Installed 2 more Gigs Ram, but only shows. 2.5

[hambone2]

I have XP Pro SP 3 (But the lower bit version)

I had 2 gigs of ram and added 2 more gigs....it shows as 4 gigs at "POST" but in the OS it shows 2.5.

So does that mean I'm only using 2.5 and not at full capacity?

[photolady]

If you're using XP 32bit version you still should be seeing at least 3 for the four you have installed. Could be one slot or one module is bad. What computer/motherboard did you install these four gigs on?

[hambone2]

If you're using XP 32bit version you still should be seeing at least 3 for the four you have installed. Could be one slot or one module is bad. What computer/motherboard did you install these four gigs on?

at least 3? not sure...but I've been doing a little research people are claiming I would need XP 64 bit or Vista to see it all.

Apparently my OS doesn't support beyond so many gigs?

Anyhow, I have an ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe

It has 4 memory slots capable of 4 gigs mem.

Also, if it's bad memory...then how is my POST (BIOS) seeing all of it?

[photolady]

That's why I said if you're running XP's 32bit version it will only see up to 3.25 sometimes up to 3.5 of 4 gigs of ram. You need the 64bit version of XP to allow your OS to see and use 4gigs of ram.

Also, I said it "could" be a bad stick. But it sounds like this same situation I had with my gigabyte board whereas only a certain speed would allow the 4 gigs to show. But you have dual channel and my board didn't.

I've downloaded your manual and will check in there for what I am suspecting is wrong.

On page 2.11 of your manual it states this:

Due to chipset resource allocation, the system may detect less than 4 gig of system memory when you installed four 1gb modules.

Manual says the usual about installing same type, speed and vendor. Check your manual.

[hambone2]

That's why I said if you're running XP's 32bit version it will only see up to 3.25 sometimes up to 3.5 of 4 gigs of ram. You need the 64bit version of XP to allow your OS to see and use 4gigs of ram.

Also, I said it "could" be a bad stick. But it sounds like this same situation I had with my gigabyte board whereas only a certain speed would allow the 4 gigs to show. But you have dual channel and my board didn't.

I've downloaded your manual and will check in there for what I am suspecting is wrong.

On page 2.11 of your manual it states this:



Manual says the usual about installing same type, speed and vendor. Check your manual.

OH okay....I do have diff. vendors for the first two...and the other 2 gigs I added are from a diff Vendor

Think that might be it?

[fink]

On my Asus MB (different one than yours) I have to put the larger mem sticks in the first slots and the lower in the last..
so if you got a 2G stick to add to 2 x 1G stick try switching them around so that the 2G is in the first slot.

This was not something that was in the owners manual but was in an updated instruction page I found at crucial.com when I was shopping for memory. Have a look at that site for what they say about your MB.. could be worthwhile.

[SuperSparks]

Although Windows usually displays over 3 to 3.25 gigs, that's not absolute, it depends on various factors to do with your particular hardware. It's possible that 2.5 is all you'll get with 32-bit Windows on your rig.

[photolady]

Or it could be as my Gigabyte board was also. That is why I put this in the other post, where you failed to see, I assume.

Due to chipset resource allocation, the system may detect less than 4 gig of system memory when you installed four 1gb modules.