Installed memory (RAM): 6.00 GB (2.96 GB usable) . Is this correct?

[caldom]

Hi, hope everyone had a great Holiday
I have windows 7 home premium 64 bit, 6 GB and so does the os, but why is it only allowing me to use 2.96gb. How do I get the pc to read the full 6 GB ?
In the task manager and the sytem properies it reads : Installed memory (RAM): 6.00 GB (2.96 GB usable) . Is this correct? Is is allright to have more Ram avail. for me ( How do I do this?????) or is this the way that it's meant to be and I need to simply buy more RAM If I want more?
Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[bigmck]

You should have about 5.2 GB available. Some of the 6 GB is used for your Video Card. Right click on Computer and Left Click on Properties. Use your Snipping Tool to give us a Screen Shot. Thanks,

 

[Night Hawk]

I have to agree with bigmck on a sharing of memory with a large video card. The screen attached here is an 8gb total seeing almost 2gb of ram used 700-800mb approximate for the basic x64 Ultimate and some browsers windows with more ram going to the 1gb video card.

As you can see there a good chunk of ram deducting background services and a few browser windows has been mapped out to the video card. That would generally account for about 20% max however.

Do you have any mixed memory or are all the dimms identical? Mismatched ram may still see the total amount installed indicated but not show all memory is available for use.

 

[caldom]

HI, the RAM that I have is the same that came with the PC so I think this means it's all the same dim
BTW, I have two similar operating systems however, one is genuine and the second one is not. I would like to remove the one which is not genuine( but i don't know how to do it safely without corrupting the other one). Could this part of the problem?
Bob

 

[Night Hawk]

Well the advice I would give anyone dual booting two OSs would be simply removing the primary the second one is one if not reformatting it and creating a fresh new one. Then you simply remove any boot entries for that in the 7 BCD store. EasyBCD is a free program that can see to that if not by the boot tab in the msconfig utility.

As for having more then one OS installed the memory is only being used by the one you were booted into at any particular time. The other sits idle as files on a separate partition or drive and wouldn't be using any.

 

[djmeznyc]

Come on guys someone needs to answer this question, since I have a similar problem... My computer always says i have only 1.74gb usable but i have 4gb of ram installed and it also came with the pc, I have just ordered 8gb of ram to replace these sticks but in the meantime I cannot find why I can only use 1.74gb of RAM, this has been like this for long time and no matter where I go no one can answer what the problem is... I do not have any virtual machines on the cpu and no processes running in the background I have checked many times... I think I may have a defective 2gb ram stick but memtest has not found any problems... please help

 

[bigmck]

Come on guys someone needs to answer this question, since I have a similar problem... My computer always says i have only 1.74gb usable but i have 4gb of ram installed and it also came with the pc,

I'm still waiting on the screen shot................

 

[cluberti]

Agreed. Start > resmon > memory tab > screenshot. Then we can help.

 

[Night Hawk]

Come on guys someone needs to answer this question, since I have a similar problem... My computer always says i have only 1.74gb usable but i have 4gb of ram installed and it also came with the pc, I have just ordered 8gb of ram to replace these sticks but in the meantime I cannot find why I can only use 1.74gb of RAM, this has been like this for long time and no matter where I go no one can answer what the problem is... I do not have any virtual machines on the cpu and no processes running in the background I have checked many times... I think I may have a defective 2gb ram stick but memtest has not found any problems... please help

You always have processes running in the background. Those are called Windows services which will be using up a certain amount of memory. A program like Handle or Process Explorer is good to have since everything running at any given time is displayed.

Since you are replacing the stock memory it may as well be good in case a dimm is bad? But it sounds more like a dimm may lifted up the dimm slot and why you are seeing that small amount available.

If you were running the 32bit not 64bit Windows the other answer would be the kernel limitation which for Vista and 7 is just over 3.5gb the remainder automatically being mapped out to hardwares.

In fact I would recommend the OP grabbing one of the two programs there for a look when he goes to post a snipping of the results. That will give us something to go on.

 

[hookitup]

heres the answer to your question.

GO TO THE BIOS. look for settings about your VIDEO settings, there will be something that says "pre-allocated memory size", make it as low as possible, then look for "total Graphics Memory" lower that one as well then save settings and BAM all done it will boost that "usable" number to just about a half gig under the total amount installed. that half gig not usable is saved for certain things like your GPU, startup and various other things.

(note: the names of these two settings may be named differently. AND decreasing total graphic memory might have affects when using programs that are heavy on your GPU)

 

[GeneO]

What model motherboard do you have?

In the BIOS, is there a memory remap setting. If it is disabled, enable it.

 

[djmeznyc]

sorry guys i have not been getting any replies emailed to me for this thread, now that i see that i have been receiveing replies and i still have the problem, here is what my screenshot looks like:
also i now have 8gb ram installed but only 3.74gb usable i have gave up and since i usually have enough ram anyway, i just left it alone for now.
Also i thought that i had a bad ram slot, which is not good but I cannot afford to send my laptop back to HP so if anyone can help me again I will be greatful.
:shock:

 

[Night Hawk]

You are not seeing any bad dimm slot but over 4gb being found as "hardware reserved"! Read the information there a little closer and you will see all memory is being accounted for.

4.3+gb hardware reserved,, almost 1.3gb used, 98mb, then almost 1.5gb standby, and finally 1gb free. Your 8gb of memory is being accounted for with a little over half of it being mapped out to hardwares.

Some but not all of that would be for integrated graphics. But like GeneD was mentioning you have a bios option that could be adjusted or disabled to free up quite a bit more ram.

 

[Ztruker]

Also see this thread for a similar question: http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...shows-3-73gb-usable-memory-8gb-installed.html

 

[Night Hawk]

The OP on that thread reports having reseated his memory a few times to see results. But just like the Asrock board which is a make that often sees limited options available in the bios laptops with smaller boards are often limited for things like memory remapping options.

The used memory amount of 1.3gb isn't anything odd but simply shows you have numerous start up items going in the background. The 64bit Windows also places more data and keeps in there in the active ram when compared to the 32it swapping data out to the drive.

At least you know the memory is good. You just need to find what will free up more memory for general use.

 

[Layback Bear]

I don't know what can be done about it but their is a lot of ram for hardware. Mine is only 9 MB. I'm I low or the OP high. Maybe I'm don't understand it properly.

 

[Night Hawk]

The performance tab in the taskmanager here shows 3gb being cached. But I am running off a video card installed separately on a desktop with 8gb of ram.

On a laptop system memory has to be shared for the integrated graphics which would account for the difference to some extent between what is being there 4gb+ hardware reserved and the 3gb cached here. That would point to having 1.3gb reserved for graphics and the rest of the 4.3gb indicated being cached as well.

 

[jbruins87]

im having the same problem

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello jbruins87 Welcome to the Seven Forums!


If you are running a 32bit version only so much ram out of the total of 6gb will be available due to the limitations of the 32bit kernel itself. For XP that would be about 3.12gb maximum with more for Windows Vista, 7, and 8, 8.1 now becoming available. The newer versions will typically see about 3.571gb approximate with the remaining ram being mapped out to hardwares and unavailable for OS use.

For systems with more then 4gb of memory installed the 64bit operating systems are the recommendation since the increase in ram is supported upwards of 128gb for example for Windows 7. It won't anything running a 32bit OS however while you will lose out on the full amount and potential of a running the 64bit OS.