported Problems with to much RAM (>=768 MB) on Windows OS.. Check the Microsoft Support Database.. or wait:

http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/psssearch.asp?SPR=w98&T=B&KT=ALL&T1=7d&LQ=RAM+768+MB&S=F&A=T&DU=C&FR=0&D=kbwin98search+OR+kbwin98SEsearch&LPR=&LNG=ENG&VR=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fsupport%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fservicedesks%2Fwebcasts%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fhighlights&CAT=Support&VRL=ENG&SA=GN

http://www.cyrin.de Cyrin - Plains of eternity
A free RPG (under development). Feel free to visit and drop us a line.

Since I had lately trouble with my RAM, too, I wanted to add the following information as an afternote.
Memtest86 is a free RAM testing utility that found out I had faulty RAM causing my system to crash frequently. It has several (8) testing routines so it is very unlikely an existing error remains undetected. It's a tiny download and the program prepares a boot disk.