paulsep, Thanks for that - you're right! You also caught me for not paying enough attention to the original post. I guess I better refill my coffee cup. i_Xp/VistaUser

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No problem, I sometimes have the same problem and since that, I try to ready things twice before posting a hint. :-) PaulSep

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Like I said, Motherboards have limitations as to the amount of RAM that can be installed on them. So BIOS, Basic Input-Output System, would reflect that.

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Yeah that's what I ought to do myself, too :-) i_Xp/VistaUser

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@Chuck 2 Some Mainboard with onboard graphic card did not show all installed memory. It's directly splitted in System RAM and graphic RAM, if the graphic card uses shared memory.

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I know Sound cards could be 'Onboard', but never thought about Video Cards being so.

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There is something else going on here. In the first place large amounts of shared RAM don't come into play until you are in the OS. The BIOS configures the graphics as VGA which only needs like a couple or MB. I have not seen any intgrated graphics chip that can use 3/4 of a GB of shared RAM. I am guessing there is an issue with RAM compatibility here. Poossibly too many banks of RAM.

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Hiya guys thanks for all the replies.. My motherboard supports 4gigs of ram (specifically says it on the mobo) also i ran Crucial's compatibility test to get exactly the right RAM, the graphics card is PCI-e ATI x600, which i'll be upgrading soon :) I was wondering if the boot.ini switch will work on Home XP after SP2 and such, some state where i've looked that 3gigs will work and some say 4gigs will work on the 32bit XP.. i'll edit this post a little later when i have more time with more info :) Thanks again Hannah xoxoxo

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In response to post 13 ... Just wanted to say that I thought the problem could be just that this PB computer mobo couldn't handle 4GB RAM. The link below shows that the max it can handle is 4GB anyway. Therefore Othehill could be right about the wrong type. http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_resu... i_Xp/VistaUser

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In response to post 14 ... Once again the 4GB will not work to its full extent under any Windows 32-bit platform. Havde you read the article I posted in Response number 4 above? i_Xp/VistaUser

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In response to #15 & 16. While it is true 32 bit versions of Winodws can't normally utilize the full 4GB the BIOS should still recognize the entire 4GB. That is assumming the RAM is fully compatible. Once the OS is running any shared RAM will be deducted from the total along with RAM used for overhead.

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"I was wondering if the boot.ini switch will work on Home XP" Hannah what switch(s) were you thinking about? There is NO switch to address more memory. You can limit memory [/maxmem] You can reallocate user/system balance [/3GB] You can enage PAE (if supported) for addressing MORE than 4gig of ram There is no boot.ini switch that will make the OS read more RAM than presented by the BIOS. 32bit OS CAN address more than 4gigs of ram which is why PAE [physical address extension] programming exists. 3.3gig would be correct with hardware occuping ram. This is not shared memory like with with builtin video. It is hardware loading into system ram like a bios for that hardware. Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Teachin...

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I read that post earlier too!! :) and thank you, my main question is without doing 'nasty registry hacks' and such is it possible to let applications use more than 2gig of RAM? Could the /pae or /3gb switch in the boot.ini be any benefit to me on xp home sp2? I'm not sure why the BIOS is reading 3.3 or so RAM but i can check again if you like? is there anything i would need to do in bios to allow more? like in the I/O settings or something? Oh and just to say again the RAM is def compat and the mobo (thnx to crucial) .. even printed next to the RAM ports that it can take 4gig MAX. Thanks for all your help thus far guys :) Hannah xoxoxoxo

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Hannah I went to the Crucial.com site and they have no listing for RAM to fit your computer. Did you let crucial scan the computer? Did you add FOUR new sticks? Are you sure you didn't keep an original 256MB stick in the mix. That would explain the 3.3GB Post what exact RAM you added.

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"I checked my BIOS also which only seems to see about 3.3gig of RAM". Hannah are you seeing those numbers in the startup screens? What exact changes did you make to your RAM recently? How many sticks of what type of RAM are installed?

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Crucial: Q: How much memory can my computer handle? A: 4096MB Removing my old 2x 512mb sticks.. I bought 4x's of this 1mb stick: Memory Upgrade for the Crucial Scanner Results Packard Bell Mexico motherboard (GA-8I945PM) for spec_Mexico Motherboard 1GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-4200 memory module * Module Size: 1GB * Package: 240-pin DIMM * Feature: DDR2 PC2-4200 * Specs: DDR2 PC2-4200 • CL=4 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-533 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64 All i've done currently is installed the RAM everythin' else like flashin the BIOS etc was before that.. "Hannah are you seeing those numbers in the startup screens?" Sorry my mistake *blush* In the BIOS it says System Memory: 3328 (think thats what i might of seen) On startup during the Memory Test/Check it says 3407872k.. hope this helps :) Thanks so much for stickin' with me :D Hannah xoxoxo

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3328MB = 3407872K You have 768MB unaccounted for. Does your motherboard have onboard video? If so, did you disable it to return the shared RAM back to the system? What about your X600 video card...does it use HyperMemory? http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonx...

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I don't think there is any integrated graphics chip that will use 768MB of RAM. Hannah download SIW.exe and see exactly what it says about total amount of RAM and any RAM used for video. Find it below. http://www.download3k.com/Install-S...

