XP reports 2GB RAM with 3 GB fitted.

[bdabill]

I changed Physical RAM from 2GB to 3GB but WinXP still reports 2GB RAM?

My Computer (right-click) Properties says "2.00 GB of RAM Physical Address Extension"

I know that part-enabling of PAE in this case is there only for the Data Execution Prevention option.

My Asus P5B-Plus "Vista Edition" motherboard has 4 DIMM slots and will accept up to 4 x 2GB DIMMs.

This model of the motherboard has a factory-fitted 512MB solid state storage device known as an ASAP which was intended to support the Windows Vista Ready-Boost feature! It shows up as a removable disk drive but it would be removable only by very careful desoldering!

When I installed Windows XP 32bit SP3 I had 4 x 512 DIMMs fitted to give 2GB RAM.
I recently replaced the DIMMs in slots 1 & 2 with 1GB DIMMs to five 3GB RAM total.
WinXP still reports 2GB RAM though SI reports 3070 MB. BIOS and CPU-Z say 3072 MB.

The mobo book says it will accept different size DIMMS in Channel A and Channel B but DIMMs in each channel should be same size. That's what I've done. All DIMMs are PC2-6400 with same SPDs. Only lower portion (1GB) of larger channel DIMMs is mapped to operate in dual-channel mode. Remaining 1GB in Channel A is in single-channel mode.

BIOS POST says 3072MB OK with PC2-5300 in Asymmetric mode.

I have an ATI Radeon HD 5550 PCIEX video card fitted with onboard 1GB RAM.

There is no onboard video.

Windows retained the default system-managed "2040" page file size but suggested "3070" MB for the page file. So I selected Custom page file of 3070 min and 6140 max.

Is there a program (or method) I can run under Windows to exercise over 2 GB of the physical memory and check to see if this is working without using the page file?

Thanks for listening.

Bill H.

 

[COLGeek]

When you enter your BIOS, does the system show 2GB or 3GB?

 

[bdabill]

When you enter your BIOS, does the system show 2GB or 3GB?

System Memory Available: 3072MB

BB

 

[COLGeek]

Go here for info on how to run MSCONFIG:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

Go to the Boot tab and then Advanced Options. Max sure Max Memory is not checked.

 

[bdabill]

Go here for info on how to run MSCONFIG:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

Go to the Boot tab and then Advanced Options. Max sure Max Memory is not checked.

OK COLGeek, I've just done that. No boxes were checked.

I've checked SI via Tools tab in MSCONFIG and:

Total Physical Memory: 3,072.00 MB
Available Physical Memory: 1.66 GB
Total Virtual Memory: 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory: 1.96 GB
Page File Space: 4.85 GB
Page File: C:\pagefile.sys

BTW I am not using that machine to reply to you. It is running no user programs or special background tasks. I am using another XP machine to send this reply.

Thanks for help so far.

 

[COLGeek]

Seems that WinXP is seeing all 3GB of memory (Total Physical Memory: 3,072.00 MB).

 

[bdabill]

Seems that WinXP is seeing all 3GB of memory (Total Physical Memory: 3,072.00 MB).

That's right but it won't show it and it says only 1.66 GB of available physical memory in MSCONFIG.

Anyway, I have now removed the 2 x 512 DIMMS and fitted the extra 2 x 1 GB DIMMS to give a total of 4 GB RAM.

So I've now removed any mismatch between channels. All DIMMS are now the same and all memory is now in dual channel mode.

POST now sees 4096 MB of Dual Channel Symmetrical RAM.

Windows still reports only 2.00 GB RAM in Properties Box.

CPU-Z reports all RAM same in all 4 slots with 4096 MB total.

I might run something like Prime95 on it and allocate about 1.2 GB to each core of the Intel E6850 to see what happens.

Thanks again for your help COLGeek.

I'll report back if it starts struggling if/when I have several apps open at once!

