Memory amount wrong

[Kepa]

I'm running a system with 4Gb of memory. It's surely ok, bios shows memory
size ok, also programs like memtest86 (dos-version) says that have got 4Gb
and testes all the memory ok. Dual channel is also working ok. In the system
boot-up "dos-style" box also says 4Gb as a system memory. Somehow still
Vista says that I have only 3gb...

I'm using a retail version of the Vista Ultimate 32-bit.

Quite strange problem, anybody has got a clue?

Regards,

Kepa

 

[Byron Hinson]

Windows 32-bit can only use 4GB of memory and almost 1GB of that is for
memory addressing, so in otherwords if you want to use the full 4GB's you
need to upgrade to 64-bit Windows Vista.

 

[Kepa]

Ok, thanks for the info. Didn't know that at all

So, next question, would it be wise to move to 64bit already? Will 32bit
programs work at all anymore?

 

[Dave Boomhauer]

Ok, thanks for the info. Didn't know that at all

So, next question, would it be wise to move to 64bit already? Will 32bit
programs work at all anymore?

I had the same question. I bought the OEM copy of 64 bit Ultimate and have
to say it works great. The Operating System runs all of your current 32 bit
applications in emulation mode (you can't tell the difference to a lay
person). The only problem you might encounter is that you have to have
specific 64 bit drivers for your hardware. I'm missing only one for an Intel
537EP dialup modem. My PC is less than a year old though so go to the
different manufacturers websites for your hardware and see if they have
released 64 bit drivers for Vista.......

 

[John Barnes]

Check on drivers. Most but not all programs work in emulation mode. You
probably have no reason to move to 64-bit unless you plan to increase your
memory above 4GB or have native 64-bit programs. You may be able to change
your BIOS to show the full memory. Search the newsgroup for hundreds of
posts on the subject and fixes for various BIOS's

 

[BSchnur]

One question here -- are you doing things which will thrive on the
extra recognized memory?

Oh, and note, for some motherboards there are some advanced settings
you can use to shut down the memory mapping at the BIOS level.