Making the other 8GB of Memory available on my PC with Win 7

[phantomphlyer]

I have a dell 8100 XPS and recently put in 4x 4GB 1333 Corsair DDR3 RAM to replace the 4x 2GB 1066 RAM simms. The system note says I have 16GB of RAM now with 7.99GB useable. Am I wasting the other 8GB or RAM or can I somehow get that to be useable?

 

[DeaconFrost]

Did you verify that the system is capable of handling 16 GB of memory? I hate to be the bearer of possible bad news, but unless you have a very very specific usage or application need, you'd be wasting half that memory anyway. Even high-end games right now won't tax an 8 GB system, let alone 16 GB.

 

[rraod]

Your system is capable of supporting 16GB of memory.

Try msconfig on run box and go to boot tab and advanced options buttons, remove the checkmark on no of processors and maximum memory, close the two boxes and if recommended reboot the system. Now check the memory in Computer properties.

 

[pbcopter]

What version Windows 7?

 

[phantomphlyer]

Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[Comp Cmndo]

Your system is capable of supporting 16GB of memory.

Try msconfig on run box and go to boot tab and advanced options buttons, remove the checkmark on no of processors and maximum memory, close the two boxes and if recommended reboot the system. Now check the memory in Computer properties.

Like he said.

 

[phantomphlyer]

When I look into MSCONFIG - the boxes for both the number of processors and maximum memory are already unchecked. Checking 16345k and/or leaving the box unchecked still shows 16GB populated and only 7.69GB useable.

 

[sygnus21]

To get a better understanding of what your system is using see this post - http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/148654-memory-ram-2.html#post1276662

Then see this excellent article on RAM usage and Windows 7 - Windows 7 memory usage: What's the best way to measure? | ZDNet

And if those boxes in MSCONFIG are unticked there's no issue there.

 

[phantomphlyer]

Interesting. I am showing 8253MB of hardware reserved memory! All the numbers add up to 16GB but wow, 8GB of hardware reserved memory?

 

[sygnus21]

What do you have for free memory?

And can you post your resource monitor screenshot? - A Preferred Method of Uploading/Posting Screen Shots

 

[phantomphlyer]

283mb

 

[sygnus21]

Hmmm.... that's strange that the BIOS is reserving that much memory - 8gig!

Hardware Reserved (gray) This is physical memory that is set aside by the BIOS and other hardware drivers (especially graphics adapters). This memory cannot be used for processes or system functions.

Have you checked your BIOS? Checked for a BIOS update?

Also did you say that you checked your MSCONFIG settings to make sure that the MAX memory box isn't checked???

 

[Comp Cmndo]

Did you contact Dell?
Did you run the Dell Diagnostics?

 

[pbcopter]

Also some have had success after clearing CMOS and resetting.