| [XP Pro] ASUS P5B-E Detects 2GB instead of 4GB of Memory Hello guys. Last night, I read through a whole lot of forums on this. I had 2 GB on my system, but I bought another 2 GB to make 4 GB in total. Now, I am using Windows XP Professional 32 Bit version and I am happy with it and do NOT want to get the 64 bit version or Windows Vista. Now, I KNOW that Windows XP Professional 64 Bit cannot detect all 4 GB of RAM and I need to have the 64 Bit version for that, but I've heard that I can get at LEAST 3.5 GB of Memory working on Windows XP Professional 32 Bit. Now, I installed the memory in my ASUS P5B-E Motherboard, it only has 2.93 GB of Memory. I then looked at the motherboard bios info, tells me that it only has 3009 MB of memory, so I looked at a whole bunch of forums, turned on the memory remap and got 4096 GB of memory in the BIOS which is pretty good, but then in Windows XP Professional, it gives me 2 GB ONLY! This is really stupid.
Is there a way of getting 3.5 GB, NOT 4GB, just 3.5 on this 32 Bit Operationg System? I tried the /PAE and the /3GB Switch and nothing happens. Please help me. |
|
|
|
 HallPremium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
kudos:1 | The "missing" memory has been reserved for hardware devices, most often the video card. There's nothing you can do... I have 4gb installed also:
The /3gb switch won't help in this situation. All that does is tell how much RAM to give to the kernel with the reset being available for applications. |
|
| reply to judenihal
Running 4Gb Ram, XP Pro 32 bit, and 3Gb switch.
My Adobe programs now see 3GB after the switch, and only saw 2Gb before the switch.
--
Looking for 1939 Indian Motocycle |
|
| reply to judenihal
I have the same problem with this MB. I guess I wasted money on RAM I will never use. |
|
HallPremium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
kudos:1 | reply to Jan Janowski
He's referring to what Windows reports. What does yours say under Control Panel, System ? Lower right corner... |
|
 denb45Premium
join:2001-02-04
Albuquerque, NM
 ·Comcast
3 edits | reply to clocks11
said by clocks11:I have the same problem with this MB. I guess I wasted money on RAM I will never use. No, you didn't waste your money, you could always upgrade to Vista 32bit, and wait untill Vista SP-1 comes out this Spring 2008, I hear, that w/ Vista's SP-1 the 4GB Memory Addressing problem is FIXED, are will be in Vista's New Service Pack!...............as for this being Fixed in XP's SP-3, I'm not real sure about that one...........
--
Gateway MX6453 * AMD X 2 Duo Core 64 Mobile 1.8GHz * 2GB * 533MHz* DDR2 Memory * Vista Ultimate OEM/DSP
|
|
| I have Vista 32bit, with SP1 RC installed. It reports that I have 4gb installed, but only 3 (flat), is available. |
|
denb45Premium
join:2001-02-04
Albuquerque, NM Reviews:
·Comcast
2 edits | said by clocks11:I have Vista 32bit, with SP1 RC installed. It reports that I have 4gb installed, but only 3 (flat), is available. That's because your using a BETA SP1 RC, let's all hope that, this will be fixed in the Final Release of Vista SP1 in early Spring 2008, SP1 is nowhere near completed yet.............I'm sticking with 2GB of RAM, it's fine for what I do, adding anymore than that, in my case, would be a waste of money........
--
Gateway MX6453 * AMD X 2 Duo Core 64 Mobile 1.8GHz * 2GB * 533MHz* DDR2 Memory * Vista Ultimate OEM/DSP
|
|
 maartenaElmoPremium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
kudos:1
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·DIRECTV
1 edit | reply to judenihal
The problem is that a 32-bit OS can only use 4 Gb of total addressable space. Don't confuse addressable space with memory however, memory is part of the addressable space it can use, but within that 4 Gb of addressable space, it also needs to fit things like video card memory, cpu registers, cpu cache, your BIOS and systemboard registers, cache or memory on RAID cards, cache or memory on drives, etc.... many things you don't "see" in Windows.
Now, if you have a 512 Mb Video Card, you will get only about 3.2 Gb at most. If you have a 256 Mb video card, you may be able to get 3.4. If you have a 512 card, and some other hardware that needs to be addressed on things like RAID cards or TV cards, it is VERY realistic that you only end up with 2.93 Gb.
PAE doesn't work if you have any consumer type drivers installed (like usb printers, scanners, tv cards, and known consumer/home main boards), as those drivers cannot be loaded in the memory addresses above 4 Gb. You will actually need some decent server hardware to do that, for instance the HP, Dell, IBM server drivers all CAN be loaded above 4 Gb, and your chances of getting PAE to work on Server 2003 are much greater.
