4gb RAM not showing up

[Guest]

I have 4gb of RAM installed on my system. During bootup, my BIOS identifies
correctly that I have 4gb. My motherboard supports 4gb. I have the latest
motherboard drivers installed, and they are compatible with Vista. However,
Vista says I only have 2,301.75 MB. What's going on?

 

[Guest]

Sorry, forgot to mention I have Vista Ultimate, 32bit.

 

[BSchnur]

2.3G -- that's a truly odd number. With most motherboard BIOS
configurations, seeing something between 3G and 3.5G with 4G is the
norm.

 

[Troy McClure]

OMG... this couldnt possibly be discussed any more. PLEASE google it, or
search the NG.

nothing is "going on"... its simple math, and how it relates to 32bit Vista

 

[Guest]

Wow man, you're a prick. Get off your ass and get a girlfriend or something.

 

[ghstbstr]

You have to a 64-bit windows OS for you to be able to use 4GB of memory in
your PC. A 32-bit windows OS only allows 2GB of memory, also if you leave
that 4GB of memory in your PC with the 32-bit windows OS will have some
errors and issues with that.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I thought that 2.3gb was odd as well. However, because I'm running two
768mb video cards, that might be causing the odd math.

ghstbstr, I thought 32-bit Vista supported up to 4gbs, whereas 64-bit up to
128gbs(or some such number)?

 

[JP]

1. Vista 32 bit will support up to 4GB of RAM. Not sure where some of these people
are getting their info from. (scroll down to the middle of the page - it talks about
memory)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

2. There is a known issue with Vista (and Win2003) reporting 4GB of RAM.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929580/en-us

Do yourself a favor. Check the Microsoft Knowledgebase and the MS Vista
web pages first. Info you get in NGs is not always the most reliable.

 

[Rock]

You have to a 64-bit windows OS for you to be able to use 4GB of memory in
your PC. A 32-bit windows OS only allows 2GB of memory, also if you leave
that 4GB of memory in your PC with the 32-bit windows OS will have some
errors and issues with that.

This is incorrect. x86 versions of Vista and XP can use 4GB of memory.
Some of the memory is used by the system and hardware, so less than 4GB will
be seen in the OS, how much less depends on the hardware. But all 4GB can
be used.

 

[ghstbstr]

Okay "JP" and "Rock", well I knew about that Microsoft Article for about
aweek now and I have tried what it says more then once and it does not work
as all I get is errors and issues from Windows and yes my
motherboard(M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition) is capable of 8GB of memory.
So then tell why I can't get it to work? Because if I could get it to work
it would make me very happy, but so far I have had no luck. So whatever info
that I could be provided with would be great.

1. Vista 32 bit will support up to 4GB of RAM. Not sure where some of
these people
are getting their info from. (scroll down to the middle of the page - it
talks about
memory)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

2. There is a known issue with Vista (and Win2003) reporting 4GB of RAM.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929580/en-us

Do yourself a favor. Check the Microsoft Knowledgebase and the MS Vista
web pages first. Info you get in NGs is not always the most reliable.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Not true. The OS uses all 4GB but hides a portion from user programs. The
portion you see is the user space, but all is used.

 

[Rock]

Okay "JP" and "Rock", well I knew about that Microsoft Article for about
aweek now and I have tried what it says more then once and it does not
work as all I get is errors and issues from Windows and yes my
motherboard(M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition) is capable of 8GB of
memory. So then tell why I can't get it to work? Because if I could get it
to work it would make me very happy, but so far I have had no luck. So
whatever info that I could be provided with would be great.

Not that I'm saying I can help you, but to begin with it's not clear what
your problem is. You can't get what to work?

 

[ghstbstr]

What no help on this issue?!

Okay "JP" and "Rock", well I knew about that Microsoft Article for about
aweek now and I have tried what it says more then once and it does not
work as all I get is errors and issues from Windows and yes my
motherboard(M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition) is capable of 8GB of
memory. So then tell why I can't get it to work? Because if I could get it
to work it would make me very happy, but so far I have had no luck. So
whatever info that I could be provided with would be great.

 

[Jane C]

Have you got the latest BIOS for the motherboard, released on 18 January?