4 GB RAM X60 Vista - Only 3 GB Showing up

[solanki]

I upgraded the memory to 4 GB but only seeing 3062 MB on 32 bit Vista on my X60 laptop.

Has anyone seen more than 3062 KB? I have a Dell with 32 bit Vista and see 3325 MB.

Can someone explain the difference.

[erik]

the X60 doesn't support more than 3GB addressable system memory no matter what OS you use.   you need an X61 with server 2003, XP x64, or vista x64 to use all 4GB.   see my thread on memory limitations in the T6x forum for more info.   even though it's for the T-series, the same information applies for the X60 and X61 respectively.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49703

[solanki]

Thank you so much for your explanation.

[erik]

no problem.   hopefully that clears things up a bit.

[ryengineer]

snip.......I have a Dell with 32 bit Vista and see 3325 MB.......snip

You might consider looking into the following thread:

4GBs in Dell XPS, why not in ThinkPad T60? /same chipset/

[erik]

You might consider looking into the following thread:

4GBs in Dell XPS, why not in ThinkPad T60? /same chipset/

i remember that thread.   it was what got me to run my OS test linked above due to all of the PAE misinformation.

[casperkid]

you need an X61 with server 2003, XP x64, or vista x64 to use all 4GB.

But unfortunately there are no TP power drivers for both Server 2003 and XP x64. Just curiosity, how can Server 2003 which is also 32bit can drive more than 3GB Ram. Technically, can MS release patch/hotfixes for Vista x86 to fully use 4GB Ram.

[erik]

But unfortunately there are no TP power drivers for both Server 2003 and XP x64. Just curiosity, how can Server 2003 which is also 32bit can drive more than 3GB Ram. Technically, can MS release patch/hotfixes for Vista x86 to fully use 4GB Ram.

thinkvantage power manager and power management drivers for XP both install under 2003.   i have not tried XP x64 simply because it has very poor driver support.

server 2003 x86 supports memory mapping above 4GB.   if the processor supports memory hoisting then any 36- or 64-bit OS will address all 4GB of system memory.   memory hoisting allows the hardware memory addresses for things like video and PCI devices to be mapped above the 4GB mark so that part of the 4GB doesn't get eaten up.   because 32-bit OSes don't support memory mapping, anywhere from .5GB to 1.25GB will always be mapped out of the total 4GB for use by system hardware, leaving you with 2.75~3.5GB of addressable system memory no matter how much physical memory is installed.

neither vista x86 nor XP x86 will ever support more than 4GB and no patch will ever be able to fix this.   this is a mathematical limitation due to 32-bit architecture.

i'm sure i've missed something but this should give a basic idea of what's going on.

[casperkid]

Erik, Thank you for the very valuable info.
Vista x64 is really fast and stable with 4G Ram but some of my softwares cannot be compatible with 64bit OS. Thus, I installed server and tried both XP and Vista's TP power manager on it but no luck. The instruction from http://win2k3.msfn.org/ to convert a server system to a workstation does not include anything about TP power manager software. Does anyone happen to know which services should be enabled for power manager installed.