admit is. you really just wanted to boast about your computer? you don't
have any problems with vista and your system ram.

"darklex" <darklex@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:407925A1-F6FA-455C-BCA1-519219C306B7@microsoft.com...
> Hi
>
> I have the following setup:
> MSI P6N Diamond motherboard
> Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad core CPU
> 8GB RAM: 4 x 2GB Mushkin 800 mHz DDR2
> MSI NX8800 Ultra OC video card
> PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W PSU
> WD Raptor 74GB 10K SATA HD (used as boot drive)
> Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
> Lite-On Blu-Ray burner
> 3 x Seagate Barracuda 750GB SATA HDs
> Silverstone TJ07-S full tower case
> Dell 3007 30" monitor with USB hub
>
> I am having trouble getting Vista to run on my system with a full memory
> configuration, despite the fact that XP32 installs just fine. Having done
> research I knew that it can help to have <3gb installed, so I started with
> that. Here is the story so far:
>
> -I only have 1 x 2GB stick in the machine and unplug all drives except for
> boot and BD drive. (I do this so I don't get bizarre drive letters where
> the
> BD ends up being the last letter and the CompactFlash drives are in front
> my
> my data drives).
> -Install XP32 on the first partition of my 74gb boot, no problems
> -Install Vista Ultimate 64 on the second partition, also no problems
> -Install all drivers in XP32 and Vista. So far so good.
> -Download the plethora of updates for Vista. KB929777 is not one of them.
> I download it anyway and install it, it says that this update is not
> compatible with my system.
> -Install 8gb and test each install. XP32 only sees 3, but that's fine.
> Vista sees 8GB - yes!!!
> -Connect 1 additional HD and try both systems again. XP32 boots fine.
> Vista BSODs with the standard error, 0x00007 etc etc.
> -I remove the 6GB from my moboard, and retry. Vista runs fine. XP32 of
> course does as well. I connect the other drives in a piecemeal fashion,
> booting each OS individually after each connection and checking that I can
> see each drive.
> -After all drives are connected and I've tested them, I put the 6GB back
> and
> cross my fingers. I boot Vista and success!! I see the drives, I see my
> memory, life is good.
> -My intuition at this point is that if Vista with full memory sees a new
> storage device upon boot before it's had a chance to fully load itself it
> immediately vomits, while if it only has 2gb it's fine. If it has already
> built a picture of its devices from before that it doesn't do this, hence
> it's ok to run 8GB.
> -I close the case, shove it under my desk, and connect everything,
> including
> the USB hub in my monitor. I boot into Vista and sure enough it has the
> same
> BSOD!
> -(I start to get a bit annoyed at this point...) I remove the machine from
> under the desk, open it up, yank the 6GB out, reboot. Vista works fine.
> I
> reinstall the 6GB, figuring it was going to be as before as per my
> intuition,
> but it still BSODs. I disconnect the hub but it continues to fail. I
> remove
> the 6gb again and it's fine. I connect the hub and it's fine. I satisfy
> myself that the hub and 8gb don't like each other, and now 8gb without the
> hub doesn't work either.
> -I decide to try something different. I have all of my drives connected
> (including the hub) and reinstall Vista (with only 2GB). Of course now
> with
> the new drive letters this install of Vista destroys the dual boot
> function,
> so I lose my XP32... After Vista installs I slap in the 6GB, and it
> works!
> -I now have to reinstall XP32 fully with all drives connected and then I
> will (yet again!) reinstall Vista in order to get my dual boot back. That
> means I will have installed Vista at least 5 times during this process.
>
> So this is where I currently stand. I have ascertained that Vista with
> more
> than 2GB just can't handle a new storage device being added. Adding a
> storage device and then booting Vista somehow updates the table of storage
> devices, which means you can then add more memory. Adding a storage
> device
> with 8GB definitely blows up the system, from which you may recover by
> removing the memory and maybe you won't, as with the hub.
>
> The 929777 hotfix does not seem to do anything. I have not overclocked my
> machine in any way, and I've run Prime95 on it while in XP32 and have had
> no
> problems.
>
> Has anyone else been able to get Vista64 running stably on a machine with
> 8GB? I bought Vista in order to run more memory and it's deeply
> frustrating
> that I can only get it to run reliably with 2GB - it kills much of the
> reason
> to have Vista.
>
> thx
> dl
>