Help, Win 7 is stealing my memory!

[nabilalk]

Hardware reserved memory 1089 MB

The resource monitor states that that 1089 MB of memory is reserved for use by the Bios and some other peripherals. I can't imagine why the Bios needs 1GB of memory so that I only get to use 3 out of the 4 GB that I have installed. Is there any way that I can take this memory back?

Thanks,
Bill

PS: Sorry for the duplicate post in the General Discussions.

 

[torrentg]

Possibly bios update. It could be helpful to fill in your system specs so members could discuss with accuracy, in relation to your hardware. Thanks.

 

[nabilalk]

Possibly bios update. It could be helpful to fill in your system specs so members could discuss with accuracy, in relation to your hardware. Thanks.

Specs are a good suggestion, thanks.

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3906/systemspecs.jpg

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[FONT=&quot]2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) -Bare ...[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail (With Stable 3gigz OC)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Item #: N82E16813131028[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Where would I find a BIOS update for the motherboard? Thanks!
[/FONT]

 

[torrentg]

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

 

[nabilalk]

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

The processor is currently overclocked. Will a BIOS update mess with that? I had a friend overclock it for me, and I don't know if I can have the process repeated.

 

[torrentg]

Write down any settings you want to keep and take it from there. After flash, adjust settings back to how they are.

It's not particularly a good idea to flash an overclocked board.

Going by the updates seen, I think it will fix what the thread is about.

 

[nabilalk]

Write down any settings you want to keep and take it from there. After flash, adjust settings back to how they are.

It's not particularly a good idea to flash an overclocked board.

Going by the updates seen, I think it will fix what the thread is about.

Ok, and how do I put the BIOS back to default? I'm a BIOS noob sorry ;-(

 

[torrentg]

Inside bios there will be an option on main screen to "Load Optimized Defaults."

 

[Guy Scharf]

You didn't say, but are you running the 32-bit version of Windows? If so, this is a known characteristic of 32-bit addressing. The memory isn't really being used by the BIOS, but the address space is reserved by the BIOS and controllers, so the memory is not available for use.

You can find lots of explanations of this on the web. For example, here.

On my P5W DH Deluxe, there is a BIOS setting for 64-bit compatibility mode. With Windows XP 32-bit, I found I had about 200MB more memory available by disabling that option. I haven't tried that with Windows 7 yet.

EDIT: I just checked my BIOS settings and the option in my Asus mobo BIOS is called the "memory remap feature." That option is supposed to be enabled for 64-bit OS. When enabled, a 32-bit Windows gets 3 GB of the 4 GB installed on my system, while a 64-bit Win 7 gets all 4 GB. When disabled, Windows 32-bit gets 3.2 GB of memory. The system resource monitor reports the missing 1 GB (or 800 MB) as "hardware reserved."

 

[logicearth]

You didn't say, but are you running the 32-bit version of Windows? If so, this is a known characteristic of 32-bit addressing. The memory isn't really being used by the BIOS, but the address space is reserved by the BIOS and controllers, so the memory is not available for use.

No it is not a characteristic of 32bit addressing. 32bit can access 4 GB. Hardware reservation is part of the x86 architecture not 32bit addressing scheme. The same thing can and does exist in x64 as well. It all depends on the chipset of the motherboard.

Memory remapping is what you need.

 

[zigzag3143]

Nabalik

there is a much easier way to enter your systems specs once so you dont have to do it again

Hope this helps

Ken

Kudos to antman

 

[saileena]

Solution

One thing i realised, and what was causing the error for me, ( i have 4GB installed, was showing 3.2 useable)

DO a start, run, msconfig, then click the boot tab, then advanced options after highlighting the desired OS, it will ask for max processors and max memory, if Max memory is ticked, Untick it, or if a value has been set, lower it, you will find that this is the reserved memory that you are missing. hope that helped!

 

[nabilalk]

Nabalik

there is a much easier way to enter your systems specs once so you dont have to do it again

Hope this helps

Ken

Kudos to antman

Cheers, I saw that a little while ago.

 

[nabilalk]

One thing i realised, and what was causing the error for me, ( i have 4GB installed, was showing 3.2 useable)

DO a start, run, msconfig, then click the boot tab, then advanced options after highlighting the desired OS, it will ask for max processors and max memory, if Max memory is ticked, Untick it, or if a value has been set, lower it, you will find that this is the reserved memory that you are missing. hope that helped!

Was only 3.2 usable in the BIOS as well? My BIOS is only detecting 3.2 and I'm afraid to do a BIOS update because the CPU is overclocked and I don't want to mess it up. I will give what you said a shot and post back.

 

[saileena]

hi there, nope sadly the bios was showing 4gb, only the OS was showing 3.2 useable.. hope you solve the problem, if you do decide to update the bios there are several guides around to safely OC your processor... good luck and let me know how you get on.

 

[XGUNTHERC]

Don't do a bios update unless you absolutely need to. The above message by salieena about going to start, typing MSconfig. and if selective startup is checked, then go to boot tab, and advanced tab and Uncheck the use max memory
that fixes the error with not enough memory being usable

 

[nabilalk]

Don't do a bios update unless you absolutely need to. The above message by salieena about going to start, typing MSconfig. and if selective startup is checked, then go to boot tab, and advanced tab and Uncheck the use max memory
that fixes the error with not enough memory being usable

I tried that solution and no joy. The BIOS only recognize 3GB. Any other solutions other than a BIOS update?

 

[thefabe]

It is in my opinion, a bios update should only be done once you have read the release notes on the newer bios and thier is something in it that addreses an issue you are experiencing. Updating your bios on an Asus board is realitivly easy using Asus update software. A better choice is to keep your chipset drivers up to date.

 

[chev65]

This problem is fairly widespread from what I can see.

The only solutions that I have seen for this problem is to clear the cmos and set to defaults then reset everything in bios, after that reseat the memory.

Start up and see if Windows can find the memory. Make sure that all sticks are pushed in all the way down, especially the one next to the cpu. And of course the old enable memory mapping feature in bios.

Also, if you upgraded from Vista or XP you can usually fix the problem by installing Windows 7 to a fresh formatt.

It might help to boot up with only half the sticks the first time then put the rest in and boot up again.

People who upgraded had the msconfig memory limit problem which can be fixed by doing this,Go to Msconfig > Boot tab > Advanced > uncheck the maximum memory box and reboot.

Getting the latest bios might also help.