4.0  Using Memory Managers

This section describes problems you may encounter using memory managers with Windows version 3.1.


4.1  Solving Memory Conflicts by Using MONOUMB.386 or MONOUMB2.386

If you encounter the following message when starting Windows in 386 enhanced mode, your display driver may be accessing the monochrome address range (B000-B7FF), which prevents the memory manager from using this range for upper memory blocks:

"Windows cannot set up an upper memory block at segment B000. Exclude this address space by using the syntax of your memory manager. For more information, see the README.WRI file. Type WIN /S to start Windows in standard mode and choose the Read Me icon,"

To solve this problem, try installing MONOUMB2.386 on your system. MONOUMB2.386 is a device driver provided with Windows that allows certain memory managers to use the monochrome address range for upper memory blocks, even if your display driver is accessing this range. 

To install MONOUMB2.386:

1.  Copy and expand the MONOUMB2.38_ file that is on your Windows disk to your Windows SYSTEM directory by typing the following at the MS-DOS prompt:

			expand monoumb2.38_ c:\windows\system

2.  Add the following setting to the [386Enh] section in the SYSTEM.INI file:

			device=monoumb2.386

3.  Start Windows.

Note: MONOUMB2.386 may not work with some memory managers, such as EMM386.EXE. In this case, you can try using MONOUMB.386, provided with the Windows Driver Library. To obtain a copy of the Windows Driver Library, contact Microsoft.

You can also exclude the address region B000-B7FF, which specifies that the memory manager should not try to use this address range for upper memory blocks.  For information about excluding specific address ranges, see the following topic.


4.2  Solving Memory Conflicts by Excluding an Address Range

If you encounter the following message when starting Windows in 386 enhanced mode, and the address specified is not B000, you must exclude the address range.

"Windows cannot set up an upper memory block at segment xxxx. Exclude this address space by using the syntax of your memory manager. For more information, see the README.WRI file. Type WIN /S to start Windows in standard mode and choose the Read Me icon."

If the address specified is B000, you can try using MONOUMB2.386 or MONOUMB.386, as described in the preceding topic.

The method you use to exclude an address range depends on the memory manager you are using. For example, if you are using EMM386.EXE, you need to remove the I=xxxxx option from the device=emm386.exe command line in your CONFIG.SYS file, where xxxxx is the address range starting at the address specified in the error message.

If you are using QEMM, you need to include the X= option on the device=qemm386.sys command line in your CONFIG.SYS file. For example, to exclude the address range C000-C7FF, you would specify the following: 

	device=qemm386.sys X=C000-C7FF

For more information about modifying your CONFIG.SYS file, see your MS-DOS documentation. For more information about installing and configuring EMM386.EXE, see Chapter 14, "Optimizing Windows," in the Microsoft Windows User's Guide. For information about installing and configuring other memory managers, see the documentation provided with your memory manager.