Vista and more than 4 gigs of RAM

[Charlie]

I recently went to do a clean install of Vista Ultimate and ran into the issue with the Blue Screens we all know to well. There is an issue when one is to do a fresh clean install and has more than 3 gigs of RAM. To install Vista and use more than 3 gigs you must only use 2 gigs to install Vista be it the 32 or the 64 bit. Why I am not sure to be honest. There is a fix once you get the whole OS installed. There is a 32 bit and a 64 bit version. I thought I would pass this information onto you to avoid trying to remedy the issue. Below is the 32 & 64 bit links.

32 Bit systems
Download details: Update for Windows Vista (KB929777) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=240AC3F3-2B60-4B70-B709-06B2BC5B1336&displaylang=en)

64 bit systems
Download details: Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB929777) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=91672C7C-614B-404C-850C-377541E93C18&displaylang=en)

[HemiDog]

Good info Charlie. Could save someone alot of frustration in the future. :clap::thanks:

[Charlie]

Yes but I'd rather someone else went through this though instead of me :tounge: At least the EVGA support over the phone knew what to say right away as they even cut me off saying there is a hot fix from MS on this issue. :)

I was even able to set my timings correctly now as well as the voltage too which is an improvement in performance.

[HemiDog]

Is this a problem just with EVGA & clean installs or is it a problem for any clean install on any MOBO with 4 gigs of ram? :question_mark:

[Charlie]

Vista 32 or 64 bit using more than 3 gigs of RAM.

To install Vista you must only use 2 gigs to install Vista... be it the 32 or the 64 bit. Why I am not sure to be honest.

[Tony]

you wish I want i can do a clean install with 4gigs of ram without an issue I do not understand why it is not all machines as it seems to be an some what isolated problem.

[Charlie]

Hard to really say but the fix is on MS if anyone needs it.

[ReadMeToo]

Some where I have the white papers on this.

Vista all versions except 64 bit will only see 3.5 gig . the 64 bit will carry you beyond the 4 gig barrier if I remember right up to 16 gig .

Now this is what MS is saying ,

Ill post it in the New Section Charlie when you get it done "lol"

[Charlie]

Go ahead this section is for the users but to also break up the vista and the xp issues and tweaks.

[ReadMeToo]

Will do Ill break them up by diff Os's , as I find the white papers and MS reports

[Charlie]

Great there is an XP section here as well.

[McstylisT]

It is also important to set your memory at its required speed settings. Many motherboards seem to default them a fair bit slower than they are made to run. Especially of the voltage side.

Check your specific memory and the timmings and voltage and set to this. Obviously with Vista SP1 the original patch Charlie posted is now included into it as a Vista update.

McT :cop:

[bretth]

Hey guys, on this issue of 4 gigs or more ram not being recognized in vista no matter if youve got 32 or 64bit version. Well I cannot say for sure whats what, but I CAN say that when I just built my system and had 4 gigs in it when I fired it up(and HAD NOT gotten any updates yet) it worked fine, recognized all my ram and I was good to go. Then I was talking with Duff yesterday about putting another 4 gigs in my machine because it was so cheap via a new egg sale, he said cant do it. Vista wont recognize(32 bit that is)more than 4 gigs of ram. Well I installed 4 more and it recognized all 8 gigs, everywhere I look, bios included. I am running 32 bit vista and am having NO issues with any of this stuff, so I cant explain whats what here. I can say that I did have SOME updates downloaded between the initial 4 gigs and the second round of 4 more gigs, whether it was "the right" one or not I cant say and havent checked yet. Im on my old machine right now, getting all my "junk" off before I give it to my son. But man this is a mystery Id sure like to know what the real answers are. My 2 cents!!

[Jet Li]

Hey guys, on this issue of 4 gigs or more ram not being recognized in vista no matter if youve got 32 or 64bit version. Well I cannot say for sure whats what, but I CAN say that when I just built my system and had 4 gigs in it when I fired it up(and HAD NOT gotten any updates yet) it worked fine, recognized all my ram and I was good to go. Then I was talking with Duff yesterday about putting another 4 gigs in my machine because it was so cheap via a new egg sale, he said cant do it. Vista wont recognize(32 bit that is)more than 4 gigs of ram. Well I installed 4 more and it recognized all 8 gigs, everywhere I look, bios included. I am running 32 bit vista and am having NO issues with any of this stuff, so I cant explain whats what here. I can say that I did have SOME updates downloaded between the initial 4 gigs and the second round of 4 more gigs, whether it was "the right" one or not I cant say and havent checked yet. Im on my old machine right now, getting all my "junk" off before I give it to my son. But man this is a mystery Id sure like to know what the real answers are. My 2 cents!!

It will reconize it but it will not use it JFYI:wink:

[bretth]

now is that the same for the over 4 gigs with 32 bit vista?? Your saying then, that my 8 gigs isnt being utilized?

[Jet Li]

now is that the same for the over 4 gigs with 32 bit vista?? Your saying then, that my 8 gigs isnt being utilized?

Exactly it is seen but not used unless you have a 64 bit OS

[Charlie]

64 bit OS is the only OS that can utilize more than 3-4 gig of RAM.

