Why does Windows say my RAM is 960 MB ????

[Paul22000]

I just built a new computer, specs at the bottom. I've been installing stuff like Office etc and everything seems to be working fine.

But when I go into System Properties, it says "960 MB of RAM"

What's that all about?



I wouldn't really care except it looks like it's causing problems. I installed WoW and updated it (took about an hour jeez). Right when I double click the icon to start up the game, BOOM it crashes. Can't even get to the login page.

I say it looks like a RAM issue because it says "the memory could not be read". Full screenshot: http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/8900/wowcrashvj9.jpg

So, why is my system saying 960 MB? Is this bad? Could this be the cause of other problems in my system? (ie WoW crashing)

System Specs:

Mobo: ECS GeForce6100SM-M Motherboard
Video: (On motherboard)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 3800+
RAM: 1 GB Kingston DDR2 (PC 5300) 667 MHz [2x 512 MB]
HD: Maxtor 6L200M0 Serial ATA/150 7200 RPM 8MB

 

[pimpin_games]

Its because your onboard video is using 64MB of your RAM.

 

[wacker]

The onboard video is shared memory. It looks like your system is using 64mb. It shouldn't cause any problems unless you are needing more than 64mb of video or more than 960mb of system memory.

 

[desolationw]

I don't know if WoW is able to run on 6100 64mb integrated graphics but i was able to run BF2 on 6150 128mb integrated graphics and it ran miserably but it worked!

Check your bios, you may be able to turn your shared graphics up to 128mb which could help run WoW and you won't notice any diff losing that 64mb to graphics.

 

[Paul22000]

Ahhhhhh video memory!!!!

Thanks guys

I don't know if WoW is able to run on 6100 64mb integrated graphics but i was able to run BF2 on 6150 128mb integrated graphics and it ran miserably but it worked!

Check your bios, you may be able to turn your shared graphics up to 128mb which could help run WoW and you won't notice any diff losing that 64mb to graphics.

I was running WoW on a P4 2.4 GHz with a GeForce 6200 LE AGP decently. So I figure an onboard 6100 should be fine as well. But I'm not even worried about graphics at the moment; I'm just trying to get to the login screen without crashing!

Anywho, I tried setting the graphics memory to 128 MB in the BIOS and it still crashed. The thing to note is that it's not crashing in the game; it crashes before even opening the program. I double click and BOOM crash.

Well, I'm getting pretty desperate here. I reformatted again (twice in one day, woohoo). Installed WoW the second I got into windows and still no luck.

Tried switching out the RAM as well. Took 1 stick out, still crashed. Swapped out for the other stick, still crashed. Switched stick to the other slot, still crashed. Put the other stick back in, still crashed.

Any ideas?

 

[Paul22000]

Wooo!!!

It was still doing all the same crashes so I decided to put the drivers CD into the computer and install the drivers. Instead of doing the "auto-install" which installs the chipset, restarts, installs the video, restarts, installs the sound, restarts, then lan, ugh... I decided to just install the drivers manually and then restart once and WOOT WoW works!!!

I have no idea why it works now, since when I formatted the first time today, I installed the drivers and it was doing the same crashes. Hmm, maybe the drivers CD that came with the motherboard is f-ed up, or at least the auto-install. Good I decided to just do it myself!!

Woo, thanks all

 

[desolationw]

The only reason not to do the auto install is because of all the annoying restarts! Yeah it is better to do it all at once manually and then restart, saves alot of hassle.

Reformatting 2 times in one day is a big pain in the a*se as i have done it myself. One thing i will add is that the motherboard driver cd could have out of date drivers so it 'would' be better to update them all BUT since you have got it working i wouldn't bother.