OS showing 1.92GB RAM usable, have 4GB

[Pikka]

Check if you have some strange options in bios activated

I went all "Hey BIOS I hate you and you hate me but I'll mess with you" on it and turned everything at NorthBridge configuration to either "Disable" or have chosen the lowest option and - voila - suddenly I have:

"Installed memory (RAM): 4,00 GB (2,99 GB usable)"

CPU-Z shows only 1 graphic card (the Radeon) so I guess I disabled the onboard CPU graphics. I understand that those 2,99 GB is the top number I can have because of the 1GB my graphics card has, right?

[Cronch]

As TheRabidDeer said, upping to a 64-bit system won't necessarily guarantee better performance, but you may notice the extra available RAM help quite a bit if you multitask. Bad things tend to happen when you run out of available RAM, so expanding that helps prevent those bad things.

edit to reply to Pikka's latest post: Yep, the 1GB from your video card looks like it's the last big chunk being taken out now. There won't be any way to get around that without moving to 64-bit unfortunately.

[Pikka]

System - Rating (Windows experience index) for RAM went from 5.5 to 7.9, a nice boost for free I reckon

I guess the problem is solved, many thanks to all of you who helped, people on these forums are really awesome *hat down*

[Cthuhlu]

Win 7 32 should support 4 gigs. I would memtest it. I actually had a huge problem on my rig a few weeks ago. I memtested it and found out that one of the sticks was completely boned.
http://www.memtest86.com/
You can throw it on a small flash drive (make sure to boot your computer from it).
Put one stick at a time in the first RAM slot (normally closest to your proc) and let the program run, if you see a bunch of errors you know the stick is bad.

[Drihan]

32 bit systems can only utilize a maximum of 3 GB RAM. 64 bit systems can handle 16+ GB RAM. Just swap to Win7 64 bit and you'll be able to use all of it.

[Holyshnikies]

You need to install windows 7 64 bit. 32 bit can only handle 3 gb of ram. 64 bit can handle 128 gb of ram. I solved your problem

[Cronch]

Win 7 32 should support 4 gigs. I would memtest it. I actually had a huge problem on my rig a few weeks ago. I memtested it and found out that one of the sticks was completely boned.
http://www.memtest86.com/
You can throw it on a small flash drive (make sure to boot your computer from it).
Put one stick at a time in the first RAM slot (normally closest to your proc) and let the program run, if you see a bunch of errors you know the stick is bad.

While I would say it's good to memtest any new memory, in this particular case it probably isn't necessary. Win7 does support 4GB of memory in the 32-bit version, but that includes ALL memory, as has been said a few times in this thread. RAM is the first on the chopping block to make everything else fit within that 4GB. His system report has always recognized that there are 4GB plugged in, but it takes away from that which reduces the amount available.

[Cronch]

You need to install windows 7 64 bit. 32 bit can only handle 3 gb of ram. 64 bit can handle 128 gb of ram. I solved your problem

Actually a 64-bit system can handle much more than that. The theoretical byte limit for 64-bit systems is 16 exabytes. That's 16,777,216 gigabytes. Obviously no current technology can come even close to that. :P

[Deleted]

Its nothing to do with your 32bit operating system.

I had the same problem a few weeks back and found out a ram socket on my mobo was dead. Try switching the ram block to another slot.

If its a laptop then RMA it.

[Cronch]

Its nothing to do with your 32bit operating system.

I had the same problem a few weeks back and found out a ram socket on my mobo was dead. Try switching the ram block to another slot.

If its a laptop then RMA it.

Actually it's everything to do with his 32-bit OS. His Windows report is saying it sees all 4GB of RAM that he has installed. The only chunk being cut out now is the 1GB to make room for his video card's memory. He's seeing what almost every 32-bit user with a similar setup will see in their systems.

[TaintedOne]

Wrong Wrong and Wrong again... need 64bit windows if you want to use more then 3gb of ram.

2³² = 4,294,967,296 bytes
4,294,967,296 / (1,024 x 1,024) = 4,096 MB = 4GB

Just math it out and we get our answer

[sizzlinsauce]

32 bit can handle 4gb..

sure it can. but who in their right mind gets ultimate as 32bit?...

[Confined]

Msconfig -> boot -> Advanced Options -> either disable or fix your maximum memory settings

[Deleted]

32 bit can handle 4gb..

I had the same problem as op since im computer brain dead and installing 64 instead of 32 gave me acess to all my 8gb ram instead of 4 like my old computer.

[Deleted]

Msconfig -> boot -> Advanced Options -> either disable or fix your maximum memory settings

I registered just to say thank you for this advice. Had a weird case of a laptop only using 1932MB of physical memory max. Struggled a lot with this laptop for various reason, the memory usage/upgrade being the last one.

Somehow got to your 1 line post on how to fix a similar problem, applied, and fixed. Awesomeness.

Cheers.

Laptop was win 7 64-bit, Asus k50c.

[Daethz]

Suggest you upgrade, that system sounds like a ten year old $500 system on par with a xbox 360.
edit: realized incredibly old thread

[zhero]

I registered just to say thank you for this advice. Had a weird case of a laptop only using 1932MB of physical memory max. Struggled a lot with this laptop for various reason, the memory usage/upgrade being the last one.

Somehow got to your 1 line post on how to fix a similar problem, applied, and fixed. Awesomeness.

Cheers.

Laptop was win 7 64-bit, Asus k50c.

next time check the post date before resurrecting a 7 year old thread