Q76186: Up to 48 Buffers Load in HMA with MS-DOS 5.0

Article: Q76186
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 06-AUG-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system version 5.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

When you load MS-DOS high, it is loaded into the high memory area (HMA), the
first 64K block of extended memory at the A20 address line. If you have buffers
set to 48 or fewer in the CONFIG.SYS file, most of the time the buffers are also
loaded into the HMA.

If all the buffers do not fit in the HMA because of other memory use (line code
pages), all the buffers are loaded in conventional memory.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To load MS-DOS and buffers into the HMA, you must have an 80286, 80386, or 80486
microprocessor and extended memory. Your CONFIG.SYS file should include the
following statements:

  device=c:\dos\himem.sys
  dos=high
  buffers=48

The buffers= statement in the above example is set to the maximum number of
buffers that can usually be loaded into the HMA. Buffers= can be set to any
value between 1 and 99.

The amount of conventional memory being used for the disk buffers can be
determined using the MEM /P[rogram] or MEM /D[ebug] commands. If the size value
for buffers is 200 hexadecimal, the buffers are loaded into the HMA.

Note: One buffer is always loaded into conventional memory; therefore, the number
of buffers actually loaded into the HMA is one fewer than the number of buffers
specified.

For more information loading buffers in the HMA, query on the following words in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  "BUFFERS" (without the quotation marks) and "HMA" (without the quotation
  marks)

(c) Microsoft Corporation 2000, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Kevin
Zollman, Microsoft Corporation.


Additional query words: 5.00 akz

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS500
Version           : MS-DOS:5.0

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