In order to help our users, here is how the 3GB switch can be setup.
This has been discussed a lot in the forum, though there are still users finding problems with it.
First, an additional line has to be added in the < boot.ini > file.
The < boot.ini > file is actually a protected system file, which is
hidden from the Windows OS by default. To make it accessible:
(*) Open the Explorer ;
(*) Tools - Folder Option ;
(*) View - Tab ;
(*) Uncheck the < Hide protected operating system files > ;
(*) Look for the < boot.ini > in the C:\ root folder ;
(*) Open it using Notepad.exe (or any other editing application) ;
(*) Copy the last line, which ends with “… /fastdetect” ;
(*) Paste it in a new line and replace that with “… /3GB” ;
(*) You may want to add some text between the brackets, to know which Windows is the one with the 3GB ;
Here is a typical < boot.ini > and how it looks like:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB
Important:
There are some CPU and MB configurations, which also do not allow this extension to run properly.
If you have encountered this, please report the hardware specifications.
Thank you !
We had set this up on our older machines at my previous job, and we came across a problem with removing the 3GB Switch, err… turning off per say. I don’t need to know it now, but others may be in need later on. Is there a way to remove it, if needed?
That’s where ours must have been different. The version of the switch our guy found didn’t allow for the choice at bootup, it was just set… or he did it wrong Thanks!
just wanted to report about the problems we had with 3GB switch. Some of our new workstations with dual Xeon HT and Geforce7800 had a big drop in DirectX graphic performance as soon as the switch was activated. It seemed that the caching of meshes would not work any more. The solution to this was to add an option in the switch that slightly reduces the amount of RAM. The option is /USERVA = amount of RAM.
Here’s the line if directX is slower with the switch.
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3gb” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB /USERVA=2816
We didn’t test with latest nVidia drivers. Perhaps this problem is already solved. But I thought I should share this here.
I cannot get the switch to work. I have a Dell Dimension 8300.
3.0 Gig Intel processor (Hyperthreading enabled)
Radeon 9800 Pro AGP 128 Megabyte
2 Hard Drives…one partitioned They are non compressed NTFS
XP Pro Service Pack 2
Dell Bios. Not sure of the Motherboard configuration, although I have been told that Dells don’t do the switch.
I really had a problem when I was submitting a 3D render for the Elemental book. I had to do strips and then composit them in Photoshop at print resolution. A real pain.
If anyone can help me get this working, I’d really appreciate it.
using the /3gb switch would allow your nodes to use 3gb per process, even if that means they would swap to disk (sloooooow)
i guess it wouldnt make sense on machines with 1gb of ram though (swapping for additional 2gigs of ram would bring down everything to a crawl)
the machine would probably crash befor reaching the 2gig per process limit anyway
i guess it makes a difference in terms of “does it crash or does it render”
but i can imagine the scene would render a lot slower than on machines with more memory
did you manage to have a memory usage of 3 gigs on a 1GB machine? i really dont want to imagine the swapping thats going on
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professionnel” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professionnel 3Gb Switch” /3GB
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professionnel” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
I just add the line for the 3 GB.
But on a Dell you have always 2 partitions on the primary HDD (a little where Dell stores datas and the other for you) , this is why you have partition(2) and not partition(1) (but you can’t see the first partition in windows.)
i’ve tried it on a dual opteron 265,win xp , 2g ram , azus k8n mobo and i got a lot of blck screens and then the system just crashed with a blue screen (didn’t had this since win nt days).
should i change just the /fastdetect into /3gb or should i change the whole sentence into - “Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB” /3GB
gili
Thanks!
