XP SP1a versus SP2 - Memory Limitations

[Josef Gonko]

Hello. I have a 64-bit ready system that I recently upgraded from 2gb of
ram to 4gb.

My installed Windows version was XPpro SP2 and, according to task manager,
it limited me to 2,620,368 bytes available no matter what boot.ini switch
combination I used (i.e. /pae /noexecute etc).

Out of curiousity, I did a fresh install of XPpro SP1a on a separate drive
and, after the install, it too reported 2,620,368 bytes. But, then adding
the /pae switch to boot-ini, the system lit-up the chips and started using
4,193,040 bytes. In other words, while the /pae switch had zero effect in
SP2, it worked just fine in SP1a.

Is this behavior to be expected from SP2?

It just doesn't seem fair to burn 1.5gb. I've even read some of the MSDN
articles related to this topic and none of them give a good reason for this
to occur. I'm not having any problems with SP1a with /pae enabled and using
the full 4gb of memory. Until there is a fix for SP2, I will remain at this
"downgraded" level...

Thanks for any info.
Joe

 

[Jerry]

Edit boot.ini to add the /3GB switch to the line that starts Windows. See
below

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional"
/fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /3GB
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows XP Pro Recovery Console" /cmdcons

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

FYI - WinXP RTM, SP1 or SP2 has the same limitation 4GB, right off the CD.
Why yours is limited to just 2.5GB is a mystery? BIOS, mismatched Chips?

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your Service!

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