Pc only uses 2gb out of 4gb

[shorty11_rox]

Hello,
I recently built my first pc but found out the other day that it is only using half of the memory (using 2gb out of 4) in the system specs of pc it says thaat it recognises the 4gb but bin rackets it has (1.99 gb usable). Whats wrong? should i buy another 4gb so i can use 4 or can this be fixed? Thankyou for any answers
P.S I am using 64 bit windows 7 ultimate

 

[Maziar]

Hey
Go into MSCONFIG,advance boot options and set max memory to 4096 and check if it helps.Also does your BIOS report 4GB?

 

[mikrev007]

If it is msconfig then the option should be unticked. A setting of 4096 will not provide access to all the ram.

Because it sets the highest ram address that Windows will use, not the amount.

 

[Maziar]

But i have seen users reporting it helped them to recognize the whole RAM,lets see if it helps the OP or not

 

[FALC0N]

Hello,
I recently built my first pc but found out the other day that it is only using half of the memory (using 2gb out of 4) in the system specs of pc it says thaat it recognises the 4gb but bin rackets it has (1.99 gb usable). Whats wrong? should i buy another 4gb so i can use 4 or can this be fixed? Thankyou for any answers
P.S I am using 64 bit windows 7 ultimate

Make sure the bios reads all the ram like the previous poster said.

The aforementioned MSCONFIG boot setting is also a possibility.

The core I3/I5/I7 have a surprisingly common bent cpu pin issue that often limits ram, if that is your CPU. You would have to remove the cpu and carefully check for bent pins. But that would be a last option because its a lot of work to pull the heatsink/cpu.

Be sure to reseat the ram. It may be something that simple.

Also check for bad ram chip or chips.

 

[shorty11_rox]

In my bios it says 1.99gb aswell, ive tried the msconfig thing doesnt work, coould i just buy an extra 4gb of ram to take it up to 8 or wouldnt that work? I dont really want to have to take out heatsink as it took me ages to put it in at start.

 

[Maziar]

Do you have 4x1GB or 2x2GB? in either way,take each stick of RAMs out and test them in single mode and check if they report the wrong capacity or not.