Patching kernel on x86 to allow more that 3gb ram

[greasemonkey]

I bought a couple of cheap 2gb ram chips for spare laptop running windows 7 x86 only to find x86 can only be used with 3gb (Device Manager says 4.00gb Installed (2.99gb Usable) been looking into patching the kernel to allow it to use all available. Ihave successfully patched it and got it to boot but it still says only 2.99GB usable. Anyone ever done this before did it work any advice please? cant be bothered with the hassle of a fresh install of x64

btw using Servicepack 1 and all updates (wonder if thats where the problem is has this patch been "patched by Microsoft"?)

[MsDG]

This old chestnut.

32bit windows has a limitation of 4GB full stop. There is no way around this. However, the 4GB limit includes all the memory required for all the internal devices (inc Graphic cards). I doubt you will squeeze any more ram out of a a 32bit install.

However, the question I ask everyone is... what exactly do you think a ram increase of 3gb to 4gb is really going to give you in real terms?
Answer = virtually feck all.

In fact even if you flattened the hard drive, did a 64bit install and got the full 4gb I doubt you will notice any real difference. The days of throwing every bit of ram at a laptop stopped when 2 - 3 gb came the norm. These days you generally only need 2 - 3 gb ram, or if you are doing high end shit (or heavy gaming) you need way, way more (8 gb)

[greasemonkey]

Nah its just an old laptop used for internet browsing, downloading, watching films etc nowt too taxing just trying to get a bit more life out of it until i can afford to upgrade it.

[MsDG]

In that case it just isn't worth the effort. The best upgrade you can give (and see the most drastic improvement) is to slap in a SSD

[Mr.James]

32bit windows has a limitation of 4GB full stop. There is no way around this.

Not true. I have plenty of x86 servers using 16GB RAM at work... Using PAE (on Win Server) can allow 32-bit Windows access up to 64GB RAM.

Surely someone's figured a way of hacking this onto Windows clients by now? I'm presuming this is what the patch is all about?

Personally I'd just bang Win x64 on it if you really want that bit extra RAM. But 3GB will be plenty for what you need it for, so I wouldn't bother...

[MsDG]

Not true. I have plenty of x86 servers using 16GB RAM at work... Using PAE (on Win Server) can allow 32-bit Windows access up to 64GB RAM.

Surely someone's figured a way of hacking this onto Windows clients by now? I'm presuming this is what the patch is all about?

Personally I'd just bang Win x64 on it if you really want that bit extra RAM. But 3GB will be plenty for what you need it for, so I wouldn't bother...

I'm not sure what your point is.... we are talking about Windows 7 x86 on a laptop.... not a server with server OS (and probably a PAE mobo). The 4gb limitation was put in place on none server os by design, as it causes driver issues (something not really considered important on the limited hardware platforms you get on servers).

... and again why toss about trying to squeeze out 1gb on a laptop... whats the point? If you are going to pratt about you might as well just install 64 bit!

[Mr.James]

I'm not sure what your point is.... we are talking about Windows 7 x86 on a laptop.... not a server with server OS (and probably a PAE mobo). The 4gb limitation was put in place on none server os by design, as it causes driver issues (something not really considered important on the limited hardware platforms you get on servers).

... and again why toss about trying to squeeze out 1gb on a laptop... whats the point? If you are going to pratt about you might as well just install 64 bit!

Point is that server features can be hacked into a client OS, like multiple simultaneous remote desktop connections which is limited on client OS, but not on servers. I see no reason why other features can't be hacked into client OS... And after a quick google there are plenty of people that have done it.

4gb limit is actually a hardware limitation rather than OS. PAE has been around for nearly 20 years. Chances are it'll be standard on the laptop mobo

But you point about fucking about for the extra 1GB is bang on... For all the hassle of trying to get the patch working, it's prob easier to just stick an install cd in and leave it for half hour.


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