Vista 32bit with 4GB will not boot!

Clarifications

SP1 with only 2GB of RAM and then adding the other 2GB.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777/en-us

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That when you install 4 X 1 GIG RAM Sticks the System will not boot with Vista but works with XP right now is that correct?

When you add the additional 2 GIG of RAM have you entered BIOS and made sure that the system is correctly Identifying the RAM and saved the change on Exit?

It is possible that the System needs to have you authorize the Change and save this change in BIOS before it allocates the correct Memory Maps for the currently installed RAM. But then again XP wouldn't work either.

It's also possible that this particular M'Board works with 2 Sticks of RAM installed but not with 4 Sticks of this RAM and requires a different sort of RAM to utilize all 4 RAM Sockets. But then that doesn't explain XP working does it?

Honestly it sounds as if the RAM change isn't authorized in BIOS and the system is allocating the wrong Memory Map for the RAM that is currently available for use. All that should be required here is to enter BIOS and Exit saving the changes.

Col

32 bit of Vista did not support 4 GB of RAM, the max is 3GB. After all it is a 32 bit system.

I can add:

The platform can theoretically support the full 4GB, but your hardware is going to allocate some of the address space (not the physical RAM) to the PCI bus, the video adapter memory address space, and other resources. 32-bit OSs need to use part of the full 4GB address space to address these resources, subtracting from the maximum memory you have available to the OS and applications:

The PCI memory addresses starting down from 4 GB are used for things like the BIOS, IO cards, networking, PCI hubs, bus bridges, PCI-Express, and video/graphics cards. The BIOS takes up about 512 KB starting from the very top address. Then each of the other items mentioned are allocated address ranges below the BIOS range. The largest block of addresses is allocated for today???s high performance graphics cards which need addresses for at least the amount of memory on the graphics card. The net result is that a high performance x86-based computer may allocate 512 MB to more than 1 GB for the PCI memory address range before any RAM (physical user memory) addresses are allocated.

What is the memory allocation of your video card?

Go to your computer makers website and see if there are any updates for your BIOS.
You will need to update your bios so that it can handle this type of memory. Even though in your BIOS settings it shows ok, but when you try and start in normal mode it does not work.
Though you can try this:
In your BIOS select "load Default settings" and then re-boot your computer.
But if you can try and get an update for your bios.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this information is useful, please mark as helpful. Thanks.

Nvdia GeForce 6150 LE GPU with 256MB shared video memory.

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Windows can only use 3gb, so it is best to leave in the 3gb.

If you get Windows in 64 bit flavour then you can add up to the max of your motherboard.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this information is useful, please mark as helpful. Thanks.