i bought ddr ram of 256mb,but after getting used along with OS,my computer properties showed 192mb only ,where is the remaing 64mb? can i get it back?

Is the a computer with an on-board video card. If this is the case then thats where the 64Mbs has gone. The on-board video is using it.

Stuart

thankx 4 response,my mboard box showing that "PCI express x16 graphics connector and supports flexible integrated graphics",is it video card?

"can i get it back?"

Yes, if you install a video card.

If you install a graphics card in a slot, the card has it's own ram, the onboard video is almost always automtically disabled by the bios, settings in the bios regarding sharing ram with the onboard video are ignored by the bios, and Windows is able to use the total amount of ram installed (up to 3gb for a 32 bit operating system).
Installing any video card on a mboard that has onboard video also allows the ram to acheive it's max bandwidth - max burst data transfer speed - that is greatly reduced when you use onboard video, sometimes halved - so the ram performs better when the system is being more heavily loaded, even for the same total amount installed, even taking into account the amount that was shared with the video.

"....flexible integrated graphics",is it video card?"

Technically onboard video, a.k.a. integrated video, is not a card, it's video on it's own chip, or the equivalent to a video chip built into one of the main mboard chipset chips, built into the mboard. Only a video card or other card you install in a mboard slot is a card.

thankx 4 ur kind response,

so how can get full 256 mb for ram, is it posible and does it make any problem to pc functionality

"PCI express x16 graphics connector and supports flexible integrated graphics"

Take a look at the back of your computer to see where the monitor connects. If it connects to the motherboard VGA port (see link below), you're using integrated graphics & that explains where the 64MB is going.

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/images/ar...

To make ALL your RAM available, you'll have to install an actual PCI express x16 graphics card.

...and by all means get at least another 256mb of RAM as WinXP uses about 230mb just to start up.

Bryan

"so how can get full 256 mb for ram, is it posible and does it make any problem to pc functionality"

See response 3.

Hi. I have also noticed my RAM suddenly decrease by half. I had 512 MB on my Compaq system but in the last couple of days my computer has been sluggish and I found out from 'My Computer' properties that my RAM is now 256 MB. I have had the computer for about a year now so it can't be the graphics card. I've ordered extra RAM but still mystified...(computer still really sluggish, checked for viruses, spyware etc.)

Rej

If you haven't changed the ram you have installed....

A common thing that can happen with ram, even ram that worked fine previously, is the ram has, or has developed, a poor connection in it's slot(s).
This usually happens a long time after the ram was installed, but it can happen with new ram, or after moving the computer case from one place to another, and I've had even new modules that needed to have their contacts cleaned.

See response 2 in this - try cleaning the contacts on the ram modules, and making sure the modules are properly seated:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

For a laptop, you must remove both its main battery and AC adapter before you do that.
......

If you have changed the ram installed......

Ram that works in another mboard , or any ram you buy or have lying around, may not work properly, or sometimes, not at all - even if it physically fits and is the right overall type (e.g. SDram, DDR, DDR2, etc.; PCxxxx, xxx mhz) for your mboard. In the worst cases of incompatibilty your mboard WILL NOT BOOT with it installed, and the mboard may not even beep - the ram has to be compatible with the mboard and it's chipset.

See response 5 in this for some info about ram compatibilty, and some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...
Correction to that:
Mushkin www.mushkin.com

Once you know which module ID strings work in your mboard, you can get them from anywhere you like that has ram with those ID strings.
......

Lots of things can cause your computer to slow down.
XP just barely runs as it should with 256mb of ram detected, providing you don't run more than a few programs at once.

If you have onboard video (built into the mboard) and are using it, it shares the installed ram. See the rest of this thread for info about that. Windows deducts the amount of ram shared with the video from the Physical ram in System Information because that shared portion cannot be used for Windows data. You can change the amount or ram shared with the onboard video in your bios Setup - in this case set it no higher than 128mb.

Hello i have a single 1gb ddr 400 installed on my Intel D865PERL motherboard but sometimes my computer hang-up and when i reboot it decreases sometimes only shows 128mb, sometimes 512mb, then i have to reboot again and back to 1g how does it happen?

Crosswings

That can be caused by a poor connection in your ram slot(s).

See the first part of response 10.