16gb installed, only 3gb useable.

circium

Reputable
Aug 4, 2014
2
0
4,510
okay, so i have two 8gb (patriot memory ddr3 viper) memory sticks. the photos below basically depict my problem.

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my husband basically has the same setup but with 7mb hardware reserved. what the heck is going on?

a couple of things i've tried so far:
- BIOS is updated
- msconfig->boot->advanced etc
- moving the memory around in different slots (makes no difference)
 
Solution
Unfortunately that's the total amount of memory that can be addressed by a 32 bit OS. Your only option if you want to use that memory is to get a 64bit version (Win 8 or 7) and install it fresh.