Resource monitor reports 2mb hardware reserve

[zachanscom]

hi, my computer freezes randomly, i've ran memtest and tried different timings and nothing has remedied this. so i looked at the resource monitor for my memory and it's reporting about 500mb reserved for hardware, and the rest is mostly in-use or on standby, with no free memory available.

so i removed a ram from one dimm and now my resource monitor reports only 2mb is being used for hardware. but i have a lot more free memory available.

is this normal?

if so, my hypothesis is that since win7 32bit uses only 3.5gb at most of the 4gbs i had installed, the rest of that memory is used for hardware reserve. but instead of using the available 3.5, it incorrectly calculates the available memory as 4gbs and uses memory which is unavailable to it, and this causes freezing.

i have removed one ram, and now my hardware reserve reports only 2mb, and i have more free memory available. but i am afraid any time now the system will freeze again and i'll be back at the beginning.

it would be great if microsoft could come clean and admits that it has a freezing problem so i can stop screwing around with my hardware and accidentally destroy something.

 

[saaiello]

Microsoft does not have a problem most of the freezing and blue screen problems people have is user error or hardware malfunctions. I have been running windows 7 since it was released in October and never had a problem that wasn't caused by me or the hardware Microsoft actually got it right on this version of windows.

Can you please list your motherboard, graphics card, and memory.

 

[zachanscom]

i7 930: ga-ex58-udr3
9800gtx+ 512mb
3 gbs patriot pc3-10666/1333elk

updated windows, bios, and drivers.

i left the ram on auto in bios and it is set to 1066 with timing of 8-8-8-20. however i took a look at the trc and it says 27. should that be 28?

 

[zachanscom]

would you folks be so kind to look at your resource monitors and tell me how much memory is reserved for hardware? thanks.

 

[zachanscom]

ctrl+alt+delete>task manager>performance tab>resource monitor

thanks.

 

[Gcracker47]

would you folks be so kind to look at your resource monitors and tell me how much memory is reserved for hardware? thanks.

mine says: Hardware Reserved 1291 MB.

I am having the same issue. I think its because i have been playing more games recently. So it probably does need that ram for graphics. I only started to troubleshoot this after having minor performance issues.

control panel\system says i have 4.00GB (2.74 usable)

specs:
i7 920 2.97 GHz
4 GB DDR3
Zotac Nvidia 250 GTS w/ 1GB (this one is for my main monitor)
BFG Nvidia 9800 GT OC w/ 1GB

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.