64 bit False eligibility, or not?

[Mike1011]

Hi, I'm Mike.

I purchased a Dell Inpiron Laptop 1545 at the end of August this year. It had 1GB RAM, and Vista 32bit pre-installed.
I researched my laptop, and bought the max RAM it could handle. It now has 4GB RAM installed, although vista 32bit only recognised 2GB - a common problem as i have seen.
I recently purchased Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade version, and wanted to upgrade to 64bit. I downloaded the windows 7 upgrade assisstant which said i was fine for the 64bit. However, when trying the 64 bit disc, the error message said the disc wasn't compatible. I have thus installed Windows 7 32bit, where it still only recognises 2GB of RAM.

Please help. I just want my laptop to recognise the the full 4GB, even without 64bit

Cheers
Mike

 

[Lee]

Hi Mike, and "Welcome to the Seven Forums."
As to your ram, 32 bit systems will only recognize 3.2 gigs; just the nature of the beast.

As to 64 bit OS. Did you buy the Win 7 OS through a Retailer or get it from Dell. As new as your unit is you should be able to get an upgrade to Win 7 through Dell. I looked into your laptop on the dell site, and they do offer this unit with both Vista or Win 7. Check with Dell about Win 7.

 

[Mike1011]

I was eligible for Dell's program to upgrade to windows 7. However, as much i tried to enter my details and contact dell, it kept saying that i wasn't eligible/ or that my laptop wasn't on the system.
It's not a problem. I bought the windows 7 upgrade from Amazon.co.uk, and i don't think there's a problem with the copy. I just wanted the 64 bit OS disc to work, which it doesn't, but my laptop says that a 64bit OS should work. Weird, huh.

 

[Lee]

Yes it is weird, especially since Dell offers them with a Win 7 and Vista 64 bit OS. May be another member will come up with a solution (hopefully).

 

[DarkXeno]

I would see if there is a firmware update for the laptop, then reset the bios to "factory" then boot off the 64bit disc and see if that works.

 

[Mike1011]

I'm a pretty rookie computer-skilled guy, so could you guide me through installing firmware?

 

[DarkXeno]

Most BIOS installs are rather easy just download the file and run it.
I used the info above to find the one on dells site

Drivers and Downloads

read this page before running it. I hope this helps.
Also make sure you are plugged into a power supply never do an update on battery.

 

[bobkn]

Hi, I'm Mike.

I purchased a Dell Inpiron Laptop 1545 at the end of August this year. It had 1GB RAM, and Vista 32bit pre-installed.
I researched my laptop, and bought the max RAM it could handle. It now has 4GB RAM installed, although vista 32bit only recognised 2GB - a common problem as i have seen.
I recently purchased Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade version, and wanted to upgrade to 64bit. I downloaded the windows 7 upgrade assisstant which said i was fine for the 64bit. However, when trying the 64 bit disc, the error message said the disc wasn't compatible. I have thus installed Windows 7 32bit, where it still only recognises 2GB of RAM.

Please help. I just want my laptop to recognise the the full 4GB, even without 64bit

Cheers
Mike

Two things:

1) It isn't permitted to do an upgrade-in-place for a 32 bit OS to a 64 bit one. You can use an upgrade license, but only to do a custom (clean) install.

2) The 64 bit upgrade DVD won't launch from a 32 bit OS. You'll have to boot the laptop from it.

Incidentally: when you say that Win7 X86 only "recognizes" 2GB of RAM, precisely what do you mean? I'm not quite sure how it's reported in Win7, but Vista X86 (at least after SP1) reported the full 4GB, although the amount of RAM available to Windows was not changed. How much RAM is reported by the laptop's BIOS?

 

[Mike1011]

Hi again

For DarkXeno: Just installed BIOS update. Went fine. Could you guide me through booting from the 64bit disc?
For Bobkn: Looking at my RAM usage, it says there is only 2GB available, when i installed 2x2GB RAM Modules a month ago, i.e. 4GB.

 

[wallyinnc]

Hi Mike, you need to set up your BIOS to boot from the DVD (usually under boot options). When you boot with the DVD in place there should be a message to press a key to boot from the DVD. That is all you should need to do to get it started.

I suspect you were trying to start the installation from within Vista, is that right?

Also, a 32bit system may indicate you have 4G but can only handle 3.2G (Win7 x86 will tell you exactly that). If neither Vista nor Win7 32 indicate you have 4G installed, check your BIOS for maximum amount of memory, there is sometimes a setting and it might be set ot 2G

Good luck and lte us know

 

[Dave76]

Hi again

For DarkXeno: Just installed BIOS update. Went fine. Could you guide me through booting from the 64bit disc?
For Bobkn: Looking at my RAM usage, it says there is only 2GB available, when i installed 2x2GB RAM Modules a month ago, i.e. 4GB.

Welcome to Seven Forums.

There are some very good tutorials from Seven Forums. They will answer most of your questions.
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
For more info check Tutorial quick reference list for Installing Windows 7

Hope this helps,If you have any questions just reply here.

 

[Mike1011]

Hi All

I have successfully installed Windows 7 64bit Home Premium. However, my laptop still doesn't seem to recognise the full 4GB. I checked my system information at Boot options, and it says one slot of memory is empty, whilst the other has 2048MB. Whereas, it should be that both are full with 2048 MB. Help?

 

[wallyinnc]

Good job on installation
2G: tThat is a bad sign Mike. Do you have a max memory setting in your BIOS?
You might have a bad memory module.
Can you open it and check if it is physically well connected to the slot?
You can also run Memtest86, and see if it recognizes the memory, although I doubt, since BIOS doesn't see it.

 

[Dave76]

In the start box type, msconfig, when msconfig.exe comes up hit enter, click on the boot tab, then Advanced Options.
On the top right there is a box "Maximum Memory", if it is checked then un-check it.
If this doesn't fix it then check if the memory cards are seated correctly.

Who installed the new memory?
If you had it done somewhere, have them check it.
If you installed it, go look at it closely and see if both cards are fully seated. If you can't see anything obvious, then remove them one at a time and re-seat.

 

[Mike1011]

Hi All

Problem Solved!!!

I was checking the RAM modules in the back of the laptop, was fiddling around and as i was putting in the second 2GB RAM module, the thing clicked it. Turns out, i never installed the second 2GB RAM properly.
Kicked myself when i figured that out.
So everything's okay, i'm now running windows 7 64bit with my full 4GB being recognised!!!

 

[DarkXeno]

Good, and dont worry about the ram thing we all have been there many times.

Enjoy Win7 now.

 

[wallyinnc]

Good job Mike, thanks for posting the result. Enjoy 7!