Computer recognizing RAM?

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So I've been using my computer for almost a year now, and I finally decided to upgrade my RAM. I bought from newegg so I bought 2 more gigs (2 gigs originally, 4 gigs total now. well 4.x gigs) of the exact same model ram from them.

I put them in, booted up and it doesn't seem to be recognizing all of the ram.

My Computer > right click > properties: Lists my ram as 2.75gb ram (Physical address Extension)

Start > programs >accessories > system tools >system information: Lists Total Physical Memory 4096, and Available physical memory 2.32gb.

Bios sees all 4 gigs.

This is the Motherboard and RAM. I'm running windows XP pro. My Video Card, and my Processor

I updated the BIOS, checked for windows update, de-fragged, played with boot.ini a little and so far nothing I've tried seems to have fixed the problem. I realize XP won't recognize the full 4096 ram but I'd love it to see as much as it can. I Google researched a little, and so far not much was turned up that saved the day. it seems most tech support forums devolve into arguments about how much RAM the operating system is capable of seeing and they seem to forget about finding a solution to the original problem.


I haven't played with putting just three of them in yet (I'm sure I will tonight) but any advice or information would be ridiculously awesome.

[MrGraham]

32 bit XP won't see it, I believe? Someone correct me, quick!

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oh shit, it's like the tech forum arguments all over again! damn you!

[Lusiphur]

If it aint windows xp 64 then it wont recognise more than 3 gig of RAM.

Simple answer.

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is that 3 gigs flat or 3072?

[Eomer]

I believe that you also must subtract video card RAM from the 3 gigs to find out what Windows XP will actually recognize. I'm certainly not an expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

[Twobit Whore]

It's been gone over a million times.. just google 4gb 32bit os.

In summary, a 32bit OS can use only 4GB of RAM in total. This includes all address spaces, such as video card RAM, caches, hardware that reserves spaces and etc.

If you have a 512MB video card then you'll be getting around 3GB.

[Kaio]

You are going to see 2^32 - 2^29 when accounting for a 512mb video card (which is 3758096384). Theres gonna more losses due to miscellaneous small things that use memory like onboard sound but that shouldn't really be more then 100 megs.

Your task manager should show around 3600000 KB and your start menu close to 3.5 gigs. You are getting significantly below that meaning your computer is addressing memory to something weird. Most motherboards auto-shutoff any onboard video (or so i thought) so I'm not really sure at all about what is using so much ram. edit: Also cpu cache is minuscule and so is most other memory (some dedicated to sound but nowhere near half a gig) uses.

We went over this so many times here I can't believe so many suggesting anything around a 3 gig limit =P.

I guess I would load up the bios first and make sure a lot of ram isn't dedicated to odd things of the sort.

[Twobit Whore]

Vista 32 actually has a 3.12GB limit with 4GB because it automatically reserves the rest for everything else. If it needs more it will take it but you can't go over 3.12GB no matter what.

One thing you don't realize Kaio is that everything in a computer needs address space to work. This is reserved so that it is always there and the chips and circuits and everything can always function on demand.

[Kaio]

Oh, that sucks ass for vista 32... but it looks like he has xp and i have xp and my computer seems to recognize 3.5 gigs (about 3660000 kb about 80-100 megs more then whats taken by the videocard--didn't bother doing the full math).

I'm well aware of the address space everything else needs but it's really minuscule when compared to video/sound. I'm just shocked he has used up like 800 megs of address space past the video card.

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Originally Posted by Kaio

You are getting significantly below that meaning your computer is addressing memory to something weird.

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I guess I would load up the bios first and make sure a lot of ram isn't dedicated to odd things of the sort.

Any advice on handling this? I'm consistently reporting the numbers up there.

also:

My Video Card, and my Processor

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Kaio

I'm just shocked he has used up like 800 megs of address space past the video card.

That's pretty common really. When you research the issue you will see most people commenting that they only see 2.75-3.25GB of RAM.

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I'm going to try to take out one of the sticks when I get home. I'd read a lot of people on the internets who said that their machines would list more ram if they had only 3 sticks in as opposed to all four. I'm curious if mine will follow suit.

[Kaio]

Unless you give a full device list from the device manager we can't do much else. What version of xp do you have, i've only experience with pro. Not sure if home does anything weird.

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xp pro.

I pulled out one of the sticks and now it displays as

My Computer > right click > properties: Lists my ram as 2.75gb ram (Physical address Extension)

Start > programs >accessories > system tools >system information: Lists Total Physical Memory 3072, and Available physical memory 2.36gb.

heh so the same listed for the Properties, and .04 more for available physical memory.

Going to put that other stick back in now i suppose

what other information would be helpful? would a dxdiag help? or any other key devices that could make a difference? anything i should try to tweak in bios?