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Hi guys *yawns* just woke up hehe.. Hope this is all you need, if not just tell me and thank you so much :) From SWI: Memory: Property Value Memory Summary Location System board or motherboard Maximum Capacity 4096 MBytes Memory Slots 4 Error Correction None Use System memory Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes Device Locator Slot 1 Manufacturer Micron Technology Capacity 1024 MBytes Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM Speed DDR2-533 (266 MHz) Data Width 64 bits Voltage SSTL 1.8V Error Correction None Refresh Reduced (.5x)...7.8 µs Manufacturing Date 2008, Week 53 Module Height 30.0 mm EPP SPD Support No (Says the above portion 3 more times i.e: slot 1-4 all the same) Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed Video: Property Value Number of GPUs 2 Number of GPUs in SLI mode 206 Display Adapter RADEON X600 Series Video Processor RADEON X600 (0x5B62) Video memory size 512 MBytes Adapter DAC Type Internal DAC(400MHz) BIOS Date 05/10/26 Display Drivers ati2dvag.dll Driver Version 6.14.10.6618 Driver Date 2006-06-07 23:08:56 Inf File Name oem0.inf Inf Section ati2mtag_RV380x Display Adapter RADEON X600 Series Secondary Video Processor RADEON X600 Secondary (0x5B72) Video memory size 512 MBytes Adapter DAC Type Internal DAC(400MHz) Display Drivers ati2dvag.dll Driver Version 6.14.10.6618 Driver Date 2006-06-07 23:08:56 Inf File Name oem0.inf Inf Section ati2mtag_RV380x Name RADEON X600 Series Chip Type RADEON X600 (0x5B62) DAC Type Internal DAC(400MHz) Memory 512 MBytes (Btw the video card is 256mb's, not sure why its saying 512mb.. wrong driver maybe?) Also i'm not seeing a big noticable difference since i've upgraded this RAM, but maybe we can figure out why :) Thank you all alot Hannah xoxoxoxo

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Well, from that information I guess I have been wrong about what should be showing in the startup screens. Learn something new each day. I now believe your computer is functioning as it should. Don't worry about the lost .7GB of RAM. Extra RAM is only useful if needed. Most tasks performed on a personal computer don't need 4GB of RAM. The only time you may see improvement is when using programs that can take advantage of the extra RAM. Why did you feel the need to upgrade in the first place?

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Guess I wasn't specific enough Hannah There is nothing wrong with your system There is nothing you can do to "read" more memory. There is nothing you can do that will make any difference. You might want to re-read the link Xpuser supplied called dude where is my ram? Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

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Hi guys :) Responding to post #26: I just wanted a little extra in my system, was only planning on getting 2gig seeing as i like to play online games (Getting a new card very soon) and just thought i could do with a little tune up, when seeing the price of 4gig from crucial i was fairly surprised/happy and decided to get the 4gig for when i upgrade to vista and for a little 'future-proofing' so to speak, so i won't need to add more later :) I was just wondering if i could squeeze a little more out of the RAM and get it to show the actual '4gig' but thats fine if i cant :) Responce to post #27: That's fine wanderer, no need to re-read i was just curious as to where the rest was going and if i could get a little more out of it :) I'm happy with my system either way right now and thank you all for your great responces and for the program link which is very handy :) Cheers all.. Hannah xoxoxo

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Jus' da facts, ma'am We jus want da facts! http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/syste...

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I too have the imedia 1628 I too have 4gb ram I have Vista x86 Bios only shows 3328mb my system info is as follows Property Value Memory Summary Manufacturer None Part Number None Serial Number None Name Physical Memory Device Locator A0 Manufacturer None Part Number None Serial Number None Capacity 1024 MBytes Memory Type DDR Speed 533 MHz Data Width 64 bits Bank Label Bank0/1 Form Factor DIMM Total Width 64 Type Detail Synchronous Device Locator A1 Manufacturer None Part Number None Serial Number None Capacity 1024 MBytes Memory Type DDR Speed 533 MHz Data Width 64 bits Bank Label Bank2/3 Form Factor DIMM Total Width 64 Type Detail Synchronous Device Locator A2 Manufacturer None Part Number None Serial Number None Capacity 1024 MBytes Memory Type DDR Speed 533 MHz Data Width 64 bits Bank Label Bank4/5 Form Factor DIMM Total Width 64 Type Detail Synchronous Device Locator A3 Manufacturer None Part Number None Serial Number None Capacity 1024 MBytes Memory Type DDR Speed 533 MHz Data Width 64 bits Bank Label Bank6/7 Form Factor DIMM Total Width 64 Type Detail Synchronous Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed Property Value Display Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT Video Processor GeForce 8500 GT Video memory size 512 MBytes Adapter DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC BIOS String Version 60.86.41.00.H2 BIOS Date 07/06/07 Display Drivers nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2umx.dll Driver Version 7.15.11.6925 Driver Date 2007-12-12 05:36:00 Inf File Name oem11.inf Inf Section nv_G86_0 Any ideas why bios doesn't show full amount, I have the same brand spec make as original? Please reply

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