4gb of RAM = No wireless

[Masterbrowser]

4gb of RAM = No wireless

Has anyone had any issues with hardware devices after upgrading to 4gb of memory?

After I increase my system memory from 2gb to 3 or 4gb my Netgear WG311v3 wireless card generates an error "Cannot start device ( Code 10 )".

Emailed Netgear and they think it is motherboard related.

Any thoughts or has anyone come across a similar issue?

Specs;
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4
CPU - Intel ATX E6600 CORE 2 DUO /2.4GHz/4MB
Video Card - SAPPHIRE ATI X1950 PRO 256MB
Memory - 4 x 1 GIG Kingston DDR667
OS - Vista Home Premium 32 bit

Thank you
MB

 

[kickme21]

Not saying this is the problem but as you only have 32bit OS you will never get 4GB of RAM to registar. You prob would get 3GB to work but I would say that there prob is ether memory addressing prob or the motherboars bios needs updating.

 

[Masterbrowser]

Yep Mobo is at the latest firmware, but I agree I think it has something to do with 32bit os or memory addressing.

 

[kickme21]

I do know of some mb that won't take 8GB of ram when certain PCI-E cards are in because they take some of the addressing space. Prob netgears drivers. If that card uses an athrose based chip try other drivers.

 

[zenmaster]

Yup, Bad Drivers.
Definately a NetGear issue.

Try Forcing PAE Mode On as well as OFF to see if either setting helps.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid&id=929605

 

[Masterbrowser]

Good suggestions thank you. A new driver for the card was reported by Windows Update so I installed it but it made no difference. I'll try the PAE options and report back.

Details of the driver;

Marvell - Networking - NETGEAR WG311v3 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
Installation Date: 29/08/2007 11:48am
Installation status: Successful
Update type: Optional
Marvell Networking software update released in May, 2007


Thanks
MB

 

[Masterbrowser]

Well I tried enabling and disabling each of the PAE and DEP modes in different configurations but the bottom line, the Wi-Fi card still refused to activate. The hunt continues....

 

[Element0f0ne]

Why have 4 GB of RAM with a 32-bit OS in the first place?

 

[zenmaster]

Why not? I could not even squeeze by with 3gb my system.

 

[predaking]

Why not? I could not even squeeze by with 3gb my system.

because a 32bit OS can't even see the extra ram.

its like trying to put that 128th device on a usb chain or using a 1 terrabyte drive with a p2 mobo.

or an 32gig sdhd card with an sd slot.

 

[zenmaster]

I see 3.5Gb of RAM and use it all on my XP Machine.

I don't want 2gb.
I don't want 3gb.


Note: I also use 8gb on my 32-Bit Servers - They see and use it all.

 

[Masterbrowser]

Why have 4 GB of RAM with a 32-bit OS in the first place?

Why bother commenting if your not assisting with my problem eh?

 

[oc]

Have you tried another pci slot. Could help. Strange isues strange answers.

 

[Masterbrowser]

Have you tried another pci slot. Could help. Strange isues strange answers.

yeah tried that

 

[killerb255]

Note: I also use 8gb on my 32-Bit Servers - They see and use it all.

I'm curious as to what hardware and OSes you have on those servers...

 

[dengamle]

I'm curious as to what hardware and OSes you have on those servers...

With the proper hardware, 32-bit server editions can go beyond 4GB when you enable PAE

 

[pat]

32 bits OS max adressing capability is 4 gigs. Simple equation... 2(possibility of each bit, either 0 or 1)^32 bits=4gigs. That being said, every component, devices of a computer need adress space. Video card, sound card, USB, .... So, since the max the CPU can adress is 4 gigs, then it has to cut it from somewhere..the memory.

 

[dengamle]

in 32-bit 4GB is maximum for virtual address space. The physical address space can be extended to 64GB by using PAE

 

[nukemaster]

Just a quick bit on info on Windows XP and its addressable ram.

It's 4gigs.

Now comes the effect of addressing extra memory not just system memory. Do I know exactly how it works? no...

Best bet is to just stick with 3gigs for most people.

For those who want to see as much as they can. Disable all things you do not use in the bios. Use a lower end video card with lower ram.

I have not yet been able to add up the ram missing based on items.
Example:

4 gigs with a 8800GTX on my board gives me 3.25 gigs. so you think ok, its addressing the 786 megs on my video card.

Take it out and use a 4meg video card from an old computer. bang 3.6 gigs of ram. Well that does not add up at all. have to reboot with the 2 cards in to swap back my screen to the 8800. and bang 3 gigs of ram. Now this makes no sense at all a 4meg video card costs me 256megs of ram?

