Windows 7: 4gb installed 1.99gb useable???

ok guys i have been all over the internet reading tons of forums trying to fix this problem.

a while back when i had my computer it use to read all my ram, but up till about a month ago i had to rma it due to a mb catching on fire.

anyways they replaced the parts and sent me a new computer and now it read 1.99gb useable out of 4.



both of my ram sticks are good a i have tested them individually.

i have went through the bios and set it to default aswell as the cmos.
i have tried the msconfig untick the boxes thing and it doesn't work.

i have also tried changing my page memory but that hasn't worked either.

im sad people, i really am because my expensive gaming machine is being bottlenecked by some crappy windows 7 bug.

crysis lags like hell and my fps are cut in half in resident evil 5.

people...please help me out.

The memory slots on the motherboard could be faulty

Download the ISO for memtest86 from Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic and boot from the CD to test out your RAM.

Like yowanvista said, it could be a bad memory slot.

If it is not that do you have an onboard video card? (Even if you are not using it) It sould be setaling memory to use for itself.

Memtest86+ Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Comprehensive memory test program

Windows 7 Memory Test Diagnostic Program
WIN key | type MDSched.EXE | Enter key
Choose either to Restart and run immediately or choose to schedule to run at the next restart.


CPU-Z CPU-Z
CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Gathers info on your:
CPU

• Name and number.
• Core stepping and process.
• Package.
• Core voltage.
• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
• Supported instruction sets.
• Cache information.

Mainboard

• Vendor, model and revision.
• BIOS model and date.
• Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
• Graphic interface.

Memory

• Frequency and timings.
• Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

• Windows and DirectX version.

Ok. I had the exact same problem. I ran a memory tester, everything checked out. So I physically took the RAM out, and tested each individual stick. Turns out one of my sticks of RAM is faulty. I don't know why the checker didn't catch it, or why Windows saw it but couldn't use it. But I do know I replaced the Ram with another stick, and now I have 4GB of Usable Ram.

The RAM I had was part number OCZ3G1600LV4GK

You did not say but I assume you have two 2GB memory sticks. If so, take one out and boot up. How much memory you got? Shut down, exchange memory sticks and boot up again using that memory stick. Did your computer boot up with "no problems" using either memory stick? I doubt it. One of them is bad - My Uneducated Guess.