Ram Question

[chilly_willy_73]

hey there my name is Will,

i had a few questions and would ask for your assistance if i may?

i have a P4M890-M7 SE Bio-Star Mobo and need assistance in finding what is going on. My Mobo can read maximum of 4gb ram and hold 2 sticks of ram. i have 2 2gb sticks (= 4gb ram) and both are same pc 4200 ddr2 sdram. my pc reads 4gb but only uses 2.68gb ram (graphics card run 1 gb of ram.) im loosing about 1gb somewhere and need to find whats going on with my machine.since Video Ram is seperate from System ram (or at least geeksquad from best buy told me) i should be reading about 3.35gb of ram or higher (since windows uses some ram to operate). i will post a picture of what my pc says to give an idea what is happening.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2my0dv&s=7


need anything else ill do what i can to help resolve this.

 

[henydiah]

Try this way :

1. Go to Start, in the search bar type msconfig and
press enter.
2. System Configuration window will open on the
screen.
3. Click on tab named "boot".
4. Click on "Advanced Options" and uncheck the box
for "Maximum Memory".

 

[henydiah]

If above not working, try check in bios : Enable memory hole in your system bios if mobo supports it.

 

[chilly_willy_73]

max memory already un-checked and memory hole already enabled. anything else you can think of?

thanks for the reply btw

 

[deadcells]

check if your bios has something like "shared video memory". if so... try and disable it since you have a graphics card with its own memory.

 

[chilly_willy_73]

check if your bios has something like "shared video memory". if so... try and disable it since you have a graphics card with its own memory.

found VGA Share Memory Size i disabled it and it still shows 2.68gb ram

also was wondering if Maximum Payload size for Pci Express is ok set at 4096 bytes?

 

[deadcells]

OK... if you're up for some troubleshooting then remove your GC and connect the monitor directly to your MB's VGA output. Once you boot you can check the usable RAM and see if the problem is caused by the GC or something else.

I've seen both scenarios before... where the GC reduces the amount of usable RAM and where it does not. I'm not sure when each occurs but this is just to help rule out all possibilities.

I'm downloading your MB's manual now to see if i can spot any other problem.

 

[deadcells]

P.S... "Maximum Payload.... 4096bytes" is ok.

 

[deadcells]

can't see anything in the bios settings that may cause such a BIG loss in usable RAM. The only thing I can think of is the system (32bit ?) reserving the memory space for the 1GB on your GC card... and the rest for other operations. I know geeksquad told you otherwise...

Sorry i could not be of more help.