noric

About long term stability, I can say that I have used the Chinese patch for about a year and a half on my main pc, a Sandy Bridge notebook with 8GB of ram. It has always worked (and still works) flawlessly. I make an intensive use of virtual machines, so I often use more than 4GB of memory. No problem at all, other than the usb thing you are discussing about and that can be easily solved. Moreover, I recently upgraded to 12GB memory: still no problem, even though I'm using Xp quite seldom (I've switched to Linux and I don't regret this...).

Hmm... I tried the same and i can't get media info either. I assume its a limitation imposed by the server 2003 platform the OS is based on. I use winamp which shows the info, so it has never been a big deal for me. I'm not too sure how to fix this, but the OS simply has loads of advantages over these small disadvantages, which is why I'm pretty reluctant to go back to 32 bit. XP 64 bit is considerably better at games and gaming overall, which is what I do a lot of. It also runs Steam better, no choppiness. Indeed, in your situation you're better off with x64 XP.

I use a Sandy Bridge system, yes. I experience none of those bugs, so I can't help. Sorry. However, power saving and DirectX and black bar point to a graphic driver problem. Do you happen to have a spare gpu to test with? XP x64 is a great system, I've used it for some months the last year. I regret I never switched to it years ago, giving in to claims all over the web that it's a horrible system. This isn't true, at all. It's great and very stable. The only problem is that it's not very supported, when it comes to modern x64 software. Also, a very annoying bug (at least for me) is that you can't get audio files matadata to show in Explorer. See http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9871Please let me know if you fix this, I tried and failed some time ago.

I've been using VMs for more than a year with PAE patch, frequently using about 6GB of memory. No problem at all.

Yeah, I knew that. But what I was trying to say is that I found there are way more sys files in a 2k3 installation. This is the complete list: ac97intc.sysacpiec.sysacpi.sysaec.sysafd.sysamdk6.sysamdk7.sysamdk8.sysasyncmac.sysatapi.sysatmarpc.sysatmarps.sysatmepvc.sysatmlane.sysatmuni.sysaudstub.sysbattc.sysbeep.sysbridge.syscbidf2k.syscdfs.syscdrom.sysclasspnp.sysClusDisk.sysClusNet.sysCmBatt.syscompbatt.syscrcdisk.syscrusoe.sysdfs.sysdiskdump.sysdisk.sysdmboot.sysdmio.sysdmload.sysDMusic.sysdrmkaud.sysdrmk.sysdxapi.sysdxg.sysdxgthk.sysfastfat.sysfdc.sysfips.sysflpydisk.sysfltmgr.sysfs_rec.sysfsvga.sysftdisk.syshidclass.syshidparse.syshidusb.syshttp.sysi8042prt.sysimapi.sysintelide.sysintelppm.sysip6fw.sysipfltdrv.sysipnat.sysipsec.sysisapnp.syskbdclass.syskmixer.sysksecdd.sysks.sysmcd.sysmf.sysmnmdd.sysmodem.sysmouclass.sysmouhid.sysmountmgr.sysmqac.sysmrxdav.sysmrxsmb.sysmsfs.sysmsgpc.sysMSKSSRV.sysMSPCLOCK.sysMSPQM.sysmssmbios.sysmup.sysndis.sysndistapi.sysndisuio.sysndiswan.sysndproxy.sysnetbios.sysnetbt.sysnmnt.sysnpfs.sysntfs.sysnull.sysnwlnkipx.sysnwlnknb.sysnwlnkspx.sysnwrdr.sysoprghdlr.sysp3.sysparport.syspartmgr.sysparvdm.syspciidex.syspci.syspcmcia.syspcntpci5.sysportcls.sysprocessr.syspsched.sysptilink.sysrasacd.sysrasl2tp.sysraspppoe.sysraspptp.sysraspti.sysrawwan.sysrdbss.sysrdpcdd.sysrdpdr.sysrdpwd.sysredbook.sysrmcast.sysrndismp.sysrootmdm.syssacdrv.sysscsiport.syssecdrv.sysserenum.sysserial.syssfloppy.syssfmatalk.syssfmsrv.syssmb.syssmclib.syssonydcam.syssplitter.syssrv.sysstorport.sysstream.sysswenum.sysswmidi.syssysaudio.systape.systcpip6.systcpip.systdi.systdpipe.systdtcp.systermdd.systunmp.sysudfs.sysupdate.sysusb8023.sysusbcamd2.sysusbcamd.sysusbd.sysusbehci.sysusbhub.sysusbintel.sysusbohci.sysusbport.sysVBoxGuest.sysVBoxMouse.sysVBoxSF.sysVBoxVideo.sysvgapnp.sysvga.sysvideoprt.sysvolsnap.syswanarp.syswatchdog.syswdmaud.syswlbs.syswmilib.sysws2ifsl.sys

I'd like to know from Dibya how he chose the sys files to replace. I installed win2k3 in a VM some time ago, and I collected all of the sys files there. There are many more than those included in Dibya's addon. Just asking.

Hi Dibya, could you please state which sys files you replaced exactly? Thanks.

I would try to replace usbhub.sys first, that's strongly advised.

