Ram trouble with windows??

Hey, i have just bought a new macbook pro 15'' (first mac computer) and i have installed win xp pro using boot camp to half the hd. Now when i go to system information in windows xp, it thinks that the computer only has 2gb of Ram when it came with 4gb (mac os still shows 4). How do i get it to recognise the other 2GB because i want to play some games for windows on it an more ram would help alot.
Thanks

tehshredder said:

Hey, i have just bought a new macbook pro 15'' (first mac computer) and i have installed win xp pro using boot camp to half the hd. Now when i go to system information in windows xp, it thinks that the computer only has 2gb of Ram when it came with 4gb (mac os still shows 4). How do i get it to recognise the other 2GB because i want to play some games for windows on it an more ram would help alot.
Thanks

Click to expand...

Give this a read (the Windows XP section)...hopefully it will help:

Memory Support and Windows Operating Systems

- Nick

hey thanks for reply. umm noob question, where is the boot.ini file it talks about so i can use 3gb or ram
thanks

tehshredder said:

hey thanks for reply. umm noob question, where is the boot.ini file it talks about so i can use 3gb or ram
thanks

Click to expand...

The boot.ini file is a hidden system file in the root of drive c. You can use notepad to edit it but you will first have to remove the hidden system attributes. After the attributes are removed, look for the line in boot.ini that ends with /fastdetect. Leave a space after /fastdetect and add /3GB. It will look like ............ /fastdetect /3GB

Save the file in Notepad. Replace the attributes you removed and reboot Windows XP. Your XP will now recognize 3GB. In order for Windows to recognize more than 3 GB of system memory requires some additional hacking or the use of a 64 bit version of Windows.

Regards.

Hi, yeah i just did that by going start > right click my comp> properties> advanced> startup and recovery settings>edit, i changed it to how u said and went file save, then i clicked ok on all the windows that got me here and i restarted but in sys information it still says 2.17GB of ram.
did it work? thanks

please help, its still says 2.17GB in sys info=[

pleasee somone help=[
bump

I have the same problem, I have the i5 17" with 8GB installed ... I did everything instructed in the post and it only has 2.17GB of RAM. Any help would be appreciated!

It's reading correctly. The 2.17 GB of memory is what is left over and available for use. The 3.00 - 2.17 = .83 is what Windows is using. Memory reporting in Windows is a bit cryptic to say the least.

To get full use of installed memory in Windows requires a 64 bit version be installed. (Vista or Windows 7) You can also do a Google search and look for "Windows memory hacks" that can increase memory beyond 3 GB. Some of them work, most do not. Best bet is to install a 64 bit version of Windows if you're concerned about using over 3 GB.

Regards.

thanks for the post, would a 32bit vista work with the full the 4gb ram? one of my mates setup our custom built computer that had 4gb ram with vista 32bit an it reads the 4gb ok, would of he had to hack it?

I have had a non-Mac computer with XP 32bit with 4 GB of Ram installed and it read out as 3.25GB of RAM. Does the RAM readout have to do with the hardware that XP is installed on?

thanks for the post, would a 32bit vista work with the full the 4gb ram? one of my mates setup our custom built computer that had 4gb ram with vista 32bit an it reads the 4gb ok, would of he had to hack it?

Click to expand...

Probably. There are various hacks available that "supposedly" will allow all of your memory above approximately 3.3 GB to be seen. 32 bit operating systems all have the same limitation unless they're hacked.

I have installed "The Ultimate Tweaker" to my Windows 7 Home Premium and it has a tweak that will do just that.

Note, however, that even the utility I mention above only works on some hardware, not all.

Regards.

rpearson said:

I have had a non-Mac computer with XP 32bit with 4 GB of Ram installed and it read out as 3.25GB of RAM. Does the RAM readout have to do with the hardware that XP is installed on?

Click to expand...

That's normal. And yes, the hardware has all to do with it. 32 bit operating systems are limited to being able to address approximately 3.3 GB of system memory. And of course certain hardware configurations can run a 64 bit OS while others can not. That also limits the amount of addressable memory.

Regards.