memory discrepency

[dforeman]

Hello we recently purchased 50 proliant servers some with 2 gig most with 4 gig of memory. we are using smart start to set the servers up using windows 2003 r2. when the systems are all set up the ones with 4 gig are showing 4 gig in the bios and the hp web system web page. but the task manager is only reporting 3.5 gig. we have several g4 severs of the asme model that we have done prior to these servers that show the correct 4 gig in both task manager and hp web page. The physical difference seems to be that the ones we previously bought had 2 2 gig memory sticks
and the new servers have 4 512 and 2 1 gig sticks. The new ones are hp supplied memory vs keingston memory on the others - though I don't think that should matter. Any sugestion as to what the problem is?

[Igor Karasik]

Hi,
Short answer: PAE switch

Long answer:
"Not All Physical Memory May Be Reported By The Operating System On Certain HP ProLiant Servers "
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=PSD_EL041214_CW01

"Large memory support is available in Windows Server 2003 and in Windows 2000"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283037/en-us

[dforeman]

I see what your saying but why when we've done 70+ servers we never ran into this problem and all of a subben it rears it's uggly head? And why is HP taking 512 meg for drivers that is 1/2 a gig! I run my entire workstation on 512 meg... HP document reads like an excuse to me.

[Igor Karasik]

dforeman,

>>I see what your saying but why when we've done 70+ servers we never ran into this problem and all of a subben it rears it's uggly head?

I see some possibilities here:
-Other servers have different motherboard
-You already have PAE switch on these servers (check boot.ini). If server CPU support hardware DEP - PAE switch will be added to boot.ini automatically when you install windows 2003 SP1

>>And why is HP taking 512 meg for drivers that is 1/2 a gig! I run my entire workstation on 512 meg... HP document reads like an excuse to me.

You can find similar documents on IBM, DELL, and other sites
For example, Intel :-)
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-010458.htm


P.S. Since you are new on this forum read:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#22

[Rune J. Winje]

You don't say which specific proliant model this is, but Igor is correct.

Some motherboards-chipsets/BIOS will reserver the last 500MB before the 4 GB limit (32 bit addressable memory limit without going into address extension schemes like /PAE).
This memory is often reserved for SCSI and Video adapters.¨

Sometimes there are BIOS updates which can fix this by moving this address area over the 4GB limit - check on the web for your server model. Of course putting the SCSI/Video hw addresses above 4GB may be a tradeoff in that it takes a little more cpu cycles to reach those addresses.


Cheers,
Rune