Microsoft KB Archive/78528

= Shadow RAM Basics =

Article ID: 78528

Article Last Modified on 11/16/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q78528



SUMMARY
Shadow RAM is included on most recent computers. It improves system performance by copying code in ROM to faster RAM. Usually, a computer with shadow RAM has a built-in setup program that can be used to configure, or even disable, RAM shadowing. However, on some computers shadow RAM cannot be disabled.



What Is Shadow RAM and Why Do Machines Use It?
Every MS-DOS computer has hardware code that is built into ROM. Such code includes the instructions in the BIOS, as well as code for specific hardware adapters, such as video adapters. For example, EGA and VGA adapters usually include ROM that contains code for manipulating the display.

In general, ROM operates much more slowly than RAM. Because hardware code is typically stored in ROM, performance can suffer each time hardware code is executed. Performance can be improved by copying code in the slow ROMs into RAM, and executing the code from RAM instead. The RAM that contains the copied code is called &quot;shadow RAM.&quot; Although RAM shadowing can dramatically improve performance, it uses some additional RAM, which is then no longer available to applications.

How Does Shadow RAM Work?
80386 machines, and 80286 machines using the NEAT or LEAP chip sets (from Chips & Technologies), can remap memory addresses. On such systems, the BIOS copies itself into extended memory and then remaps that piece of extended memory to occupy the address that was used by the original ROM. Some BIOSes will do this for video adapter ROMs as well. The net result is that the user's available extended memory drops by 64K-128K, and hardware code runs from RAM. The original ROM is no longer used during that session.

Example
In machine X, the BIOS resides in the segment from F000-FFFFh. On bootup, the BIOS copies itself into a piece of extended memory, and then remaps that memory to respond to addresses in the F000-FFFFh range. Therefore, any attempts by the system to call program code in those addresses will be answered by the &quot;shadow&quot; code in RAM, rather than by the original ROM.

The 80386 (and 80286 with NEAT or LEAP chip sets) also have the capability to protect RAM from being overwritten. So, once the shadow RAM is created, that memory is usually protected so that it behaves like the original ROM. That is, any accidental attempts to overwrite the code in those areas will fail, and the memory will be unchanged.

Why Disable Shadow RAM?
Many BIOSes allow RAM shadowing to be disabled. (The method for doing this varies from machine to machine; the customer should refer to his or her user's manual for their machine, or contact their OEM.) The usual reason for disabling shadow RAM is to reclaim extended memory for use by other programs. It should only be done as a last resort, because disabling shadow RAM usually slows down a machine noticeably. (Some lower-quality computers may slow down so much that they become nearly unusable.) Because of the cost in performance, in most cases, shadow RAM should be left enabled.

Additional query words: 5.00

Keywords: KB78528

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