Windows will not boot with more than 2gb of ram

run msconfig and click the boot tab. click advanced and there u can set ur max memory

i see were i am supposed to enter the amount or mem i want, and it says only 2048 but everytime i enter 4096 and hit ok it just resets back to 2048

so it already had 2048 in the box?!?!?

also try increasing it in GB increments since 4096 may be out of range

Thats not going to work. If he is looking at what I think he is looking at. The system is asking how much RAM to use, that is in the system already and since you have 2 GB already in it the system thinks thats all you got to offer. It's a useless offer since everyone wants to use all the memory they have in the machine. Do you get any error messages while Windows boots up? Where does it stop? Can you get past POST.

yes it will work. his system works fine it just doesn't see all of the RAM. This setting is where the system is told how much memory to use. And everyone does NOT want to use all the memory in the system all the time (98% of us crave all the ram we can get). there are situations when certain applications dont run with more than "x" amount. That's why Good Ol' Bill gave us the option of making the adjustment. if you have the box ticked you can manipulate this setting. Unticked it should use the default vaule of what's installed in the system. This setting is the equivalent of the /maxmem switch used in the boot.ini file of system prior to Windows Vista. Read up on it here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/108393 Note that Vista isn't listed here because it uses BCD Boot Configuration Data rather than a boot.ini file. Anyhow, they are equivalent for the most part. Thanks.

P.S. If the adjustment doesn't work it is more than likely hardware related

I understand that and what not, but maybe I said it wrong. That function will see how much physical ram that is already in the system and won't consider anything more than that. Even though you might have more RAM sitting out of the system getting ready to installed. Also I do agree with you that this is most likely a hardware issue now probably the third or fourth slot has been damaged. Which can best solved by using one stick turning on the machine to see if it works than turning off and moving onto the next slot.

Incorrect. But i must say that you rarely have to manipulate that setting anyway. i doubt its a bad slot. I was leaning more towards a motherboard/bios setting or total memory capacity.

TOO MANY TECH's or tech wanna be's

ok i have the max memory unchecked in msconfig, and when i restart my machine with all 4gigs installed, i get 2 long beeps and i go to the safe mode screen and it shows that the ram is there but windows will not start

also it not bad slots or bad ram i tested them all indepentantly when i got the ram

So something is failing POST. Sadly though I tried to find your motherboards manual online and it does not show anything about any beep codes. If you have the manual on you look through it and see whats going on. I looked up phoenix beep codes and it points to the memory your trying to use has gone bad. If its new RAM it might have been damaged before you bought it which happens once in awhile. Have you tried using different RAM in all the slots before or just the new ones you got?

yes, i originally had 4x512mb strips and when i put them back in everything works like normal

Well now we know that all slots working. Though without the proper beep codes we're not working on much. Last thing to do is push one of your new chips in one at a time to see if it boots them all take it out and place a new one in until all the chips have been tested. After that who knows

Sorry corbett_1989, POST is Power On Self Test and has nothing to do with Windows loadng or not!

I am surprised I don't see this in the searches I do with most search engines!
I build a lot of Vsta "machines" and as a rule, I never instal more than 2GB when I start to insall Vista, as soon as I have Vista installed, I do all the updates till there are no more, then install the rest of the RAM (more than 2GB) and there is no problems ever!

I've had issues with installing Vista with more than 2GB of RAM or upgrading a system with 2GB aleady in with no updates applied.

Another case just today, I have a 40GB drive that I have Vista Ulimate 32bit installed on and use it for troubleshooting, this drive was left in the trunk of my Jetta since Nov, 08! I brought it in yesterday and it would not load, I could not even re-insall or do a repair install, it always froze, even safe mode.

I though it was my Video card upgrade since last I used the drive, or the fact that the drive was in a trunk with the cold and wet. The drive passed all the tests!
Just few hours go I remembered that I had upgraded the RAM from 1GB to 3GB, all I had to do was to remove 1GB and I'm posting from it righ now.

Just finished doing all the updates, going to re-boot, put the 1GB back n and post back with 3GB!

I got here by searching for te KB responsble for the fix, if I find it I will post that as well.

ekurz335, do you have all the updates as well as the SP1?

So far have done 49 updates, re-booted, let Vista configure updates and still can't boot with more than 2GB, installing 7 more updates now, after all avaiable updates, I'll try again then will do the SP1 and report back.

Just to add, I use4 different hard drives with this system, 1st a 250GB SATAII with XP Pro SP3 and all post SP3 updates, 2nd a 250GB STAII with XP Pro Sp2 + all available updates, 3rd a 40GB PATA with Win 2K SP4 (all these boot and work with 3GB), 4th is the 40GB PATA with Vista Ultimate with almost all the updaes with no SP1 that refuses to boot or go through setup with more than 2GB of RAM installed.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Vista can only read 2GB RAM if using 32bit version. Have to have 64bit to access more.

4Gig in 32Bit
16Gig in 64Bit (actually depends upon which Vista version is installed)

Info here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx
Just scroll down that MS page to see all the Vista versions, and Ram limits

Knew I was right about the difference, just unsure of the amounts. Thanks for the clarification.

Just passing by....

When you experience problems with RAM, it's useful to check if the system loads and works with every single slot, while others are replaced. From my experience - RAM is a part of computer that breaks relatively often, in comparison to other hardware components, so in some cases it can help easily locate the problem.

Please note I am not talking about 32bit addressing and more than 3GB of RAM issue!

This is when you build a system and put more than 2GB of RAM then start installing Vista (32bit and 64bit), setup will crash, I have to go through setup with only 2GB, then do updates, add the rest of the ram, then there are no problems. I had to do this many times with many new builds different components. Latest BIOS always applied as soon as systems were put together, I quit since Nov 08, haven't built or setup many since! Was wondering if other builders have experienced this, since I can't find anything about it in my searches!

Any way, for the system I was talking about last night, after applying all the updates as well as SP1, still no load with Vista Ultimate 32bit when I go above 2GB, either re-boots or freezes..

This is an older system, (A7N8X-E Deluxe, Barton 2600+) so I have to blame it on the chipset and how the memory is addressed, no nForce2 drivers from Nvidia for Vista, but I bet if I tried Windows7, it would be OK, that's next week! Vista runs perfect with 2GB of RAM on this old board.

This is me just testing and this is not my main system! I am not looking to fix this just wanted to add my experience above and see what others have to add, this was the only Vista system around and I wanted to see if updates would allow me to install more than 2GB of RAM as well as to see if the original poster has all the updates and SP1,

I think the fix I was looking for is the KB929777?!?!

No one has directly addressed this issue of using 2Gig to initially setup Windows then increase Ram after that

Indirectly there have been may recorded faults (or threads) where Members needed to reduce their Ram to 2Gig only to install Windows, and usually these posts are followed by, please do a memtest on your Ram (of which, usually comes up ok)

This is an unrecorded silent issue, that many computers seem to have, I would like to hear further feedback on this as well.

I just finished another Vista Ultimate 64bit install on a "newer" board EVGA NVIDA nForce 680i, Q6600 with 2 kits of OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 2GB (2x1024MB) SLI-Ready Ed., the DVD has SP1, the setup went smooth with 4GB installed.. (soon to change to 2 X 2GB modules not wanting to stress the Memory Controller with 4 X 1GB high performance modules!)

All other installs I'd done were using media with no SP1.

Thanks for your reply kimsland, much appreciated and thank you for merging my posts, haven't been on here in a long time, are there any rules I should read up on or were you just "cleaning" up?

No just "cleaning up" that's all

But actually there are rules here yes, I usually point members to this thread (ie new members usually start at the Introduce yourself forum, where it's located )

=> How to post a New Thread

This thread includes all links to Guidelines\Rules\Terms of Service
And helps members to learn how to create a New Thread

you can check the memory timings and loose them in bios to see if it helps.