Just an update to say that for me it's been working very well for 4-5 months. No BSODs or other major issues. I often have a couple of VMs running, along with a 1GB firefox session. This way I often have 5-6GB in use. I wanted to point out that I've just solved the issue I had with usb 2.0 ports. After I used to plug a peripheral in one of my usb 2.0 ports, there was another port that completely stopped working until reboot. The other two ports worked well. Until today I had replaced only usbport.sys and usbhub.sys. But I've now replaced usb*.sys files with those provided with the Chinese patch. They come from win2k3 and they solved my problem. For now I'm fine (the only other problem is that I can't format with usb 3.0 ports, but it's related to Nec/Renesas driver, maybe I'll try to install a win7 driver for that). For those who still have issues, in my opinion the best bet would be to replace all *.sys files with those from win2k3. I have now a question: the Chinese patch includes four files that I can't find on my installation. They are: 1) usb8023x.sys 2) usbohci.sys 3) usbscan.sys 4) usbuhci.sys Do you have those four files? Thanks. Edit: another thing. I have two files (usbcamd.sys and usbcamd2.sys) that aren't replaced by the Chinese patch. What do you think I must do? My webcam is working fine (even though I believe it uses a third party driver). Thanks.

As TELVM said, the PAE overhead isn't probably noticeable by the user.

Were you using the page file in unallocated RAM? With 8GB RAM physically installed in a 32-bit system, I thought I needed PAE to “open up” (i.e. make available) all 8GB; from there the plan was to use 4GB for RAM in the conventional sense, and use Ramdisk to set up the other (unallocated) 4GB for the page file. Yes, I was. I used Primo Ramdisk for that. It can create a ram drive in unallocated memory. No need for PAE if that's what you're after. But be aware that xp doesn't let programs swap very much.

Indeed, but if you guys don't encounter critical (to you) problems with usb devices, you may be sure that it's worth it. PAE works quite well, better than a page file on a ram drive. For example, VirtualBox can't use page file, but takes advantage of PAE. Ps: also, xp doesn't use the page file very well, imho, because it tries to avoid swapping data to the page file, so you will hardly benefit from your page file even if you put it on a ram drive. I know because I used that solution for a couple of years before trying the PAE patch.

I suggest that you guys use the Chinese patch. It's straightforward and also does the best job, apparently.

Yes, same for me. I improved my xp installation through the years and PAE is a great chance to keep it alive and avoid hassle. Ram limit is the only downside I see in my xp.

Did you replace any other file, other than those I uploaded yesterday? However, I've just noticed that some of my usb ports don't work (nothing happens when I plug) with 2k3 usbport.sys and usbhub.sys. This is with or without PAE. The only way to get them working is to restore xp usbport.sys and usbhub.sys. I'll try to replace all the files I uploaded (up to now I had replaced only those two .sys) and see if it fixes my issue. Copying all 2k3 .sys is another option, indeed...

Some time ago I stumbled upon this set of files that supposedly need to be replaced. I don't remember if I found it on a chinese site or on overclock.net. I haven't used it up to now, but here you are.

Well, in my case they do work with PAE (2D and 3D benchmarks yield the same result as without PAE). It's the /3GB switch that breaks everything, WITH OR WITHOUT PAE.

Thanks. I've just tried the /3GB switch (also paired with the /userva switch), but it doesn't work with my laptop. With only the /3GB, the boot stalls with the bar continuously loading. If I add the /userva, it boots to desktop but there's a problem with the graphics (very low resolution and very low number of colors). Don't know if maybe the Intel HD3000 graphics driver is at fault. However, I've read that it's quite uncommon fot the /3GB switch to work on laptops.

Given we have enabled PAE, how could we make a single process use more than 2GB of memory? Do we still need to use the /3GB switch in boot.ini? Or is it enough to set the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in the executable?

Thanks guys for the newer usbhub.sys!

Ok, I did some preliminary testing. At first I checked overall performance with Passmark PerformanceTest (http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm), a light but complete benchmarking suite. 2D and 3D graphics scores improved a little, compared to non-PAE system. Memory scores didn't change. SSD speed (with AHCI driver) didn't change. Good! Daemon Tools also seems to work. I mounted an ISO with Daemon Tools, opened ImgBurn and created an ISO of the virtual drive with that, finally compared the content of the new ISO with that of the original ISO and it's the same (MD5 compare). Eventually I find the first issue. I have an USB3.0 controller (with NEC chipset) and, while I can transfer data to and from attached drives, I can't format them. Not a big issue, honestly, but "upsetting" nonetheless. Now, let's see how long it takes to the first BSoD!

Thanks dencorso, I think I'm fine with what I have, then. I have a 5.2.3790.3959 usbhub.sys and in the properties it mentions SP2. I've just patched my main system (until now it was only on VM) and it booted just fine. It's a Lenovo notebook. I used ntkl64G and hal64G from the Chinese patch (I grabbed them from the VM and manually put them in system32), created an entry in boot.ini with /kernel and /hal switches, substituted usbport.sys and usbhub.sys. - 8GB ram detected (not stress-tested it yet, though) - webcam working, even though it doesn't use usbvideo.sys driver

Where to find the latest usbhub.sys from win2k3? It's not included in KB2862330. Edit: also, in this Chinese forum they seem to say the ide driver needs to be substituted too: I'm on AHCI, though. Let's hope iastor.sys doesn't need to be substituted.

Hi xrayer, check the screens I posted yesterday, if you haven't already seen them. I pretty much found the same info as you. I'm on a localized version (italian). Considering what you found here: and what I found in the same position, we can assume the patch lowers those values by 1. Those values also depend on the localization. About this: it seems to me that the patch does F2E7 - 2740 = CBA7 Confirmed if you look at my screenshot: for my localization it's 812C - 2740 = 59EC This can't be random...

Thanks guys for your insight. You're right, dencorso, some testing ought to be done before studying the new patching method. I also saw that the Chinese patch only changes usbport and usbhub drivers (using win2k3 versions), nothing more. Does this mean that usbvideo now works? I'm quite skeptycal, but who knows... Testing this patch is the only thing to do before speculating. Oh, I forgot to thank you dencorso for the instructions you provided here. I was able to patch my localized files with that. I also used this (thanks to Acheron), otherwise the boot got stuck with the loading bar loading over and over.