svsnyder Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hi all, and yes, I'm new to this forum. I need to know if I'm screwed with the 2 new sticks I've bought or if there's some tweaking I can do to make them work. My system had 2 1gb sticks installed into DIMM slots 3 & 4 (Edge PC-3200U DDR-200). I bought what I thought were 2 matching sticks of 1gb Corsair memory (see my specs). After installing the 2 new sticks, the pc detected only 3 total gb. I took 1 corsair stick out (DIMM slot 2) and still saw 3bg. I exchanged Corsair sticks in DIMM 1, and yes, 3gb. Can I assume both sticks are good since they both worked in DIMM slot 1? Next, I took the Corsair stick out of slot 1 and put it in slot 2 and only 2gb showed up. Is there a problem at slot 2 or is there something I'm missing? Thanks for your consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted September 18, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted September 18, 2009 How much memory is showing in the MB BIOS and as I remember that chipset is a 32 Bit chipset and will not see more than about 3.0 Gig of memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svsnyder Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 BIOS only shows 3 as well. Even after clearing the CMOS memory. The mobo literature clearly states that it's configurable up to 4GB. This may be a "dual channel" issue since the new corsair sticks are dual but I'm not sure if the older Edge modules are. Still, why would one slot work and not the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svsnyder Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 I think I've figured it out. Looks like XP (32bit) will only recognize up to 3GB. So it's not my mobo. In order to run 4GB or more I'd have to upgrade to a 64bit OS. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I don't think it's worth it. Thanks so much for you time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted September 19, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted September 19, 2009 If the MB supports 64 Bit and your CPU supports 64 Bit then there will likely be a setting in the BIOS to remap the memory for more then 4 Gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbruneau Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 What also may help in this scenario, besides the memory remap feature (which would be required -- if the POST shows all 4 GB then you're in the clear), is DEP and PAE. With any 32bit OS you can enable PAE as long as DEP is Hardware Enabled. PAE extends the bit count from 32 to 36 within the OS, which provides just enough to get to 4GB. The BIOS and drivers will pull from the amount of memory, so, you will generally see 3.25GB to 3.5GB of available memory. DEP you can check using System Tools -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> DEP. PAE you can check using System Tools -> General -> Computer Section. You will have to turn on PAE (*maybe* both by editing the BOOT.INI file). Microsoft KB articles, and TechNET articles will explain how to do so, and which commands to put in. You may also find yourself using the 3GB switch to allow more memory to applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted September 21, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted September 21, 2009 I am pretty sure the chipset he has only supports 32 Bit but you should check with the MB maker if they are still around to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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