ram in system properties

[rikspeedfreak]

ram in system properties says 896mb when i know that there is 1024mb or 1gb in the actual slots. then i go to help and support and system information says 1.0gb 512mb in slot 1 and 512mb in slot 2, it also says that the maximun capacity is 4.0 gb but i have been on compaq's website when i first found this out and it said that the maximun memory is 1gb.

details of laptop compaq preario m2357ea amd turion 64ml 30 1024kb cache and 1024mb ram installed

i am very confused as to how much it can actually hold 1gb or 4gb and i would like to know y it says that there is less ram installed than there actually is can u help me with this thanks

[cash_site]

Ok, a couple of things, you might have 1gb installed, but do you have onboard video card (that will use some memory and share it, so maybe 100mb is being used for that)...

Next, where did u see the 896mb ram? Is that total ram, or free ram... applications could be using 100mb, and you are miss reading it?

Next, the ram could be fault, maybe 1 chip is faulty... run Memtest to find any errors.

Finally, most systems can support upto 4gb memory (unless 64bit, which can go more)... but, depending on your motherboard and chipset, it might be limited to 1gb (which, for Dell, seems to be the case)...

goodluck

[rikspeedfreak]

i woudlnt missread it as i have checked about 10 times to make sure im not going dilusional lol!
i ave a graphics card which is built into the motherboard itself and it says that the video 128mb is shared maybe that is the problem but i havent got a clue.

how do you do a memtest?

to find the 896 mb i went to my computer right clicked on it and on the list it has system properties.
896+128= 1024mb as 128mb is my video card as you say but i dont no so can u help me?

thats kwl if my computer can handle more ram- my computer is 64bit enabled

thnks rik

[FastGame]

Thats correct, the deduction is from the video card.

[rikspeedfreak]

ok how can i stop it from taking the memory or is it just set as that?
and do you know if my amd turion ml30 proccesor can handle more than 1gb of ram?

thanks rik

[zipp51]

I don't believe that you can stop shared memory on your laptop and if you could you probably would need some to render graphics.It isn't so much the chip 64 bit but the combination of 64 bit chip, motherboard chipset and operating system(64 bit XP) that will allow more ram.I looked up your specs and 1GB memory is max for that model.

[rik]

Shared memory is just that an ain't nuttin we can do 'bout it. Unfortunately OEMs do that for several reasons, but users cannot change it on their systems.

[FastGame]

You can't turn off shared memory unless you disable onboard graphics and add a video card (if thats possible on the laptop). You might be able to adjust the amount used. I have 3 PC's with onboard INTEL GFX and in the bios there's settings where I can change the amount shared. 1 has 8/16/32mb, 1 has 16/32/64mb and one has 32/64mb.

You could boot into bios and check, myself I'd leave things the way they are. 1gig should be plenty on the laptop

[rikspeedfreak]

oh yeh lol i remember theres a 128mb and a 64 and 32mb options in there mayb ill see if it is as gooder quiality on a lower setting which i doubt but if it aint that bad then y not?

1gb max ram i have that as the limit on the main pc downstairs which is a pentium 4 from about 2002, but how comes in help and support it says 4gb and i looked at some websites cant remember which though and they all said that the 64 chip could go above the 32 barrier of 4gb?

[cash_site]

yes, 64bit processors can break the 4gb memory limit, through increased memory address reading... however, as noted above, the max amount of memory is dependant on the combination of hardware pieces... big limiting factor is the number of memory slots, usually 2 in laptops. Then how much memory can be fitted per memory slot. usually 512mb or 1GB, in your case its 512mb...

The hardware manufacturer puts these limits, the software (OS, like XP/VISTA) have capacity and capabilities to support more than 4GB, hence the help & support says so

[rikspeedfreak]

ok thanks 4 the info

rik