Exact number shown on Performance/Task_Manager is 2045 while number
shown while POSTing is 4193216KB. Could you post details of suggested
investigation of the BIOS settings and testing the hardware?

Colin Barnhorst wrote:
> Ken, I should think that hitting 2GB on the nose with 4GB installed
> calls for investigation of the BIOS settings and then testing the
> hardware. It just does not sound right to me. The lowest I have ever
> seen on my own hardware with 4GB installed is 2.2GB. What do you think?
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
> news:kecg441o0lrv5ebhpoqip3on6kp60pvf7e@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:37:04 -0400, churin <churin@new.postalias>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>>> > On Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:40:57 +0100, "Doug" <Doug
>>> > <dougti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >>> How can I check to see if 4GB is being made available for the
>>> system >>> to
>>> >>> utilize?
>>> >> It sounds like the RAM isn't being detected. What does the BIOS show?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >> Either way, the maximum amount of RAM you will be able to access
>>> >> (without
>>> >> enabling PAE) is 3.2GB.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Two points:
>>> >
>>> > 1. PAE doesn't help on Windows client operating systems, just on
>>> > servers.
>>> >
>>> > 2. The maximum accessible amount is not precisely 3.2GB, but varies
>>> > from as little as 2 to 2.5 (in rare cases) to as much as 3.5GB,
>>> > depending on your hardware configuration. Here's my standard post on
>>> > this subject:
>>> >
>>> > All 32-bit versions of Windows (not just XP) have a 4GB address space.
>>> > That's the theoretical upper limit beyond which you can not go.
>>> >
>>> > But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
>>> > have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
>>> > That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
>>> > available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
>>> > use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
>>> > range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
>>> > 3.1GB.
>>> >
>>> > Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
>>> > RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
>>> > address space to map it too.
>>> >
>>> Does the above mean as follows?
>>>
>>> BIOS and System|Properties show correct size of installed RAM while
>>> System Tools|System Information and Task Manager|Performance show the
>>> maximum usable part of the installed RAM. The maximum usable part could
>>> be as low as 2GB. Therefor,if 4GB is installed and Task
>>> Manager|Performance indicates that the Total Physical Memory is 2GB,
>>> then half of the installed RAM is waisted.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, that's correct. But bear in mind that a usable amount as low as
>> 2GB is very rare. A more typical amount is around 3.1-3.2GB.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>