What is the Switch to Show Maximum RAM?

[razor]

Hello--

I have a new PC with Windows XP Pro on it and 4 GB or RAM for when I upgrade
to 64-bit. In Windows 32-bit it is only showing 2.5 GB and I thought 3 or 3.5
was the max.

I posted to a different forum and they said there is a switch or something I
can add to show the max RAM. Does anyone here know about that?

Many thanks,

sd

 

[R. McCarty]

Boot.Ini - add /PAE
However, even without that qualifier XP should natively see more than
2.5 Gigabytes. Was it home built or purchased from an OEM ?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "R. McCarty" <[email protected]>

| Boot.Ini - add /PAE
| However, even without that qualifier XP should natively see more than
| 2.5 Gigabytes. Was it home built or purchased from an OEM ?
|

Yes. It could be a motherboard limitation.

 

[Big_Al]

Boot.Ini - add /PAE
However, even without that qualifier XP should natively see more than
2.5 Gigabytes. Was it home built or purchased from an OEM ?

Actually its 4 gig less whatever your hardware wants to reserve for
things like the video hardware. Normally its 3.2 - 3.5. I'm
surprised its down to 2.5.

 

[razor]

Wow, you're good. Yes, it is a custom build and they used an OEM version of
Windows XP Pro. I just got the rig yesterday (which was not cheap) and it is
so unstable I could scream. It keeps crashing to either reboot or frozen
screen.

I have 30 days to get it stable or I get a full refund, but you know what a
total pain that can be. I just started reading event logs and see system
errors--which is not good. But I have to tackle one issue at a time.

If you have any suggestions for how I can stabilize this system, I am all
ears.

Thanks for the switch too.


sd

 

[R. McCarty]

I'd concentrate on resolving the Event Log errors. New & Unstable
isn't a good thing. Your Out-of-Box experience shouldn't require a
detailed review to get things working. I'd be interested to know the
primary hardware ( MB, CPU, Video ) to understand why the RAM
count is below 3.0 Gigabytes. Regardless of the specs, you might
want to install SpeedFan 4.34 to check temps. I've seen lots of new
builds where the CPU heatspreader isn't properly covered in Thermal
paste or the CPU Heatsink is poorly seated. Your instability could be
due to overheating.
SpeedFan page found here:
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

[razor]

Yea, I've thrown more stable PCs in the trash. The thing is very well cooled
(in theory) with a huge Asus cooling system as well as 6 other fans in a
Cooler Master well ventilated case. I use speed fan at work though, so I'll
install that and see what is says. I haven't even done any strenuous with the
system. It crashes during Windows security updates...etc.

Here are the specs of the rig:

NVIDIA 780i SLI nForce mobo and chipset
dual NVIDIA 8800 GT SLI vid cards with 512 memory each
Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 CPU
WD 10,000 SATA HD.
4 GB Corsair 1066 Dominator RAM.

Thanks.


sd

BTW. I'm not sure where to apply the switch for the RAM. Can you break down
the config for me?

 

[JS]

PassMark BurnInTestT is a software tool that allows all the major
sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously (or independently) stress
tested for endurance, reliability and stability.
http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Try HD Tune, provides drive info and has an option to test your drive.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Also SpeedFan has an online analysis feature for hard drives.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

JS

 

[R. McCarty]

Edit Boot.Ini, in the [Operating Systems] listing just add the /PAE
to the end of the Windows XP call line.

That's very Top-Tier hardware, wouldn't expect there to be stability
issues at all.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hello--

I have a new PC with Windows XP Pro on it and 4 GB or RAM for when I upgrade
to 64-bit. In Windows 32-bit it is only showing 2.5 GB and I thought 3 or 3.5
was the max.

It depends. Some of your 4GB address space must be used to access your
video RAM, BIOS, etc. That means that you will not be able to access
all 4GB of system RAM. You're right that it usually works out to some
thing like 3 - 3.5GB, so something's taking quite a bit of space. Do
you have multiple video cards with lots of RAM?


See http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

I posted to a different forum and they said there is a switch or something I
can add to show the max RAM. Does anyone here know about that?

Don't bother with the PAE switch. XP uses PAE only for the DEP (Data
Execution Prevention) facility, not for the expanded address space. MS
Server systems use PAE for expanded address space, so does Linux. Not
MS client systems. And the /3GB switch affects allocation of virtual
memory and has nothing at all to do with physical RAM.

 

[razor]

Well, you're batting 1,000. The cause of the issue became more evident when I
started hearing a strange grinding sound coming out of one of the top fans.
When I removed the siding, I saw that the heat sink brace lever was sticking
into the fan. I barely touched it to get it out of the fan, and the whole
heat sink came loose. The crashing must have been happening due to the lack
of heat sink contact with the CPU.

I tried to maneuver around inside the case to re-seat the heat sink, but it
is ginormous and there was not enough room--not to mention it looked like it
needed more thermal grease and I don't have any. The only way I could have
done it myself was to practically dismantle the entire rig--so back to the
manufacturer I go this Friday. It will be an amazing inconvenience, but the
system was over $2k US and there is no way I will tolerate that kind of
instability out of a brand new system.

Thanks to all for the help!


sd