"not enough memory" stops classic from starting

[taxes]

I had been able to start up Classic initially, but the last few times I've tried I always get a message telling me that "although you can run OS X with 64 MB of RAM, Apple recommends a minimum of 128." The dialog box includes the option to "Continue Classic Startup" or "Quit" but clicking it doesn't get Classic to continue booting. The mystery here is that I've got 128 MB of RAM installed, which the Apple System Profiler recognizes, and I've had no other RAM issues. What else could be blocking Classic startup? Could anyone help?

 

[JeffCGD]

OSX needs 128MB or RAM just for itself, regardless of what Apple says, and it prefers more if you plan on running a few apps or more as well - remember that the classic environment is treated as one big app when it is running (although the RAM sharing is pretty good in OSX). OSX really works properly with 256MB+ of RAM.
Also note that some poorly written apps can post dodgy data to the clipboard that can mean trouble for classic, as it fails to transfer it to the classic clipboard (Freehand 10 is a prime example).