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May 25th, 2010 21:00
Memory Upgrade Problem on Dell 650
I recently purchased some extra memory (Kingston KTD-WS450E/2G - 2GB ECC Kit) to add the to original 1GB ECC (2x512MB) installed in a Dell Precision 650 - using the spare two slots. Upon restart, the BIOS (Rev A03) finds the memory OK (3072MB). So far so good... By the way, the original memory was in top two slots (1&2?) and the lower slots were open.
After booting, Windows however reports 1015344KB of total physical memory (via task manager). I am running Windows 2000 to support some older software, but it should be able to use 4GB (shouldn't it?). Swapped the positions of the RAM (ie 1GB sticks in upper slots , 512 MB sticks in lower) - BIOS sees 3072MB again, Windows 1015344KB. Pulled the original RAM out - BIOS sees 2048MB, Windows 1015344KB.
At a loss at this point. Any strange software flag / switch in Windows 2000? Through the Computer Management I can see windows is referencing 4GB of virtual memory - but not finding all the physical.
RoHe
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May 26th, 2010 16:00
You may have to edit the boot.ini file to add the /3GB switch at the end of the line which looks like this, and where "????" will be the version of Windows installed on your system:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="????" /3GB
Ron
EDIT: Don't remove any of the other switches that may already be at the end of that line, and make sure the's only one space before /3GB, regardless of what's ahead of it.
stu650
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May 26th, 2010 20:00
Thanks for the help - I should have looked into the boot.ini earlier. Originally not my computer, and someone had put a /MAXMEM =992 statement in the file. Took that out, and the extra memory turned up!
I have been trolling Microsoft for solutions to the original issue, and it does look like I can benefit from the /3GB switch. The issue is I cannot find anywhere that specifically states it will work with Windows 2000 Professional (SP4). Anyone had use of this?
Thanks again ROHE
RoHe
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May 26th, 2010 20:00
:emotion-21:
It can't hurt to try the /3GB switch. If it doesn't help or makes it worse, you can always remove it.
Ron