New computer, 4 Gigs windows cant support?

[The General]

Anyone care to explain how increasing the FSB will cure a software problem with Windows that makes it not able to allocate more than 3GB of RAM? Yeah, makes no sense. Linux on that exact system will run 4GB just fine. The problem is the software; the problem is Windows. Not a lack of FSB speed.

 

[jaketone]

I'm home, here are the requested documents:

Boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

CPU-Z Screenshots:

BIOS Settings:
I'll upload these in 10 minutes.

 

[EricB]

Anyone care to explain how increasing the FSB will cure a software problem with Windows that makes it not able to allocate more than 3GB of RAM? Yeah, makes no sense. Linux on that exact system will run 4GB just fine. The problem is the software; the problem is Windows. Not a lack of FSB speed.

the same way those old dell optiplex system with rambus ram wouldn't recognize any more than 128mb of ram in each slot even when you threw 4 512 sticks in. dell had those system fsb at 100 mhz and they wouldn't let you raise it. now if you put those same sticks in a 133 fsb machine you had 2 gigs of ram

 

[The General]

the same way those old dell optiplex system with rambus ram wouldn't recognize any more than 128mb of ram in each slot even when you threw 4 512 sticks in. dell had those system fsb at 100 mhz and they wouldn't let you raise it. now if you put those same sticks in a 133 fsb machine you had 2 gigs of ram

Just get a Knoppix disc, boot to it, and see that it's Window's fault, not Dell's.

 

[fixal0t]

Dear General... please stop hating on Windows and being a hypocrite. If you don't understand an OS, you don't have to hate it. Your 'anti-windows' comments are OFF topic. (and annoying)

jaketone You only showed us one of the 4 dimms. But it doesn't matter. Your problem IS in the mobo fsb setting, and yes EricB, dell bios will NOT let you change any of the over/underclocking settings. (this is most evident by the PC2-5300 showing up as 333MHz)

Come to think of it, (depending on what bios you have) a bios update could resolve this. (if they changed any speeds in the update) Check support.dell.com and see if there is a newer version. (you can check your bios version in the middle of the "mainboard" tab in cpu-z)

 

[__Camouflage__]

I'm home, here are the requested documents:

Boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

There's your problem, your Boot.ini isn't configured correctly... Make a copy of your current boot.ini file, and save it as Boot.ini.old, then edit the actual Boot.ini (not the boot.ini.old) and make it

Boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW
S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB

That SHOULD be the right switch, but I'm not completely sure. Which is why you should make a backup copy.

 

[The General]

Dear General... please stop hating on Windows and being a hypocrite. If you don't understand an OS, you don't have to hate it. Your 'anti-windows' comments are OFF topic. (and annoying)

Fact: It's a well known fact that 32-bit Windows has problems using more than 3GB of RAM.
Fact: It's a well known fact that Linux has no problem using more than 3GB of RAM.
Fact: Booting Knoppix could rule out any possibility that it's a hardware problem.

If you have a problem with any of these facts, then you can take a power drill and some barbed wire and ram it down your throat.

Also:

1. What makes me a hypocrit? Offering a way to rule out the idea that it might be a hardware problem? Or could it be that you don't know what a "hypocrit" is and you're just calling me names?
2. I do understand Windows. The reason I don't use it is because I don't like it. You can't just assume I don't use it because I don't understand it.
3. If you think that offering a way of ruling out the idea that it might be a hardware problem is off-topic, then you really have no idea what you are talking about. The off-topic posts I made weren't anti-Windows, they were anti-Mac-hater posts.