Windows ME and RAM

[JimJRJ]

I have Windows ME, I know I know, no comments please Anyways I have 512MB or RAM and was thinking of getting 512 more since I use my computer mostly for games. I have heard though that 98 and ME don't handle more than 512 very well. Is this true and does anyone have more than 512 with windows ME and have they had any problems? Thanks.

[GroundZero3]

http://aumha.org/win4/a/memmgmt.htm

interesting read

[nukes]

Actually, ME and 9x can't effectivley address more than 256mb ram. Your money would be better spent buying Win2k or XP. That would gove you a much bigger gaming boost than another 512mb ram would.
The things you should consider upgrading in terms of hardware are your CPU and graphics card, depending on what you have, they will provide you with a better gaming experience.

[Scott Tiger]

GZ's read is a good one. I use the ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
tweak on my 98SE laptop with great success. Nukes' recommendation to get a newer operating system is a good one if you're going to be playing the newer (read more resource hungry) games. Just be sure to set some money aside for the newer CPU and graphics cards as well.

[nukes]

Well, I had 98 installed as a dual boot with XP at one point on a Duron 1ghz.
GTA3, HL, and Q3A
XP whipped the floor with '98se.
Its not just the memory managment that's different, its a whole different process scheduler etc as well.

[Scott Tiger]

Really? I haven't compared 98 to XP Pro. I know I took a big hit with W2k so I assumed the same of XP as well. That's worth looking into.

[JimJRJ]

Thanks for the info guys, good article GZ. I have an athlon 2800+ and a GF 4Ti4600 video card. I don't have any real problems with any of the games out right now, just thinking of the newer games that will be coming out, Doom III, HL2 etc. I will be upgrading to a 9800 pro soon. I wanted to keep ME because my friend who has XP can't play some older games that I still play. I guess I should upgrade to XP soon though.

[GroundZero3]

Jim did your friend try the compatibility mode in xp to play the older games?

Personally if you get a chance to dump winme go for it. Unless you play alot of older games often

[JimJRJ]

Yeah GZ he tried the compatability mode but it didn't work. I'll probably end up upgraded to XP real soon though, even though I can't play some older games. ME can be a real pain sometimes. Plus I have a friend who said he would sell me XP upgrade for $50 and it hasn't been used, so I'm sure I will upgrade sooner rather than later.

[durante]

Is it just an upgrade or is it the complete one?, XP I mean that your friend has. Beacuse if its upgrade its not worth spending the bucks in it IMO because a clean install is "cleaner" and doesnt give you the problems that the upgrade does. Most recommend to make a clean install for best performance and you dont need to worry about upgrading your hardware since your graphic and memory work great with XP. As most will agree and you can take a look at the article that I started called "Best Game OS?" that XP is the best OS for games with the pretty modern games. ME is as also most would agree not the appropriate OS for anything.The change from ME to XP will be smooth if, as I said, make a clean install instead of an upgrade. But I know that your wallet is not gonna be happy about my opinion but I felt like I needed to tell you though.

durante

[Nighthawk]

The Windows upgrade CDs I've used only required that you put the older CD into the drive, not that you have an installation of it, durante.

I agree, though, it's usually a bad idea to do an in-place upgrade of any MS operating system.

[JimJRJ]

Thanks for the advice durante and nighthawk. I guess I can just remove ME and do a clean install of XP if I only need the ME cd.

Next question, if I decide to do that, how do I remove ME to do a clean install?

[mickwish]

Easiest way would be to boot with the XP CD and let it repartition the drive in NTFS format (NTFS is better than FAT32). That will completely remove the winME install.

Just make sure you back up any data files you want to keep before you do that.

Cheers
Mick

[durante]

Nighthawk: didnt quite understand what you ment, sorry, but altough I think you understanded my point that installing XP on a harddrive that has already an OS (ME) is not the best thing to do (in easier words: the upgrade)

JimJRJ: I am glad that you appreciate my advices
To uninstall ME you just need to have the XP CD and restart your computer and put the BIOS setting so that your PC boots the CD. It will enter the setup face where it starts loading stuff and it will take a while (blue screen, not of death!) After you just press enter where it sais something like this "Start the XP Installlation press enter" and you agree the terms pressing F8. Aftern this you enter in a page where you see your harddrive (the main HD letter is usually C: ) and It will tell you how much space you have free and how big your HD is... If im not wrong there are 4 options available 1. Delete partition (letter D), 2.Enter partition size (letter C) 3. Exit (pressing F3) and 4. Installing on partition (enter button)

Choose delete partition (press D) and it will ask you to continue press C or somethin like that and all data will be lost continue? press enter, etc. After deleting the partition (in this point your ME is in heaven (or hell maybe) so if you exit you cant go in to your PC because no OS is installed. Now choose the 4th option and first it will format the HD ("I call it a rough cleaning") It will ask you to format in FAT32 or NTFS, choose NTFS(XP sucks in FAT, just in my experience) this will take a while depends on how big your HD is... and after formating it will install XPs files in XPs folder automatically.

Now in this point the computer will reboot. DO NOT PREES ANY KEY WHEN IT ASKS YOU, IT WILL GO BACK TO THE INSTALLATION/FORMAT PART, JUST WAIT... And after you will see the XP bootimage and after that it will start the installation, (takes about 1 hour)depends... and you will need to fill in some information (user name, network, domain, etc, basic stuff) and again reboot when finished and voila! you have XP!

It seems big and complicated but it is very simple (much more simpler than the 98/ME installation trough DOS...
Remember though! To do this you NEED the XP FULL CD not the upgrade one because this is not available on the upgrade edition, only upgrade, no clean install...

(Altough when I had my HD formatted in NTFS (Win 2000) I could clean install XP with the upgrade CD, strange but I coould, have read something similar to this on this site... But I reccomend to buy the Full CD because maybe it doesnt work on all and after you have spent the bucks you will get VERY dissapointed...

Hope this helps!

durante

[JimJRJ]

Thanks everyone, I'll try it this weekend when I have the time. Hopefully everything goes smoothly

[nukes]

Umm, ever since W95 you have been able to do a full install with an upgrade CD. The steps you posted are just the steps to install XP regardless.
If you have a CD for a previous version of windows lying around, the upgrade is at least as good as the full retail version, and better than the OEM version as you can't do an upgrade from that.

[durante]

then nukes:

why the hell would you pay much more money on the full XP than upgrade if you can mak a clean install with the upgrade???
No, your wrong, the upgrade is just for upgrade, you need to have a OS in the computer but with the full you dont. So you are telling me that those ppl that wanted a clean install could have saved 100 bucks because the upgrade works as well???

durante


edited: or you ment older versions of Windows was like that and with XP you cant do a full install with upgrade?