ZEOS 486/50 with More Than 16 MB RAM May Generate Kernel Trap (103144)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
This article was previously published under Q103144 SYMPTOMS
ZEOS 486/50 machines with greater than 16 megabytes (MB) of RAM may
cause a STOP message to appear (kernel trap) if the SRAM option is enabled
in the system CMOS.
CAUSE
The ZEOS 486/50 has an optional SRAM cache that may be enabled.
RESOLUTION
To correct this problem, either disable the SRAM Cache option in the
CMOS settings if more than 16 MB of RAM is to be installed, or install
16 MB or less of physical RAM and enable the SRAM Cache option.
MORE INFORMATION
For more information regarding machines with memory greater than 16
MB, refer to the README.WRI file in the \<wnt root>\winnt\system32
directory.
The following is an excerpt from README.WRI:
When accessing memory above 16 MB, Windows NT Virtual Direct Memory
Access compensates for the limitations inherent in the 24-bit DMA
hardware used by 16-bit ISA bus PCs using a technique called double
buffering.
Double buffering usually provides performance that is within a few
percent of 32-bit hardware DMA used with 32-bit bus architectures
(such as EISA, MCA, etc). In general, Windows NT will continue to take
full advantage of additional RAM in PCs with ISA, EISA, MCA, and other
32-bit bus architectures up to a maximum of 4 GB.
A few ISA-based PCs have unusually poor hardware secondary cache
schemes. On these machines, increasing memory beyond 16 MB will
actually degrade, rather than improve, performance. This is a hardware
limitation of these particular machines and is not specific to Windows
NT.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 4/8/2004 |
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| Keywords: | kbHardware KB103144 |
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