Reported Memory Does Not Match Amount of Installed Memory ON WINDOWS XP

[Anthony]

SYMPTOMS: THE PERFORMANCE TAB IN SYSTEM PROPERTIES
REPORTS DIFFERENT AMOUNT OF MEMORY THAN IS INSTALLED.

I HAD 128MB MEMORY CARD AND RECENTLY I'VE BOUGHT A NEW
ONE OF 512MB, BUT WHEN I INSERT IT IN SLOT 1 THE COMPUTER
DOESN'T WANT TO BOOT UP, SO I SWITCH THE CARD AND INSERT
THE NEW 512MB MEMORY IN SLOT 0 AND THE OLD ONE TO SLOT 1,
THE COMPUTER SEEMS TO WORK FINE, HOWEVER THE AMOUNT
DISPLAYED IN WINDOWS IS 320MB(?). WHEN I LEAVE THE 512MB
CARD ALONE IN SLOT 0- WINDOWS RECOGNISES ONLY 192MB OF
IT.

CPU CHARACTERISTICS: MY CPU COMES WITH AMD DURON
PROCESSOR AND SUPPORTS 266 MHZ FRONT-SIDE BUS.
MEMORY SUPPORT: TWO 184-PIN DIMM SOCKETS FOR DDR MEMORY
MODULES, SUPPORT DDR 266MHZ MEMORY BUS AND MAXIMUM
INSTALLED MEMORY IS 1GB.

I HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM, SO I WILL
TRULY APPRECIATE ANY KIND OF HELP.
THANX

 

[111]

Anthony,

I've got some questions for you before I can help you out.

1. Do you know the manufacturer and model number of your motherboard?

2. What are the brand and model numbers (or serial number) of the ram
you have?

You stated that with the 512mb ram installed, windows only shows 320.
Does it display the amount of ram correctly when just the 128mb ram is
installed? What version of Windows do you have?

To see if it's just a Windows problem or a compatibility issue with
the ram itself, you should try to see the amount of installed ram when
the computer first boots or within the BIOS. You can usually see the
amount of installed ram when the computer first boots up. If it goes
by to quickly for you to see, then you should try entering the BIOS to
see the amount of installed ram. You can usually enter the BIOS by
pressing the DELETE or F1 keys when the computer starts up, but your
computer may use a different key, so the examples I gave might not
work.

So install that 512mb ram chip by itself again, power up the computer
and either watch for the memory counter to that shows the amount of
ram or enter the BIOS. Usually on the first bios screen it will say
how much ram is installed.

If the ram amount is not even displaying correctly in the bios, then
perhaps it's a compatibility issue with the ram and motherboard. In
which case there may be no workaround. I won't know for sure until I
know what the brand & model of your motherboard and ram are.

Phil

 

[Anthony]

Hi Phil,

First of all thanks a lot for the interest you showed in
answering me. I've tried some things you suggested and I
found out that BIOS displays 393 216MB for 2 cards, and
only 262 144 for the 512MB card alone. When I leave my
old 128MB card it shows 131 072MB, while Windows makes it
ninety-something (I think it's 98MB)-I suppose some of
the Ram goes to other operations and that's why it's a
little bit less than the original 128MB. Now, on the new
512MB card I found next words:
HYNIX 204A
HY5DU28822AT-H (I guess this is the serial #)
KOREA
(and I barely could distinguish another number-
7e81543p).

In my user's manual it says PC DDR 266 Systemboard
(I guess this is my motherboard-sorry if I am wrong-still
have to learn many things about computers---and, well
especially-about memory cards, and think before buying
one)

First I thought it was a matter of compatibility but it's
strange because it does recognise a part of my card!

Well, I hope this info will help you to help me-something
that I appreciate-THANX A LOT! I will wait for your
further answer. BYE

 

[111]

Anthony,

I'd like you to download a utility that will attempt to identify your
motherboard's manufacturer and model. The download link is below:

http://www.pcanalyser.de/download/chipinfo100b3.zip

Once you get it extracted, launch the program by double clicking
"Chipinfo.exe". You'll see a bunch of tabs to navigate through, but
the one I'm interested in is "System Internal". On that tab, look for
the "System" section and see what it says for your motherboard.

Without knowing precisely what brand and model motherboard you have,
there is no way to check if the problem is coming from the size of the
ram chip, the speed or just a general incompatibility with that
manufacturer.

You have two ram slots right? Have you tried that 512 ram in both
slots by itself? If so, are there any different results?

Phil