memory size

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Guest

I have a Dell XPS system with 4GB memory, why does both XP and vista only
recognize 2.5GB, I upgraded to Vista but with the same results

Is there a setting that I am missing? I ran memory check everything was OK.
I also checked my performance it says 4.8 what ever that means.
 
Lee said:
I have a Dell XPS system with 4GB memory, why does both XP and vista only
recognize 2.5GB, I upgraded to Vista but with the same results

Is there a setting that I am missing? I ran memory check everything was
OK.
Click to expand...

This is normal for 32-bit windows. It's a limitation of 32-bit addressing
and a fault in the OS for not reporting that 4GB is installed (even though
only 2.5GB is available for programs). You would need 64-bit to fully
utilise the 4GB.
I also checked my performance it says 4.8 what ever that means.
Click to expand...

That's very respectable!

--
And loving it,

-Q
______________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email)
 
This is normal for 32-bit windows. It's a limitation of 32-bit addressing
and a fault in the OS for not reporting that 4GB is installed (even though
only 2.5GB is available for programs).
Click to expand...

True, though the amount of "lost" RAM is typically between 364Mb & 512Mb -
losing 1.5Gb seems a bit excessive to me...
 
Lee,
Be happy, my Dell XPS 600 w/ 4GB only shows up as 2045 MB. According to Dell
that's all the BIOS supports when you have an SLI motherboard on a 32-bit
OS. <s> So while I've got a 5.1 rating, 2GB of my memory sits quietly
unused!

Rick
 
It isn't unused necessarily. It is being used by things like the PCI BIOS
and other BIOS cards you may have on the machine. If you have shared memory
on the video card which laptops often have there is some reserved there.
Many BIOS's will let you remap, so check your bios settings.
 
This really does not apply to this problem, but I thought it would be a good
time to point out that one cool little trick of Vista is that you can plug
in a flash drive (thumb drive) and use it as RAM. For example, let's say you
have a 2gig flash drive, you can plug it in to a Vista system, and Vista
will ask if you want to use it as storage or RAM. If you click RAM, your
computer now instantly has an extra 2 gigs of RAM. It runs about as fast as
a regular mem stick. Just thought I would add that juicy tid-bit.
 
This is normal for 32-bit windows. It's a limitation of 32-bit addressing
and a fault in the OS for not reporting that 4GB is installed (even though
only 2.5GB is available for programs). You would need 64-bit to fully
utilise the 4GB.


That's very respectable!
Click to expand...

No, a 32-bit system can adressing 4 GB memory. There have to be an other
reason. Or it is the fault that you said.
 
Unless "you" have allocated RAM to be used as video RAM in your bios, there
is nothing you can do.

It is the way 32 bit hardware and software (the operating system) use the
RAM. Some M/B's and chipsets allocate more than others to be used
specifically for the system. This RAM, though used by the system, is not
available for use by installed programs.

People who use 4 gig of RAM with 32 bit Windows typically see approximately
2.8 gig to about 3.5 gig available for programs. This includes the system
information type programs that show you installed RAM.


--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User
 
No, it doesn't.. ReadyBoost is an area of fast cache on a flash drive, and
is used in place of a similar cache on a regular HDD.. flash drive cache is
way faster than HDD cache..

There is NO replacement for RAM..


zaph0d beeblebrox said:
This really does not apply to this problem, but I thought it would be a
good time to point out that one cool little trick of Vista is that you can
plug in a flash drive (thumb drive) and use it as RAM. For example, let's
say you have a 2gig flash drive, you can plug it in to a Vista system, and
Vista will ask if you want to use it as storage or RAM. If you click RAM,
your computer now instantly has an extra 2 gigs of RAM. It runs about as
fast as a regular mem stick. Just thought I would add that juicy tid-bit.
Click to expand...

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/
 
Today, Qu0ll made these interesting comments ...
This is normal for 32-bit windows. It's a limitation of
32-bit addressing and a fault in the OS for not reporting that
4GB is installed (even though only 2.5GB is available for
programs). You would need 64-bit to fully utilise the 4GB.
Click to expand...

XP's Task Manager says my 4 gig 32 bit machine has 3,144,112 KB,
or 3 gig total, with about 2.5 available with my standard light
load of installed apps and Windows.

This was debated to death in an XP NG and it appears that people,
including me, need both a newer motherboard et al AND a 64-bit
O/S to get more than 3 gig available. I understand bit length
math and want a quad-core machine next, but the cost is way too
high right now, plus all of my software and legacy hardware
drivers would be obsoleted requiring new spending for upgrades,
or not be able to take advantage of a longer address space, which
isn't cost effective to me right now.
 
Hey, Lee... try using the search function to search the NG... this has been
gone over time and time again... not dissin' ya... just recommending a
faster way to get answers to your questions.

Lang
 
Lee said:
I have a Dell XPS system with 4GB memory, why does both XP and vista only
recognize 2.5GB, I upgraded to Vista but with the same results

Is there a setting that I am missing? I ran memory check everything was
OK.
I also checked my performance it says 4.8 what ever that means.
Click to expand...

This issue is covered in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us
 
In message <#[email protected]> "\"NachtWacht\""
No, a 32-bit system can adressing 4 GB memory. There have to be an other
reason. Or it is the fault that you said.
Click to expand...

What true, your hardware takes up a chunk of that 32-bit address space,
limiting the amount of RAM available to the operating system to a
substantially lower figure on some motherboards.
 
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