Memory upgrade killed WHDLoad

25 July 2007, 18:25

Hi folks, have an odd problem, wonder if anyone's seen it before?

I'm using a regular boring A1200 with IDE hard disk and a 4MB memory expansion in the trapdoor, and the registered version of WHDLoad (16.7.4217) . Everything has been fine and groovy, games work without problems. Until today. . .

Today I swapped the 4MB SIMM in the memory expansion for an 8MB one. Workbench seems happy that I have 8MB (2,020,200 graphics mem 8,027,760 other mem), games work fine, but games installed with WHDLoad no longer work - not any of them. They all give the same error message

DOS-Error #103
(not enough memory available)
on loading "Lemmings.slave"

( or whatever game I try to load, obviously

)

The memory expansion card has jumpers to set the memory size, and if I turn it down to 4mb, everything works again. So, I think the memory I bought is okay (8mb 72pin fast page mode - i.e. not EDO, SIMM)

Is this a problem with WHDLoad? Kickstart 3.0 not liking this much ram? Something else? Any ideas appreciated

Graham Humphrey · 25 July 2007, 18:27

Does seem a strange problem - though we can safely rule out KS3 disliking that amount of RAM as I use a 32MB SIMM without any problems.

That's very weird, I've never seen anyone with this type of problem before...

musashi5150 · 25 July 2007, 19:03

Set your jumpers for 8MB again and get yourself a RAM test tool from Aminet to make sure... You could also try filling your RAM disk up and seeing if anything bad happens.

I used to have a dodgy simm in an accelerator and if i ever used more than X MB it would kill the computer.

But it just seems odd that you get memory shortage errors. IIRC there is a similar thread on EAB involving North&South and an 8MB expansion.

EDIT: This one in fact: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=23017

25 July 2007, 19:17

Looks like it's just dodgy ram. . . tried filling the ram disk and it gurus after the first 3 megabytes or so. Guess I'll swap back to the old ram . . . not to worry, £2 on eBay wasn't too bad a gamble.

Out of interest, do you guys know what kind of simms should work okay? I bought fast page memory rather than EDO as I'd read on a forum somewhere that it was more likely to be compatible. I don't think my memory board has jumpers for more than 8mb so I think that's the limit for me without buying more expensive kit. . . really just wanted Worms DC to run a bit nicer. I guess I could buy a larger simm and just use 8MB of it?

musashi5150 · 25 July 2007, 19:50

Yes, you can fit a larger simm and just use it as 8MB no problem. I don't think it matters too much what sort of simm you get really. Standard EDO is probably fine... I think it matters more when fitting multiple sticks that they all match.

Maybe someone else can comment on EDO/FPM simms?

pbareges · 26 July 2007, 02:53

just in case : do you have anything attached to the pcmcia port (on the left side of your amiga) ? because it's gonna conflict with most of 8mbytes fastram cards when you use them above 4mbytes...

Graham Humphrey · 26 July 2007, 11:08

That's a good shout - I once had an 8MB SIMM in a standard memory expansion and the PCMCIA port couldn't be read, though the memory worked fine but I guess it could easily be the other way round.

26 July 2007, 21:36

No, I wasn't using the PCMCIA slot at the time, but thanks for the idea. Will see if I can scrounge another SIMM from somewhere. . . to think of how many I must've thrown away all that time ago

17 July 2008, 01:54

Hi there

I had the same error code, with my 8Mb fast ram, but i was using a pcmcia card, guess what... i remove the pcmcia card and it works

Many thanks

killergorilla · 17 July 2008, 02:00

You can't use a PCMCIA card with more than 4MB, they share the same memory address so conflict.

mrleeman · 18 July 2008, 12:18

Quite a similar problem here... Got my A1200 delivered with a 4 MB RAM expansion card. Literally every WHDLoad game would crash immidiately, giving error messages such as "line exception..." etc. I used several memtest tools to make sure the RAM was fine: no errors found. However, after removing the RAM expansion card, WHDLoad works without a problem. What could be the cause for this? I was thinking about having it replaced by the seller, but how can I be sure that the replacement will work fine? The messy one doesn't seem to be defective after all. It's using Toshiba chips as far as I can tell.

Merlin · 18 July 2008, 12:52

@ leeman

Where are you in Manchester? I have some 30-pin and 72-pin memory to hand if you want to try another SIMM. PM me some details of the model of expansion you have and a phone number and I'll try to help you sort it out.

