xp pro doesn't see all ram

[Guest]

Hello,

I have a Dell poweredge 1850 with dual Xeon (EM64T) processors. It has 4 GB
(4 x 1GB) of memory installed. The bios sees all 4 GB, but windows system
properties shows only 3.25 GB.

I was under the impression that xp pro supports up to 4GB of ram. However,
the following MS article implies that the behavior I am seeing is expected.
Further, it does not seem to suggest a solution:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888137/en-us#kb2

1. How can I get xp pro to recognize all of my installed RAM?
2. Will this be fixed by installing xp pro x64?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Your BIOS recognizes it and XP will recognize up to 4GB of RAM, but some
of it is used as Shared Memory, thus the 3.25. You'll have to check your
system where it is used.

 

[Guest]

How do I check where it is used? There is no shared memory or memory mapping
option in my bios. There are also no pci cards installed in this machine.
So I'm not sure how to confirm that it is being used as shared memory.

FWIW, I have server 2003 installed on a similar machine, but that machine
reports 4 GB of ram in system properties.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gary]

Video card sharing memory?

How do I check where it is used? There is no shared memory or memory
mapping
option in my bios. There are also no pci cards installed in this machine.
So I'm not sure how to confirm that it is being used as shared memory.

FWIW, I have server 2003 installed on a similar machine, but that machine
reports 4 GB of ram in system properties.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Guest]

I just finished installing a trial version of xp pro x64 and it System
Properties now reports 4.0 GB RAM.

 

[Guest]

It doesn't appear so -- Do you know how I could verify if a card is using
shared memory?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It doesn't appear so -- Do you know how I could verify if a card is
using shared memory?

Video cards never share system memory. However, if you have a motherboard
that provides your video, instead of a separate video card, *that* will use
system memory. Do you have such a motherboard or do you have a video card?

Also, how much RAM are you not seeing? There 's nothing quoted in the
message about this, and I no longher have the original message here.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Ken:

Thanks for your response.

I have 4GB installed, but XP pro (32 bit) reports 3.25GB in System
Properties. Yes, the video chip is on the motherboard. However, identical
machines with Server 2003 and XP pro x64 report the whole 4.0GB. That is why
I don't think the video card is using the large amount of "missing" memory.
We already purchased licenses for XP pro (32 bit), therefore I would like to
get this working on that OS if possible

 

[Bob I]

The PCI address areas and the video system allocation will be subtracted
from the "4 gigs". What you see is all you get after that.

 

[Talahasee]

Video cards never share system memory. However, if you have a motherboard
that provides your video, instead of a separate video card, *that* will use
system memory. Do you have such a motherboard or do you have a video card?

Also, how much RAM are you not seeing? There 's nothing quoted in the
message about this, and I no longher have the original message here.

He said in his original post that he has installed 4.0 G
ram, but the System Manager shows 3.25 Gb.

Where's the .75 Gb?


Tallahassee

 

[Guest]

OK. But, as I said, 2 other windows OSes recognize the full 4G on identical
machines. That leads me to believe that XP pro cannot operate with 4G of RAM
or there is a setting to enable this. Don't you agree?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken:

Thanks for your response.

You're welcome.

I have 4GB installed, but XP pro (32 bit) reports 3.25GB in System
Properties.

I have no experience with that much memory and can't tell you anything about
why XP reports only 3.25GB. But I can tell you that *no* motherboard takes
anywhere near 3/4 of a GB for video pusrposes. That is clearly not the
answer.

Yes, the video chip is on the motherboard. However,
identical machines with Server 2003 and XP pro x64 report the whole
4.0GB.

Are you sure that the video is on the motherboard? If it were, *no*
operating system should report the entire 4GB.

That is why I don't think the video card is using the large
amount of "missing" memory.

Right. You're missing much too much for that to be the answer.

We already purchased licenses for XP pro
(32 bit), therefore I would like to get this working on that OS if
possible

Sorry, I wish I could help, but as I said, I have no information on nor
experiience with 4GB machines.

 

[Bob I]

Simply because they aren't limited to 4 gig address space. XP is. That
is all you can do.

 

[Guest]

Update: I installed the most recent BIOS for my system. Now XP pro
recognizes 3.5GB of memory. What does the BIOS have to do with this if it is
an OS issue?

 

[Bob I]

PCI address space and onboard video use can be changed by the BIOS. You
still only have 4 gigs total address space in XP. That is all you get.

 

[bswarm]

Strange, I have 2 Shuttle XPC's doing the same.
They each are running WinXP SP2 and each have a single 256mb SDRAM ram
installed.
Windows reports 248mb ram, Everest reports 247mb ram.
Graphics is supposed to be shared, but Everest (and dxdiag) reports 64mb
graphics memory.
Is there a virtual ram drive loaded from the bios or something?
Mystery.....
DB

 

[Guest]

Can you explain what you mean by PCI address space? There are no PCI cards
installed in this machine. It is a 1U server. The onboard video has it's
own memory chip of 16 MB, which is noted in the bios. What happened to the
500MB of RAM?

 

[Bob I]

Read this and after checking everything listed, what you have is what is
available.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-40247