Windows XP with 4GB of memory

[robdon]

Hi,

I've just bought a new PC from Alienware, with 4GB of memory.

WindowsXP is only showing 2.37GB

I read in my motherboard manual, P5N32-SLI Deluxe, that I can only use above 3GB of memory on Windows XP 64 bit. And not Windows XP 32 bit.

Is that true, and if so, why did Alienware sell me a PC with XP 32bit and 4GB of memory????

The BIOS shows 4GB.

Thanks for any help,

Rob D.

PS. I'm getting no response from Alienware support....


ProIV Resource Centre

http://www.proivrc.com

 

[ascotta]

Wow did not know ProIV was still going !!

Well firstly Yes you need to talk to AlienWare !!

Something reminds me of a 3Gb switch for installing server products. So maybe this is the same. There maybe an install param that you might be able to use to force recognition of this.

Intrigue takes over, why 4Gb of RAM on a desktop ??

[blue] A perspective from the other side!![/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[Frank4d]

On 32-bit Windows with 4GB of physical RAM installed Windows should be able to use up to about 3.53GB. But that is largely dependent upon how the the MOBO BIOS maps memory, and upon what cards are installed in your system that may share the 4GB PCI address space. The /3GB and /PAE boot.ini switches will not help you here. Though a BIOS upgrade may let Windows use 3.53GB.

As for why Alienware sold you a system with Windows XP 32-bit (that can't use 4GB RAM) vs. 64-bit, when you configure a system and provide your credit card number... they don't ask any questions.

 

[robdon]

Thanks for the replies guys....

ascotta: Yep, ProIV is still going... just

I didnt know about any limits in Windows, and I would expect that Alienware would have known, so I just checked all the highest checkboxes when ordering my PC

However, with all the problems I've had with Alienware, the PC is probably going to go back (for the 2nd time) and I'm never gonna touch them again...

Thanks,

Rob.


ProIV Resource Centre

http://www.proivrc.com