Wepl · 19 July 2008, 14:01

have you tried option NoMemReverse?

mrleeman · 19 July 2008, 22:56

@ Wepl:

Nope, but I'm going to give it a shot before sending the memory back. Thanks!

mrleeman · 07 August 2008, 14:51

Is NoMemReverse in fact an option? WHDLoad quits saying "too many arguments" as soon as I add that option. I'm using version 16.8, which is the latest I think.

Now for the update: I finally received a replacement memory card and most of the problems are now gone! However, most AGA games still crash giving cryptic error messages, for example Aladdin, Brian the Lion, The Chaos Engine 2 (the game itself complains about a serious error unpacking files), Super Stardust, James Pond 2 & 3. These games usually boot and then crash after a couple of seconds. The farest I got was the main menus... To make matters even worse, a couple of OCS games now also crap out, e.g. Ruff'n'Tumble (crashes during the loading screen before level 1), Uridium 2.

I tried with and without AllocMemReverse. It didn't make any difference. All games were run with a minimalistic startup-sequence, which only assigns ENV: and T: to RAM: and runs SetPatch as well as Avail FLUSH.

I really need help with this. Can't work out what's the problem.

Liam

Retro-Nerd · 07 August 2008, 14:54

NoMemReverse is a global switch. You can activate it in s:WHDLoad.prefs.

mrleeman · 07 August 2008, 15:26

Alright, tried it. It didn't change a thing

mrleeman · 07 August 2008, 19:06

Hmm, this is so strange... Using WHDLoad under Workbench makes the issue go away... Too bad, I like AGS. What could be the reason for all that trouble?

Eclipse · 08 August 2008, 19:29

I have one of those 8MB ram expansions although I only have 4MB at the moment.
I will see if I can get some memory and maybe help out.

dlfrsilver · 09 August 2008, 12:18

Are you using an MTEC A1200 expansion card ? Check it, if yes, that's could be the reasonof your problems.....

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25 July 2007, 18:25	#1
WildW Posts: n/a	Memory upgrade killed WHDLoad Hi folks, have an odd problem, wonder if anyone's seen it before? I'm using a regular boring A1200 with IDE hard disk and a 4MB memory expansion in the trapdoor, and the registered version of WHDLoad (16.7.4217) . Everything has been fine and groovy, games work without problems. Until today. . . Today I swapped the 4MB SIMM in the memory expansion for an 8MB one. Workbench seems happy that I have 8MB (2,020,200 graphics mem 8,027,760 other mem), games work fine, but games installed with WHDLoad no longer work - not any of them. They all give the same error message DOS-Error #103 (not enough memory available) on loading "Lemmings.slave" ( or whatever game I try to load, obviously ) The memory expansion card has jumpers to set the memory size, and if I turn it down to 4mb, everything works again. So, I think the memory I bought is okay (8mb 72pin fast page mode - i.e. not EDO, SIMM) Is this a problem with WHDLoad? Kickstart 3.0 not liking this much ram? Something else? Any ideas appreciated

25 July 2007, 18:27	#2
Graham Humphrey Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 37 Posts: 11,168	Does seem a strange problem - though we can safely rule out KS3 disliking that amount of RAM as I use a 32MB SIMM without any problems. That's very weird, I've never seen anyone with this type of problem before...

25 July 2007, 19:03	#3
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	Set your jumpers for 8MB again and get yourself a RAM test tool from Aminet to make sure... You could also try filling your RAM disk up and seeing if anything bad happens. I used to have a dodgy simm in an accelerator and if i ever used more than X MB it would kill the computer. But it just seems odd that you get memory shortage errors. IIRC there is a similar thread on EAB involving North&South and an 8MB expansion. EDIT: This one in fact: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=23017

25 July 2007, 19:17	#4
WildW Posts: n/a	Looks like it's just dodgy ram. . . tried filling the ram disk and it gurus after the first 3 megabytes or so. Guess I'll swap back to the old ram . . . not to worry, £2 on eBay wasn't too bad a gamble. Out of interest, do you guys know what kind of simms should work okay? I bought fast page memory rather than EDO as I'd read on a forum somewhere that it was more likely to be compatible. I don't think my memory board has jumpers for more than 8mb so I think that's the limit for me without buying more expensive kit. . . really just wanted Worms DC to run a bit nicer. I guess I could buy a larger simm and just use 8MB of it?

