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Windows 2000 server - 3.5 gig limit with 4gig installed

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Joeteck

Retired
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
Location
Long Island
I've posted this question on a number of forums, Tek-Tips, Computing.net and many others. No one can answer my question. I just can't believe that over 65,000 people have no idea what the answer is. Here is my challenge to you Microsoft guru's.

Find out why Windows 2000 server (not advanced or datacenter) can't see more that 3.5Gigs of RAM.

The Facts:

The system is a Dual XEON 2.8Ghz w/HT.
It has (4) 1Gig DDR DIMMS.
The mobo can see upto 8gig of RAM.
The BIOS see's the memory fine.
When I had 2gig in, it saw all 2 gig.
I added another 2gig, and it see's only 3.5Gig (3668mb)

Now find out WHY?

Joeteck

PS: For those who want to know "why SO MUCH RAM?"
Running an Oracle server which requires 3 gig just for my databases. Thank you for your time!
 
Your system hardware has reserved ~500MB of system memory for PCI address space, resulting in the OS seeing 3.5GB instead of
4GB...a fairly common situation in most Intel Xeon-based servers with certain chipsets. You may be able to lower the ~500MB reserve by either adding the /PAE switch to the end of the line in the Boot.ini file, or removing PCI cards in order to reduce the system's memory usage. :)
 
Last edited:
redduc900 said:
Your system hardware has reserved ~500MB of system memory for PCI address space, resulting in the OS seeing 3.5GB instead of
4GB...


That sounds like it might be the problem. Why does it not happen when I have 2gig installed. If your theory is correct, then I should only see 1.5 gig of RAM with 2 gig installed.
 
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