the 3GB Switch?
in [SolidWorks]
|
From: "Gil Alsberg" gil@"remove on 19 Oct 2006 08:06 I know this was discussed already many times in this NG, but I can't find those posts..... How do I set SolidWorks to be able to use 3GB of memory? Thanks, Gil
From: Engineer on 19 Oct 2006 08:32 Dear Gil, Here is that mail I recevd a long ago, I hope it will be useful to you The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory Limit - Part I By Ed Eaton (Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton kicks it off with Part 1. Check back next week for Wayne Tiffany's continuation in Part 2). If you crash SolidWorks or PhotoWorks because of insufficient memory, purchasing more RAM for your computer is only part of the solution. No matter how much memory you have, or how big your virtual memory, Windows will not allow you to use more than 2GB for a single application. On top of that, the 2GB is theoretical. In practice, applications crash when memory usage reaches about 1.6-1.7 GB. This of course will stop you cold if you are working on large assemblies, or on PhotoWorks renderings. Because of the 32-bit operating system, the mathematical limit for total memory (physical and virtual memory) is 4GB. By default, Windows reserves half of that total for itself! SolidWorks is written to take advantage of the 3GB switch. This switch allows Windows XP Pro and some server applications to override the 2GB limit and free up to 3GB of that expensive RAM you've been buying for your systems. Unfortunately, when our company attempted to follow the instructions as presented, we permanently prevented our system from rebooting. After a great deal of extra research, we found that enabling the 3GB switch requires that you know a poorly documented two-step process. The first poorly documented problem is that the 3GB switch is not working in Windows XP Pro, Service pack 1 (that's why the system locked up)! To get a hotfix that corrects the issue, you have to call (800) 936-4900 and get to the "hotfix" people. Don't get spooked by Microsoft's statement that they will charge $245 for tech support - hotfixes are free. Let the person on the phone know the problem has to do with the 3GB switch. The link for that article is http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;328269&Product=winxp. Microsoft will e-mail you a hotfix that carries no warranty and is not recommended for use in a production setting unless you thoroughly test it. But, for the record, it worked for us, and I have not experienced any problems in the three months I've had it on my machine. After running the hotfix, enabling the 3GB switch is not as simple as checking a box in a dialogue. You have to dig into your boot.ini file and modify it. The boot.ini file is on the top level of your C: drive, but to make it visible you have to go through Windows Explorer Options, Tools, Folder Options, View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and deselect "Hide protected operating system files." The text of your boot.ini file may not match the sample shown. For reference, here is what I had to do with my boot.ini file: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /3GB /fastdetect A final warning: Yes, enabling the 3GB switch has worked for us and allows us to use up to 2.7GB of RAM before locking up SolidWorks or PhotoWorks. We are now able to perform tasks that were simply not possible before the modification. But as with any time we hack our systems for performance, there are risks. Before starting on this process, I made a complete backup of my boot drive than I could plug in and use if things went south. The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory Limit - Part 2 By Wayne Tiffany Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton kicked it off last week with a discussion of utilizing the 3GB switch with Win XP. This week, Wayne Tiffany follows up by trying the 3GB switch on three machines with precious little RAM. Check back next week for Wayne's thrilling conclusion in Part 3. I had read a bit about the 3GB switch in the past, but never really pursued it. However, after reviewing Ed's article before publication, it occurred to me that maybe this would even help a machine with only 1GB of physical memory, and this information would be a valuable addition to the article. So I asked Ed - he didn't know. The next logical step, then, was to figure out if there could be any benefit to a machine without gobs of RAM. The thought of a virtually free "upgrade" intrigued me, so I decided to find out. The testing was all carried out by telling SolidWorks to load a huge file - certainly more than could be expected to fit, and was run on the different machines with various configurations. At the point that SolidWorks gave up due to lack of available memory, the amount utilized was recorded. Then the machine was rebooted and the next iteration