General Advice PLEASE!

[eyespy]

Hi All, 

Can someone kindly advise me as to whether A Bios modification can be undertaken to the ram settings? Briefly the story is this:

I have a Medion Desktop PC running with XP home Edition with a PM8PM-IL (MSI MS-7222) Mother board which states that it's maximum capacity of Ram is 2 gig (that is 1gig per slot & the MB has only 2 slots). The most up to date Bios upgrade flash is 7222v13.zip (http://download.msi.com/archive/mb/bos_exe/7222v13.zip) but within the write up, does not mention anything about upgrading the ram? (The current Bios that is installed on my PC is the 7222v11.zip Vers)

IF indeed it is possible? I would like to know if this Ram modification could be carried out to permit the ram settings in the bios to permit 2 gig of ram per slot (I.E. 4 gig total) Incidentally on the mother board known as the PM8PM-V this states it can unofficially be done.

Apologies in advance If I have posted this request in the wrong forum can someone with the appropriate knowledge advise me PLEASE!

Kind Regards

eyespy

[DeathBringer]

Maximum of memory for P4M800Pro chipset is 4 Gb. But PAE is 32bit. So it can't address memory above 4GB.
Open Device Manager, click View at the top of the Device Manager window, click Resources by type, and then select Memory. This should give you an output similar to the picture shown below

Resize such window to show all information. Make and post a screenshot of it.

[eyespy]

Hi Deathbringer,  

Firstly many thanks for replying to my post/ & posting your screenshot.  Yes you are absolutely correct X86 has a 4 Gb limitation but as with all things there are work around's to address memory above the 4 Gb level - 4 such hacks that spring to mind briefly, the PAE switch within the XP boot.ini, the patch that amends files to read above 4 gig, thirdly you can use a program called Eboostr that will access un-allocated memory (the program is a loosely a bit like ready boost for Vista/W7 etc & lastely:

The method, or one I prefer is to create a Ram Disk to 1 or 2 Gig (Say R:\) then set against that ramdisk all the un-allocated ram to a pagefile generally speaking all the ram above 3.25gb commonly & some even put there temp files internet cache etc. However as with all things there are Pro's & Con's & mileage will vary with each work around listed.

However I am prepared to accept this limitation as I didn't want to complicate the issue by requesting a BIOS Mod that would select the the first ram slot as 2 gig and the second slot would remain with the limitation of the 1 Gb limit thus facilitating a total of 3 Gb.

My initial question really (not wanting to waste peoples time) is can this be done or am I living in a fantasy realm & will need to either live with the 2Gb limitation or buy a new PC, however Deathbringer your comments are very relevant informative & appreciated.

Regards & Respect,

eyespy

[DeathBringer]

No, many old chipsets have PAE 32 bits only. So they can't address memory above 4GB even in x64 mode.
Where is requested screenshot?

[eyespy]

  DManager.zip (Size: 40.68 KB / Downloads: 3)

No, many old chipsets have PAE 32 bits only. So they can't address memory above 4GB even in x64 mode.
Where is requested screenshot?

Hi DeathBringer,

OOP's Sorry, my humble apologies, I thought you were providing the screenshot as an illustration to the point you were making in respect of PAE. Please note requested screenshot as you originally requested within an Zip attachment File as the screenshot failed to display.

Do you think it will be possible to amend the BIOS to read a max of 4Gb or could it be 3 any improvement would be beneficial?

Kind Regards,

eyespy

[DeathBringer]

If you install 2x2Gb then you receive 3712 Mb of memory (max).

[eyespy]

If you install 2x2Gb then you receive 3712 Mb of memory (max).

Hi DeathBringer ,

Yes That is what I wish to install 2 x 2Gb & I have already done this but the system crashes as the current max is only 2 Gb 1 gig per slot, 3712 would be fine.

Can the BIOS be modified to accept 2 x 2Gb?

Best Regards,

eyespy

[DeathBringer]

Can you enter in BIOS with 2x2Gb? Or 1x2Gb (in different slots)?

[eyespy]

Can you enter in BIOS with 2x2Gb? Or 1x2Gb (in different slots)?

Hi DB ,

Currently (& working) there is 1Gb Ram per slot. I must confess I have only removed the 2 x 1 Gb ram sticks and replaced them with the 2 x 2Gb ram sticks it nearly completed the boot sequence but crashed 3 times so I reverted back to the 2 x 1 Ram sticks.

With this newer ram (cus it's pretty old compared to new ram) I don't think you can mix the makes and capacity but could be wrong ?

Best Regards,

eyespy

[DeathBringer]

You didn't answer my questions... Again...