Enterprise Memory Architecture Troubleshooting

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Troubleshooting

What problem are you having?

  • The computer will not start after PAE is enabled.

  • After PAE is enabled, the computer runs for a time and then displays a Stop error.

  • System Properties, Microsoft System Diagnostics (WinMSD) or other system utilities report 256MB less than the total physical memory installed to the system.

  • The writing of memory dumps stops or stalls when the Physical Addressing Extension (PAE) option is enabled, or a written memory dump is corrupt or incomplete.

  • You cannot enable application memory tuning (4-gigabyte tuning) and Physical Address Extension (PAE) X86 on 64-bit versions of the Windows Server 2003 operating systems running on Itanium architecture-based or x64-based computers.

The computer will not start after PAE is enabled.

Cause:  Your hardware may not support PAE.

Solution:  When starting, run in Safe Mode, which disables PAE, and then remove the /PAE parameter from the Boot.ini file.

Also, determine whether your hardware supports PAE by consulting the hardware compatibility information for products in the Windows Server 2003 family, which you can find by clicking the appropriate link in Support resources. Contact your vendor for additional compatibility information.

You are also advised to contact your hardware vendor.

For more information, see Checklist: Enabling Physical Address Extension (PAE), and Enterprise Memory Architecture hardware and software requirements.

After PAE is enabled, the computer runs for a time and then displays a Stop error.

Cause:  Your hardware may not support PAE.

Solution:  Determine whether your hardware supports PAE by consulting the hardware compatibility information for products in the Windows Server 2003 family, which you can find by clicking the appropriate link in Support resources. Also contact your vendor for additional compatibility information.

If your hardware does not support PAE, or if the problem persists and you continue to believe that PAE might be the cause, remove the /PAE parameter from the Boot.ini file. To remove the /PAE parameter, restart your computer in Safe Mode, which disables PAE, and then remove the parameter from the Boot.ini file. You start your computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8, when indicated, during startup.

It is also recommended that you contact your hardware vendor.

For more information, see Checklist: Enabling Physical Address Extension (PAE), and Enterprise Memory Architecture hardware and software requirements.

System Properties, Microsoft System Diagnostics (WinMSD) or other system utilities report 256MB less than the total physical memory installed to the system.

Cause:  256MB of physical memory will appear to be missing on servers using certain hardware. The system ROM may reserve the upper 256MB memory region for memory mapped I/O devices. The amount of reserved physical memory may increase to 512MB depending on the number of I/O devices installed to the system. For example, a system with 4GB of actual physical memory may appear to have 3.84 GB total physical memory.

Solution:  No correction is necessary. However, to see all memory, add a /PAE switch to the system's boot.ini file. For more information, see Enable Physical Address Extension (PAE).

The writing of memory dumps stops or stalls when the Physical Addressing Extension (PAE) option is enabled, or a written memory dump is corrupt or incomplete.

Cause:  You might have misconfigured your recovery settings, your paging file might not be large enough for the memory dump, or you might lack available disk space.

Solution:  Ensure that you are writing kernel-only debug information. Also, make sure the paging file size is at least 2,060 MB if your system contains 4 GB or more of physical memory and you have clicked Kernel memory dump under Write debugging information. For more information, see Configure the memory dump settings for PAE.

See Also:   Article Q299515, "Crashdump Does Not Work on a Computer with More Than 4 Gigabytes of Memory," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

You cannot enable application memory tuning (4-gigabyte tuning) and Physical Address Extension (PAE) X86 on 64-bit versions of the Windows Server 2003 operating systems running on Itanium architecture-based or x64-based computers.

Cause:  Not applicable - these features are not available on 64-bit versions of the Windows Server 2003 operating systems running on Itanium architecture-based or x64-based computers.

Solution:  Not applicable - these features are not available on 64-bit versions of the Windows Server 2003 operating systems running on Itanium architecture-based or x64-based computers.

For more information about how to obtain product support, see Support resources.

Note

  • This topic does not apply to Windows Server 2003, Web Edition.