Re: Physical Address Extension in Windows Server 2003 End SP1
It depends on the details of your hardware. If the hardware (motherboard,
chipset, processor) supports more than 4 GB or RAM, enabling PAE allows more
than 4 GB of RAM to be used. If I read the page at
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws370/en/ug/findinfo.htm#1054387
correctly, your Dell Precision 370 supports a maximum of 4 GB installed RAM.
This probably means (among other things) that it only has 32 bit physical
memory addressing, so won't support more than 4 GB RAM, which
unfortunatelymeans you're likely stuck with what you have.
PAE (Physical Address Extension) is a feature included in some 32 bit
processors (and supported on some motherboards) that allows them to use 36
bit physical memory (RAM) addresses. I'm not quite sure exactly when this
was first introduced (some Intel Pentium 4 processors apparantly have this
feature), but not all processors, chipsets and motherboards support it,
although most new ones do.
You could try adding the /PAE option in the boot.ini file, but this may not
have the desired affect. I ran into the same thing with another vendors
older equipment and there is no way around it.
--
Bruce Sanderson
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders
It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
"S H A R I Q U E" <SHARIQUE@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:41F6738E-3B9C-4996-A050-0A2788DD30E8@microsoft.com...
> Well....I have got the gist of your reply...however, i have come up with a
> solution..since PAE allows 32-bit OSs to address memory greater than
> 4GB...what if i add 2GB more on top of existing memory..theni would have
> 6GB
> RAM ..by hook or by crook, i would be able to utilize 5 GB or something...
> am i right....if not ...then what is the sole purpose of PAE?
> regards
>
>
> regards
>
>
> "Bruce Sanderson" wrote:
>
>> You probably can't. This is because the way the 32 bit hardware works -
>> some of the physical address space is occupied by bits of the hardware.
>> For
>> more information, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605.
>>
>> If you install the 64 bit version of Server 2003 R2, you might be able to
>> use all 4 GB of RAM. I found that some hardware (e.g. IBM ThinkCentre
>> 8143)
>> can not use all 4 GB of physical RAM even with 64 bit Windows.
>>
>> --
>> Bruce Sanderson
>> http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders
>>
>> It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
>>
>>
>>
>> "S H A R I Q U E" <SHARIQUE@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:1C702EEA-6DD7-4FF6-A331-3B2B6C761D13@microsoft.com...
>> >i am running Windows Server 2003 ent Edition 32-Bit edition with SP1 on
>> >Dell
>> > Precision 370(x86 based computer) with NVIDIA 6600 PCI Express 256MB
>> > Graphics
>> > card.
>> > I have installed 4 GB of RAM(2GB per memory Module). i have enabled
>> > /PAE
>> > in
>> > boot.ini even after that my computer shows 3.00GB in system
>> > properties.
>> > It
>> > shows total physical memory to be 3,143,736KB. how can i address full
>> > 4GB
>> > memory given the fact that i have installed 4GB of physical memory.
>> >
>> > regards
>> >
>> >
>>
>>