W7 x64 won't see more than 3gb Ram

[Diabolic]

Hi, I've seen this question asked but while I have found the explanation I can't find the solution.

I'm Running windows 7 x64 on my PC. Its an older PC. 3Ghz Pentium D. The mobo is an AOPEN i954pa-plf. So I've installed 2 2GB sticks of ram and my computer on boot, and in the bios only shows 3GB as being installed. From what I can tell this is due to the bios offset not being enabled. What I can't figure out is how to enable it.

Is this a case of the mobo being too old to get the full benefits of win7 64, and its just impossible to enable the offset to allow more than 3GB, or is there a setting I just can't find? According to the specs on the board it can handle up to 4GB, so I'd really like to squeeze as much out of this as possible-if possible.

Thanks

 

[smsff7]

Strange, Do you have a video card with 1GB of memory? My guess is that your video card ram is also being counted for that 4GB limit.

 

[Diabolic]

No, my video card is 512mb.

 

[Outlander]

Sys Configuration/Boot/Advanced Options...Uncheck Max memory. I had your problem and for reasons beyond me that move fixed it. May not apply in your case??

 

[slk2k]

How much memory does the BIOS see? Some MBs were locked to
3GB only.

 

[Diabolic]

It shows just over 3gb (3145...K) everywhere. BIOS, boot screen, and system info.

 

[mjf]

It shows just over 3gb (3145...K) everywhere. BIOS, boot screen, and system info.

3GB = 3145***kB which shows in your BIOS
So that's probably why you have the limit.

 

[stormy13]

Motherboard only supports up to 4 GB of ram,

AOpen i945Pa-PLF (Motherboards: Intel Pentium4) by AOpen -- FiringSquad Hardware Info & Web Reviews

and unless the motherboard/bios supports memory re-mapping,

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed

The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature.

then the ~3145 MB you're seeing is all you're going to get.

 

[mjf]

~ 3145 kB

 

[stormy13]

~ 3145 kB

You realize that is only around 3 MB or so.. Looks like you're getting your K, M and G mixed up,

http://egret.net/kb__mb.htm

 

[mjf]

Correct as per my original
should be ~ 3145***kB where * stands for 0-9

but not 3145 MB