Bye for now from Bill

 

[COLGeek]

Good luck! Keep in mind, that Win XP (32-bit) can really only use 3.25GB of memory (OS limitation, not really an issue).

 

[bdabill]

Good luck! Keep in mind, that Win XP (32-bit) can really only use 3.25GB of memory (OS limitation, not really an issue).

I know. That's what Windows XP 32bit reports on this machine (3.25GB with 4GB fitted) that I'm typing this on. This one has a different mobo and an AMD Athlon II X4 with same model graphics card. That's why I can't understand the behaviour of the other Core2duo machine.

 

[COLGeek]

Understood. Do both systems have SP3 on them and are you current on all Windows Updates?

 

[bdabill]

Understood. Do both systems have SP3 on them and are you current on all Windows Updates?

Yes they do (SP3 and latest updates).

All my Windows installations are from genuine retail disks (one per machine) bought, registered and activated by me.

However, I have had a lot of problems with Windows updates failing and causing other problems on most of my machines during last year.

1 & 2. Because of this, I have taken Win XP SP3 off 2 machines and installed Ubuntu Linux instead. It's fine for the work (mainly with microcontroller boards) I do on them and Ubuntu updates work without causing problems.

3. I have one machine still on Vista that gets fired up now and again, gets updated, I do a bit of work then shut it down again. That one is my old music production DAW machine which I use for some projects.

4. I have installed (clean install with brand new Windows 7 disk) Windows 7 on one previously Vista machine. That has been OK for last year. I use it for music DAW and audio work with external audio and control interfaces.

5. Another general email, WP, DTP and Drawing use machine has had Win 7 Pro 64bit on it for about 2 years from new. Updates started failing about 6 months ago so I turned Windows updates off altogether after seeking solutions to the problems. I have now uninstalled most of my useful progs on that machine and installed them on this WinXP machine.

6. I rarely use that Win7 machine but prefer to use this WinXP one for most routine work instead now.

7. The WinXP machine that I have just "upgraded" the RAM on (and says it thinks it has only 2GB) is used almost exclusively for programs to control and send and receive data from amateur radio transceivers.

8. None of the above mentions the extra workload of keeping an Android phone, 2 eReaders and 2 Android tablets up to date as well as desktop PCs! It's almost a full-time job in its own right.

9. If you do a fresh, clean installation of Windows, you end up doing about 6 hours of downloading and installing updates! For my Residents Group, I had to do that (using my own broadband bandwidth) on a brand new laptop with a pre-installed version of Windows. Ridiculous on a brand new machine from a well-known outlet with Windows supposedly already installed.

It will be interesting when support for XP ends.
I still have lots of progs that will not be updated to run on anything other than XP.

Rant over. I think that I may have to resort to using just 2 machines on Windows XP and the rest on Linux in a year or two.

Cheers from Bill

 

[COLGeek]

That is a lot to keep up with! Been there, done that!!

Try this (just for grins). On the odd acting system, update (or reapply the most current) BIOS for the motherboard. Do this with all of the memory (4GB) installed. See if this "new config" triggers any recognition changes in Windows.

 

[bdabill]

That is a lot to keep up with! Been there, done that!!

Try this (just for grins). On the odd acting system, update (or reapply the most current) BIOS for the motherboard. Do this with all of the memory (4GB) installed. See if this "new config" triggers any recognition changes in Windows.

That's a worthwhile suggestion but I won't be grinning if it forces me to re-install Windows and do all those updates again!

I didn't have to update the BIOS on that mobo 'cause it already supported that CPU. No floppy drive on that machine either.

Don't fancy trying BIOS update from within Windows. Could be dodgy.

Time for some grub while I watch the Gadget Show.

 

[COLGeek]

A BIOS update won't force a re-install on WinXP. No worries in that regard.

 

[bdabill]

That is a lot to keep up with! Been there, done that!!

Try this (just for grins). On the odd acting system, update (or reapply the most current) BIOS for the motherboard. Do this with all of the memory (4GB) installed. See if this "new config" triggers any recognition changes in Windows.