Compaq W8000 With 4GB Showing 3440 MB

I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer BIOS is
reporting only 3440 MB present.

Is this a limitation of a particular BIOS release? Is it corrected by a
later upgrade?

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

--
Will

"Will" wrote in message
...
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for
the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer BIOS
is
reporting only 3440 MB present.

Is this a limitation of a particular BIOS release? Is it corrected by a
later upgrade?

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

--
Will

It's probably a problem with your operating system. The 32-bit operating
systems most current machines use can't use a full 4 GB and still be able
to handle input and output. However, I think I've read that some of the
Vista updates (probably 32-bit versions of Vista SP1) will show the full 4
GB as present, even though it's unable to use all of it. 64-bit versions of
these operating systems don't have this restriction, and can go well beyond
4 GB if your machine supports it, but are sometimes unable to use software
written specifically for 32-bit machines. For example 32-bit drivers seldom
work under a 64-bit version, and many companies which provided older
hardware don't intend to provide 64-bit versions of the drivers for their
older hardware.

If a machine uses 32-bit addresses, and devotes some of its address space
to handling input and output, as Windows machines do, it's unable to have
enough 32-bit addresses left to reach all of 4 GB.

"Robert Miles" wrote in message
. ..

"Will" wrote in message
...
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for
the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer BIOS
is
reporting only 3440 MB present.

Is this a limitation of a particular BIOS release? Is it corrected by
a
later upgrade?

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

--
Will

It's probably a problem with your operating system. The 32-bit operating
systems most current machines use can't use a full 4 GB and still be able
to handle input and output. However, I think I've read that some of the
Vista updates (probably 32-bit versions of Vista SP1) will show the full 4
GB as present, even though it's unable to use all of it. 64-bit versions
of
these operating systems don't have this restriction, and can go well
beyond
4 GB if your machine supports it, but are sometimes unable to use software
written specifically for 32-bit machines. For example 32-bit drivers
seldom
work under a 64-bit version, and many companies which provided older
hardware don't intend to provide 64-bit versions of the drivers for their
older hardware.

If a machine uses 32-bit addresses, and devotes some of its address space
to handling input and output, as Windows machines do, it's unable to have
enough 32-bit addresses left to reach all of 4 GB.

As I originally posted, it is the W8000 BIOS that is reporting 3440MB. So
before the computer OS ever starts to load, the computer is reporting 3440
MB not 4GB

--
Will

"Will" wrote in message
...
"Robert Miles" wrote in message
. ..

"Will" wrote in message
...
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for
the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer
BIOS
is
reporting only 3440 MB present.

Is this a limitation of a particular BIOS release? Is it corrected by
a
later upgrade?

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

--
Will

It's probably a problem with your operating system. The 32-bit operating
systems most current machines use can't use a full 4 GB and still be able
to handle input and output. However, I think I've read that some of the
Vista updates (probably 32-bit versions of Vista SP1) will show the full
4
GB as present, even though it's unable to use all of it. 64-bit versions
of
these operating systems don't have this restriction, and can go well
beyond
4 GB if your machine supports it, but are sometimes unable to use
software
written specifically for 32-bit machines. For example 32-bit drivers
seldom
work under a 64-bit version, and many companies which provided older
hardware don't intend to provide 64-bit versions of the drivers for their
older hardware.

If a machine uses 32-bit addresses, and devotes some of its address space
to handling input and output, as Windows machines do, it's unable to have
enough 32-bit addresses left to reach all of 4 GB.

As I originally posted, it is the W8000 BIOS that is reporting 3440MB.
So
before the computer OS ever starts to load, the computer is reporting 3440
MB not 4GB

--
Will

Which is likely to mean that the BIOS knows how much of the memory
space is reserved for things such as the video card and the BIOS itself,
and therefore avoids reporting it. You may want to check if your BIOS
has an option to assume a 64-bit operating system instead, and therefore
report the amount of memory reachable using 64-bit addresses.

"Will" wrote in message
...
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers
for
the memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer
BIOS is reporting only 3440 MB present.

snipped

As I originally posted, it is the W8000 BIOS that is reporting 3440MB. So
before the computer OS ever starts to load, the computer is reporting
3440 MB not 4GB
=====
I agree. A little history of PC :
Did it EVER work - with all of the modules?
.... It worked fine ( with xgb) until NOW you are you adding 4gb , etc

Maybe one is bad ? All same speed ?
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/d.../c00704816.pdf
page 2-1 ( pg 45 of pdf) = memory troubleshooting.

No BIOS update since 2004:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...&swEnvOID=1093
neither update had to do with mem size. but compare versions to yours:
"Adds new F10 Setup feature to enable/disable legacy port resources (i.e.
COM1, COM2, LPT) when setup password is set."

Rotate pairs and build up - does physical module make a difference ? etc
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/d.../c01132922.pdf
Pg 4-9 and up - 800mhz modules, inserted correctly etc ?

Here's the main page for W8000 support
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...iesId=322279#5

have hp website probe your PC:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...eriesId=322279

Good Luck

* Robert Miles:

For example 32-bit drivers seldom work under a 64-bit version

To be precise, *no* 32bit drivers work with 64bit Windows.

Benjamin

* Robert Miles:

You may want to check if your BIOS
has an option to assume a 64-bit operating system instead, and therefore
report the amount of memory reachable using 64-bit addresses.

Hardly possible since the W8000 is a old 32bit machine.

Benjamin

* Will:
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer BIOS is
reporting only 3440 MB present.

Semms like bad or incompatible memory to me. IIRC the BIOS of the W8000
should show the full installed memory, and even if would show only the
useable amount of memory 3440MB seems odd to me if you don't have a lot
of I/O cards or a 512MB gfx card in that machine.

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

Very likely. If possible check the modules in another system, or at
least check them separately (i.e. by replacing four modules with CRIMMs
and see how much memory the BIOS reports, and if ok exchange the memory
modules with the ones you removed and try again). You can also try a
memory exerciser like memtest86+.

Do the modules all have the same organization (/8 or /16)?

Benjamin

Benjamin Gawert wrote:

* Will:
I installed eight 512MB RDIMMs (using authorized Compaq part numbers for
the
memory) onto a Compaq W8000 workstation. At bootup the computer BIOS
is reporting only 3440 MB present.

Semms like bad or incompatible memory to me. IIRC the BIOS of the W8000
should show the full installed memory, and even if would show only the
useable amount of memory 3440MB seems odd to me if you don't have a lot
of I/O cards or a 512MB gfx card in that machine.

Or would this indicate a problem with the memory?

Very likely. If possible check the modules in another system, or at
least check them separately (i.e. by replacing four modules with CRIMMs
and see how much memory the BIOS reports, and if ok exchange the memory
modules with the ones you removed and try again). You can also try a
memory exerciser like memtest86+.

Do the modules all have the same organization (/8 or /16)?

Benjamin


Sounds like it is showing that all the memory space available in a 32 bit
system is filled with RAM.

It can't report more as the other 0.6 GB is allocated to IO.

Google for PCI Memory Hole