In some motherboards released from 1997 to 2000, the manufacturers discarded the standard method of reporting installed RAM to a loaded Operating System, instead relying on the method that Microsofts Operating Systems use, this led to some other Operating Systems incorrectly being notified that there was only 64Mb (or less) of RAM installed on the Motherboard. This also affected OS/2. This does not occur to all Motherboards released in this period, and if you are using a real IBM PC or Server, you can generally state that you will not have this problem.
Does this affect You ?
First you need to check to see if this problem affects your Mother Board, there are a few ways, you can download SysInfo or other system utilities.
The prefered method is to download patchldr.zip from Dani Engert, this includes both a patch, as well as a dos utility to check on how much RAM your MotherBoard reports to the Operating System. You will need to put Dani's utility on a bootable DOS disk to run it after booting from the Floppy Disk.
How to over come the problem if it affects you.
No.1 way.
Simply run Dani's Patchldr, this will change the way the OS/2 loader checks the motherboard for installed RAM.
First ensure that you have backed up your kernel (os2krnl) and loader (OS2LDR) files, these can be found in your boot root directory.
You will need to backup these files, and even though we are only applying the patch to the OS2LDR file, it doesnt hurt to backup the os2krnl (kernel) file as well.
attrib -r -s -h os2krnl
attrib -r -s -h os2ldr
copy os2krnl os2krnl.bak
copy os2ldr os2ldr.bak
run patchldr
attrib +r +s +h os2krnl
attrib +r +s +h os2ldr
Danis patch can be run on any fixpack version as far as I am aware but please check the doc's in her file, Dani does also state that this Patch works for Warp 3 with later Fixpacks, as well as WSeB.
Some BIOS's are still doing some strange things, and even if you upgrade your OS/2 Kernel and LDR, you could still try applying Danis patch (added 13/11/2004).
Side note, some info from Dani on Harddisks/interfaces/Bios etc.
No. 2 way.
First ensure that you have backed up your kernel (os2krnl) and loader (OS2LDR) files, these can be found in your boot root directory, both files WILL be replaced.
Applying a Testcase Kernel/Loader update, remember that they are just that, TEST Kernels. Scott has provided the patched Loader file with the Kernel Upgrades.
For Fix Pack information, please refer to the Upgrades Page, or/and to Fix Packs Page.
If you have installed Fixpack 15 for Warp 4, you can apply the latest kernel , check the Read Me first though.
You will find instructions for replacing your kernel and loader files in the Read Me, as well as cmd files in the latest Kernel directory.
The Kernel (Loader) upgrade also works for WSeB Uni or SMP processors.