Windows XP Home Memory Limit?

[Jason]

Does Windows XP Home Edition have a limit on the amount of RAM it can
properly manage? My system runs fine with 512mb, but everytime I try to
upgrade to 1GB, regardless of the manufacturer of the memory, Windows scan
disks on boot up giving me "TRUNCATING BADLY LINKED ATTRIBUTE RECORDS."
Once Scan disk is done, I'll get in fine and then after awhile a little
bubble pops up in the lower right saying that file C:\????? is corrupted and
I should run checkdisk. Both DIMM modules are PC2700 - 512MB ram,
Unbuffered non-ECC, they are both PNY, but I've tried having the second chip
be a Kingston chip, no difference. Mother board is the Tyan Trinity KT400
S2495an with an AMD Athlon XP3000+.

Thanks!

(Maybe I should be running XP Professional with this amount of RAM, but I'd
like to be sure)

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Both XP Home and XP Pro support up to 4 GB of RAM.

Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Does Windows XP Home Edition have a limit on the amount of RAM it can
| properly manage? My system runs fine with 512mb, but everytime I try to
| upgrade to 1GB, regardless of the manufacturer of the memory, Windows scan
| disks on boot up giving me "TRUNCATING BADLY LINKED ATTRIBUTE RECORDS."
| Once Scan disk is done, I'll get in fine and then after awhile a little
| bubble pops up in the lower right saying that file C:\????? is corrupted and
| I should run checkdisk. Both DIMM modules are PC2700 - 512MB ram,
| Unbuffered non-ECC, they are both PNY, but I've tried having the second chip
| be a Kingston chip, no difference. Mother board is the Tyan Trinity KT400
| S2495an with an AMD Athlon XP3000+.
|
| Thanks!
|
| (Maybe I should be running XP Professional with this amount of RAM, but I'd
| like to be sure)

 

[Jason]

Thanks.

I did run a diagntostic on the memory (Burn-In Test (c)) and it reported no
errors with the memory. It has to be a Windows limitation. I dual boot
into Suse and it gives no problems.

 

[Ron Martell]

Does Windows XP Home Edition have a limit on the amount of RAM it can
properly manage? My system runs fine with 512mb, but everytime I try to
upgrade to 1GB, regardless of the manufacturer of the memory, Windows scan
disks on boot up giving me "TRUNCATING BADLY LINKED ATTRIBUTE RECORDS."
Once Scan disk is done, I'll get in fine and then after awhile a little
bubble pops up in the lower right saying that file C:\????? is corrupted and
I should run checkdisk. Both DIMM modules are PC2700 - 512MB ram,
Unbuffered non-ECC, they are both PNY, but I've tried having the second chip
be a Kingston chip, no difference. Mother board is the Tyan Trinity KT400
S2495an with an AMD Athlon XP3000+.

Thanks!

(Maybe I should be running XP Professional with this amount of RAM, but I'd
like to be sure)

Both Windows XP Home and Pro support up to 4 gb of physical RAM, so
that is not the issue.

RAM from different manufacturers, or even from the same manufacturer
but different production lots, can have internal differences in the
material composition and/or the internal layout of the RAM chips.
These differences can affect the strength and/or the timing of the
signals returned from the RAM and Windows is sensitive to these
differences.

If your RAM modules perform properly when inserted singly but there
are issues when they are installed together then this is probably the
cause. If so there is no cure other than replacement of one module so
that both modules are absolutely identical.

One other possibility is a damaged or defective RAM module socket.
Does your motherboard have a third RAM socket that could be used?

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."