I recently went into MS DOS in order to do a CHKDSK on my system. I
was doing this in order to check the number listed under ALLOCATED
UNITS to see if I was getting full use of my memory. I found the
number to be 4096 which meant I was not getting use of the 160 mb of
RAM I have. My hard drive is 20 gb and I should be getting 8 kb of
use. If I reformat my system, how can I make sure that I raise the
cluster size in order to not have low memory errors?

---

Request for Question Clarification by jeanluis-ga on 26 Jul 2002 12:11 PDT

Ok, first thing is first, what version of windows/dos are you using?
Second thing, when you say you have a 20gb hard drive, and you should
be getting 8kb of "use", what are you talking about? Do you mean that
you only have 8kilobytes of data stored on the hard drive? Another
thing to keep in mind is that RAM (aka: memory) is totally different
from your hard drive (aka: mass storage, disk drive, HD, etc...) And
formatting your harddrive probably won't solve your "low memory error"
problem.

Please try and be a little more clear, and maybe I (or someone) can
help.

---

Clarification of Question by goaliefn-ga on 26 Jul 2002 12:55 PDT

JEANLUIS,

Sorry if I was unclear. To begin with, I am running Windows 98 and I'm
not too sure how to find the version number for my MSDOS.

Anyway, I began receiving these "low memory errors" last week when I
attempted to run ScanDisk and the Defrag programs on my computer. I
received a message telling me there was not enough memory to run these
applications and it was suggested in the dialog box that I "end task"
all apps except Explorer and Systray. Having done this, I still
received the same error. I even attempted to run these applications
while in "Safe Mode," but had the same results.

I went online and consulted the Microsoft Knowledge Base and found an
article which dealt with this problem. The article number is Q229154.

Although the article states to contact the manufacturer, I was told
the only way to truly resolve this problem is to reformat my drive.

Hence, my question: Will reformatting my drive truly raise my cluster
size or is there another--or better way--of doing this?

I hope this clears things up. If not, let me know.

---

Request for Question Clarification by jeanluis-ga on 26 Jul 2002 18:09 PDT

Ok... Well I  hate to do this, but I still don't have an answer for
you, can you give the exact error that was reported?

Does this only happen when you run scandisk/defrag? or does it happen
all the time with any random program? If it only happens on
scandisk/defrag what drive is it? I will assume C:


Here are some other things I want you to do: goto Windows Explorer and
in the left frame where it shows the expandable hard drive tree, right
click on the drive in question (C: ???) and select properties. Tell me
how much free space is available.

Another thing, in your task manager it should say how much memory you
have, and how much memory is being used. If you could report those
numbers to me when the error occurs that might be helpful also.

Let me know.
--jld

---

Clarification of Question by goaliefn-ga on 27 Jul 2002 11:29 PDT

Hi Jeanluis,

First off, thank-you for taking so much time in order to assist me
with this issue.

To answer your follow up questions:

    * Regarding the low memory error, yes, at this time it only
happens when I attempt to use ScanDisk or defrag my drive.

    * You are correct in assuming my hard drive is Drive C.

    * I right-click on my hard drive in Windows Explorer and under
Properties it said I had 15.6 GB of free space available.

As for the error messages, here are the individual errors for both
ScanDisk and the Defrag applications:

ScanDisk

"ScanDisk could not continue because you do not have enough available
memory. If any other programs are running, quit one or more of them,
and try running ScanDisk again."

Defrag Program

"Your computer does not have enough free memory to defragment this
drive. Quit one or more programs and try defragmenting this drive
again."

ID No. DEFRAG009


Also, I attempted to search for the TASK MANAGER in my system but am
not able to locate it. Perhaps I was not doing this right. Please tell
me where to find it and how to report the memory numbers you are
looking for.

Were you able to learn anything from the Microsoft Knowledge Base
article I referred to in my last post?

Let me know if this helps.

GREG

I see, that is a real shame... Formatting a hard drive is always a
pain in the neck...

The way I see it you have a few options...

A) Don't run defrag/scandisk... overtime system performance may
slightly degrade but, it is very easy, and fast, and you don't loose
any data...

B) Backup your system, format the drive with the format command that
comes with win98, then restore the data from your backups... This will
take some time, but it *should* fix the problem. If you look at the
options for the format command you can use the /Z option to "fiddle"
with the cluster size, here is some documentation on format. Note you
can also see a quick help if you type in format /? on the DOS prompt.

/Z:n - Specifies the cluster size in multiples of 512 bytes. Valid
values of n are:

n  |Cluster size
---+------------
1  | 512bytes
2  | 1k
4  | 2k
8  | 4k
16 | 8k
32 | 16k
64 | 32k
http://www3.sympatico.ca/rhwatson/dos7/z-format.html

This means that you would want to use the following command (should
you choose this route):
format C: /z:16

C) Your 3rd and final option is to try and figure out who made your,
HD (if you open your case and look at the HD it will say who made it
on a sticker on the HD... Something like Western Digital, or Seagate,
or IBM, or some other HD company...) Contact them, and ask if they
have a tool that will solve this problem with out having to reformat
the drive... If they do, it is probably free, get it and use it... :)

Hope this helps, 
--jld

---

Request for Answer Clarification by goaliefn-ga on 29 Jul 2002 12:30 PDT

In regards to the BIOS post at the end of this thread, can you please
explain to me how I can find out the version of BIOS in my system?

When it loads, it says EZ-BIOS, but I am sure there is a different
brand name.

Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by jeanluis-ga on 29 Jul 2002 14:15 PDT

Updating your BIOS, is something I would try if formatting your HD
does not work. Typically I would suggest something non-destructive
before formatting, but according to the MS Knowledge base this is a
known problem, and is fixed by formatting your HD... If you have done
the format, and you are still seeing the problem, then I would goto
try things like updating your BIOS...

But just fyi, when it says EZ-BIOS when the computer boots up, does it
also give some numbers or any other info? If so what is that info,
(note: you MAY be able to figure out what BIOS version you are running
by going into the BIOS setup... Which can usually be done by pressing
the DEL key when the computer is booting up.) Or do you know the exact
motherboard that is installed in your computer? If you know what
motherboard you have then from that you should be able to goto the
motherboard manufactuer webpage, download the latest BIOS, and a
little utility to "flash" the new BIOS. But again I would try and go
with what the MS Knowledge base said, and try the format, and only
mess around with your BIOS if that doesn't work...
--jld

jEANLUIS, THE RESEARCHER, GAVE ME A LOT OF VALUABLE INFORMATION IN A
CLEAR AND CONCISE MANNER. THANKS.

One note - 4k cluster sizes are optimal for filling the drive all the
way full; if you bump the cluster size up to 8k, you will end up with
quite a bit more 'slack' space, especially if you have a lot of small
files on the drive.

Jeanluis,

Thanks for all your time and perserverance in assisting me with this
issue. I do appreciate it very much.

One last thing, about the task manager, where is it and how do I
access the information you requested earlier?

GREG

The Task Manager is here c:\windows\taskman.exe
If you're looking for the Task Scheduler, it's here:
c:\windows\mtask.exe

I beleive your memory error has to do with the motherboard BIOS not
recoginzing all your RAM. This is most often caused by a old BIOS
firmware that was not around before that 160MB of RAM was availbal. I
can't see why the cluster size on the hard drive would have anything
to do with this kind of low memory problem. The fix for this to find
out the brand of BIOS you have, like Award or AMI. Then going to the
manufactur's website and looking for information on how you should
deal it (either replacing the motherboard or updating the BIOS
firmware).