Possible workaround for buggy E801 call in 2.2.x

Prashant TR (prashant_tr@yahoo.com)
Sun, 19 Dec 1999 13:25:45 +0530


Hi Nathan and Paul,

Ok. The E801 call is broken on some BIOSes. So, can't we have
an arrangement like this:

The docs for E801 mention that the max. that can be returned in
AX is 0x3c00.

So,

1> If the E801 call returns AX < 0x3c00, then the system has < 64M
RAM (or the BIOS is broken) and the standard 88h call should give
the memory size.

2> If E801 returns AX > 0x3c00, then the BIOS is definitely broken
and again the standard 88h call should give the correct memory
size.

In short, if AX!=0x3c00 after executing E801, then the standard
call can be used.

I guess this can be a good workaround and can give nearly 100%
results.

Prashant
------------------------------------------
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of
common sense to apply it.

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