/3G switch will work, but it only allows programs to use a maximum of 3 Gb per program instead of 2. The 3GB switch should be used carefully. It is a great switch if you use, for instance ONE program all the time and you want it to use 3 Gb. It is not so great if you use 2 or 3 programs all the time. You do not want to, for instance, run Photoshop and start editing photos and then run Nero to burn a DVD (lots of memory caching) at the same time with the /3GB switch on. You will want to limit photoshop to 2 GB at that time so that Nero can actually use the remainder GB to cache etc.
Using the 3GB switch should be carefully understood.
Long story short: I would not bother putting more then 3 Gb of memory in your 32bit OS, and use the remaining Gb in another machine.
Best alternative to use that kind of memory is to use a 64bit OS. You can choose for XP64, but driver support is somewhat limited. Vista64 is very well supported these days however. There are also 64bit versions of virtually every Linux distribution.
Also: The person that says that "this is fixed" in Vista SP1 is incorrect. The 4 Gb addressable space is a problem in ANY 32bit OS, including 32bit versions of MacOS and Linux.
See here for more: »news.softpedia.com/news/32-bit-W···39.shtml
It will simply report that 4 Gb is there instead of just reporting that 3 Gb is there. It will not actually use all of the 4 Gb, and it will certainly not breach the 32bit limitations.
We are simply at a time that we are bouncing on the 32bit ceiling a few more times. If you have a 2 Gb machine - like me - don't worry about a thing.... you can run with 3 Gb for a long long time! But in the next few years, we will see a slow shift to 64bit.
Server 2008 will be the last 32bit OS that Microsoft will build. Everything after that, such as the next version of consumer Windows, will be 64bit only.
--
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father. |
|
| If I pull the 4th stick of RAM, wont it actually slow my PC, as I will lose dual channel mode? As it is I already lost a small amount of memory performance when I added to the two sticks.
Also, I bought this PC for gaming. I thought I read 64bit lacks drivers, is not good for gaming, etc... |
|
Reviews:
·Comcast
 ·AT&T Midwest
3 edits | reply to judenihal
Depending on your CPU/Motherboard combination, you might be able to use 4 1Gb ram sticks and be faster than 3 Gb of ram.
It will depend on your CPU & Motherboad being able to take advantage of two simultaneous reads & writes to memory.
Mine can,(Supermicro) and therefore I'm using 4 x 1GB memory sticks, with 3Gb swtich,and dual memory read/writes, and it is faster on reads and writes than if I had configured as single read/write and 3 1Gb rams (Which in honesty, I'm not even certain this motherboard will do!).
That's also why I bought 4 1Gb sticks, instead of 2 2Gb sticks. All this is with XP Pro 32 bit OS.
There is an example of why you would buy 4x1Gb ram sticks with no intention of using the 4th Gb.
--
Looking for 1939 Indian Motocycle |
|
| reply to judenihal
For some reason I thought the 4gb 32bit issue was solved, and that is why I went for 4gb. A couple weeks ago I played around with PAE, but that did not help.
3gb is fine, I just am aggravated I can not get the 3.3gb or whatever that most get. |
|
denb45Premium
join:2001-02-04
Albuquerque, NM Reviews:
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to maartena
said by maartena:Also: The person that says that "this is fixed" in Vista SP1 is incorrect. The 4 Gb addressable space is a problem in ANY 32bit OS, including 32bit versions of MacOS and Linux. I never said that the 32bit 4GB Addressing was Fixed in Vista's SP1, what I did say is that, SP1 is nowhere near completed yet ,and we can all hope for that to to fixed in SP1, but that doesn't looks like its gonna happen in SP1 or any 32bit OS, by-the-way Great info, about the 4GB Addressing problem, very well said, and easy to understand
--
Gateway MX6453 * AMD X 2 Duo Core 64 Mobile 1.8GHz * 2GB * 533MHz* DDR2 Memory * Vista Ultimate OEM/DSP
|
|
Reviews:
·Comcast
| reply to judenihal
Seems to me that you have a ram density issue and motherboard problem. read the manual and see what they say about sticks of ram. I have seen some who don't like high capacity on the 3rd slot of 4 for some stupid reason.
XP sp2 with /PAE and I am getting all 4 gigs shown. Make sure the bios settings are not caching video or the bios as well as making sure the memory hole at 4 gig is disabled , heavily dependent on the motherboard.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" |
|
