Another Hardware Reserved Ram question

[Malachy1980]

Okay, I've done pretty much everything I can find online and I'm still having a problem. I've got 8 gigs of ram, and 4.8 of it is reserved for hardware, leaving me with 3.2 (around there, sometimes 3.25, sometimes 3.15) RAM available. If I have only two sticks in, I still have 3.2 Gigs of RAM available, so it's something in the software.

I checked the BIOS already, I cannot remap anything, whatever that means. But the BIOS recognizes all of the RAM.

I'm running a motherboard, I can't remember, but it runs Dell 1.0.10 BIOS, which is older, but viable and fully up to date. I checked with the board's company and picked up new RAM that was listed as compatible. The board maxes out at 8 gigs, according to the specs.

I'm using A-Tech 2 gig Ram Sticks DDR2, four of them. They are all good, I have tested them in multiple fashions, Memtest, Windows Memory Diagnostic, and good old physical testing.

I did the standard checks on msconfig. I have nothing running on the boot, the maximum memory check showed that it wasn't checked. I have futzed around with the regedit fixes that are out there with regards to superfetch, clearpagefile and so on.

I have shut down everything I am physically capable of shutting down in Windows. I'm running a cleanly installed, validated version of 64bit Windows 10 Home (freshly downloaded off of the Windows site). Unless there is something with the type that I downloaded. I backed up everything and completely wiped my harddrive (barring a full format and rebuild, which I'm irritated enough to be considering).

 

[Colif]

What model Dell is it? or is it Alienware?

Thanks for the quick answer.

If I understand correctly for a Dell Inspiron 530 with the G33M02 motherboard, then the limit of the RAM will depend on the BIOS version. Using the latest BIOS should allow to upgrade and use (given a proper OS) the 8 GB RAM instead of the 4 that originally Dell indicated in their documentation. Did I understood right?

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19287044

this isn't windows but still...

That's a very old machine for 8GB and depending on the exact model it may not support more than 4GB.

The maximum amount of memory is determined by the CPU (and motherboard revision number). Late 530 had quad-core CPUs and those are the only ones in the product line to support up to 8GB RAM (4*2GB, if I'm not mistaken).
- Motherboard's references up to G33M02 (Dell p/n 0RY007) support 4GB only. Therefore:

Only the combo G33M03 motherboard (Dell p/n 0FM586) + quad-core CPU + Ubuntu 64-bit can really work with 8GB RAM in a Dell Inspiron 530.

https://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2274795.html