Studio XPS 16 2.96 GB Useable RAM

[A F 1 G 3]

Hi guys, just bought a Studio XPS 16. Windows 7 Ultimate...spec screen shots below..the problem is I KNOW FOR A FACT before I reformatted this laptop it said 4GB of RAM. When I reformatted it changed to 2.96 USEABLE...help?

 

[osholt]

Hi, this is most likely to do with a proportion of your RAM being reserved for use by hardware but there is a chance it could be something else which could be picked up by the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool (Tutorial on how to use this can be found at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/715-memory-diagnostics-tool.html).

Post back with any results or questions.

Oli

 

[A F 1 G 3]

Diag test didnt show anything...and it cant be the graphix card because when I booted this thing up from factory it showed 4.00 GB

 

[A F 1 G 3]

bump...

 

[Mellon Head]

Not trying to be a smartass, but when you reformatted, did you accidentally re-install the 32 bit version of Windows Ultimate from the wrong disk?

That would yield the result that you're seeing...

 

[A F 1 G 3]

Not trying to be a smartass, but when you reformatted, did you accidentally re-install the 32 bit version of Windows Ultimate from the wrong disk?

That would yield the result that you're seeing...

Sadly wish it were that simple of a mistake but no I didn't...any other ideas???

 

[Wishmaster]

Official specs state:
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670-1GB



1GB of your physical RAM is dedicated to the onboard GPU.

4GB - 1GB = 3GB useable.

This is normal.

 

[Product FRED]

Not trying to be a smartass, but when you reformatted, did you accidentally re-install the 32 bit version of Windows Ultimate from the wrong disk?

That would yield the result that you're seeing...

If he installed the 32-bit version, he'd be able to use about 3.5GB, which is more than he's describing.

 

[A F 1 G 3]

Official specs state:
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670-1GB



1GB of your physical RAM is dedicated to the onboard GPU.

4GB - 1GB = 3GB useable.

This is normal.

any reason when the laptop ships from OEM they are able to "make" windows read that it is 4GB with nothing in parenthesis meaning we are to assume all of it is usable?

 

[Mellon Head]

If he installed the 32-bit version, he'd be able to use about 3.5GB, which is more than he's describing.

Not necessarily. As Wishmaster says, the graphics card will chew up some of it. My laptop has 4 GB, and I get just under 3.1GB usable. (512M Graphics card)

 

[Product FRED]

If he installed the 32-bit version, he'd be able to use about 3.5GB, which is more than he's describing.

Not necessarily. As Wishmaster says, the graphics card will chew up some of it. My laptop has 4 GB, and I get just under 3.1GB usable. (512M Graphics card)

That's because there's a dedicated GPU and a discreet graphics chipset. Some RAM is allocated to the chipset.

 

[Mellon Head]

If he installed the 32-bit version, he'd be able to use about 3.5GB, which is more than he's describing.

Not necessarily. As Wishmaster says, the graphics card will chew up some of it. My laptop has 4 GB, and I get just under 3.1GB usable. (512M Graphics card)

That's because there's a dedicated GPU and a discreet graphics chipset. Some RAM is allocated to the chipset.

Yes. And if the OP has a 1 GB video card, it stands to reason that he would see even less available memory than I do...

 

[A F 1 G 3]

I figured out why it was displaying that way, when I go to msconfig and change the hardware boxes and check the MAXIMUM MEMORY box and set it to 4096 and restart it goes back to 0 value for some reason and also changes to 2.96 useable, when I uncheck that box and restart it goes back to displaying normally...thanks guys for the input