S3 VirgeDX - 4mb vram

8800GTX - 768mb vram + S3 VirgeDX - 4mb vram

8800GTX - 768mb vram

So anyone have a full explanation for this? It's more then just Video + other devices ram....or so it would seem

Here's Microsoft's explanation as you see all XP's have just 4 gigs.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx

 

[kragen2179]

ok I know this posts old now but to bring it back to the original topic - I also have this problem...

my Hardware...

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Mobo

Intel Pentium Core2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz

PNY GeForce 8600GT 512MB DDR

4GB DDR2 PC5300



I wiped my drives and did a clean install as moving from temporary XP Home to my win7 Ultimate x64, then found out that my Belkin network card was not supported (Belkin F5D7000v6 - only v7 or v8 cards of this model supported)

so off I trot to my local computer store for an upgrade and I see the Netgear WG311v3 on the shelf with a sticker on the front proclaiming Win7 support (visit www.netgear.com/win7) now as I currently had no internet I had to go round a friends to make sure I got the latest drivers

I get home with said drivers stored safely on my USB stick, Uninstall the Belkin card, reboot and run the netgear program I downloaded round my friends. This then tells me to shut down and installl the card and then follow the on screen prompts when I restart.

So having shut down, installed the card and restarted I am starting to wonder why nothing has happend. Going into deice manager I noticed that there was a yellow exclamtion over my network card, when I look to see what the problem is, I am greeted with the code
Quote
"Device cannot start (Code10)"

having rootled around on the internet via my phone (thank god I have a HTC Desire) I came across many referrences to this issue with this and other makes of Wifi card, there were, however 2 common issues... either the driver was not signed, or the machine was running with 4gb of RAM.

Having read that some people had got cards working by dropping down to 2gb, I decided to give this a try.

Dropping to 2gb worked and I now have internet on my PC again - currently trying to work out how to get my other 2gb back in and keep the internet running.

I have heard mentioned a few times that the Code 10 is normally an IRQ error which suggests to me a conflict in IRQ address between the 2nd 2gb of RAM and the Wifi card but not sure how to get round this as yet. hope that is of some help.

another thing I noticed is that the supposed windows 7 drivers install into an x86 folder not x64

 

[mindless728]

Holy Hell Kragen2179, did you even notice the date of the last post, Jesus Christ

any mod who sees this, just close this thread

 

[Guest]

Mindless728, don't you understand the Internet and the way people think and do stuff? Here I am, on this page, in 2011, simply because I have exactly the same problem and interest as Kragen2179.

Last week nothing was further from my mind than messing about with RAM!

In my case - PC's running nicely for years, but then this week I decide I'll up from 2gb RAM to 4gb on one of them. Why not - memory is cheap, and I've got 2 slots begging. So, I order RAM, slap it in machine and immediatley, no wireless from the Netgear 311 card. Take out the extra RAM, wireless restored. Also do the obvious swapping around of slots quantities and sticks etc. to no avail.

So - years after the original post, here I am searching for a reason for exactly the same problem!!!

BTW - I also bought more RAM for another machine I have. Slapped another 2gb into it (this one is wired to router) and it takes me less than 5 mins to upgrade and be back into windows with 3gb (it had 2*512 before).

So - think about the relevance of what you say!

 

[Borisbadenov]

Mindless728, don't you understand the Internet and the way people think and do stuff? Here I am, on this page, in 2011, simply because I have exactly the same problem and interest as Kragen2179.

Last week nothing was further from my mind than messing about with RAM!

In my case - PC's running nicely for years, but then this week I decide I'll up from 2gb RAM to 4gb on one of them. Why not - memory is cheap, and I've got 2 slots begging. So, I order RAM, slap it in machine and immediatley, no wireless from the Netgear 311 card. Take out the extra RAM, wireless restored. Also do the obvious swapping around of slots quantities and sticks etc. to no avail.

So - years after the original post, here I am searching for a reason for exactly the same problem!!!

BTW - I also bought more RAM for another machine I have. Slapped another 2gb into it (this one is wired to router) and it takes me less than 5 mins to upgrade and be back into windows with 3gb (it had 2*512 before).

So - think about the relevance of what you say!

If you didn't find your fix i did find this and it works

http://sites.google.com/site/wg311v3/wg311v3-working-in-windows-7

 

[qprdude]

Why bother commenting if your not assisting with my problem eh?

Spot on, some people just want to show how clever they are.
I have the same problem, and I have a 64 bit operating system, so a lot of the advice is wrong. I was told my PCI express card would not work with 4 Gb RAM. It's just a problem generally and not limited to netgear!
I bought a USB netgear adaptor, which works perfectly.