was run. One very important point to make - heed Ed's advice about applying the patch to WinXP SP1. If you turn on the 3GB switch without the patch, the machine will not boot! How do I know for sure? Embarrassingly, I must admit that in my exuberance to pursue more positive results, on one machine, I turned on the switch before the patch. Not so bad, I figured, just boot on a DOS floppy and modify the boot.ini file again. However with the SCSI drive in the machine, the drivers didn't load with the DOS boot, so the C drive was not accessible. The get-it-running-again solution was to install the hard drive on another machine as a second SCSI drive, and edit the boot.ini file from there to turn off the 3GB switch. Then back to its home, and this time, do it right. Note: you don't have to find & edit the Boot.ini file by itself with a text editor; you can do it through Windows by doing a right-click on My Computer, then selecting Advanced/Startup and Recovery Settings. There you will see a line that says, "To edit the startup options file manually, click Edit." Click on the button and it opens the file for you. So, take a look at the results (the number recorded is the Total amount of RAM in the Commit Charge box), and decide if this is something you want to try. The bottom line of my testing was that making the changes did, in fact, give SolidWorks 2004 another GB of working space, even on a machine with only
From: Wayne Tiffany on 19 Oct 2006 08:34 http://www.kcswug.com/documents/3gb_switch_part_one,_two,_&_three.pdf WT "Gil Alsberg" <gil@"remove me"zoopee.org> wrote in message news:newscache$kntd7j$zgg$1(a)news.actcom.co.il... >I know this was discussed already many times in this NG, but I can't find >those posts..... How do I set SolidWorks to be able to use 3GB of memory? > > Thanks, > Gil > -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
From: Engineer on 19 Oct 2006 08:37 sorry forgot to poste the links part one: http://www.swcommunity.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=4372 part two: http://www.swcommunity.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=4475 Regards Deepak Gupta Engineer wrote: > Dear Gil, > > Here is that mail I recevd a long ago, I hope it will be useful to you > > The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory > Limit - Part I > > By Ed Eaton > > (Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far > the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a > reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton kicks > it off with Part 1. Check back next week for Wayne Tiffany's > continuation in Part 2). > > If you crash SolidWorks or PhotoWorks because of insufficient memory, > purchasing more RAM for your computer is only part of the solution. > > No matter how much memory you have, or how big your virtual memory, > Windows will not allow you to use more than 2GB for a single > application. > > On top of that, the 2GB is theoretical. In practice, applications crash > when memory usage reaches about 1.6-1.7 GB. This of course will stop > you cold if you are working on large assemblies, or on PhotoWorks > renderings. > > Because of the 32-bit operating system, the mathematical limit for > total memory (physical and virtual memory) is 4GB. By default, Windows > reserves half of that total for itself! > > SolidWorks is written to take advantage of the 3GB switch. This switch > allows Windows XP Pro and some server applications to override the 2GB > limit and free up to 3GB of that expensive RAM you've been buying for > your systems. > > Unfortunately, when our company attempted to follow the instructions as > presented, we permanently prevented our system from rebooting. > > After a great deal of extra research, we found that enabling the 3GB > switch requires that you know a poorly documented two-step process. > > The first poorly documented problem is that the 3GB switch is not > working in Windows XP Pro, Service pack 1 (that's why the system locked > up)! To get a hotfix that corrects the issue, you have to call (800) > 936-4900 and get to the "hotfix" people. Don't get spooked by > Microsoft's statement that they will charge $245 for tech support - > hotfixes are free. > Let the person on the phone know the problem has to do with the 3GB > switch. > > The link for that article is > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;328269&Product=winxp. > Microsoft will e-mail you a hotfix that carries no warranty and is not > recommended for use in a production setting unless you thoroughly test > it. But, for the record, it worked for us, and I have not experienced > any problems in the three months I've had it on my machine. > > After running the hotfix, enabling the 3GB switch is not as simple as > checking a box in a dialogue. You have to dig into your boot.ini file > and modify it. > The boot.ini file is on the top level