4gb ddr2 ram install windows 7 only showing 1.87 usable

hitaru said:

also my resource monitor says that i have alittle over 2g of hardware reserved. not sure if that is normal or not

Actually, what you're seeing is normal for a 32-bit operating system. When I was (a long time ago) still using 32-bit Windows, it showed 3.5GB usable of 4GB installed.

But in your case, 1.87GB usable is the worst I've seen. Most of the "hardware reserved" is being taken up by your graphics card, which accounts for 1GB. The rest of it is other hardware, such as usb devices, disk controllers, timers, etc.

This happens on 32-bit machines because 32-bit is limited to 4GB. The math is as follows:

2^32 = 4294967296 bytes
4294967296 = 4194304KB
4194304KB = 4096MB
4096MB = 4GB

The only way for you to resolve this issue is to remove or disable some uneeded hardware to see if your usable memory is increased.

Or better yet, switch to Windows 64 bit...

hitaru said:

ah ok ill see what i have that i can remove. i think the only thing that i can remove would b my wlan card but besides that all i have is my video card currently installed that is removable. guess ill have to upgrade to 64 bit asap then ^_^ thanks for the replay. it was definitely lots of help

Yeah, well, I actually hate giving advice to people that ends up having them remove something or having to spend money.

But going the 64-bit route will most defintely be a wise choice here, as not only will it resolve your 1.87GB usable memory problem, but you should also be seeing an increase in performance.

I also just thought of something else you can check. When you turn on the computer, press <DEL> to enter the BIOS. Look for a setting in the lines of "Memory Map", and turn it on if it is not.

It won't help much on a 32-bit system, but it may increase your usable memory a little.

i have another question...
with those specs my computer should be able to run games decently right? or am i over estimating my system?

Since it hasn't been mentioned, I'll go ahead and say this. Go to Admin Tools in Control Panel. Open System Configuration. Go to the boot tab and press advanced options. Make sure both boxes at the top are unchecked. Another person with your problem posted a couple days ago and they went from ~2.8 GB usable to 3.8GB usable. They had a 64-bit OS so they could get more than 3.5. You will likely be stuck with 3.0-3.5 unless you switch to 64-bit Windows.