[Memory] Vista won't recognize

[bonorex]

Stats
6600 @ 3.25
asus p5k
x1950xt 256
vista 32 bit

I originally had 2x1 gig extreme performance Mushkin 800mhz 4-4-3-10 and worked well. I just purchased 2x1 gig high performance 4-5-4-11 and installed it. I set them all to 4-5-4-11 and the system posts well and windows loads.

The problem is that windows will only recognize 3327mb of ram in place. The boot up recognizes 4096megs as well as cpuz 1.4 recognizes all 4 chips and states a total of 4096.

Any ideas why windows will not recognize all the ram?

Much appreciated.

 

[royalcrown]

I believe there is a patch for this at MS.

 

[LoneEagle]

That question already been answered many times in TomsHardware. Do some search.

Quick answer: 32 bits can address a total of 4GB. All RAM type need an address so 4GB - (Video card+this+that) = 3.something GB RAM Free for Windows.

Why Vista 64? Because the limit is now a lot. Vista 64 will handle all your 4GB + all other type of memory.

I just reinstalled Vista 64 with extra 2GB for a total of 4GB.

It is great because I reduced the swap file to 512MB. No more swapping.

 

[LoneEagle]

I believe there is a patch for this at MS.

For the patch: If you install Vista 64, you must first install a patch from M$ before adding your RAM, reboot, then shutdown, then add your 2 extra memory and finally reboot. This do not apply to Vista 32 I believe.

This occur in some case (happenned to me). I believe if you have an Intel Matrix Storage in RAID.

Testing: How M$ could not detect a basic installation of Vista 64 with 4GB and a RAID-0? It crash with a BSOD. 🙁