[McCordinator]

So my Win xp is only recognizing 2 of 4 gigs of ram.

Both sticks are 2gb PC3-10700 DDR3.

Not sure if I can access BIOS because I installed this xp on a macbook pro.

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Macbook Pro... are you using Parallels or Boot Camp?

If you boot into OSX, does OSX recognize all 4 GB?

[The Admiral]

Macbook Pro... are you using Parallels or Boot Camp?

If you boot into OSX, does OSX recognize all 4 GB?

[McCordinator]

I am using bootcamp. Well kind of. Bootcamp says i cant install anything but win 7, but I got xp to work.

An yes o's x shows all 4, as does CPU-Z.

[McCordinator]

anyone? :[

I'm trying to use win xp so that I can have the same music DAW as my bandmate. Right now it is a huge ordeal to try and trade tracks for collaboration. If we both had PC it would be a snap. Just need to get xp running properly before I invest in a DAW.

[The Admiral]

Top six results on Google: gearslutz.com, Apple.com (1), Apple.com (2), MacNN.com (1), MacNN.com (2), MacNN.com (3).

Looks like this is a well known issue. Because of the BIOS Boot Camp uses, XP will only ever see 2GB of RAM. Of course, there is a whole slurry of wrong information out on the internet, so let me clarify what these forum posts are saying. It is true that 32-bit OSes have a theoretical limit of 4GB of RAM, but because of memory address mapping, only about 3 GB of that RAM is usable by the OS. This, however, is not the source of the problem. This is a simple incompatibility issue with the way Mac emulates the BIOS (since Macs don't really use a BIOS, they use EFI).

Some of these forums mention adding a /3GB switch to the boot.ini file, then a couple of warning posts by people who actually know what the /3GB switch does. Do not attempt to modify the boot.ini file. The /3GB will not increase system performance... in fact it is likely to create memory issues in your Windows installation.

Your options are to either run Windows XP through Parallels, install Windows XP 64-bit in Boot Camp, install Windows 7 64-bit in Boot Camp, or make your buddy get a Mac and you both use either Digital Performer (which is what I use in my studio) or Pro Tools. He won't regret it. You could also look for a Mac DAW that will read the files saved by his DAW, there might be a certain file format that can be read between two DAWs.

Let me know what you think after doing some research.

[McCordinator]

I see. Thanks for all the help so far. I will talk it over with him. He wants to get a mac, but right now we have other things that we need to invest in.

I may go the parallels route. Seems like a good option.

If I installed Win XP 64-bit, though, that would work fine? Or should I just roll with parallels for ease of use? I'll be using Ableton Live, which can get pretty intensive on the memory/cpu.

edit: I have VMWare, is Parallels way better? Seems nice with the way you can run Windows / OS X simultaneously.

Edited by McCordinator, 23 January 2012 - 01:28 AM.

[The Admiral]

Parallels vs. VMWare... I'll ask some of the staff to see if they have a preference, but a quick google search shows that they are pretty even when tech sites compare them. I have never heard anything bad about Parallels, but I don't know anybody who uses VMWare.

As far as I can tell, XP 64-bit should work in Boot Camp, they recently added the 64-bit drivers. But if you have VMWare, certainly give it a shot and see what happens!

[willythegreat]

So long ago this question was asked.... and still no any debates who is better Parallels or VMware? Have found an interesting comparison review with the latest vmware fusion 8 and parallels desktop 11, check here if interesting