Laptops Forum
by nicknielsen
What processor? What chipset? What OS?
You provide too little for us to help.
Tip: The 4GB memory limit is total memory, not just system RAM. This article explains it well: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/clearing-up-the-3264-bit-memory-limit-confusion/3124
by ansugisalas
Did for me at least :D
I'll need to find a 64bit VM that can run 32bit stuff, and it had better be able to run dosbox :D
Or is that perverse? Somehow? Nah!
by bronn
by bronn
Dell 360 Precision Workstation
P4 2.4 GHz
Intel 875p chipset
AO8 bios
G.Skill PC3200 1GBx4 sticks CL3
by nicknielsen
by oh smeg
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws360/en/ug/info.htm#1118040
According to the Specification you can fit up to 4 X 1 GIG Modules
[i]NOTE: DDR 333 operates at 320 MHz when used with a Pentium 4 with an 800 MHz front-side bus.[/i]
According to the specifications of the G Skill it is
[i]?Package : 2048MB kit (2x1024MB) dual channel pack
?CAS Latency : 2.5-3-3-6 (PC3200)
?Test Voltage : 2.6 ~ 2.75 V
?PCB Board : 6 Layers PCB
?Speed : DDR 400 MHz (PC3200)
?Type : 184-pin DDR SDRAM
?Error Checking : Non-ECC
?Registered/Unbuffered : Unbuffered
?Quality Control : Comprehensive rigorously tested in pair at dual channel environment
?Warranty : Lifetime[/i]
Which if this is what you have bought should work fine but as these are Matched Pairs you need to fit the RAM into the Matched Pair Sockets. So it's no good fitting one pair to Sockets 1 &2 if the Matched Pair Sockets are Sockets 1 & 3.
If you bought 4 X 1 GIG Modules that where not Matched you could just have Timing Issues with the RAM where it's slightly different speed and this is causing the system to fall over.
I personally use 4 GIG of RAM with 32 Bit OS without a problem but then again I only use Corsair RAM which I have found to be very good. While the M'Board will accept 4 GIG or RAM a 32 BIT OS will not make full use of that much RAM and if you have Video RAM this is included as the Total System RAM in the 4 GIG Limit that the OS can Address. So your Listed Installed RAM sounds about right as this is more dependent on the M'Board Chip Set than the OS.
Over all if you want to use 4 GIG of RAM with this system you first need to test the RAM that you have 1 Module at a time with something like Mem Test 86 which is available free here
And if none show any problems I think you'll find that you need to use different RAM.
Look at the Corsair Memory Calculator here to see what they recommend for this system. But you will see that there are 4 different Dell Precision 360 Workstations shown so they may require different Specification RAM. ;)
http://www.corsair.com/configurator/default.aspx
Col
by thechas
I run all of my 32 bit systems with no more than 2 GB of RAM.
All 32 bit operating systems have a 4GB total memory address limit. As Nick pointed out, not all of the 4 GB is available to the OS. The upper memory addresses are reserved for things like the PCI bus and video card.
The problem comes in when the BIOS and chip-set do not take care of the reserved memory space properly. If a BIOS update is available from Dell it "might" correct the problem with the reserved memory addresses. But, even then, you still will not get past the 3.5 or even lower memory limit.
As a side note, Microsoft "fixed" the reported memory issue for the 32 bit version of Vista and Windows 7. Instead of reporting usable memory, the newer 32 bit versions of Windows report the amount of installed memory.
Chas
by bronn
by jamesrl
470 and 490...
Col has the right idea.
Not only would I only use matched pairs, I would only use one brand/model/speed of RAM in all the sockets.
The Precisions are high end workstations and were designed with a very precise and high end memory specification. They are "picky" to be sure. You must have the right latency.
I have run 4GB of RAM under 32 bit OS with the 470 for a long time, both XP and Vista. You effectively get 3.25 GB.
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