I lost 250mb overnight!

[haydox]

I currently have 4x1GB sticks of DDR2 800 in a P5E running XP. I know that this means i can only use 3.25Gb of my RAM, but that extra 250mb allowed all 4 sticks to run in dual channel, so i figured it was worth it.

But when i turned my computer on this morning, as i was going into device manager i noticed that under the properties window of my computer it only said i had 3gb, not 3.25 as it said last night!

If one of my sticks was faulty, would it just not work or would i get an error of some kind? Are there any other reasons for this happening?

Thanks

Update: To add an extra layer of confusion, i just ran 3Dmark (13788, better than 97% of all systems apparently!), and that detected all 4 sticks of my RAM under the basic analysis, but under the configuration tab it only says 3gb of system memory! Somehow its detecting the 4th stick but not using it.

 

[eck]

It's not that it's not using the 4th stick, it's just not using 1GB of RAM. Using a 32-bit OS limits RAM somewhere between 3GB and 3.5GB depending on your motherboard. Did you add any hardware by chance?

 

[night_wolf_in]

I currently have 4x1GB sticks of DDR2 800 in a P5E running XP. I know that this means i can only use 3.25Gb of my RAM, but that extra 250mb allowed all 4 sticks to run in dual channel, so i figured it was worth it.

But when i turned my computer on this morning, as i was going into device manager i noticed that under the properties window of my computer it only said i had 3gb, not 3.25 as it said last night!

first of all. that 3.25 is rough estimation. could be changed with any hardware changes.

did u add any hardware? coz each hardware needs it own addressings. so they will cut from the memory. dont forget. if i u have gpu with 512MB, or more. it will deduce the "ram" ur OS can use.

just google it. there is a whole long explanation of why 4GB of ram wont be shown. to cut the problem short. use 2GB of ram.

 

[dengamle]

You haven't by some chance got memory remapping activated in bios?

 

[systemlord]

You haven't by some chance got memory remapping activated in bios?

The P5E does have Memory Remapping in BIOS, enable it.

 

[dengamle]

Remapping should be disabled when using an OS that limits the address space to 4 GB. By enabling it you can lose more ram than having it disabled

 

[systemlord]

Remapping should be disabled when using an OS that limits the address space to 4 GB. By enabling it you can lose more ram than having it disabled

Your right it says in my manual, "enable this option only when you install 64bit operating systems."

 

[quantumsheep]

Just get Vista/XP 64 bit.

 

[jsc]

I currently have 4x1GB sticks of DDR2 800 in a P5E running XP. I know that this means i can only use 3.25Gb of my RAM, but that extra 250mb allowed all 4 sticks to run in dual channel, so i figured it was worth it.

Having four sticks of DDR2 memory is what's enabling you to run in dual channel. It has nothing to do with "that extra 250mb". The 3.25 GB or whatever is shown as system memory is a consequence of the OS you are using and any BIOS options you select.

The first is hardware; the second is software.

 

[haydox]

Thanks everyone. So as long as remapping is disabled in the bios thats not the problem.

I did also install my 2nd 512mb radeon hd 3870 as the brige cables finally arrived! I didnt know that could cause it to drop. That will be it, problem solved.

Thanks again!