4GB of RAM installed only showing 3GB

Adan · Jan 25, 2009

Hey, im running 64bit build 7000 and when i boot my BIOS message says i only have 3B of ram installed out of 4GB. Is anyone else having this problem? It says under system properties i have 4GB installed though. Which one is right? :sarc:

napilopez · Jan 25, 2009

Adan said:
Hey, im running 64bit build 7000 and when i boot my BIOS message says i only have 3B of ram installed out of 4GB. Is anyone else having this problem? It says under system properties i have 4GB installed though. Which one is right? :sarc:

Well, if its your BIOS than it should have nothing to do with your operating system. I would say the latter is right, since Windows x64 accepts the full capacity of ram.

Brink · Jan 25, 2009

Hello Adan,

You might see if after resetting your BIOS settings back to default, it may show all 4GB.

Is your RAM sticks all of the same type, timings, and voltage requirements?

Andypants · Apr 28, 2009

I'm having the same problem here. Installed W7100 x64, but in my controll panel/system it shows
"Installed memory (RAM): 4.0GB (3.0GB usable)"

Night Hawk · Apr 28, 2009

When first installing the 64bit Vista there were certain errors seen there where you were advised to remove all but 2gb. That's still a little odd since all 4gb are seen in the two x64 installs.

The 32bit side sees 3.581gb available out of the 4 total as expected here. Loading the defaults and a possible need for a bios update would be the things to look at there. An update may have a fix for a problem unless the brand of memory is a problem. Some boards get touchy on brands for various reasons.

skunksmash · Apr 30, 2009

has everyone checked the BIOS for the ''memory remap'' feature, make sure this is enabled.......

SK

Andypants · Apr 30, 2009

Sorry Skunksmash, could you explain how to check the "memory remap" please?

skunksmash · Apr 30, 2009

Andypants said:
Sorry Skunksmash, could you explain how to check the "memory remap" please?

there should be an option on more modern boards called ''memory remap'', this locks out the RAM thats needed by the system so it cant be used, disabling it will make it open to universal use... its not much, but it all adds up

your boards may not support this feature, but if it does it will be hidden in the ''advanced options'' somewhere..... just make sure its enabled & you can eliminate this as an issue....

SK

Night Hawk · Apr 30, 2009

There's also the option to enable PAE or the Physical Address Extension. Physical Address Extension (Windows)

For 7 as well as Vista the BCD edit is needed for this. Build6000.com - How To: Enabling PAE on 32-bit Windows Vista

Andypants · May 1, 2009

Night Hawk said:
For 7 as well as Vista the BCD edit is needed for this. Build6000.com - How To: Enabling PAE on 32-bit Windows Vista

But would PAE not be automatically enabled in 64bit W7?
I had PAE enabled when I was still on Vista 32, made no difference, also only saw 3.2G

johngalt · May 1, 2009

Andypants said:
I'm having the same problem here. Installed W7100 x64, but in my controll panel/system it shows
"Installed memory (RAM): 4.0GB (3.0GB usable)"

Andypants said:
But would PAE not be automatically enabled in 64bit W7?
I had PAE enabled when I was still on Vista 32, made no difference, also only saw 3.2G

If you'd update your system specs underneath your nic in every post we'd be able to help better.

*I* am betting you're using onboard video, and it is using your system RAM for VideoRAM....

Also, 32bit will not allow for more than ~3-3.5 *ever* b/c the memory allocations of things like the BIOS< Cache, etc will all be required to establish themselves in the same 4 GB you have installed - thereby not allowing you to use however much they use.

Night Hawk · May 1, 2009

With Vista SP1 allowed Windows to report all 4gb were installed in the system information there while still not seeing over 3.581 or close actually available. The 32bit kernel then limits anything more where the rest is then mapped out to hardwares. If you have a 512mb or larger video card Windows would take some to share with that.

