Windows 7 64bit RAM issue

Leezy · 31 Dec 2009 at 15:35

Hi all,

I just recently moved from windows 7 RC to Home Premium 64bit, and my Ram seems to have dropped in score to 5.5.. from 6 somthing
Before it just said 4.00GB total and now it says 4.00GB (1.99GB usable)

why has it done this i thought 64bit was meant to utilize 4 GB??

thanks in advance!

domthecondom · 31 Dec 2009 at 16:48

some of your ram has been reserved for system hardware :|

Corasik · 31 Dec 2009 at 16:56

Indeed, but the question is why, My windows 7 only reserves 3MB out of 6GB, so why are some people getting close to 2GB reserved!! There are several other people with this problem on the forum, I've yet to see a solution, except to check to see if the bios has an option for memory remapping, and I believe turning it off helps. But not all bios have that option.

I really hope that when I switch from Windows 7 "Ultimate" RC to Windows 7 Home Edition retail I dont get this problem!.

One site has suggested that if you have a fixed number of processors set in msconfig's boot options it can trigger hardware reserved ram, both the number of cores, and the amount of memory should be unchecked and left to be auto detected by windows. So check what is set in msconfig.

Older socket 775 boards based on the 975X chipset have a hard 8gig limit, so some hardware reserved for graphics cards could be understandable, but the i5 and i7 should support more ram so that shouldnt be a problem.

A bios update might help, but as the OP's system worked with the release candidate, it seems more likely that its an issue with windows 7, and a quick check on google does point at it being a Win7 problem.

Corasik · 31 Dec 2009 at 17:11

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3652&p=20

Seems like there is an issue with P55 chipset motherboards and Windows 7. Flashing to the latest bios and make sure that PCI Memory Remapping (which might have a different name in bios) is turned ON (but can try off too). It should remap stuff the the GPU's frame buffer above your physical memory, if it picks physical memory space then it becomes unavailable. If you already have the latest bios, and no remapping option then you could be stuck, and you'll need to contact support with the motherboard maker see if they have a beta bios to try etc.

You'll see in the link that they had up to 4GB of hardware reserved ram on their test system!

Sometimes this memory problem is made worse when the system is overclocked, as the motherboards are not as good at handling high speed signals as the higher quality designs used on the LGA1336 boards.

Reality|Bites · 1 Jan 2010 at 06:39

As windows learns your usage habits it will reserve less.

Saundie · 1 Jan 2010 at 09:53

It's quite surprising to hear that this is still a problem, considering the issue existed on the i945PM chipset from at least 2006. I was able to accept the limitation back then, considering how unusual it was to have so much RAM, but now that 4GB+ configurations are commonplace, you'd expect it to have been delt with by now.

Reality|Bites said:
As windows learns your usage habits it will reserve less.

It's a BIOS/chipset limitation, not anything that Windows is doing.

Leezy · 2 Jan 2010 at 16:21

Problem Solved guys!

just removed 1 stick of Ram Booted up to desktop, shut down put the ram back in booted up a second time and hocus pocus problem solved.

will0812 · 2 Jan 2010 at 16:35

Yea i had this problem, i just swapped my ram sticks around and it worked with 4gb.

Leezy · 2 Jan 2010 at 21:21

hmm ok the problem is back and now my theory isnt working..typical

will0812 · 2 Jan 2010 at 21:27

Try Change the ram around, and make sure its firmly in the socket. Also update your bios to the most recent version. Id been having so many problems but i just updated my bios, fresh install of win7 which worked first time (normally hadnt been) and showing full 4gb ram

Leezy · 2 Jan 2010 at 21:35

yeah I changed thm round after reading your first post, and i am using the latest bios.

stooeh · 2 Jan 2010 at 22:14

You haven't tried to play the old red faction game have you ?

Leezy · 2 Jan 2010 at 22:34

no i havent, is this relevant?

stooeh · 3 Jan 2010 at 06:27

Well I changed the boot settings part of msconfig max memory to 2GB then about a week later noticed that I was seeing '6GB Ram installed (2GB usable)' on the properties screen. Took me ages before I realised that it was me changing that setting that did it

If you haven't been poking around in there then must be something else.

Leezy · 3 Jan 2010 at 10:17

This is what it looks like, and ive left them unchecked as they were before.

ive tried fiddling around with it and putting maximum memory 4096, but when i restart and boot up it just goes back to 0..

Im guessing im just going to do a fresh install, but ive done loads past couple of weeks im sick of getting everything back up and running!

Leezy · 3 Jan 2010 at 13:22

Fresh install done and still no luck still says exactly the same

blaineoliver · 3 Jan 2010 at 13:28

Could the ram be dodgy? Tried running memtest on it?

Leezy · 3 Jan 2010 at 14:24

yeah it now seems that i could/is a hardware fault with the RAM.

With a single stick in each time one boots and the other doesnt, making out one of the sticks is fudged.
however the remaining stick doesnt boot in another slot but surely its not the motherboard aswell?
but if one stick was dead why would windows still say a total of 4gb? this is getting quite irritating!

domthecondom · 5 Jan 2010 at 19:27

I just tried to boot with each stick in slot one....all 3 times in failed....i tried to boot with each stick in slot 2 and it booted 3 times......my first ram slot broken?

Munimentum · 5 Jan 2010 at 21:40

Literally exactly the same thing I had Dom, only my first ram stick was also buggered. I assumed it was my first ram slot which had then buggered my ram (or vice versa) since my computer works now and sees the 2GB fully that I put back in (slots 2 + 4).