Cant Enable PAE mode

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  1. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #11

    Windows XP didn't use all your memory. It was a display quirk in Windows XP.
    Use a 64bit edition instead. If you have a license already you can use it for the 64bit edition as well.
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  2. Posts : 299
    openSUSE 13.1 64bit
       #12

    Ubuntu anyone??
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  3. Posts : 664
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #13

    Nigsy said:
    Ubuntu anyone??
    To be honest, I've never really had the best experiences with Linux. I'd recommend it for fixing problems as a live CD, but very few Windows users can cope with the incompatibility.
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  4. Posts : 299
    openSUSE 13.1 64bit
       #14

    biggles1000 said:
    Nigsy said:
    Ubuntu anyone??
    To be honest, I've never really had the best experiences with Linux. I'd recommend it for fixing problems as a live CD, but very few Windows users can cope with the incompatibility.
    It was more around the PAE issue with windows and the fact that such restraints don't exist in Linux, so if you want 32bit Ubuntu with 24gb Ram..go ahead, but yes it can be fustrating as an OS at times!! (I run SUSE btw)
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  5. Posts : 664
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #15

    true, Linux does have insanely high memory limits. SUSE is a pretty good distro. I used mint for two years without a hitch, but I've had four Ubuntu installs that failed critically (eg. one stopped booting as it claimed the HDD didn't exist after just reading from it. I promptly reintsalled Windows 7 on it, apparently the HDD existed again )
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  6. Posts : 16
    Win7 x64 Ultimate SP1
       #16

    biggles1000 said:
    I'm afraid 32 bit windows 7 has a 3.5GB RAM limit no matter what. The limits then vary working your way up the 64 bit version ladder. (the unofficial PAE stuff for Windows 7 is unstable)

    Actually, scratch that. Apparently the limit is 4GB for all 32 bit versions but starter :/
    32-bit server editions of windows can actually use up to 128GB (Win2k3 x86 Datacenter edition) so technically 32-bit Windows CAN use more than 4GB of memory (as implied by pallesenw).
    Memory Limit – Windows Server 2003 | SQL Server Training
    Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

    The reason it is not supported in end-user versions of the 32-bit operating systems is mainly due to drivers from my understanding. Poor nvidia and creative drivers back in the day.
    Last edited by SamCPP; 19 Apr 2011 at 05:50. Reason: As per pallesenw's info...
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  7. Posts : 8,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64, Arch Linux
       #17

    SamCPP said:
    biggles1000 said:
    I'm afraid 32 bit windows 7 has a 3.5GB RAM limit no matter what. The limits then vary working your way up the 64 bit version ladder. (the unofficial PAE stuff for Windows 7 is unstable)

    Actually, scratch that. Apparently the limit is 4GB for all 32 bit versions but starter :/
    32-bit server editions of windows can actually use up to 128GB (Win2k3 x86 Datacenter edition) so technically 32-bit Windows CAN use more than 4GB of memory (as implied by pallesenw).
    Memory Limit – Windows Server 2003 | SQL Server Training
    Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

    The reason it is not supported in end-user versions of the 32-bit operating systems is mainly due to drivers from my understanding. Poor nvidia and creative drivers back in the day.
    On consumer versions of Windows, PAE not used for memory. DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and a couple other tricks, yes. But not for memory.

    The way it works for Memory is it allows an added table the OS can use to add the “same” address in more than one place. Think of this as adding a "street name" to your "address". 1234567890 on table A is not the same as 1234567890 on table B. The limitation is that this *must* be provided for in your programs and drivers in order to work. If your mailman only looks at the '1234567890' but never looks at the street name, then he can and will sometimes deliver a letter to the wrong place. The same thing is true of PAE - If/when then individual program haven’t been coded to look in multiple tables for the needed memory locations in addition to the numerical addresses, messages can and will often go to the wrong place. In Windows, this is a called a “memory access violation”, and results in a blue screen. Additionally, individual programs under PAE can still only use up to 4 GB. Kernels and drivers can be made aware of PAE, but they can still only use 4 GB ranges at a time.

    In short: PAE is not that great. In a server environment the number/version/type of programs and drivers can be tightly controlled, so this works and so this functionality is available on server versions of 32 bit Windows (NT, 2003, 2006, etc). In a consumer environment, this is not true at all.

    Bottom line for ‘regular’ users: If you want to use 4 GB of RAM or more, then you should buy 64-bit hardware and use a 64-bit OS.
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  8. Posts : 173
    Windows
       #18

    Well, technically the above post is not very accurate. Memory is virtualized no matter what mode you are running in, so every application has the same addresses.

    PAE adds some addressing bits to the physical address.
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  9. Posts : 8,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64, Arch Linux
       #19

    pallesenw said:
    Well, technically the above post is not very accurate. Memory is virtualized no matter what mode you are running in, so every application has the same addresses.

    PAE adds some addressing bits to the physical address.
    Physical Address Extension (Windows)

    PAE is not recommended for home/casual users, because of potential driver issues.
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  10. Posts : 173
    Windows
       #20

    I know about the reasons Microsoft give.

    Just to make an edit: PAE is recommended, because DEP depends on it. Addresses above 4G are just not made to use.
    Last edited by pallesenw; 19 Apr 2011 at 07:02.
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