of your C: drive, but to make it > visible you have to go through Windows Explorer Options, Tools, Folder > Options, View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and deselect > "Hide protected operating system files." > The text of your boot.ini file may not match the sample shown. For > reference, here is what I had to do with my boot.ini file: > > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /3GB /fastdetect > > A final warning: Yes, enabling the 3GB switch has worked for us and > allows us to use up to 2.7GB of RAM before locking up SolidWorks or > PhotoWorks. We are now able to perform tasks that were simply not > possible before the modification. But as with any time we hack our > systems for performance, there are risks. Before starting on this > process, I made a complete backup of my boot drive than I could plug in > and use if things went south. > > > > The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory > Limit - Part 2 > > By Wayne Tiffany > > Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far > the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a > reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton > kicked it off last week with a discussion of utilizing the 3GB switch > with Win XP. This week, Wayne Tiffany follows up by trying the 3GB > switch on three machines with precious little RAM. Check back next week > for Wayne's thrilling conclusion in Part 3. > > > I had read a bit about the 3GB switch in the past, but never really > pursued it. However, after reviewing Ed's article before publication, > it occurred to me that maybe this would even help a machine with only > 1GB of physical memory, and this information would be a valuable > addition to the article. So I asked Ed - he didn't know. > > The next logical step, then, was to figure out if there could be any > benefit to a machine without gobs of RAM. The thought of a virtually > free "upgrade" intrigued me, so I decided to find out. > > The testing was all carried out by telling SolidWorks to load a huge > file - certainly more than could be expected to fit, and was run on the > different machines with various configurations. At the point that > SolidWorks gave up due to lack of available memory, the amount utilized > was recorded. Then the machine was rebooted and the next iteration was > run. > > One very important point to make - heed Ed's advice about applying the > patch to WinXP SP1. If you turn on the 3GB switch without the patch, > the machine will not boot! How do I know for sure? > > Embarrassingly, I must admit that in my exuberance to pursue more > positive results, on one machine, I turned on the switch before the > patch. Not so bad, I figured, just boot on a DOS floppy and modify the > boot.ini file again. However with the SCSI drive in the machine, the > drivers didn't load with the DOS boot, so the C drive was not > accessible. The get-it-running-again solution was to install the hard > drive on another machine as a second SCSI drive, and edit the boot.ini > file from there to turn off the 3GB switch. Then back to its home, and > this time, do it right. Note: you don't have to find & edit the > Boot.ini file by itself with a text editor; you can do it through > Windows by doing a right-click on My Computer, then selecting > Advanced/Startup and Recovery Settings. T
From: "Gil Alsberg" gil@"remove on 19 Oct 2006 09:11
Deepak, Thanks for replying. According to Wayne's and Ed's descriptions and details -this sounds pretty spooky!! I think I've got cold feet, and will not attempt to mess with the boot.ini file, it just sounds too scary! Thanks anyway, Gil "Engineer" <guptasolidworks(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:1161261432.930488.96340(a)m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... > sorry forgot to poste the links > > part one: http://www.swcommunity.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=4372 > > part two: http://www.swcommunity.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=4475 > > Regards > > Deepak Gupta > > > Engineer wrote: >> Dear Gil, >> >> Here is that mail I recevd a long ago, I hope it will be useful to you >> >> The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory >> Limit - Part I >> >> By Ed Eaton >> >> (Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far >> the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a >> reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton kicks >> it off with Part 1. Check back next week for Wayne Tiffany's >> continuation in Part 2). >> >> If you crash SolidWorks or PhotoWorks because of insufficient memory, >> purchasing more RAM for your computer is only part of the solution. >> >> No matter how much memory you have, or how big your virtual memory, >> Windows will not allow you to use more than 2GB for a single >> application. >> >> On top of that, the 2GB is