[bcsherwood]

Yes but I'd rather someone else went through this though instead of me :tounge: At least the EVGA support over the phone knew what to say right away as they even cut me off saying there is a hot fix from MS on this issue. :)

I was even able to set my timings correctly now as well as the voltage too which is an improvement in performance.

HI Charlie:
Curious to what motherboard you are on now.
Last I saw you were using a gigabyte.
brad

[Charlie]

Yes using a gigabyte now as I fried my EVGA one.

[MATTSON1121]

Its my understanding that that even 32 bit systems will really only utilize 3-3.5 gigs is this correct??

[Jet Li]

Its my understanding that that even 32 bit systems will really only utilize 3-3.5 gigs is this correct??

yes that is correct only 64 bit OS's will use more than that so installing any more than 4gigs on a 32 bit OS is a waste of money because it is seen but not used.

[McstylisT]

Its my understanding that that even 32 bit systems will really only utilize 3-3.5 gigs is this correct??

It can depend how the bios diagnoses the system hardware. Some older systems have 4GB installed and only show 3.1GB. The average seen is 3.25GB , but some have been unexplainabley lucky and had 3.4-3.6 appear. ?? There is no clear answer why. Best i ever got when using a 32bit system was 3.4GB. :agree:

I now use a full 8GB on vista 64. :wink:

[MATTSON1121]

Compusa Had a great deal on some nvidia sli So i picked it up. 4 2 gig sticks for my vista premium 64 bit we shall see the difference. I will usally upgrade when i start seeing usage of 75% or more.

[McstylisT]

Compusa Had a great deal on some nvidia sli So i picked it up. 4 2 gig sticks for my vista premium 64 bit we shall see the difference. I will usally upgrade when i start seeing usage of 75% or more.

So thats a 8GB set then. ?? :Bow: COOL !! !!

I think 8GB is the threshold for Vista. Just gives it that monster food it requires at times.

75% ,, man thats high mem usage. I dont think i have ever exceeded like 40% :tounge: :tounge: :tounge: But then i am a computer nut after all ...... :whizz :whizz

[MATTSON1121]

My vista 64bit prem. system uses 55% on most occasions. So as I was saying i will upgrade when i Start using about 3/4 of what i got. Depending on how many apps i run I sometimes get there

[McScrooge]

yes that is correct only 64 bit OS's will use more than that so installing any more than 4gigs on a 32 bit OS is a waste of money because it is seen but not used.

Rarely used switch in boot.ini in WinXP allows addressing more than 4G. The /PAE switch.
In Vista have to first use "BCDEdit /set PAE ForceEnable" at a CMD prompt.

See these:
Physical Address Extension
Physical Address Extension (Windows)
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796.aspx)

Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE
Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa468629.aspx)

BCDEdit /set
BCDEdit /set
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx)

[McstylisT]

My vista 64bit prem. system uses 55% on most occasions. So as I was saying i will upgrade when i Start using about 3/4 of what i got. Depending on how many apps i run I sometimes get there

55% is a fairly high amount of usage MATTSON , :agree: With that info to light i think the upgrade will be very efficient and optimize your system speed in this department for sure. :wink:

[Jet Li]

Upgrade now the price of ram is cheap as Mct said that is very high 55%:wink:

[Mike H...]

For owners of Gateway QuadCore of 64 Bit

I have a Gateway FX 7026 QuadCore and recently upgraded from 4 to 8 GB RAM. This actually slowed the startup of the computer so much that I started to remove the extra ram after a couple of days. It recognized it all right, but the slow down on startup brought me back to my early days with computers. I did not get any blue screens or lock ups though.

I decided to check out Gateway's BigFix and a fix popped up immediately with a BIOS upgrade for this exact problem. Upgraded BIOS and the computer is working great now. The fix covered several motherboard models.

[MATTSON1121]

My system will use 2800mb out of 4100mb Just sitting idle. Have no idea what processes are running and i do have scheduled backups and things of that sort in there but i think thats seems a little high to but i dont really know

[ReadMeToo]

Ok this may be one of those items posted for future reference.

MS and the different OS's Memory used and utilized , if your system is doing something other than these stated MS will hire you in a blink

Direct from MSDN " Developers Network. Memory Allocations for OS's (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_vista )

Facts
A 32 bit OS can only use 4GB of memory total, that means if you have 4GB of ram and your graphic card has 1GB of ram, you have a total of 5GB of memory.

Out of that 5GB of memory, you can only use 4GB total. 1GB the graphic card will take up, so now the 32bit OS can only use 3GB.

Enabling PAE, will limit to the OS to 2GB total. What PAE does is dedicate 2GB to OS and the other 2GB to anything other then the OS. Apparently some people don't understand how PAE works and think that some how it can magically make a 32bit OS use more then 4GB, which is impossible, so after noticing my explanation is not getting through,

I thought a visual from MS itself might help sink it in, you can see it here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx

PAE
Enable PAE for full use of 4GB RAM
http://www.thegeeksweek.com/blog/enabling-pae-on-32-bit-windows-vista.html

The above link describes how to set up PAE (Physical Address Extension) on Vista 32 bits (It can be done in other 32 bits Windows), so that it can make use of 4GB RAM, not just ~3.5GB.

Vista 32bit can see only 3.5GB of ram total. The new sp1 only reports how much memory you have intalled, not how much memory you can use.