4GB hardware reserved...

jonnyp1993

jonnyp1993

jonnyp1993

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Does anyone know how to change the hardware reserved in windows ???

its driving me mad!

i have tried the msconfig thing, mine is unchecked, and if i check it, it does nothing.

my bios is the latest version.

windows is saying 8gb installed, 4 gb usable.

bios says "extended memory" 4gb.. what is this?

iv searched and searched the bios to see if its somthing in there.. i can't find anything.

my board is a gigabyte 78lmt-usb3
fx6300
4 x 2 gb xms3 1333 corsair ram ddr3
radeon hd 5770 1gb
wd green 500gb sata II

when i first got my board, i had a phenom 550 be. it was fine back then, using all 8gb.
i purchased a fx6300, and updated bios to "f3" from "f1".

ran fine, used all 8gb.


recently.. (4 days ago), did a fresh install of windows 7 ultimate.

this is when i noticed the 4gb hardware reserved.

my ccc and gpu drivers are all up to date. (im not using the beta) im using 13.4 i think it is.

my board is up to date.

windows is up to date.

i just don't know what to do :(, does anyone have any other ideas :) ?, one that doesn't involve money :D

much appreciated!

thanks :)
 
Dead ram stick or faulty slot,shouldn't say usable at all,and it wouldn't reserve 4gb it would be much less 128-256mb for igpu

Ohh 64 bit windows? Not 32bit as you can only make use of 3.5gb no matter how much ram you install
 
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Hi. Did a mem test last night. Showing 8gb and no errors.
I have installed 64bit...

It cant be a faulty slot as its showing all 8gb.

But what i dont understand is. What is extended memory..

It says it in the bios "extended memory 4093".

Confused...
 
It tested the whole 8GB in memtest? It will show you which region it is testing as it goes through.

Are you absolutely certain it is 64bit Windows?
 
It cant be a faulty slot as its showing all 8gb.
Click to expand...
I've seen windows reporting memory as present but not using it previously when a stick was faulty. Test it!

Edit: Oops just noticed you said you already tested it. Not v. helpful then :(
Did you test the sticks individually or en-mass? Might be worth trying each stick in slot 1, then assuming all pass using one stick and testing it again in each other slot. Tedious, only do this when you've time and something else to do while waiting!!
 
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If Ubuntu reports 8GB available then you'll know something is screwed up with Windows.

And you've already tested the memory with memtest, which means it's probably not a hardware problem, but the Linux check will confirm that.
 
teppic said:
If Ubuntu reports 8GB available then you'll know something is screwed up with Windows.

And you've already tested the memory with memtest, which means it's probably not a hardware problem, but the Linux check will confirm that.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll report back tonight.

If I put ubunto on a usb stick, do I just boot from the stick ? Or do I have to install it on the usb stick ?
 
You need to use a USB disk creator to install it to the USB stick, there's a utility linked on the website that'll do it.
 
Right.. booted with ubunto, its reporting only 4gb ...
did another memtest, and thats now reporting only 4gb..

tried reseating the ram, hasnt done anything.

going to try 1 stick at a time, see what happens in each slot.

see if its the ram, or the board :(

Will report back shortly.

jonnyp
 
Try your own suggestion of 1 Stick at a time and Boot. Also, vary the RAM Slots to make sure it is not a Mobo problem.

I had the same issue and it was a bad stick of RAM (after approx. 4 years of use), but luckily it was Corsair so Lifetime Warranty FTW!
 
Well, did the test and it turned out 2 slots and a stick of ram had gone !

So, rang up where I got it from, went up, they tested it, asked if I wanted a refund or swap. So I opped for a refund on the mobo and ram and went and got a Asus m5a97 le r2.0 board with the money.

At least iv got a board and still got 4gb of my ram :)

Thanks for all the help guys, it being a good ride :D

Gonna get this installed now and think about clocking this fx6300 chip of mine :D
Wish me luck!
 
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