Problems with RAM and the solution to the problem

[gdbc]

Hi all,

Well, I am pretty sure I found an important solution concerning ramdisk usage - at least I can't find any solution of this kind on the Web...

But let's start from the beginning...

I got myself a new computer, i3 540, Asus P7H55D mainboard, and 8 GB of RAM.
The dual-core i3 is said to perform better than quad-core i5/i7 with lower clock frequency when it comes to single-threaded applications.
My intention from the beginning was to use 32-bit Windows XP and a ramdisk for a swapfile. Same story as everybody else's - I needed more than 4 GB of RAM and I have a system set up that will not work under any other Windows, or I should rather say, it would take a forever to migrate and ensure reliability.

Ok, so I installed Vsuite Ramdisk on a fresh install of Windows on a new computer. But it worked erratically - there were reboots without any warning nor pattern nor even BSOD.
If the ramdisk's capacity was below ca. 3900 MB everything seemed to work fine. Usually no reboots.
But above that limit there were reboots, especially when the option to backup/restore disk's image was enabled (I mention this, because this is the same problem as described some time before on this forum) or I used up all the space on the ramdisk.
So the system was completely unusable.

I tried the following approaches (I list them because these may be helpful for other people, also you will see that it was quite a lot of work):
- Fresh install of Windows XP Proffesional 32-bit: [with/without drivers], [Service Pack 2/3 installed], [with/without discrete graphic card], [power management (intel driver described elsewhere on the forum)/acpi/dma/sata drivers enabled/disabled]
- Memtest 86+ - passed, including test 9, normally not performed - you need to configure it
- Memory chips swapped and in differents banks
- Fresh install of Windows 7 32-bit trial (just to see if this is Winodws xP thing) - exactly same thing happens
- Fresh install of Windows 7 64-bit trial (this was to see if maybe there is a problem with the memory (or rather the mainboard) that could not be detected by memtest, just a real life performance of memory was to be assessed)
- Ramdisk was assessed by filling it with copies of data to the full, and with Passmark burn in test.
- If there was reboot and the option of backup/restore of the ramdisk was enabled, it was necessary to enter the safe mode and uninstall the suite.

Boring and tired with the description above? Yes, it kind of was.

Finally, I found an option in bios called "Memory remapping".
Strangely enough, it was enabled by default. I disabled it. This option remaps i/o memory from above 3,25 limit usually seen in 32-bit Windows XP/7 to above 4 GB region. This is necessary for the Windows 7 to use all the 4 GBs of RAM if all you have is 4 GBs of RAM.
Enabling this option is also good idea if you use ramdisk in such configuration (if support could confirm this fact...).
But this is completely bad idea when you have 8 GBs of RAM, because it causes i/o memory remapping into the region you actually want to use. So in this case you need to disable this option, unless of course your bios can remap i/o memory to above 8 GBs...
You also need to disable (!!!) all other options (graphic card buffers, etc.) that can take up your precious memory without any warning or explanation. You can also preallocate such memory in Vsuite, so that it is not overwrtten by your ramdisk (because that leads to reboot), using this option:

http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/vsui ... eservation

It's a pity though that this option is not available in free version.

But otherwise Vsuite Ramdisk seems like a very reliable software, based on the limited testing that I've done with my now "non-rebooting" system. Compared to other software of this kind it never hung by itself, it always enabled ramdisks (competitive ramdisks just don't shop up in the system after installing them), and it actually uses invisible memory (competitive ramdisks only say that they do, but they don't).

I am thrilled that I found the solution to that problem.
I guess I added some life to Windows XP afterall - and I don't agree that this is a dying system. Actually Vista is the first one to go (early end of support).
Windows XP is a very reliable system, and for example in case of Radiotherapy Planning Systems that I also deal with, this reliability is all that matters. Windows 7 just does not have any new features that would justify implementing all the solutions and testing for reliability anew. The only problem was insuficient memory, but there are solutions like ramdisks.
Not to mention that I find the new Windows 7 interface annoying, but maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy.

Anyways, I hope that this solution will be useful, and good luck finding your own working settings!

Regards
Mick

[Support]

Hi Mick,

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.