1gig Memory missing

[brooklynguy]

I have a Dell Dimension 8400, running Windows XP on a Pentium 4 3.0 ghz. I also have a 1 gig nvidia video card.

I have had 3 gigs (2x 1 gig and 2x 512mb) of ram and recently updated to 4 gigs of ram (4 x 1gig).
The bios shows all 4 gigs are present and recognized. I ran memtest and the memory is good.

My issue:

When I only had 3 gigs of ram, all 3 gigs of ram displayed under system properties.
Now that I have 4, it still only shows 3.

I understand that windows xp will only recognize 4g and you won't see the complete 4 because of usage by the system, but why when I had 3 did it show 3 and now when I have 4 does it only show 3, not even 3.2

Thanks.

 

[mightymaxio]

Because the ram limitation also effects Video ram. If you have 4gb of addressable space your 3gb of ram + 1gb of gfx card ram = 4gb of usable space.

You will need to upgrade to a 64 bit OS to see that extra ram or downgrade the graphics card if you need windows xp 32 bit.