windows isnt reading all my RAM

[Karbon Killa]

I have 4GB installed as shown in CPUZ and windows only sees 2GB. wtf!? Help me plz???

EDIT:
If this is in the wrong section, can a mod please move it for me. Sorry.

[nevermind1534]

Do you have the 32-bit version of xp? If you do, that is why. 32-bit OSes only let you see 3.5GB. You might have other hardware that is stealing the rest of it. Some chipsets also have smaller limitations. Mine limits me to 3.5GB, even with a 64-bit OS.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Nevermind is nearly right - XP allows you to see 2G as do other 32 bit versions of Windoze. Read this:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...AE/PAEmem.mspx

Operating systems based on Microsoft Windows NT technologies have always provided applications with a flat 32-bit virtual address space that describes 4 gigabytes (GB) of virtual memory. The address space is usually split so that 2 GB of address space is directly accessible to the application and the other 2 GB is only accessible to the Windows executive software.

The article explains how you will be able to turn on the 3Gb memory switch allowing XtraPoop and other 32 bit editions of Windoze to see 3G of physical Ram. However this still includes the RAM on your video card and other system components. Better than nothing - though if you have 1G of video Ram you may as well sell one of your sticks on ebay ... unless you intend switching to MrVista some time soon.

CrazyB

EDIT: Having taken a close look at your screenshot I see you are running XP Home edition which does not allow the addressing of 3G. I'll dig around and see if there are workarounds but I think not.

EDIT 2: Don't use the 3G switch:

Good read with useful links from a guy who went right into this in depth: http://blog.tylerholmes.com/2008/03/...e-me-4-gb.html

And another good article he based his research on: http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

Overall

As things stand at the moment (June 2007), the sensible course of action for the vast majority of Windows users buying a new PC is to get a standard 32-bit WinXP system with at most 3Gb of memory. It'll come as close to Just Working as Windows ever does, and you'll be able to use as close to all of the installed RAM as makes no difference, if you don't go totally crazy with your video card choice.
(It's now the end of January, 2008, and I'm giving this article a bit of a polish. DDR2 RAM is now so cheap that if your PC takes that kind of memory, you might as well buy 4Gb. You still won't get much more actual usable RAM that way, but two 2Gb modules may actually cost you less than two 1Gb and two 512Mb modules. So what the hell.)

[xRyokenx]

I have 32-bit Vista and lowered the virtual memory from "System Controlled" to 256-512MB and I can see all 4GB of my RAM now... and I don't have it complaining about not having enough HDD space anymore, either (35GB partition).

[Karbon Killa]

But to the fact that before I installed this new motherboard (which reads all the RAM in BIOS) my Windows XP Home x32 read 3.5GB RAM. I do not understand what is going on that made this only read 2. I am going to remove 2 sticks tonight, then put them back in, maybe something just isn't reading it. It is SP3 btw.

[nevermind1534]

I'm in xp pro 32 right now, and it's seeing 3.25GB. I'm running SP3, but it still recognized that with SP2. That makes sense that it's home edition, and only lets you see 2 GB.

[Karbon Killa]

But I had home edition all along and it read 3.5GB... This is making me mad. I have taken out and re-installed the RAM, didn't work. I tried editing a couple of things in the BOOT.INI file, but that hasn't helped. Tried /3GB switch and tried removing /MAXMEM= switch. Neither have worked.

[nevermind1534]

did you try each stick individually?

[Crazy Buddhist]

Look in your BIOS for memory hole re-mapping and turn it on.

CrazyB

[Karbon Killa]

I cannot find that option in the BIOS. Where might it be located at in an EVGA nForce 680i SLI?