Windows XP Pro SP2 - 4GB RAM but Windows only shows 3 GB

[Michel]

Hi,

I have 2 Dell laptops with same hardawre configuration, 4 GB RAM and Windows
XP Pro SP2.
They have been bought in an interval of one month so BIOS is not exactly at
the same version.
On the oldest one, Windows correctly displays 4GB, for instance in task
manager when the most recent one only displays 3GB.
I precise hat winmsd displays that my RAM is 4 GB in both laptops.

Sorry if it is a FAQ but I didn't find the answer when I searched in this
forum.
Thank you for reading this message and thanks to those that can help to
solve this problem.

Michel

 

[Boone]

Perhaps you have different architectures of Windows XP: 32-bit and 64-bit.

The 32-bit OS only recognizes 4 gigs of RAM, no matter how much you have in
there--and subtracts the amount of memory on your video card.

So, if you have the 32-bit version of XP and a 1-gig video card (not likely
on a laptop, I realize), you could have 4 gigs of RAM installed and XP would
only recognize 3 gigs of it.

The 64-bit version of XP does not have this limitation. Therefore, you
could have your theoretical 1-gig video card and 4 gigs of RAM installed, and
XP would recognize the entire 4 gigs of RAM.

So, you might look at possible differences in versions of XP, and/or what
your different computers are using as far as video memory is concerned.

Hope that helps.

 

[Michel]

Boone,

Thanks for your answer but I have both 32-bit version.
If you are interesting in the issue, you can follow the same thread in
Harware forum. It covers the whole topic.

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...&p=1&tid=4fb9ebfb-d58c-4c9d-845a-6212ea2a6e42

Michel