[SOLVED] Total Physical Memory (2.1gb) MUCH less than Installed Physical Memory (12gb)--even at boot up

[KeithAdv]

I've reviewed similar threads but haven't quite found the answer that fits my problem.

I have an HP Envy 360 laptop running Windows 10 Pro (64-bit). In the past three or four months, I've developed some problems--the main one being Photoshop being unable to run for any length of time. Tool windows disappear and it ultimately freezes. Photoshop isn't the only problem but it seems to be the app that pushes my memory the hardest and this just seems like a memory problem to me.

I've booted up and immediately run msinfo32. With no other apps running, I get:

Installed Physical Memory 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.16 GB

10 gigs have just evaporated?

That suggests to me that something is really wrong, but I don't have the technical expertise to know any better! What do you think (and what should I do next?)

 

[shadow008]

I've reviewed similar threads but haven't quite found the answer that fits my problem.

I have an HP Envy 360 laptop running Windows 10 Pro (64-bit). In the past three or four months, I've developed some problems--the main one being Photoshop being unable to run for any length of time. Tool windows disappear and it ultimately freezes. Photoshop isn't the only problem but it seems to be the app that pushes my memory the hardest and this just seems like a memory problem to me.

I've booted up and immediately run msinfo32. With no other apps running, I get:

Installed Physical Memory 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.16 GB

10 gigs have just evaporated?

That suggests to me that something is really wrong, but I don't have the technical expertise to know any better! What do you think (and what should I do next?)

Check your BIOS and verify that Memory Remapping is enabled.
See this article: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-performance/how-do-i-enable-memory-remapping/8c0ab1ea-547b-4603-9b9a-fd72672eccb7

 

[KeithAdv]

I've reviewed similar threads but haven't quite found the answer that fits my problem.

I have an HP Envy 360 laptop running Windows 10 Pro (64-bit). In the past three or four months, I've developed some problems--the main one being Photoshop being unable to run for any length of time. Tool windows disappear and it ultimately freezes. Photoshop isn't the only problem but it seems to be the app that pushes my memory the hardest and this just seems like a memory problem to me.

I've booted up and immediately run msinfo32. With no other apps running, I get:

Installed Physical Memory 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.16 GB

10 gigs have just evaporated?

That suggests to me that something is really wrong, but I don't have the technical expertise to know any better! What do you think (and what should I do next?)

Check your BIOS and verify that Memory Remapping is enabled.
See this article: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-performance/how-do-i-enable-memory-remapping/8c0ab1ea-547b-4603-9b9a-fd72672eccb7

Thank you! I checked my bios and didn't see that option. While I was there I noticed there was a new bios. I flashed that and still didn't find the option. Also, the missing 10gbs are still missing!

I've had this laptop for a little less than a year. I have no idea what the memory ratios were when I got it, but I know it ran much faster and I could have multiple large images in Photoshop with no problems. Now I can barely edit a single moderate size image and if I open a browser while doing it, Photoshop is locked. Something seems to have changed but I don't know what.

 

[KeithAdv]

Wow! So, I didn't mention when I started the thread that I was also having issues with 100% disk with Task Manager. I thought I had mostly solved that. But I wonder if it was caused by my memory-starved laptop continually accessing virtual memory? Don't know.

Nevertheless, I just did a repair install of Windows 10 Pro 64. Now when I boot and run msinfo32, Windows reports:

Installed Physical Memory 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 11.9 GB

...and task manager usage numbers look fine across the board. I only hope it stays that way! It looks like whatever I broke, the reinstall fixed!

 

[mjslakeridge]

12Gb of RAM is an odd RAM capacity, unless you are using a system that supports triple-channel memory (3 x 4GB). Have you added RAM to the laptop? You can use CPU-Z to see if all of the RAM is the same (look at the SPD tab), and to see if it is running in triple-channel mode. The BIOS would also tell you this.

Hopefully the problem won't appear again and it was just some odd set of circumstances that caused that large amount of memory to be hardware reserved (I am assuming that was the cause of only 2.16GB to be available).

 

[KeithAdv]

12Gb of RAM is an odd RAM capacity, unless you are using a system that supports triple-channel memory (3 x 4GB). Have you added RAM to the laptop? You can use CPU-Z to see if all of the RAM is the same (look at the SPD tab), and to see if it is running in triple-channel mode. The BIOS would also tell you this.

Hopefully the problem won't appear again and it was just some odd set of circumstances that caused that large amount of memory to be hardware reserved (I am assuming that was the cause of only 2.16GB to be available).

I hope you're right! In the 30 minutes or so I've been fiddling with it, the reinstall seems to have fixed a multitude of problems. To answer your RAM question, 12gb is the stock installed RAM for this model (specifically, an HP ENVY m6-aq005dx x360). According to HP, the configuration is 12 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 4 GB, 1 x 8 GB).

I agree, seems weird. Guess they were trying to pinch every penny with the 4gb stick.

 

[mjslakeridge]

That is a very odd ram configuration. I guess that means you can't be running in dual-channel mode, since the memory is of different sizes. Maybe the motherboard doesn't even support dual-channel. You never know with laptop manufacturers.