The 64bit edition doesn't need the PAE since it sees a different process for mapping memory addresses to begin with placing more information in the active ram with less being swapped out to the drive. The 32bit Home Premium here sees 4gb in the system info and the 3.581gb as available less what is taken up by Windows and startups. But I also have the beta for SP2 on not just the SP1.

sylar365 · May 12, 2009

The "reserved for hardware" answer is the same one I got when running 32 bit Vista with 4GB a year ago. What is the advantage of using a 64 bit OS with 4Gb ram then? And why are there so many references to win32 when you generate a system health report in Windows 7 64 bit? It looks like this:

OS Checks
Operating System Info

Query
root\cimv2:SELECT*FROM Win32_OperatingSystem
root\cimv2:SELECT*FROM Win32_ComputerSystem

--- or this further down the list ---

System Services

Query
root\cimv2:SELECT __Relpath, Name, Caption, Description, DisplayName, PathName, Started, ExitCode, State, ServiceSpecificExitCode FROM Win32_Service

with every available/running windows service listed as a "Win32" service after it.

I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit (which it reports as OS in other places) from Vista Home Premium 64 bit. Here are machine specs.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (latest bios)
Core 2 Duo E6600
4GB G-Skill RAM (2x2GB)
HTO CLARO Sound
Intel Gigabit CT NIC
EVGA Nvidia 260 GTX 216 core Video

I DO NOT HAVE A MEMORY REMAP OPTION IN MY BIOS and 4GB was detected and used just fine in Vista 64 bit.

ikilledkenny · May 12, 2009

Maybe your BIOS isn't doesn't have support for more than 3GB of RAM. Mine can't support more than 2GB

Night Hawk · May 12, 2009

The reason for seeing references to 32bit are simply how the 64bit Windows emulates the 32bit environment. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see any 32bit game or program run or even install on the 64bit editions.

Likewise the old 32bit Windows like 98/ME and larer XP displayed their own backward support for 16bit apps. When looking at the root of C when booted in the 64bit Windows note the Program Files(x86) folder seen beneath the normal Program Files used for the 64bit applications. That will contain the folders for 32bit installations there.

sylar365 · May 22, 2009

**FIX**

I figured it out. I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this post but here is cause, effect and solution. The memory that was being shown as unavailable WAS being used as a shadow to video card memory. A fresh install will remedy the problem because it uses the WDDM 1.1 video card drivers as a default (the ones available from windows update). The newest drivers (at the time I upgraded) from Nvidia would cause this quirky bug when installed on an upgraded version of Windows 7 64-bit. Uninstalling the Nvidia drivers and letting Windows 7 install its own from the windows update site fixed the problem for me. I have since done a fresh install anyway and the whole system seems to be working better, but I thought some still might want to hear about this fix.

ikilledkenny · May 22, 2009

sylar365 said:
I figured it out. I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this post but here is cause, effect and solution. The memory that was being shown as unavailable WAS being used as a shadow to video card memory. A fresh install will remedy the problem because it uses the WDDM 1.1 video card drivers as a default (the ones available from windows update). The newest drivers (at the time I upgraded) from Nvidia would cause this quirky bug when installed on an upgraded version of Windows 7 64-bit. Uninstalling the Nvidia drivers and letting Windows 7 install its own from the windows update site fixed the problem for me. I have since done a fresh install anyway and the whole system seems to be working better, but I thought some still might want to hear about this fix.

Don't worry, we still follow it

. Anyway, that sounds like it would work. I would suggest trying this.

Ajulian · May 23, 2009

I create a topic with the same problem, and our friend Enzo fix his problem doing the same thing...a fresh install

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/9887-problem-using-4gb-64-bits-4.html

When i get home i'll do a fresh install in my computer and post here if it works

GodAtum · May 25, 2009

Hi all,

I've done a fresh install of Windows 7 32bit but its only showing 2Gb instead of 3Gb RAM in both the BIOS and Windows. However CPUZ is showing 3GB RAM which is very strange! My motherboard is an ASUS P6T with the latest BIOS update.

Any advice will be much appreciated!

costello · Dec 23, 2009

if you don't have this option for remap memory in bios?what you can do i tried default seetings dint\t work..

4GB of RAM installed only showing 3GB

New member

My Computer

Member

My Computer

Administrator

My Computer

New member

My Computer

caught multibooting

My Computers

MIA

My Computer

New member

My Computer

MIA

My Computer

caught multibooting

My Computers

New member

My Computer

Antidisestablishmenta

My Computers

caught multibooting

My Computers

New member

My Computer

Expelled

My Computer

caught multibooting

My Computers

New member

My Computer

Expelled

My Computer

Agent monkey

My Computer

New member

My Computer

New member

My Computer