Available Memory

[NewUser]

When my computer is booting up it shows 384 Megs of memory. But when I use
System Information it only shows 128 Megs of physical memory. I do have 384
Megs installed on my MB so I am wondering why there is an inconsistency and
how to resolve it.
Thanks for any help.

 

[R. McCarty]

Open Explorer - Navigate to C:, edit Boot.Ini.
If it has a modifier /Maxmem = xxx then your Windows memory
is being manually capped. Remove the entire modifier starting at the /

Be careful editing this file as it is a very critical system file. In fact
before editing you might want to create a copy of the file.

The 384 is a BIOS memory count, there should be no difference
between it and what the XP System Information shows.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, but there was no /maxmem modifier in the boot.ini file.

 

[R. McCarty]

How is your 384 configured ? is it one 256 with a single 128
module or 3-128 modules ?

You should always install the largest module in the 1st memory slot.
Usually, but not always closest to the CPU socket.

While some motherboards have 3-4 slots only 2 can be populated.
Check your owner's manual for the motherboard to see what the
maximum memory installed value is. Also, Some types of memory
sticks cannot be intermixed.

 

[NewUser]

I think that you may have the answer. I'll have to check but I think that I
have one 128 ddr and 2 sdr 128 in different banks. I thought that they were
compatible but maybe not. I'll try removing the ddr chip and see if I get up
to 256. Thanks again for your help.

 

[xe77]

Does your motherboard contain an SiS 735 chipset?

 

[NewUser]

I checked my memory and I had a 256 and 128 pc133 modules installed. I
removed them and replaced them with the 256 in bank 0. Now I am getting 256
Megs from system information but still 384 from cmos. But that is twice as
good as before. Thanks.

 

[NewUser]

My motherboard book says via vt8375 and via vt8235.
Thanks.

 

[Steve Nielsen]

That's proably it. XP is very picky about hardware and definitely about
RAM. Mixing different types is not recommended anyway, but definitely
not with XP.

Steve

 

[xe77]

What is the Make/Model of this Mainboard?
Which BIOS revision are you using?
Is this the first time you've attempted to exceed 256 MB?

 

[NewUser]

It is an Elements V6FP and is supposed to take up to 1 Gig of ram. The bios
was current as of a few months ago, but I will check again. I have had that
memory in all along but never remember checking it in system info before
today. The board is about 18 mo. old but I upgraded to XP about 5 mo. ago.
Thanks for your time.

 

[xe77]

Try clearing the CMOS. Use the jumper on the mainboard as
specified by the manual.
You can obtain a program at http://www.memtest86.com to
check the RAM for any faulty module that may be causing the
problem.
Also, make sure the memory density configuration on the
module is supported by the mainboard.

 

[Alex Nichol]

When my computer is booting up it shows 384 Megs of memory. But when I use
System Information it only shows 128 Megs of physical memory. I do have 384
Megs installed on my MB so I am wondering why there is an inconsistency and
how to resolve it.

System Information has a bug that results in it showing the wrong total
for some combinations of RAM modules. Check at Control Panel - System -
the figure at the bottom of the General page is correct

 

[1]

Uh- no- and Stop it.
Are your Ram SIMMs the same speed?
IE- DDR 233 333 400?
If not, then you will have to set the slower one(s) first, then go into CMOS
and set the clock speed to the slowest one.
(had the same prob with this PC. The CPU was trying to set the clock speed
for the fastest sim screwing everything up)
HTH

 

[xe77]

These systems use DIMM modules that do not need to have the
clock speed adjusted thanks to SPD (Serial Presence
Detection) technology available on most SDRAM and DDR DIMM
modules.
This has been available since EDO memory and SIMM modules
went obsolete (before SDRAM DIMM). (With the exclusions of
some older, smaller 168-pin DIMM modules) Configuration of
EDO SIMMs was usually done with jumpers.