4GB RAM installed, but see 3GB...

[e]

Presumably this is old business, but not for me.

I have a Sony SZ670 with the T7700 at 2.4GHz and 4GB of
RAM installed, and Vista Business. 32 bit.

Computer > Properties shows RAM at 3070MB.

Is it actually USING only 3GB? Is there a reason and a
way to improve utilization?

???

 

[Alias]

Presumably this is old business, but not for me.

I have a Sony SZ670 with the T7700 at 2.4GHz and 4GB of RAM installed,
and Vista Business. 32 bit.

Computer > Properties shows RAM at 3070MB.

Is it actually USING only 3GB? Is there a reason and a way to improve
utilization?

???

What you are experiencing is normal. Don't worry about it.

Alias

 

[bill]

look in your BIOS when you restart machine and verify that 4GB is
recognized.

 

[Dustin Harper]

Here is a great explaination:
http://blogs.msdn.com/dcook/archive/2007/03/25/who-ate-my-memory.aspx

Basically, it is a 32 bit limitation.

 

[Robert Martin]

Unless your using the 64 bit version of vista (or XP)
you'll only be able to use 3GB.
That is the limit.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Presumably this is old business, but not for me.

I have a Sony SZ670 with the T7700 at 2.4GHz and 4GB of
RAM installed, and Vista Business. 32 bit.

Computer > Properties shows RAM at 3070MB.

Is it actually USING only 3GB? Is there a reason and a
way to improve utilization?

Yes, it's only using 3GB. No, there's no way to improve it (although
for most people, there would be no difference in performance between
having 3GB and 4GB).

All 32-bit versions of Windows (XP as well as Vista), even though
they have a 4GB address space, can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but is
usually around 3.1GB. You got a little more than the average.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
address space to map it too.

 

[e]

Thanks for the info and the informative link.

I'm very satisfied with the way this unit is working,
but of course thought there might be... more.

 

[Lorin]

Worry about it!
Some drivers cannot work reliably with this configuration.
If you use 2G you probably will have no problems.
Add another 2G and get ready for problems until the stupid peripheral mfrs
figure out how to deal with Vista or MS fixes it all.
Vista is stupid about RAM and drivers and does not seem to know what to do
about it.
I had one driver supplier admit that their problems were totally due to
Vista not knowing how to adjust memory when over 2G is used.
This is still not resolved on my PC with 4G running Ultimate.
I started with 2G and had zero problems with a fairly complex PC.
I decided to add 2G more and all hell broke loose.

 

[e]

I like Vista Business, and can certainly buy Ultimate if
there's a reason to do so. What are the advantages? And
can Ultimate somehow recognize 4GB of RAM??

 

[Drew]

The edition of Vista depends upon what you are looking for....For me
personally I chose Vista Business as a base and I play a lot of games as
well as other things...My system runs 4gigs of DDR 800 even though my system
only shows 3.325 gigs..That is a limit of any 32bit windows system as far as
I have ever known...I also have a 64bit version of Vista business (ordered
for $10 more) but never got around to replacing my 32bit version...As long
as drivers for 64bit are scarce I have found it wise to stay with what I
have..(recently there have been 64bit drivers released)..Back to your
original post I believe it depends on your motherboard as to whether you can
find a work around to your limit.....just my 3 cents

 

[Kevpan815]

What you are experiencing is normal. Don't worry about it.

Alias

What You Are Experiencing Is Stupidity. Just FYI. I Was Using Ubuntu On My
PC And Now I Need To Remove Ubuntu Off My PC And Install Windows Vista Back
On My PC So I Can Work. My Mom Wants To Use An Operating System That Just
Works And She Can't Use Ubuntu.
Just FYI

 

[Alias]

What You Are Experiencing Is Stupidity. Just FYI. I Was Using Ubuntu
On My PC And Now I Need To Remove Ubuntu Off My PC And Install Windows
Vista Back On My PC So I Can Work. My Mom Wants To Use An Operating
System That Just Works And She Can't Use Ubuntu.
Just FYI

Who said anything about Ubuntu?

Alias

 

[Richard G. Harper]

The 4gb limit is present in all 32-bit OSes, due to the way the memory is
mapped the final .75gb is not available for use. Only running a 64-bit
version of Windows will resolve the problem but that will bring its own
problems with it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Unless your using the 64 bit version of vista (or XP)
you'll only be able to use 3GB.
That is the limit.