theoretical. In practice, applications crash >> when memory usage reaches about 1.6-1.7 GB. This of course will stop >> you cold if you are working on large assemblies, or on PhotoWorks >> renderings. >> >> Because of the 32-bit operating system, the mathematical limit for >> total memory (physical and virtual memory) is 4GB. By default, Windows >> reserves half of that total for itself! >> >> SolidWorks is written to take advantage of the 3GB switch. This switch >> allows Windows XP Pro and some server applications to override the 2GB >> limit and free up to 3GB of that expensive RAM you've been buying for >> your systems. >> >> Unfortunately, when our company attempted to follow the instructions as >> presented, we permanently prevented our system from rebooting. >> >> After a great deal of extra research, we found that enabling the 3GB >> switch requires that you know a poorly documented two-step process. >> >> The first poorly documented problem is that the 3GB switch is not >> working in Windows XP Pro, Service pack 1 (that's why the system locked >> up)! To get a hotfix that corrects the issue, you have to call (800) >> 936-4900 and get to the "hotfix" people. Don't get spooked by >> Microsoft's statement that they will charge $245 for tech support - >> hotfixes are free. >> Let the person on the phone know the problem has to do with the 3GB >> switch. >> >> The link for that article is >> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;328269&Product=winxp. >> Microsoft will e-mail you a hotfix that carries no warranty and is not >> recommended for use in a production setting unless you thoroughly test >> it. But, for the record, it worked for us, and I have not experienced >> any problems in the three months I've had it on my machine. >> >> After running the hotfix, enabling the 3GB switch is not as simple as >> checking a box in a dialogue. You have to dig into your boot.ini file >> and modify it. >> The boot.ini file is on the top level of your C: drive, but to make it >> visible you have to go through Windows Explorer Options, Tools, Folder >> Options, View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and deselect >> "Hide protected operating system files." >> The text of your boot.ini file may not match the sample shown. For >> reference, here is what I had to do with my boot.ini file: >> >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /3GB /fastdetect >> >> A final warning: Yes, enabling the 3GB switch has worked for us and >> allows us to use up to 2.7GB of RAM before locking up SolidWorks or >> PhotoWorks. We are now able to perform tasks that were simply not >> possible before the modification. But as with any time we hack our >> systems for performance, there are risks. Before starting on this >> process, I made a complete backup of my boot drive than I could plug in >> and use if things went south. >> >> >> >> The Perils of Trying to Overcome the 2GB Memory >> Limit - Part 2 >> >> By Wayne Tiffany >> >> Editor's Note: The top tip of 2004! This three-part series was by far >> the most popular user tip of last year. We thought it deserved a >> reprint for those who may have missed all or part of it. Ed Eaton >> kicked it off last week with a discussion of utilizing the 3GB switch >> with Win XP. This week, Wayne Tiffany follows up by trying the 3GB >> switch on three machines with precious little RAM. Check back next week >> for Wayne's thrilling conclusion in Part 3. >> >> >> I had read a bit about the 3GB switch in the past, but never really >> pursued it. However, after reviewing Ed's article before publication, >> it occurred to me that maybe this would even help a machine with only >> 1GB of physical memory, and this information would be a valuable >> addition to the article. So I asked Ed - he didn't know. >> >> The next logical step, then, was to figure out if there could be any >> benefit to a machine without gobs of RAM. The thought of a virtually >> free "upgrade" intrigued me, so I decided to find out. >> >> The testing was all carried out by telling SolidWorks to load a huge >> file - certainly more than could be expected to fit, and was run on the >> different machines with various configurations. At the point that >> SolidWorks gave up due to lack of available memory, the amount utilized >> was recorded. Then the machine was rebooted and the next iteration was >> run. >> >> One very important point to make - heed Ed's advice about applying the >> patch to WinXP SP1. If you turn on the 3GB switch without the patch, >> the machine will not boot! How do I know for sure? >> >> Embarrassingly, I must admit that in my exuberance to pursue more >> positive results, on one machine, I turned on the switch before the >> patch. Not so bad, I figured, just boot on a DOS floppy and modify the >> boot.ini file again. However with the SCSI drive in the machine, the >> drivers didn't lo |