May 26, 2004

2:42 PM

Installed RAM, what XP sees vs. what CMOS sees. (MI)
posted by spartacusroosevelt to (7 comments total)

I had some computers donated to the school from a local retailer. They had been returns that were held too long to return to the manufacturer and that didn't work well enough to sell to staff members. I had 6 machines total donated, two just appeared to have some sort of Windows problems and would crap out during the windows part of boot up. Not a problem, XP reinstalled in a jiffy. During the POST test and in CMOS both machines see the proper amount of RAM. If I put in a 128MB stick, XP shows (in the system control panel) 112 installed (-16MB). If I put in two 128MB sticks or one 256MB stick, XP sees 224MB (-32MB). This occurs in both machines with the DDR RAM from any of the 6 donated boxes. I don't have a working DDR box handy or I would check the RAM in it. This sounds like a RAM slot issue (the problem occurs using either slot) but POST counts the proper amount of RAM. Is this a common issue, a known XP hiccup of some kind?
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 2:43 PM on May 26, 2004

Stupid question, but are they both the same type of ram?
posted by damnitkage at 3:20 PM on May 26, 2004

Do they have onboard video? It's possible that it uses system memory as video.
posted by borkencode at 3:29 PM on May 26, 2004

They both take DDR, and several sticks have been used, all from HP and compaq (same thing I know) boxes. I am unsure of the RAM manufacturer. They both are onboard video, would XP reflect this in the system properties?
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 3:36 PM on May 26, 2004

This is common and usual with all video-on-board motherboards - the system will allocate a certain proportion of RAM to the video, which is why you get a different amount missing depending on how much is there to start with - you double the RAM, the system will take twice as much for video. Try checking in the BIOS, where I think this is usually allocated.
posted by dg at 3:40 PM on May 26, 2004

dg is right, look in your BIOS as many onbard video card mobos give you the option to allocate a set amount of RAM to the card itself. Hope you don't like 3D games.
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:05 PM on May 26, 2004

Video card allocation was it. I have a video card that I was going to pop in one anyway and it returned the RAM to the right settings. Thanx everyone.
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 7:25 PM on May 26, 2004