No, that's not correct. How much you can use depends on your hardware
configuration, and usually varies between 3.0 and 3.5GB. See my
earlier message in this thread for an explanation of why.

 

[C.B.]

Presumably this is old business, but not for me.

I have a Sony SZ670 with the T7700 at 2.4GHz and 4GB of RAM installed, and
Vista Business. 32 bit.

Computer > Properties shows RAM at 3070MB.

Is it actually USING only 3GB? Is there a reason and a way to improve
utilization?

???

e,

Your computer will not show all 4GB because approximately 600MB-1000MB
of the address space is reserved for the use of your hardware, even though
your hardware will have some memory of its own. Since the address space is
reserved and off-limits to you there is no path leading to it and therefore
it will not show up as a full 4GB.

This issue will be resolved when Vista Service Pack 1 is released. Your
computer will then show all 4GB, although you will still have the ability to
use only 3.0GB to 3.4GB. This is a limitation of the 32bit architecture. If
you wish to be able to use all of the 4GB or more you must use a 64bit OS,
provided you have a 64bit processor.

I hope this helps you understand. Have a nice day.

C.B.

 

[e]

e,

Your computer will not show all 4GB because approximately
600MB-1000MB of the address space is reserved for the use of your
hardware, even though your hardware will have some memory of its own.
Since the address space is reserved and off-limits to you there is no
path leading to it and therefore it will not show up as a full 4GB.

This issue will be resolved when Vista Service Pack 1 is released.
Your computer will then show all 4GB, although you will still have the
ability to use only 3.0GB to 3.4GB. This is a limitation of the 32bit
architecture. If you wish to be able to use all of the 4GB or more you
must use a 64bit OS, provided you have a 64bit processor.

I hope this helps you understand. Have a nice day.

C.B.

Good answers all, and thank you.

This unit seems to work perfectly, whether that memory
is all used or not, but who doesn't want... more?

 

[KevinD]

Go 64 Bit Vista.....its quite stable and just about everything works on it
beautifully.......HOWEVER more adoption of this O/S will force Software and
hardware developers to deal with it. We need to move on to 64 Bit
computing.

 

[jorgen]

Go 64 Bit Vista.....its quite stable and just about everything works on
it beautifully.......HOWEVER more adoption of this O/S will force
Software and hardware developers to deal with it. We need to move on
to 64 Bit computing.

A 64-bit OS is not always the solution. The hardware must also support
more than 4GB. And it must also be able to remap memory, so you don't
have overlaps in the memory map. A great deal of laptops don't have this
support, yet.

 

[Brynt]

There may be a solution in the new Vista SP1. The document I downloaded from
MS called Notable_Changes_in_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1.doc states the
following:
"With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed
rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS.
Therefore 32-bit systems equipped with 4GB of RAM will report all 4GB in many
places throughout the OS, such as the System Control Panel. However, this
behavior is dependent on having a compatible BIOS, so not all users may
notice this change. "

Weather this will actually make the whole 4GB available remains to be seen.
But I certainly hope that it does.

Brynt

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

There may be a solution in the new Vista SP1. The document I downloaded from
MS called Notable_Changes_in_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1.doc states the
following:
"With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed
rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS.
Therefore 32-bit systems equipped with 4GB of RAM will report all 4GB in many
places throughout the OS, such as the System Control Panel. However, this
behavior is dependent on having a compatible BIOS, so not all users may
notice this change. "

Weather this will actually make the whole 4GB available remains to be seen.
But I certainly hope that it does.

It does not. It merely changes the way it's reported. As far as I'm
concerned, it's a step in the wrong direction. It changes nothing
except the reporting and what it will now report is extremely
misleading. It will be less likely to make people ask "what happened
to the rest of my RAM," but leaves them with the wrong impression
entirely.

If they wanted to change this, they should have changed the reporting
to be something like this:

RAM installed: 4096MB
RAM unusable because address space used by hardware: 1000MB
RAM usable by Windows: 3096MB


There's probably a better way to say "RAM unusable because address
space used by hardware," but they should not obscure what's happening
the way that it will apparently be reported in SP1.