PDA

View Full Version : Windows 98 and virtual device driver limit


dnewhous
07-21-02, 12:07 AM
I once got an error message on my computer (I regret not saving the exact message) that I was running too many virtual device drivers. My computer would only reboot in safe mode (and sometimes wouldn't reboot at all!). The straw that broke the camels back was a sort of on-line game networking software called "Kali" which is RAM resident at boot-up and has a vxd driver in it. I simply uninstalled it and went on with life.

The error message said something about adjusting a Windows setting to allow for more virtual device drivers (I wish I had written it down). Now that I am thinking about re-installing Kali I want to figure out how to do that. The message did say something about the Windows 98 default setting being to only allow for "5" (I remember that number very specifically) virtual device drivers.

The only thing I found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base that comes close is that Win95/98 have a hard coded limit to the total amount of memory that can be allocated to static virtual device drivers, or some such.

Can anybody help me?

redduc900
07-21-02, 09:06 AM
Welcome to the forums dnewhous...

The only thing I can suggest is, if you're still having the boot problem after installing the networking software (the software may contain a .vxd, as you suggested, which doesn't conform to the .vxd limitations that are being forced upon it by the OS)...use the "Win98 Startup Problems Troubleshooter" (I've linked to it below) to narrow the problem down to a particular .vxd.

After you find out which .vxd is the culprit, you might be able to find an updated version of the driver either at the MS support site or an online driver site. You might also contact the software vendor, and see if an update has been released, or to see if they have a patch which fixes the problem you're having.

Troubleshooting Windows 98 Startup Problems

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q188867 ;)