XP SP2 detects incorrect system RAM

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Green
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Greg Green

I'm having a problem with Windows XP SP2 detecting the correct amount of
system RAM. I have 512 Mb total RAM (system detects the correct amount in
POST during startup) but Windows only shows 256 Mb total RAM. I found the
KB article 888664 regarding this problem but there's nothing that indicates
whether this is a problem displaying the correct amount or whether the
system is underperforming - although I suspect it's the latter. Any
comments on the issue would be quite helpful. I have a Shuttle AK32A
mainboard with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU and 1 stick of PNY PC2700 DDR
memory installed (512Mb)

Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888664

Thanks,
Greg
 
Greg Green said:
I'm having a problem with Windows XP SP2 detecting the correct amount of
system RAM. I have 512 Mb total RAM (system detects the correct amount
in POST during startup) but Windows only shows 256 Mb total RAM. I found
the KB article 888664 regarding this problem but there's nothing that
indicates whether this is a problem displaying the correct amount or
whether the system is underperforming - although I suspect it's the
latter. Any comments on the issue would be quite helpful. I have a
Shuttle AK32A mainboard with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU and 1 stick of PNY
PC2700 DDR memory installed (512Mb)

Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888664

Thanks,
Greg
Click to expand...

Check if the RAM is faulty, try running memtest.

www.memtest86.com
 
Hi William -
The memory test using memtest86 v3.2 completes successfully with no detected
errors. I should also mention that the memory stick is brand new - and that
the misreporting is only under Windows, but not at POST. I experienced the
same problem with another memory stick - a stick of 256Mb Crucial PC2100
memory produced the same issue where Windows shows only 128Mb system memory.
Thanks for the suggestion though. From what I can tell of the Microsoft KB
article this is definitely an issue with Windows detecting an incorrect
amount of memory.
-Greg
 
Greg said:
I'm having a problem with Windows XP SP2 detecting the correct amount of
system RAM. I have 512 Mb total RAM (system detects the correct amount in
POST during startup) but Windows only shows 256 Mb total RAM.
Click to expand...

Where do you you see that? The System Info tool is unreliable; check in
Control Panel - System on the General page.
 
Thanks Alex!

Control Panel/System does show the correct amount of memory. I guess I was
worried about the implications of msinfo32.exe showing incorrect results -
if System Info is unreliable that's good news for me, I'm a happy camper as
long as the memory in the system is reliably utilized.

Greg
 
Greg Green said:
I'm having a problem with Windows XP SP2 detecting the correct amount of
system RAM. I have 512 Mb total RAM (system detects the correct amount in
POST during startup) but Windows only shows 256 Mb total RAM. I found the
KB article 888664 regarding this problem but there's nothing that indicates
whether this is a problem displaying the correct amount or whether the
system is underperforming - although I suspect it's the latter. Any
comments on the issue would be quite helpful. I have a Shuttle AK32A
mainboard with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU and 1 stick of PNY PC2700 DDR
memory installed (512Mb)

Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888664

Thanks,
Greg


Did you ever get ur proplem resolved I hae the same issue, but i couldnt find out if it was fixed for you
Click to expand...
 
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