On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 14:37:37 -0600, "Colin Barnhorst"
<c.barnhorst@comcast.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Ken, I should think that hitting 2GB on the nose with 4GB installed calls
> for investigation of the BIOS settings and then testing the hardware. It
> just does not sound right to me. The lowest I have ever seen on my own
> hardware with 4GB installed is 2.2GB. What do you think?[/color]


I agree. Sorry if I seemed to give the opposite opinion. I wasn't
specifically addressing Doug's problem, but rather responding to
churin to correct the somewhat inaccurate statements that "Either way,
the maximum amount of RAM you will be able to access (without enabling
PAE) is 3.2GB."

[color=blue]
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
> news:kecg441o0lrv5ebhpoqip3on6kp60pvf7e@4ax.com...[color=green]
> > On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:37:04 -0400, churin <churin@new.postalias>
> > wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> >> > On Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:40:57 +0100, "Doug" <Doug
> >> > <dougti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >>> How can I check to see if 4GB is being made available for the system
> >> >>> to
> >> >>> utilize?
> >> >> It sounds like the RAM isn't being detected. What does the BIOS show?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >> Either way, the maximum amount of RAM you will be able to access
> >> >> (without
> >> >> enabling PAE) is 3.2GB.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Two points:
> >> >
> >> > 1. PAE doesn't help on Windows client operating systems, just on
> >> > servers.
> >> >
> >> > 2. The maximum accessible amount is not precisely 3.2GB, but varies
> >> > from as little as 2 to 2.5 (in rare cases) to as much as 3.5GB,
> >> > depending on your hardware configuration. Here's my standard post on
> >> > this subject:
> >> >
> >> > All 32-bit versions of Windows (not just XP) have a 4GB address space.
> >> > That's the theoretical upper limit beyond which you can not go.
> >> >
> >> > But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
> >> > have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
> >> > That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
> >> > available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
> >> > use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
> >> > range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
> >> > 3.1GB.
> >> >
> >> > Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
> >> > RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
> >> > address space to map it too.
> >> >
> >> Does the above mean as follows?
> >>
> >> BIOS and System|Properties show correct size of installed RAM while
> >> System Tools|System Information and Task Manager|Performance show the
> >> maximum usable part of the installed RAM. The maximum usable part could
> >> be as low as 2GB. Therefor,if 4GB is installed and Task
> >> Manager|Performance indicates that the Total Physical Memory is 2GB,
> >> then half of the installed RAM is waisted.[/color]
> >
> >
> >
> > Yes, that's correct. But bear in mind that a usable amount as low as
> > 2GB is very rare. A more typical amount is around 3.1-3.2GB.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup[/color][/color]

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup