DL380 G3 - 4GB of RAM shows as 3.75GB

[Antonin PAVIL]

I replaced 2 of the 6 512 MB modules of PC2100 with 2*1 GB of PC2700.

I was expecting 4 GB overall and windows (server 2003 standard edition / SP1) shows only 3.75 GB.

The systeminfo command shows 3,839 MB of total physical memory.

I know the DL380 G3 supports only up to PC2100 but the PC2700 should downclock and run as PC2100. Yet, could that be the problem, is PC2700 not entirely "retro compatible" with system designed for PC2100 DIMMs?

Or is it a windows limitation?
I've read here and there that in 32 bit versions of windows it is not uncommon to have systems recognizing only 3.75 or even 3.5 GB of ram.

Or could it be a faulty module (although I suspect not as if the module was faulty I would expect the system not to recognize the module at all?).

Regards,

[Oleg Koroz]

http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/james/search.do?searchtext=4GB+and+DL380&searchcriteria=boolean&searchtype=SEARCH_FORUMS&searchtype=SEARCH_BSD&rn=25&presort=rank&x=24&y=13


points to Verify
BIOS
test only PC2700 if system See them
use as recommended by manufactory
search trough links
search for windows article on PAE switch if needed
Verify Supported OS

[Antonin PAVIL]

Using the PAE switch is not recommended by Microsoft for Windows Server 2003 Advanced Edition (except for testing), as it could create problems for some applications, so I will not run the risk as this is a backup server.

I will therefore not attempt to fix the problem however it is very usefull to know this is a common issue and apparently not a problem with the memory modules.