Wiser still




I am grateful to Ian Yates for taking the trouble to respond to my conventional memory problem. I found the solution in Windows 95 Secrets (Livingston and Straub, IDG Books, ISBN 1-56884-453-0) -- the existence of dosstart.bat. When msdex.exe is loaded high via that batch file, MS-DOS mode offers 621K of conventional memory.
- Ted Matulevicius


Thanks Ted. The dosstart.bat file is created by Win95 when it is installed over an existing DOS or Win3.x. It contains lines that Win95 removes from the configuration files during setup. Win95 removes the mscdex line because it has its own virtual device driver for mounting your CD-ROM drive. When you run in DOS mode, you have to put it back. It sounds like your dosstart.bat contained the necessary line, using the loadhigh option to place mscdex.exe in upper memory.
Other readers may find it's worth looking for dosstart.bat to see if its settings work for them.
- Neale Morison


Category: Win95
Issue: Nov 1996
Pages: 178

These Web pages are produced by Australian PC World © 1997 IDG Communications