Is there a solution to allow installing 4 Mb RAM in XP Home

[Gary]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

GARY

 

[John John (MVP)]

No, there is nothing that you can do. If you want to use all the
installed RAM you will have to move to a 64-bit Windows version or use
one of the Server versions.

John

 

[Mark Adams]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

GARY

Yes, install a 64 bit operating system. XP Home is 32 bit and no 32 bit
operating system can address 4GB of RAM.

 

[Frank Holman]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

GARY

It will recognize it, you just won't be able to USE all of it.

To do that, you will have to be running XP Pro, 64-bit

 

[1PW]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

GARY

Hello Gary:

Go to a 64 bit OS. Till then, the number to remember is 3328.

Pete

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

GARY

It doesn't use all of the installed RAM because XP will only address a total
of 4gb, some of which is occupied by the motherboard.

However, you system may well be able to use some of the 4th stick. Depending
upon how much resource your motherboard is, you may well see 3.3GB usable.

 

[Gary]

Thanks to all for the Responses regarding 4 Mb of RAM and XP home....'
Assume Windows 7 or Vista would recognize the RAM!?!?!?!
GARY

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Thanks to all for the Responses regarding 4 Mb of RAM and XP home....'
Assume Windows 7 or Vista would recognize the RAM!?!?!?!
GARY

The 32bit versions see it but can't use it, just as yours can't. To be able
to see AND use 4gb or more, you have to run a 64bit operating system..

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:09:01 PM, and on a whim,
Gary pounded out on the keyboard:

Thanks to all for the Responses regarding 4 Mb of RAM and XP home....'
Assume Windows 7 or Vista would recognize the RAM!?!?!?!
GARY

ONLY a 64 bit OS will utilize it.


Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:37:55 PM, and on a
whim, Frank Holman pounded out on the keyboard:

It will recognize it, you just won't be able to USE all of it.

To do that, you will have to be running XP Pro, 64-bit

Oh, Windows will easily USE all of it... ;-)


Terry R.

 

[John]

Thanks to all for the Responses regarding 4 Mb of RAM and XP home....'

Stop saying MB. It's sooo 90s. We're at GB now.

Assume Windows 7 or Vista would recognize the RAM!?!?!?!

No, if it's a 32-bit OS.
Yes, if it's a 64-bit OS.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a Dell Dimension E520 Desk Top Computer with XP Home...I have been
running 3 Mb RAM just installed 1 more Mb for a total of 4Mb RAM....Now I
learn XP won't recognize 4 Mb RAM....

What can I do to utilize 4Mb RAM???? Anything?????

No, nothing short of going to a 64-bit version of Windows.

Here's the scoop on this:

All 32-bit client versions of Windows (not just Vista/XP) have a 4GB
address space. That's the theoretical upper limit beyond which you can
not go.

But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
3.1GB.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
address space to map it too.

And by the way, why do you have, or want, so much memory? How much
memory you can make effective use of depends on what apps you run, but
for most people running XP, somewhere in the 512MB - 1GB is more than
they can make effective use of, and adding any more than that, even if
Windows is capable of using it, does nothing to improve your
performance. So even 3MB is way more than most people should have, and
going to 4MB, even if Windows could use it, is unlikely to do anything
for you.

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

32-bit Win2003 or Win2008 will use all 4 GB; no problem. 4GB physicall
address limit is artificially enforced in client OS, for fear that not all
consumer-grade device drivers handle large physical addresses properly.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:24:26 PM, and on a
whim, Alexander Grigoriev pounded out on the keyboard:

32-bit Win2003 or Win2008 will use all 4 GB; no problem. 4GB physicall
address limit is artificially enforced in client OS, for fear that not all
consumer-grade device drivers handle large physical addresses properly.

If we were talking about Server editions of Windows, I would have stated
it differently. Since the OP was talking about XP Home, I wasn't going
to discuss EVERY OS.

And not every edition of 2003 Server can address more than 4 Gig. SBS,
Standard, and Web can't. Only the 3 high end editions do.


Terry R.