4GB RAM installed but system shows 2GB installed and usable 1.88GB only

[yeniv7]

I know similar questions have been posted before but I am not concerned about the usable being less than installed. What I am concerned is that the system is not showing the correct installed also.

The system is Dell inspiron 3521. OS is 64bit Win10 home edition. It came with 4GB RAM installed. It had i3 processor but I had to get the motherboard replaced and now it has a Celeron 1017U processor.

The Task manager view and the system view both show that it has only 2GB RAM installed. I checked online that this new CPU can support 32 GB RAM.

http://imgur.com/a/FkRJ9

http://imgur.com/a/D8jxk

http://imgur.com/a/S4xTA

I took out the RAM from the laptop and saw that it had a sticker too saying 4GB.

Why is my system not detecting the complete RAM?

EDIT: Not sure why but I added some images too showing the task manager view and system view of RAM/CPU. But the images are not shown in the post. While I am editing I can see the imgur links but the preview does not show the images 🙁

 

[kaptainkuftic]

What motherboard did you move to? Also, do you have extra sticks of RAM to test with?

 

[yeniv7]

What motherboard did you move to? Also, do you have extra sticks of RAM to test with?

I am not sure of the motherboard. I will have to open up the laptop and check it. Unfortunately, I don't have extra RAM sticks either.

 

[kaptainkuftic]

What motherboard did you move to? Also, do you have extra sticks of RAM to test with?

I am not sure of the motherboard. I will have to open up the laptop and check it. Unfortunately, I don't have extra RAM sticks either.

Well, either way, it sounds like either a bad DIMM slot, or a bad stick of RAM.

 

[rgd1101]

go to bios and see how much RAM it see.

 

[InvalidError]

Use CPU-Z to confirm that the installed DIMM(s)'s SPD info matches the stickers. If it confirms that you should have 4GB, run memtest86 to see how much memory it is detecting and see if it finds errors. If memtest86 can only see 2GB, then the memory is being limited by the BIOS. If it sees 4GB, then the memory limit in Windows (msconfig) might be enabled for some reason.

 

[Yamitime]

I think it shares the memory with the onboard graphics.

 

[gasaraki]

So Windows is seeing 1 stick of RAM installed in the system (from your task manager). You said that you looked at this one stick and it says 4GB? If that is the case that is really weird. I would try to put the RAM in the other RAM slot and see if that fixes it. I would check the BIOS like the others said and see what the BIOS sees for memory.

 

[kaptainkuftic]

So Windows is seeing 1 stick of RAM installed in the system (from your task manager). You said that you looked at this one stick and it says 4GB? If that is the case that is really weird. I would try to put the RAM in the other RAM slot and see if that fixes it. I would check the BIOS like the others said and see what the BIOS sees for memory.

I've seen sticks that show the total amount of RAM that should be installed on each stick. So if I buy 2x4GB sticks, they might both read 8GB on the label because that's the total that should be present if they are installed together

 

[faalin]

Who replaced the motherboard? The i3 is a 2 core 4 thread 2.4ghz while the Celeron is only a 2 core 1.6ghz, definitely downgraded there.

Do they make single side and dual side ram for laptops? could be only reading 1 side of the stick. I do have an older dell desktop that will only read single side ram, if you put in a dual side it only reads half the size.

 

[yeniv7]

go to bios and see how much RAM it see.

BIOS also sees 2GB RAM

 

[yeniv7]

What motherboard did you move to? Also, do you have extra sticks of RAM to test with?

I am not sure of the motherboard. I will have to open up the laptop and check it. Unfortunately, I don't have extra RAM sticks either.

Well, either way, it sounds like either a bad DIMM slot, or a bad stick of RAM.

I tried the RAM stick in other DIMM slot and the system can still see only 2GB RAM.

 

[yeniv7]

Use CPU-Z to confirm that the installed DIMM(s)'s SPD info matches the stickers. If it confirms that you should have 4GB, run memtest86 to see how much memory it is detecting and see if it finds errors. If memtest86 can only see 2GB, then the memory is being limited by the BIOS. If it sees 4GB, then the memory limit in Windows (msconfig) might be enabled for some reason.

