Missing RAM

[KMWilkins]

I have searched the other posts and haven't found the answer to my problem.
It is similiar to some of the other posts but none of what was suggested
didn't work so hopefully someone can give me more ideas to fix it.

I have a DELL Laptop with 2 512 mb chips in it, running Vista Home Basic
(and then upgraded to Home Premium). My bios show correct amount of memory
but when I check my memory on my welcome screen it states 896 and then when i
go to the actual system properties it show 894. Anyone have any ideas where
any extra memory may be hidden (that is what Dell said was happening) and how
to fix it?

 

[Not Me]

You probably have 128MB allocated to the video memory.
1024-128=896.
Unless the system is using 2MB for something else, it should show 896.
Maybe BIOS caching or such...but it's only 2MB of 1000MB, so it isn't going
to have any major impact on performance anyway.
It may be a software glitch, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Bob Campbell]

I have a DELL Laptop with 2 512 mb chips in it, running Vista Home Basic
(and then upgraded to Home Premium). My bios show correct amount of
memory
but when I check my memory on my welcome screen it states 896 and then
when i
go to the actual system properties it show 894. Anyone have any ideas
where
any extra memory may be hidden (that is what Dell said was happening) and
how
to fix it?

Shared Video memory?

 

[Dustin Harper]

You probably have a video device which shares system memory, so you have
1024 - 128 MB = 896. Why your system properties says 894, I'm not sure. But,
2 MB isn't too bad.

 

[KMWilkins]

Ok so if its video device that shares memory, its very irritating that it
utilizes the memory on one system and doesnt on another exact system I have.
128mb is not much but when I am trying to run a program on one computer and
it doesnt work on it and then it works perfectly fine on the other computer
is it a pain. Guess I will just have to upgrade memory chips. Thanks.

 

[Gary Mount]

My BIOS has a video aperature option that changes how much memory is
allocated to the video.
In my case I have a descrete video card. I can set it up to twice the actual
memory of my video card and it will use my system memory to make up the
difference.