Windows 7 32 bit with 8 gb Ram

I installed the 32bit Win 7 clean Install coming from Vista 64 bit... The Computer bot fine but after a while When I click on the Hard Drive Folder I just get a White Screen.. I've notice that programs are not closing in the Task Manager... DO you think it's because the 8gb are in the system... Under System in Control Panel it show the 8gb ram So I guess it would be ok... Any Ideas what this could be.. thanks

it shows 8gb but trust me it's not using it

do you think that could be why windows 7 keeps freezing up??

to be honest i don't know. why dont u try using the 64 bit edition instead?

I had it first but was haveing more problems with it.. Window 7 runs on Laptop Wonderfully and son computer great..... Both Dual Core.. My Main is a Quad... I pulled 4gbs out so there is only 4gb in it now I'll keep it up to date, I did notice windows 7 booted up about 30 sec fast then when it had 8 gb

lyautey said:

it shows 8gb but trust me it's not using it

Really? Doesn't Windows enable PAE automatically when the system has more than 4GB?

The most you're ever going to have your OS use if you're not running the x64 version is 3.5GB. The address space for 32-bit is only 4GB, and .5GB of that will need to be reserved for other purposes. Microsoft made the strange decision back with Vista SP1 to change the memory display to show installed memory rather than available for use, and I'm fairly sure that's still the policy with Windows 7. Even if you have 8GB and it reports 8GB, the amount available to the OS in a 32-bit is 4GB, of which it'll really only likely use 3.5GB at most.

I'd suggest that you just run the x64 version unless you're having some sort of device compatibility issues with an older piece of hardware. Virtually all recent hardware is well supported on 64-bit and I've had no trouble with software compatibility other than an odd problem with my TomTom One's software only working when I'm actually logged into the admin account. It just doesn't like the limited user accounts on x64 for some reason, and the x86 version would run TomTom Home just fine on a limited account.

falfaro said:

Really? Doesn't Windows enable PAE automatically when the system has more than 4GB?

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.


{Apologies for the Cut/Paste, but this topic comes up with a high degree of regularity on another forum I participate in. Enough so, that I have a number of pre-written answers.}