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Memory Quandary

wee eddie

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Posted January 2, 2012 at 9:57PM

I have just replaced some Memory, after upgrading the OS of my System from Windows XP to Windows 7 – 64bit.

I had 2 x 1Gb Sticks and 2 x 512Mb Sticks installed. I took out the 2 x 512MB Sticks and replace them with 2 x 1GB Sticks from Crucial

The Motherboard is an ASUS A8S-X 1.xx fitted with an AMD 2.4 Gigahertz Athlon Processor, which appears to be able to handle 4GB of RAM in two pairs.

The System seems to be operating faster than it did before, fairly singing along. However, when I look at the System Properties I find this:

Installed Memory (RAM). 4.00 GB (3.00 GB usable)

Anyone got any ideas what's going on?

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difarn

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Posted January 2, 2012 at 10:48PM

It may be that your graphics card is reserving 1g of Ram or perhaps that the maximum memory is not enabled in your bios - have a look at this article.

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rdave13

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Posted January 2, 2012 at 11:25PM

I agree with difarn, if you're using on-board SIS graphics then 1 gig is reserved for that, specs.

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wee eddie

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Posted January 2, 2012 at 11:41PM

Belarc shows that I have a Radeon X1300/X1500 Card.

Could it be being by-passed?

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wee eddie

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Posted January 3, 2012 at 9:19AM

It looks as though my Graphics Card has no managed to make the transition.

Would that be likely to be the case if there were only 32bit Drivers available?

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difarn

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Posted January 3, 2012 at 9:36AM

This Radeon link gives you information on your card and a link to this site for 64 bit drivers.

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wee eddie

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Posted January 3, 2012 at 2:11PM

Thanks "difarn".

That looks to be the right place, but which one of the 6 to Download. I have insufficient knowledge to help me make that decision.

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difarn

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Posted January 3, 2012 at 2:36PM

Second one on the top row - Windows 7 64-bit should do it.

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Terry Brown

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Posted January 6, 2012 at 8:39PM

As you upgraded from XP (32 bit system ) to Window 7 (64 bit system), you may have to go into the bios and reset the defaults, allowing the bios to detect the 64 bit operating system, or you may have to set it manually depending on the Bios. As you probably know a 32 bit system can only access (about)3.5 gb of memory, which is why I suspect this is what is happening.

Terry

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wee eddie

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Posted January 7, 2012 at 2:40PM

Terry, I have assumed that, as everything else is swinging along well, the 64 bit system is properly in place.

Anyway, I have(sort of) decided to upgrade my Card as the old one was at the low end of the Market, even when I installed it, anyway.

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Terry Brown

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Posted January 7, 2012 at 7:23PM

You have assumed that everything is OK, but have you actually had a look at the BIOS settings?

Terry

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