jdg00@ccc.amdahl.com (Josh Grosse) (10/24/90)
This 286 machine was shipped with only 1 Meg of RAM. As far as I am able to determine, I can get access to memory beyond MS-DOS conventional memory only as expanded memory. I can configure conventional and expanded as 640K/256K, or 512K/384K. When I setup the computer with the memory as extended, it is unaddressable. I would like to be able to address that extra 1/4 megabyte as extended, so that I could use MS-Windows, which needs the 256K as extended rather than as expanded. Any suggestions? -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Grosse jdg00@amail.amdahl.com Amdahl Corp. 313-358-4440 Southfield, Michigan
gmiller@udel.edu (Gregory Miller) (10/25/90)
In article <05PS02gG03t901@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> jdg00@amail.amdahl.com (Josh Grosse) writes: >This 286 machine was shipped with only 1 Meg of RAM. As far as I >am able to determine, I can get access to memory beyond MS-DOS >conventional memory only as expanded memory. I can configure >conventional and expanded as 640K/256K, or 512K/384K. When I >setup the computer with the memory as extended, it is unaddressable. > >I would like to be able to address that extra 1/4 megabyte as extended, >so that I could use MS-Windows, which needs the 256K as extended rather >than as expanded. I also have had problems using the memory above 640K on a Supersport 286 with 1 Meg of RAM. I had no luck in configuring it as extended RAM, (it says "No extended RAM installed, or some such complaint) and when I tried to use it as expanded, I had very flaky results. I installed the expanded memory manager as instructed, but each time I booted the machine, it told me that I had a different amout of expanded RAM installed: anywhere from 256K to 889K! I was able to put a RAM Disk (VDISK) in the expanded RAM, and copy files to it, but the size of the RAM disk reported by the system depended on the amount of expanded RAM the that machine decided it happened to have on that particular booting of the system. I spoke to 2 different Zenith service centers. The first said that it sounds like I have a flaky motherboard ($800, warranty is expired), but the other told me that the memory between 640K and 1 Meg is inaccessable, and was never intended to be used (by the user, it's possible that ROM software uses it). Can anybody shed some light in this? Thanks, Greg (with only 640K) -- "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" Greg Miller CIS Dept. University of Delaware gmiller@udel.edu
gcw20877@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (George Wang) (10/27/90)
First off, Zenith or rather Groupe Bulls tech support is VERY lousy.. It is VERY hard to find anyone who can give an correct answer... The memory between 640K and 1 meg *CAN* be used reliabily as LIM 4.0 EXPANDED memory.. How much?? About 224K.. The max should be 384K expanded meory but some of it is used as overhead by Zenith's BIOS apparently... I am using the 224K currently as expanded memory using the EMS.SYS driver that is included with Zenith's MSDOS 3.3+ It seems that the current BIOS revision is Version 3.2A (Press CTRL-ALT-INS).. I only have 3.1C and THERE IS AN MASSIVE BUG IN THE 320 X 200 X 256 color mode (also in 3.2)!! By default EVERYTHING comes up in REVERSE video and there is NO permanent way of putting it in the correct image... In the 640 X 480 X 16 graphics mode as well as TEXT modes you can use: machine palette 7 but that only works for NON-256 color VGA mode.. If you try machine palette 7 on the 256 color VGA mode it goes back to reverse video.. This renders all 256 color applications almost useless as everything is backwards... I believe the new 3.2A revision fixes this problem by allowing a PERMANENT normal video lock for 256 color mode with machine palette but NO ONE AT GROUPE BULL has been able to confirm this.. Does anyone have the latest BIOS level and gotten 256 color images to look right?? Please email.. Thanks George PS The folks at Zenith/Groupe Bull at the Chicago area HQ has acknowledged this "bug" yet they just shrug it off... I hope there's a fix to this... -- George Wang University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (217) 332-4019 INTERNET: gcw20877@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu UUCP: gargoyle!igloo!gwang