CPU-Z shows that there is RAM stick in slot#2 only and its a DDR-3 2GB RAM. I moved the stick to the other slot and CPU-Z now shows that there is a 2GB RAM in slot #1. I also checked the msconfig and memory limit is not set there.

 

[yeniv7]

Who replaced the motherboard? The i3 is a 2 core 4 thread 2.4ghz while the Celeron is only a 2 core 1.6ghz, definitely downgraded there.

Do they make single side and dual side ram for laptops? could be only reading 1 side of the stick. I do have an older dell desktop that will only read single side ram, if you put in a dual side it only reads half the size.

I spilled water on the laptop and the motherboard got short circuits. I got it replaced at a local repair center (not Dell authorized as it was out of warranty). With the actual i3 one not available, I had do go with the downgrade.

I am not sure I can answer the other Qs. I am posting the pics of the RAM stick. Pls. see if that helps.

 

[yeniv7]

So Windows is seeing 1 stick of RAM installed in the system (from your task manager). You said that you looked at this one stick and it says 4GB? If that is the case that is really weird. I would try to put the RAM in the other RAM slot and see if that fixes it. I would check the BIOS like the others said and see what the BIOS sees for memory.

I've seen sticks that show the total amount of RAM that should be installed on each stick. So if I buy 2x4GB sticks, they might both read 8GB on the label because that's the total that should be present if they are installed together

I suspect if this is the case. I have posted the pics of the RAM stick. Pls. see if that helps.

http://imgur.com/a/qF0N4

http://imgur.com/a/Dhzp2

 

[InvalidError]

CPU-Z shows that there is RAM stick in slot#2 only and its a DDR-3 2GB RAM. I moved the stick to the other slot and CPU-Z now shows that there is a 2GB RAM in slot #1.

Did you swap the two DIMMs or removed one DIMM and moved the remaining DIMM to the other slot?

If you swapped the DIMMs, then the system isn't detecting the other one for some reason. Try the non-working DIMM alone to see if it will work that way. If that still does not work with either slot, then that definitely looks like a bad DIMM. If the DIMMs work separately but not together, you may be running into a motherboard memory support issue such as the board only supporting one rank (side) per DIMM and one DIMM ends up getting skipped because both rank selection lines are used by a single DIMM. Are both DIMMs labeled the same? Mismatched DIMMs may cause additional complications.

Since whoever repaired your laptop downgraded your motherboard/CPU, there is no telling what else he may have done.

 

[yeniv7]

CPU-Z shows that there is RAM stick in slot#2 only and its a DDR-3 2GB RAM. I moved the stick to the other slot and CPU-Z now shows that there is a 2GB RAM in slot #1.

Did you swap the two DIMMs or removed one DIMM and moved the remaining DIMM to the other slot?

If you swapped the DIMMs, then the system isn't detecting the other one for some reason. Try the non-working DIMM alone to see if it will work that way. If that still does not work with either slot, then that definitely looks like a bad DIMM. If the DIMMs work separately but not together, you may be running into a motherboard memory support issue such as the board only supporting one rank (side) per DIMM and one DIMM ends up getting skipped because both rank selection lines are used by a single DIMM. Are both DIMMs labeled the same? Mismatched DIMMs may cause additional complications.

Since whoever repaired your laptop downgraded your motherboard/CPU, there is no telling what else he may have done.

Its a single DIMM and I just moved it to the other slot.

 

[InvalidError]

Yup, that DIMM is indeed supposed to be 4GB and dual-rank. My guess at this point is that the board only supports single-rank DIMMs and cannot access the module's other side so you get only half the RAM.

 

[yeniv7]

Yup, that DIMM is indeed supposed to be 4GB and dual-rank. My guess at this point is that the board only supports single-rank DIMMs and cannot access the module's other side so you get only half the RAM.

OK. Over last couple of days, I managed to get a single 4GB RAM stick from a friend. I put this new stick and removed the old one and the system did show 4GB RAM. Then I put both of them and the system showed it has 6GB RAM. So I guess, the board/DIMM slots are good.

 

[InvalidError]

Does the DIMM you borrowed have chips on both sides? If it has chips only on one side, that would prove my theory. (Well, it is also possible to have a single-rank SO-DIMM with chips on both sides using 8x x8 chips instead of 4x x16 ones. You'd need to look up the DIMM model to verify that.)