Did you know that if you have more than 2gig of ram your xp or vista can't access it unless
you do some changes to your boot.ini file.... Read on
Warning, be careful, you have administrator rights and Blessings of IT where it applies.
This is fully documented below from Autodesk and Microsoft. I just didn't know I had to do this
to get use of the ram I already have.
If this helps you and I'm glad to help get more out of your computer. If not,
don't make these changes to your machine. I'm sure you know what I mean here.
I have a backup Ghost 12 image to fall back on. So, I was 100% sure of what I was doing.
Mike
I contacted my dealer for my Civil3d/LDC 2008 and was told something from there Cad
Camp in Texas over the last few days where they are learning Civil3D 2009.... this worked on my machine I use at home/business
and thought it would be beneficial to share. As always, this isn't something to play with
unless your sure. This is my bio.ini file
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional " /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 4GB" /4GB /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect
this line was the original:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional " /fastdetect
this allowed me if anything didn't work to use when it booted next.
I have 4 gig of ram and used this one with success:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 4GB" /4GB /fastdetect
Here are the instructions I got from my authorized autodesk dealer:3GB switch and AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
Publish date: May-31-2007
ID: TS1071001
Applies to:
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009
Issue
You want to know if there is a way to increase the memory usage of Civil 3D® to improve performance when working with large datasets.
Technical Solutions
By default, the Windows operating system limits the amount of physical memory available to applications to 2 GB. It reserves the remaining memory for the operating system itself. However, if you have more than 3 GB of physical memory, it is possible to increase the amount of memory available to applications, such as Civil 3D®, to 3 GB.
Autodesk has conducted some preliminary testing on this configuration and has found some improvement in performance when working with larger datasets.
To enable the 3GB switch on Windows XP
1. Right-click My Computer. Click Properties.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
4. In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under System startup, click Edit.
The Windows boot.ini file will be opened in Microsoft® Notepad.
5. Save a backup copy of the boot.ini file on your computer, in case you need to revert back to the original version of the file.
Note: The contents of the Boot.ini file may vary from computer to computer.
6. Select the following line in the boot.ini file:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
7. Copy (Press CTRL+C) this line and paste (Press CTRL+V) it immediately below the original.
Note: Your string may be different from the string shown. Be sure to copy the string from your boot.ini file, not the string shown here.
8. Modify the copied line to include “ /3GB”, as shown in the following example.
Note: Do not overwrite any existing lines.
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect
9. Save the boot.ini file and exit Notepad.
10. Click OK to close each dialog box.
11. Restart your computer.
12. During startup, select the 3GB option. If you do not select the 3GB option, the system will default to the 2GB memory setting.
If there are problems during startup, you may need to update some of your drivers.
To enable the 3GB switch on Windows Vista™
1. Right-click Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
2. On the command line, enter "bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072"
3. Restart the computer.
To turn off the 3GB switch on Windows Vista
1. Right-click Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
2. On the command line, enter "bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa"
3. Restart the computer.
For more information on the 3GB switch, refer to the following Microsoft MSDN article:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspxIf you experience any problems when using the 3GB configuration, you can switch back to the original configuration.
I hope this helps those who have the horsepower in ram to see what I saw, a faster xp install. I also
have the XP SP3 RC2 refresh installed too.