- Does this look fishy to you?

[The Cerebral Ass ©]

In the process of fixing a friend's faulty computer... (by means of
re-installing WinXP due to suspicions of Blaster worm infection)... when I
noticed that the store we bought the computer from last week had the QUICK
BOOT option toggled on in the BIOS (ie, no memory check).

Upon de-activating the Quick Boot (and activating the memory check), the
computer only seems to count 196mb of ram.

We purchased 256.

So I go back in the BIOS and look more closely. Here's what it says :

Total Memory : 192MB + 64MB Share Memory
DDR1 : 256MB/166mhz (DDR333)
DDR2 : None

Question... is this normal? Or have we been swindled somehow? Shouldn't the
memory check at boot-up go to 256mb? Isn't it fishy that the store disabled
the memory check for us?

 

[Mike Mueller]

: Total Memory : 192MB + 64MB Share Memory
: DDR1 : 256MB/166mhz (DDR333)
: DDR2 : None
:
: Question... is this normal? Or have we been swindled
: somehow? Shouldn't the memory check at boot-up go to
: 256mb? Isn't it fishy that the store disabled the memory
: check for us?

Answers:

Normal- I don't know if I would call this normal, but I
would say it is not abnormal.
Alot of computers these days use integrated video. There is
no seperate video memory so it is using system memory. In
the BIOS you shuld be able to change the quantity of memory
being set aside for this.

Swindled- It all depends on how you look at it. You have
256MB installed as was purchased. The issue you really have
is that Windows cannot use all 256MB

BIOS Check. It shows the memory correctly. 192+64=256.

Fishy- Not really. People want everything faster, and the
Quick Post skipping the memory check is faster. It gives
the consumer what they want. Alot of times this is the
default setting, the store may not have done it.

Mike

 

[The Cerebral Ass ©]

Thanks, Mike. It's likely the onboard video that's eating up the missing
RAM.

 

[Jackie D]

I'm not replying to your message . . .


I'm having trouble posting new messages. It appears to
accept my message but then it NEVER appears. Does anybody
know why?

jackie

 

[Jackie D]

Guess what?

All those messages I've posted have JUST appeared. Some
delay! Thanks for responding

Since you have, perhaps you could help with my real
windows problem?

I keep getting a windows cd write wizard telling me I have
files ready to burn. Would I like to burn them now.

I don't know what this means since I use Nero Burning Rom
and the files are already burned onto the disc in
question. Does this ring a bell?

 

[Danny Mingledorff]

Doesn't ring any bells with me, but you might want to try a google group
search on "files ready to burn" and see if that pops anything up.

Good luck...

 

[Mike Mueller]

: I keep getting a windows cd write wizard telling me I have
: files ready to burn. Would I like to burn them now.
:
: I don't know what this means since I use Nero Burning Rom
: and the files are already burned onto the disc in
: question. Does this ring a bell?

Empty out the cd writer and open windows explorer and
navigate to that drive. Highlight it and choose >File