Clock in Windows 98 causing problems

[EZ_Migg Ette]

ok there is this computer.. (not mine) and I can not find any reason for this to happen.

The clock in windows slows down and when it does the system seems to lock up or become very slow.

Reseting machine restores the clock ..

CMOS is fine checked it.. but can not figure out why it is doing this..

any help would be appreciated.

Thanks


Migg Ette

[EZ_Lemac Dushae]

How long does your friend leave the computer running between reboots? Win98 is notorious for having memory leaks. Shutting down at night should keep the clock accurate. Veteran Lemac Dushae
Deceiver for <Gorilla Warfare>
Fennin Ro

[Biggwin]

if i had to bet, i would say that the clock slowing down is a result of the problem and not actually the problem itself

[Dragynphyre]

Sounds like a memory leak or usage issue to me as well. I used to have a similar problem when running large applications - the clock would remain hours behind until the application finished running. (Back In Black)
Delissandra Splitshadow - Marauder of the Circle of Unseen Hands
Grandmaster Poisoner (250), Master Potter (191), Grandmaster Lush (200)

[EZ_Migg Ette]

Hmm she is using 512 ram.. what can i do to fix this problem?

and moving up to win xp or anything is not an option hehe

thanks.

Migg

[Lisboa]

How old is the computer? The clock battery on the motherboard may need replacing. Maybe it's leaking battery acid or something.

[Ruccus]

If it loses time while powered down, it's probably the battery, but if it loses time while on, then it's probably the known Windows power management issue.

Try the ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 setting which makes Windows use up the real memory before going to the virtual memory. You do this by running SysEdit, and inserting "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" (no quotes) immediately under the [386Enh] line.

While you're at it, create a permanent swapfile, then defrag the hard drive. I haven't loaded up Win98 in a while so I'm not 100% sure of the actual wording of the items, so I'll put in my old hard drive, fire up Win98, and take a few screenshots to show you where to go to change everything.

[EZ_Talius]

If you're going to defrag in win98, try to find a way to do it through booting to DOS. In my experiences with it, Win98's defrag software just plain doesn't work. It always restarts because the drive is active, but the drive is active because it's being defragged

[Ruccus]

Okay, here are a few screens that can help Win98 performance:

First, go to System Properties:


Click on the File System button to get this:


Change the role of the computer to Network server (it's a bit better at managing memory).

Go back to the System Properties and click on the Virtual Memory button to get this:


Specify your own Virtual memory settings; if the system has 512mb already then anywhere from 256 to 500 should be fine (it just allocates a certain amount of the hard drive to be the swap file) The important point it to make sure the minimum and maximum are the same, so the swap file is permanent (it stays in the same place on the hard drive).

Now for the Sysedit. Running 'sysedit' (no quotes) will bring up this screen:


Click the mouse on the Windows\System.INI window and scroll down to the [386Enh] section. It should look like this:


Add what I highlighted in blue text under the [386Enh] heading and save.

When I used Win98 I used a third party defrag program, though if you don't have one Win98's is better than nothing.

Edit: Before starting Win98's defrag program, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and close everything except Systray and Explorer; as Talius mentioned Win98's defrag program will start looping if there's something running in the background and using memory. Also disconnect your modem while defragging to make sure you don't get anything screwing up the defrag from the other end. Edited by: Ruccus at: 12/2/03 12:14 pm

[Dragynphyre]

Also turn off your screen saver while defragging - every time my screen saver kicked off, it would restart the Win98 defragger...

[EZ_Migg Ette]

Thanks for the help will try those things net time I go to my moms LOL its her computer.. and besides I always defrag in safe mode hehe

no interuptions then hehe
Migg