Can't get expanded memory working in WinXP for DOS mode

I've recently had a craving to play some of the old classic DOS games like Master of Orion, X-COM etc, but I can't seem to get expanded memory working in Windows XP. I've tried everything and no matter what I do I can't get expanded memory working in WindowsXP for DOS apps. I've tried editing my config.nt adding emm=ram. I've tried right clicking the exe to edit it's properties and changing the emm setting to auto, 8192kb etc. I've even tried using VDMSoundlauncher to try to enable EMM, nothing seems to work (btw VDMSound worked great for getting sound emulation, but it didn't help my EMM situation). Does anyone else have this problem?

when I type "mem /c | more", this is what I get. Note this is with all the stuff mentioned above done, and still no expanded memory.

Conventional Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
MSDOS 12384 ( 12.1K) 3060
KBD 3296 ( 3.2K) CE0
HIMEM 1248 ( 1.2K) 4E0
COMMAND 3152 ( 3.1K) C50
FREE 112 ( 0.1K) 70
FREE 634976 (620.1K) 9B060

Total FREE : 635088 (620.2K)

Upper Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
SYSTEM 212976 (208.0K) 33FF0
MOUSE 12528 ( 12.2K) 30F0
FREE 36576 ( 35.7K) 8EE0

Total FREE : 36576 ( 35.7K)

Total bytes available to programs (Conventional+Upper) : 671664 (655.9K)
Largest executable program size : 634704 (619.8K)
Largest available upper memory block : 36576 ( 35.7K)

25165824 bytes total contiguous extended memory
0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
16711680 bytes available XMS memory
MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

I'm all out of ideas, has anyone else had this problem and fixed it? Or does anyone have any suggestions?

Usually the auto function on the properties box works...strange, I really don't know whats going on there. If you still got FAT32 filesystem, format a disk and select create startup disk and use that or use a Win9x or WinME boot disk.

Have you tried editing the 'default.pif' entry in your windows folder?

It's the default settings for the command prompt.

Hi there TimT, i have exactly the same problem, it is a machine specific problem, as i can get EMS on two XP machines at work, but not on my machine at home (Not annoying at all!). From other forums, it seems this problem hits about 1 in 20 machines, and, as yet, no one has found a solution.

I'm gonna try out DOSbox when i get home tonight, and i'll report back with the findings, but i'm pretty sure there is an EMM/EMS memory problem on certain XP configurations.

Also, when i finally get my internet connection back at home on friday, i'm going to do every update i can (including service pack 1) and hope that fixes it properly!

Read this thread: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=162&highlight=EMS

Emulation is your only solution if you lack the ability, extra computer, or crappy mobo manufacturer to fix it.

Dosbox worked like a dream, even got sound in Master Of Magic too! (Something i never achieved in Win98!).

Just gotta fiddle with some settings to remove the sound stutter, but keep it playing at a reasonable speed.

Well, although Microsoft try to bugger up all my old dos games, it's good to see a couple of guys can write a executable to override Microsoft's stupidity!

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has ever come up with a fix for this. I'm having the exact same Expanded Memory problem on my HP Pavillion dv4000 laptop. When I check the memory at the command line, I get:



Running XP Home Edition, SP2. The crazy thing is, I have a few friends that have been trying to figure this out too. No one who is running XP Home can get Expanded Memory enabled, but anyone who is running XP Pro has no problem at all....

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hi there, I saw your post and noticed that you have the HP Pavillion DV4000. I just got the same notebook about a week ago, and I've been having an issue, and was wondering if anyone else with the same notebook was having the same problem. I noticed that when typing, especially in MS Word or in email programs, that the window or screen will start moving up and down ocassionally. Have you noticed this happening on your computer as well?

It's extremely annoying and I don't know if there's a way to make it stop, or if I have to return the notebook..

Could you let me know if you have encountered the same problem?

Originally posted by igjoe:

[email:email@provider]My Email[/email]HP

Greetings - did anyone find a solution to no EMS under XP Home / XP MCE? The MCE system was fine with XP Pro - but after ages of MS KB & Googling I haven't come up with anything.

Thanks for any help.
~j

Either disable integrated devices in your motherboard (USB/Sound/IDE/SCSI/Whatever) to free up the memory or use a program like DosBox http://dosbox.sourceforge.net.

Has anyone tried configuring C:\Windows\System32\Config.nt
and changing the EMM= line to allocated Expanded Memory?

Greetings - In the end, disabled the option ROM in BIOS setup which opened up 64k window which it seems to need to be able to get a page frame.

Still not sure why the same system, same BIOS settings (before above change), was fine under XP Pro and not MCE... That was the bit I was most curious about, as in my case it clearly wasn't a mo-board or hardware issue -just a different XP version issue.

Did try setting EMM=RAM in config.nt and have nothing in autoexec.nt and still had problem before disabling option ROM.

Have deleted the EMM=RAM line now and all's well.

Thanks for the replies and hope the above helps someone else.
~j

Hmm, so your saying that your EMS worked fine in XP but doesn't under XP MCE on the SAME SYSTEM? Can you confirm this? This goes against the testing that I and others have done. So far it's been no EMS available on NT4/2K/XP/2003 and the only fix was to disable the devices in the motherboard bios......because you can't reassign the block of memory that NT uses for EMS. (Your supposed to be able to in Config.NT but it doesn't work).

Yes, can confirm. The same system, only change being a clean install of MCE.

EMS is now fine under MCE after the above BIOS mod.

Hope this helps...
~j

Hmmmm, need to get my hands on MCE.

Since the hardware limitation is still there and since your EMS worked fine in XP....and since MCE is further updated than plain ol' XP it's likely that an XP update (already included in MCE)had this effect.

I think XP Home has the same issue, if that's any more accessible to you. We have a work system with Home on it that displays the same issue (not sure if we have an XP Pro image for it to see if it's the exact same problem). Also a couple of people in the above thread mention having the issue on Home and not Pro. (That's what drew me to this thread).

Anyway, not sure I'll get a chance to isolate it any better. Having enough fun getting our own software out the door let alone testing MS's for them! Also the need for EMS was personal, not work related.

All the best...
~j

Ive had the same problem. I'm trying to get TES: Daggerfall running on WinXP and have had no end of trouble. I downloaded an installer and got the game running with reasonable sound but the game is missing critical functions like the ability to climb and important quest items/creatures. So I tried to make a boot disk but am using NTFS on my hard disk and since I can't get EMS working I can't properly use any DOS utilities to get my hard drive to read/write. I'm about ready to chuck it in and spring for an older pentium with a legacy sound card (sigh).

Originally posted by DeathbyDaggerfall:

Try these:
Windows and Elder Scrolls Games.