Hey there guyz

i've been doin heaps of research but coming upo next to nothing.
getting BSOD's, with Vista, when installing 4gbs of ram.

Things I've done so far:
Vista SP1
Manual install of patch found on MS site and other sites with same error (Your system does not require this patch)

I can run happily with 3gbs of ram, but as soon as I put 4gbs and start opening web pages or what not, the bsod comes.

system specs:
Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
Asus P5N-E SLi
Geil PC 6400 800mhz 3gb atm...all 1gb sticks.
8800 GTS 640mb..

i just formatted my HD, put vista on it, updated vid and sound card drivers to latest, and also installed SP1.
When placing the extra module in...bang..BSOD...any help ?

run a mem tester?

its the first thing id do:

cant try 2 x 2g stix?

could be a faulty ramslot, happens semi regular:

whats the error code when you bsod?

Doesn't the 32bit only support upto 3gig?

If you want to use 4gig you need the 64bit version of Vista.

The above may or may not be true, I'm no expert.

2^32 = 4294967296 bytes of memory. ie. 4gig.

The problem is devices use memory addresses so its 4gig - memory space for devices. So using a 32bit OS will lose you an ammount of memory that depends on your devices (eg. video card)

Are all 4 sticks identical ?
Have you tried cycling the location of the sticks when "testing" 3gig.
ie. have you ruled out a faulty stick

But could be a mobo, could be psu ... could be well anything

:(

Lucky I'm not a computer guy.

Therefore do what spook and obes say.

i hope you dont do what they say about everything...

buy an lcd, treat yourself mission

Well the lady does want a tele in the bedroom.

I just don't know if I want blurry prons.

I like to see the details.

Doesn't the 32bit only support upto 3gig?

I have 32 bit and my vista recognises the 4gig of ram, and the 1gig of vid memory. Whether or not it uses it is another question!

I only say that because when I was looking at Laptops recently they said that only 3gig whould show up under the 32bit version of Vista. Pretty sure this was on the Dell webiste.

32 bit OS's physically cannot address 4gig of RAM...

I believe that the included an update in SP1 that shows how much RAM you have installed as Dell and other companies like that were getting assloads of complaints... wah wah wah I bought a system with 4 gig of RAM and it only says 3.2

Doesn't the 32bit only support upto 3gig?

If you want to use 4gig you need the 64bit version of Vista.

The above may or may not be true, I'm no expert.

I've got 6 gig of ram, 32bit OS doesn't blue screen on me it just doesn't see it all. Yes I do have a 64bit OS on here too for you who will ask.


OP: What version of vista do you have? Some DVD's include the 32 and 64 bit versions of vista so try installing the 64bit version? I know the ultimate DVD's do (That's what I have).

edit: Did you enable the extended memory map or whatever the hell it is in the BIOS if your motherboard has that feature?

last edited by whoop at 17:53:01 21/Oct/08

32 bit OS's physically cannot address 4gig of RAM...

I don't think that's true dude

here's some more info:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx


And the issue from the original post may be due to the disk controller used on the mobo. If so, the solution will be to install with less memory in it, then apply a patch supplied by MS (used to be separate but I'm guessing is included in the hotfixes now) and then put the memory back in.

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

all mem sticks are the same

been swapping diferent slots and it doesn't matter which slot its in....as soon as it hits 4gb....BSOD

with xp...i could but in 4gb..it will see 3.5 i think..but then it'll crash here and there
and not play games..

maybe its the mobo ?
or maybe irs vista ?

i got 8 gig on vista 64bit

There's always PAE if you really want to get 4 GB of usable addressable space in a 32-bit system. But PAE is a bit of a dirty hack and there is a good chance that none of your drivers are written properly to handle it (which is why it is disabled by default in Vista).

all mem sticks are the same

been swapping diferent slots and it doesn't matter which slot its in....as soon as it hits 4gb....BSOD

with xp...i could but in 4gb..it will see 3.5 i think..but then it'll crash here and there
and not play games..

maybe its the mobo ?

Yep check mobo specs, and probably worth trying more conservative memory settings in the BIOS (disable dual channel, higher CAS latency etc, hell even drop mem clock rate) and see if you can stabilise the system. This problem seems very familiar, pretty sure I've come across it before when building a machine for work (can't remember the solution though unfortunately - I think it was an old mobo and I'd exceeded the specs for maximum installed RAM).

Don't apps and drivers have to be written to use PAE to get any benefit ?

I mean if you are using sql server I can see the benefit.

Also I actually thought windows xp 32 was hardcoded with a 4gig limit (so it can't reference above 4gig anyways even with PAE)

last edited by Obes at 08:53:43 22/Oct/08

checked specs and it states i can run up to 4GB @ 800mhz.... ?

i hate this comp

l'm doing this purely for Far Cry 2....

might as well up the cpu clock to 3.0ghz hehe

btw..anybody here recomend the gtx 260 lol

32 bit OS's physically cannot address 4gig of RAM...

Hmmm, we've got 32bit Server 2003 boxes running 32GB of memory. According to MS it can support up to 64GB (2TB with 64bit). The same goes for Server 2000 and 2008. I guess it depends on the hardware (motherboard properly supporting PAE, etc). MS just limits XP/Vista to 4GB, because why would a home system need more? Enthusiasts should be running 64bit OS to address more memory.

32 bit OS's physically cannot address 4gig of RAM...

not true. blah blah blah read what twisted said

hey guyz

ended up over clocking my cpu to 3.0ghz..
and dropping my mem to 667mhz.....put another 1BG so its at 4gb..

and now its running fone so far..v?!!?@

Let me get this straight, you're having stability issues with your system and your solution is to overclock it...

That says it all.

haha well not exactly

i gave up trying to put 4gb.....so i left 3gb and thought...."If i can't get 4gb running..then l'll just compensate by upping the cpu to get results in Far Cry 2" (I have an OCZ Verendetta 2 cooler)

when doing this..i linked the FSB which meant the memory mhz dropping....so i thought to myself...maybe its a stability issue with the m/b and mem..so i also put another 1gb back in there..powered, posted and booted and no BSOD. LOL

temps on core on full load stay around 53 to 55 degrees. idle is at around 35 - 40.

so i guess it was the speed the mem was runing at.
All in all, it can run 3GB @ 800mhz (AUTO Volts)
or 4GB @ 667.7 mhz @ 1.9 volts (on stick it says 2.1v)

Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional Edition
Windows XP 64-bit Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit
Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Windows Vista Business 32-bit
Windows Vista Business 64-bit
Windows Vista Enterprise 32-bit
Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Mac OS X Tiger (10.4)
Mac OS X Leopard (10.5)

Yeah yeah, I know...

http://lolcats.com/images/u/07/46/lolcatsdotcomz1u7tz2655jwpnix.jpg