Memory questions

[v-8power]

Is there a limit on how much memory xp pro will notice?
I installed 2x2GB sticks. Windows does'nt recognize all of it. It says there is only 2Gb.
Also on the HD it is a 250GB and windows only said it was 125GB.

The bios shows everything is there.

ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit

Any advice is apreciated.

[smokey]

xp can see 3 gig of memory that board will support up to 8 gigs.
the hard drive it should see all of it. Do you have the jumpers on the HD setup correctly?
Try reseating the memory it should see it in the bios as 4 gigs and windows will report 3 gigs

[v-8power]

The BIOs does see all the memory.
I'll have to check the HD.

Thanks, Brian

[Nhaz]

windows xp will see and use the maximum of 3 gigs. you need vista to use more.

but i wouldn't put vista on your machine. wait and see what ever windows 7 is going to be. so far im not impressed with the beta. and theres too many flavors.

as for the HD is it possible it got partitioned at 125 gig?

[fleck]

You're not impressed with Windows 7?!?! Might as well quit now, that's as good as MS will ever do, LOL!

[Twizzler09]

Windows 7 is a VAST improvement over Vista. Just from what little I've seen so far.

Windows 7 isnt coming out as a market release for another couple years though as I understand it right now? In either case, spending money on Vista isnt worth it. It truly is the biggest pile of an OS I've ever seen, haha.

The original versions of XP were unable to "see" harddrive space over a certain amount (the number escapes me at the moment, old age is setting in early). That was fixed in updates/SP2.... so its either the jumpers as Smokey said, the harddrive isnt operating proper, or you never updated XP. Same applies to the RAM.

Guess it could be a funky motherboard/BIOS issue too.... seen some real weird ones before that did stuff like that. Never did make any sense.

[mjonesjr]

windows xp will see and use the maximum of 3 gigs. you need vista to use more.
You can install XP Pro 64 bit to use up to 8GB of RAM.

Check to make sure you didn't put a small partition on the drive when you installed XP.

[fleck]

I'm in the crowd of people who doesn't understand what's wrong with Vista. I've had the same install for a year now with no problems.

And Windows 7 is actually probably gonna be released this year if not Q1 2010.

[Jaymz9350]

I'm in the crowd of people who doesn't understand what's wrong with Vista. I've had the same install for a year now with no problems.

And Windows 7 is actually probably gonna be released this year if not Q1 2010.

Yeah me too, it's a small crowd.

The HDD issue is probably that you don't have service pack 2 installed. I believe 125 is the max Hard drive size for XP before SP2.

The memory issue is most likely just the limit of a 32 bit OS. It can only register a total of 4 gig of memory, this includes any memory on your video card and and other devices that have any kind of memory.

[v-8power]

I have all 3 svc. packs installed. I'll just figure it out later.

I reformat my computer every 6 months anyway.

Thanks for the info guys.

[Jaymz9350]

I have all 3 svc. packs installed. I'll just figure it out later.

I reformat my computer every 6 months anyway.

Thanks for the info guys.

Does your install disc have SP2 on it?

[Mark_88]

Ah, never mind my other post in your other thread...:)

[v-8power]

Does your install disc have SP2 on it?

No

[Jaymz9350]

No

That might be the cause there. Since the install cd wouldn't support the larger drive.

[v-8power]

I wondered about that.
I am going to try reformat it again this weekend.
If it still is'nt right i'm going to get newer version of XP

Thanks for the help, Brian

[Jaymz9350]

I wondered about that.
I am going to try reformat it again this weekend.
If it still is'nt right i'm going to get newer version of XP

Thanks for the help, Brian

Unless you need a fresh install I would look for a program to expand your current partition.

I don't know any (never needed one) but I have used the built in one in vista to shrink and expand partitions.

[v-8power]

Would partion magic work for this?

[fastpakr]

Do you necessarily need it all to be on one partition? Assuming disk management sees it and you're just looking for more storage, I'd keep things simple and just parition the free space separately as another drive letter.

So far, I love Windows 7. Vista was awful when it was first released, but has been updated enough now that it runs well. I still avoid Windows when I have a choice, but that's not possible for at least forty hours of every week.

[v-8power]

Do you necessarily need it all to be on one partition? Assuming disk management sees it and you're just looking for more storage, I'd keep things simple and just parition the free space separately as another drive letter.

So far, I love Windows 7. Vista was awful when it was first released, but has been updated enough now that it runs well. I still avoid Windows when I have a choice, but that's not possible for at least forty hours of every week.

That's the problem, it only shows a total of 125Gb of HD.

It's like half the HD dissapeared.


What makes it rough is the puter is over at my brothers. As soon as i got it running he wanted to take it home. It is his, but i would like to get it right before he takes it.LOL

[fastpakr]

OK, so it's XP SP3, the BIOS sees it as a 250GB drive, and inside of Disk Management (not looking at it through My Computer) it's only listed as 125GB?

[v-8power]

OK, so it's XP SP3, the BIOS sees it as a 250GB drive, and inside of Disk Management (not looking at it through My Computer) it's only listed as 125GB?

That was it thanks. I just needed to assign it a letter.

now i have 2 partitions but all of it is there.

you could delete this thread if you would like.

[mjonesjr]

No need for deletion. I am going to go through this thread and write up a sticky for the Computer forum.

[v-8power]

Good Idea

[mjonesjr]

I wrote a RAM sticky based off this thread.