Black Blank Screen Error When I Installed 4GB of RAM for Windows XP

March 8, 2009 · Filed Under How To and Online Tutorials · Comment
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Can Windows XP support more that 4GB of RAM? How to install 4GB of RAM for Windows XP? Can I use 4GB of physical RAM with Windows XP Pro SP3? Here is a common problem I encountered when I decided to buy 2 sticks of 2GB RAM for my Acer Aspire 9420 laptop.

Question: I installed a 4GB RAM onto my Acer Aspire WSMi notebook, but Windows XP only display 3GB of RAM?

This is because your copy of Windows XP is a 32bit version, which can only access 4GB of memory, a portion of the memory are allocated for communicating with hardware thus you only have enough address space left for 3GB.

Question: Windows XP displayed a black blank screen whenever it loads after I installed two sticks of 2GB RAM, however, I am able to boot into Windows XP when one of the 2GB RAM stick is removed.

This is due to a bug in your bios. Go to Acer official website and download the latest bios for your notebook and flash your bios. If an error occurs when you tried to execute the exe file and it says ‘power error’, meaning to say you need to provide a secondary power source, a.k.a backup source – the battery, just in case there is a power failure.

Once you’re done, you are now able to boot into Windows XP with both 2GB RAM, the only trouble is Windows XP is a 32bit operating system, thus you are only able to utilize 3GB of RAM instead of 4GB. To solve this problem, upgrade to Windows Vista.

Question: I do not want to upgrade my Windows. Can Microsoft Windows XP support more that 4GB of RAM?

Still insist on running Windows XP with 4GB of RAM? Open your boot.ini file (remove its Read-Only and Hidden attributes) and delete the 3GB switch. Then add the /PAE switch. Reboot your computer Windows XP. Now you will now see all 4 GB of RAM. Warning! The tutorial above might cause your computer to freeze for no reason, tweak it at your own risk.

Question: The 4GB Windows Memory Limit: What does it really mean?