W2k3 Doesn't recognise RAM upgrade

MarxoGouch

I installed 2x2gb dimms in a server today and for some reason W2k3 won't recognise the new RAM. The bios sees the ram and the dell hardware configuration sees the RAM. but why doesn't win2k3 show the change in RAM???

thanks,
- Richard

Spear

MarxoGouch wrote:

I installed 2x2gb dimms in a server today and for some reason W2k3 won't recognise the new RAM. The bios sees the ram and the dell hardware configuration sees the RAM. but why doesn't win2k3 show the change in RAM???

thanks,
- Richard

Is it Win2k3 32bit or 64bit? Does your BIOS still reserve memory just below the 4GB limit for PCI usage?

MarxoGouch

Spear wrote:

Is it Win2k3 32bit or 64bit? Does your BIOS still reserve memory just below the 4GB limit for PCI usage?

Q.1 - The machine is dual 32-bit..

Q.2 Not sure what you mean here..

RangeR

MarxoGouch wrote:

Q.1 - The machine is dual 32-bit..

Q.2 Not sure what you mean here..

How much RAM is Win2k3 seeing?

MarxoGouch

IrishTLR wrote:

How much RAM is Win2k3 seeing?

it only shows 3.68GB in system properties. There should be just over 7gb available.

The bios show 7GB as does Dell OpenManage Server Administrator.

RangeR

MarxoGouch wrote:

it only shows 3.68GB in system properties. There should be just over 7gb available.

The bios show 7GB as does Dell OpenManage Server Administrator.

This may be normal. If you have gfx chip built into motherboard, some RAM may be reserved for video.

There should be settings in BIOS to tell you this. It may also be copying ROM into RAM. Don't quote me, I've been out of that industry for years.

Standard Toaster

Is it 2003 Standard edition?
It will only see 4Gb max.

You'll need Enterprise or Datacenter Edition to see more. (64Gb and 128Gb respectively)

Spear

MarxoGouch wrote:

Q.1 - The machine is dual 32-bit..

Q.2 Not sure what you mean here..

Addresses for PCI devices are mapped to just under the 4GB limit. With the advent of 64 bit machines and large amounts of RAM, a lot of manufacturers are altering their BIOS's to move this mapping area to a much higher memory area. Hence I'm wondering if this memory space is being reserved for the PCI region.

astrofool

Win2k3 server standard has a max of about 3.5 gig. You'll need advanced server to see the whole 7 gig's (and even then its only under slow AWE).

MarxoGouch

Sh*te! Stupid question, but is it possible to upgrade to Win2k3 Enterprise Edition?

astrofool

probs not There may be a way, but esp. for a server, a clean install would be recommended. You'll want to read up on the documentation on it as well to make sure no switches are needed when installing to enable the ram support (I think its automatic for EE anyway, but just to be sure).

The MS knowledge base will have an answer somewhere, you'll just have to find a place to source the software.

Does it have to be Windows? I'm sure a linux guy would be able to tell you what distro would be suitable. What programs is it running?

MarxoGouch

I need the server to host Virtual Server so I guess I'm bound to using Windows...

It looks like I'll have to rebuild....argh!!...

SwampThing

..with VMWare you're not bound to Windows, but that's not much consolation to you, I know.

Just thought I'd make you feel better

MarxoGouch

ok ok - so it looks like I was using win2k3 Enterprise all along -which means that I should be able to see up to 32GB of RAM.

Does anyone know any reason why the O/S won't recognise the additional 4GB of RAM I recently placed in the machine?

Stephen

From http://www.brianmadden.com/content/content.asp?ID=69

As explained in Chapter 2 , there is a special version of the core kernel image (Ntoskrnl.exe) with support for PAE called Ntkrnlpa.exe. (The multiprocessor version is called Ntkrpamp.exe.) To select this PAE-enabled kernel, you must boot with the /PAE switch in Boot.ini.

I reckon that you should migrate to a proper 64 bit environment when you're using so much RAM.

astrofool

I think you could be spot on Stephen.

I think that Windows may automatically do that if it detects >4g of RAM at install time.

He also can't go 64bit because of the chips (32bit xeons).