XP Pro RAM

[Jubber]

Any tech heads help me here?

I have and old box that I am using again. It has XP Pro (32bit) SP3 on it. I've bought some more RAM to speed things up. I did the Crucial advisor route and they recommended 3*1GB to fill up the slots.

Problem: It won't boot with 3GB installed. I've had the RAM in and out in all variations of slots and modules to test both slots and modules. If I only have a total of 2GB RAM installed at one time (any combination) it works fine. As soon as I put the 3GB in it will not get past POST.

Pentium 4 motherboard is a MSI MS-6547.

Anyone know why this is happening? Is XP pro unable to handle more than 2GB even though it is meant to? BIOS? Should I just call in those reliable technicians Bryant & May.?

 

[DaveB]

Any tech heads help me here?

I have and old box that I am using again. It has XP Pro (32bit) SP3 on it. I've bought some more RAM to speed things up. I did the Crucial advisor route and they recommended 3*1GB to fill up the slots.

Problem: It won't boot with 3GB installed. I've had the RAM in and out in all variations of slots and modules to test both slots and modules. If I only have a total of 2GB RAM installed at one time (any combination) it works fine. As soon as I put the 3GB in it will not get past POST.

Pentium 4 motherboard is a MSI MS-6547.

Anyone know why this is happening? Is XP pro unable to handle more than 2GB even though it is meant to? BIOS? Should I just call in those reliable technicians Bryant & May.?

That board should support up to 3Gb od DDR Ram without a problem.

If it wont pass post correctly it's likely to be hardware / Bios related. Is there a bios option to turn on full diagnostic reporting when it posts? might show you where it is falling over.

If all the mem slots work ok and all the mem cards work in 2Gb combinations using any combination of slots then it's probably a bios issue that could be fixed by upgrading it.

 

[VectraMan]

I've got an 32-bit XP Pro "box" with 4GB (reports 3.5GB and I've seen it using > 3GB so it's not all a lie).

And anyway, if it's not getting past POST it hasn't got as far as XP. So it's the motherboard, or the BIOS. Perhaps you need to enable something in the BIOS?

Does this mean you have 3x1GB DIMMs? Sometimes they only work in pairs.

 

[Fred Bloggs]

Unfortunately, I think you'll have to use either 2 or 4x1Gb sticks for it to boot.

 

[Jubber]

Unfortunately, I think you'll have to use either 2 or 4x1Gb sticks for it to boot.

The motherboard only has 3 slots

And anyway, if it's not getting past POST it hasn't got as far as XP. So it's the motherboard, or the BIOS. Perhaps you need to enable something in the BIOS?

erm ... maybe my understanding of POST is wrong. What I mean is that is goes through all the usual BIOS start up type messages, but when it gets to where the win xp logo usually appears, all I get is a few multi-coloured squares appearing then disappearing then nothing - the PC just sits there doing nothing.

 

[DaveB]

The motherboard only has 3 slots



erm ... maybe my understanding of POST is wrong. What I mean is that is goes through all the usual BIOS start up type messages, but when it gets to where the win xp logo usually appears, all I get is a few multi-coloured squares appearing then disappearing then nothing - the PC just sits there doing nothing.

That sounds more like a graphics glitch. Does it have a seperate graphics card or is it integrated onto the motherboard?

 

[voodooflux]

Drop a line to Crucial - they're usually pretty good at offering assistance with this kinda thing.

 

[Jubber]

That sounds more like a graphics glitch. Does it have a seperate graphics card or is it integrated onto the motherboard?

It's separate, an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500

Drop a line to Crucial - they're usually pretty good at offering assistance with this kinda thing.

Will try

It works perfectly with 2GB - in fact, I'm posting with it now

 

[TykeMerc]

Tried Safe Mode?

 

[Jubber]

Tried Safe Mode?

OK - will have a bash