RaverX wrote on 16.02.11 at 00:34:24:ps47 wrote on 15.02.11 at 20:01:40:I think win9x supports max 512MB of ram.the rest of the memory will not be used.
It can use up to 1 GB. Only 98/98se. But it needs some tweaking :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3ben-us%3b253912Remember : only 1 GB, not more. I know for sure because I had 1.5 GB of ram in 2000. First I had 512 ram, Windows 98 SE was happy, I upgraded to 1 GB...problems. I applied the tweak - everything was fine. Upgraded to 1.5 GB - problems again. So I had to upgrade to Windows 2000.
Sorry but both answers are wrong. Believe me, I've tested it all for years. If windows 98 is equipped up to 768Mb of RAM, everything works fine. If you add a single mb of ram more, DOS window stops working (not enough memory problem). This problem raises a general system instability the more RAM you add untill the magic border of 999mb is reached. After that, Win98 will not even boot (>999mb), not even in safe mode (well, especially not in safe mode
).
Now, what you could do is to plug out the excess RAM, boot Win98, go into 'msconfig' and limit the system RAM in a software way to 999mb (you cannot enter more, only 3 digits allowed). Then turn off the computer, plug in as much RAM as you want (I plugged in and tested 2GB) and win98 will still boot (but it will 'think' it has only 999mb).
If you encounter a BSOD or win98 fails in such a way that the settings of msconfig get back to default, win98 will stop booting and the same procedure explained above is needed (forget about safe mode, it fails too).
In the end, to completely answer your question, 768mb is the last and highest, error-free boundary of windows 98.