Why is My PC only reading half of my 4Gb ram stick?

[Moose Fire]

So I have an Dell Vostro 400 with a Foxconn GM33m03 motherboard. I read that this motherboard can support up to 8GB's of DDR2 ram in it, so I went and got a 4GB stick of DDR2 and paired it with two 1 GB sticks. Now the PC reads the two 1 GB sticks just fine, but it only reads half of the 4GB stick, leaving me with 4 GB's of total ram when I should have 6. Is there any way I can rectify this? Also, take it a bit easy on me, I'm kind of a novice at this stuff.

Also, I do have the latest BIOS for my motherboard

 

[Recycled]

Are You looking in Windows or in the BIOS to see 4GB?

What OS are You using? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Are You sure You are installing a 4GB stick and not half of a 2x2GB=4GB pair?

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

 

[Moose Fire]

Are You looking in Windows or in the BIOS to see 4GB?

What OS are You using? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Are You sure You are installing a 4GB stick and not half of a 2x2GB=4GB pair?

My OS is Windows 7 64 bit.

Um, I'm not really sure what you mean Can you elaborate as to what that is?

 

[Moose Fire]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

 

[Moose Fire]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

Okay, thanks for not being too hard on me, I'm new at this crap.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

Okay, thanks for not being too hard on me, I'm new at this crap.

No problem; see if you can change that 4GB with 2x2GB or, better still, go for a full refund and save the money for a new build.

What CPU/GPU are you using right now?

 

[Moose Fire]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

Okay, thanks for not being too hard on me, I'm new at this crap.

No problem; see if you can change that 4GB with 2x2GB or, better still, go for a full refund and save the money for a new build.

What CPU/GPU are you using right now?

I can't get a refund someone gave it to me for free, lol. And I have a Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 550.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

Okay, thanks for not being too hard on me, I'm new at this crap.

No problem; see if you can change that 4GB with 2x2GB or, better still, go for a full refund and save the money for a new build.

What CPU/GPU are you using right now?

I can't get a refund someone gave it to me for free, lol. And I have a Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 550.

Your PC still has some punch; try to make a trade for 2x2 GB and you're good to go 😉

 

[Moose Fire]

Hello,

Try to put the 4GB DIMM in the first slot, and the 1 GB pair in the slots 2 + 4 (both 1GB DIMMs should be in the same colour slots). If still not working, maybe your motherboard limits the capacity to 2 GB for each slot.

EDIT: if you leave only the 4GB stick, it shows only half capacity as well?

Yes, I have them in that order already. And yes when I just leave the 4 GB it only reads half.

Please check this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19249074.aspx

It seems that there is no official support for more than 4 GB of RAM, so the offficial supported configuration is max. 4 x 1 GB or 2 x 2GB (some possibility for 4 x 2 GB, but not official supported).

Okay, thanks for not being too hard on me, I'm new at this crap.

No problem; see if you can change that 4GB with 2x2GB or, better still, go for a full refund and save the money for a new build.

What CPU/GPU are you using right now?

I can't get a refund someone gave it to me for free, lol. And I have a Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 550.

Your PC still has some punch; try to make a trade for 2x2 GB and you're good to go 😉

Thanks! I'll see about doing that.