MEM & MSD Only See 16 MB of Memory on Dell Machines (103538)



The information in this article applies to:
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q103538

SYMPTOMS

The MS-DOS MEM command and the Microsoft Diagnostics utility (MSD) may not see more than 16 megabytes (MB) of memory on some Dell computers.

CAUSE

Due to a problem in the Dell system BIOS, HIMEM.SYS does not see memory above 16 MB. Since MEM and MSD rely on the XMS memory manager for extended memory information, neither MEM nor MSD see memory above 16 MB.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can download a flash ROM BIOS upgrade from Dell. For more information, contact Dell Computer Corporation.

Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 11/22/1999
Keywords: KB103538