25 July 2007, 19:50	#5
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	Yes, you can fit a larger simm and just use it as 8MB no problem. I don't think it matters too much what sort of simm you get really. Standard EDO is probably fine... I think it matters more when fitting multiple sticks that they all match. Maybe someone else can comment on EDO/FPM simms?

26 July 2007, 02:53	#6
pbareges Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: montreal / canada Age: 47 Posts: 722	just in case : do you have anything attached to the pcmcia port (on the left side of your amiga) ? because it's gonna conflict with most of 8mbytes fastram cards when you use them above 4mbytes...

26 July 2007, 11:08	#7
Graham Humphrey Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 37 Posts: 11,168	That's a good shout - I once had an 8MB SIMM in a standard memory expansion and the PCMCIA port couldn't be read, though the memory worked fine but I guess it could easily be the other way round.

26 July 2007, 21:36	#8
WildW Posts: n/a	No, I wasn't using the PCMCIA slot at the time, but thanks for the idea. Will see if I can scrounge another SIMM from somewhere. . . to think of how many I must've thrown away all that time ago

17 July 2008, 01:54	#9
kaosboss Posts: n/a	Hi there I had the same error code, with my 8Mb fast ram, but i was using a pcmcia card, guess what... i remove the pcmcia card and it works Many thanks

17 July 2008, 02:00	#10
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	You can't use a PCMCIA card with more than 4MB, they share the same memory address so conflict.

18 July 2008, 12:18	#11
mrleeman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 25	Quite a similar problem here... Got my A1200 delivered with a 4 MB RAM expansion card. Literally every WHDLoad game would crash immidiately, giving error messages such as "line exception..." etc. I used several memtest tools to make sure the RAM was fine: no errors found. However, after removing the RAM expansion card, WHDLoad works without a problem. What could be the cause for this? I was thinking about having it replaced by the seller, but how can I be sure that the replacement will work fine? The messy one doesn't seem to be defective after all. It's using Toshiba chips as far as I can tell.

18 July 2008, 12:52	#12
Merlin AmiBay MegaMod Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manchester, UK Age: 62 Posts: 1,163	@ leeman Where are you in Manchester? I have some 30-pin and 72-pin memory to hand if you want to try another SIMM. PM me some details of the model of expansion you have and a phone number and I'll try to help you sort it out.

19 July 2008, 14:01	#13
Wepl Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 873	have you tried option NoMemReverse?

19 July 2008, 22:56	#14
mrleeman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 25	@ Wepl: Nope, but I'm going to give it a shot before sending the memory back. Thanks!

07 August 2008, 14:51	#15
mrleeman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 25	Is NoMemReverse in fact an option? WHDLoad quits saying "too many arguments" as soon as I add that option. I'm using version 16.8, which is the latest I think. Now for the update: I finally received a replacement memory card and most of the problems are now gone! However, most AGA games still crash giving cryptic error messages, for example Aladdin, Brian the Lion, The Chaos Engine 2 (the game itself complains about a serious error unpacking files), Super Stardust, James Pond 2 & 3. These games usually boot and then crash after a couple of seconds. The farest I got was the main menus... To make matters even worse, a couple of OCS games now also crap out, e.g. Ruff'n'Tumble (crashes during the loading screen before level 1), Uridium 2. I tried with and without AllocMemReverse. It didn't make any difference. All games were run with a minimalistic startup-sequence, which only assigns ENV: and T: to RAM: and runs SetPatch as well as Avail FLUSH. I really need help with this. Can't work out what's the problem. Liam

07 August 2008, 14:54	#16
Retro-Nerd Missile Command Champion Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 52 Posts: 12,454	NoMemReverse is a global switch. You can activate it in s:WHDLoad.prefs.

07 August 2008, 15:26	#17
mrleeman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 25	Alright, tried it. It didn't change a thing

07 August 2008, 19:06	#18
mrleeman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 25	Hmm, this is so strange... Using WHDLoad under Workbench makes the issue go away... Too bad, I like AGS. What could be the reason for all that trouble?

08 August 2008, 19:29	#19
Eclipse Turpentine Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Kent, United Kingdom Posts: 744	I have one of those 8MB ram expansions although I only have 4MB at the moment. I will see if I can get some memory and maybe help out.

09 August 2008, 12:18	#20
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,505	Are you using an MTEC A1200 expansion card ? Check it, if yes, that's could be the reasonof your problems.....

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