Memory Isuue ( Ram not showing in XP , but showing everywhere else)

A

aceman

Adept
Hi guys,
I am running an Athlon 3000+ venice core on a asus a8n-e motherboard with geforce 6800gt,80GB SATA and 1 GB of DDR400 ram (2*512Mb transcend).
I formatted my hard drive and installed windows xp.In the system column it showed my total ram as only 480MB.Thus i removed the ram and tried the modules independently and the RAM modules were working fine in all the slots.Then i got a doubt and tried CPUZ.It showed that I had two ram modules installed and working in dual channel mode.Then I tried Asus PC probe and again it shows two modules running.I then diabled dual channel mode and tried running the RAM modules in single channel mode and CPUZ showed the ram modules running in single channel mode.I then reverted back to dual channel and in microsoft help page ( inside windows xp) , I tried getting the "General system information" and here it identified as having 1 GB of RAM,
but when I tried running Dxdiag or checking for system properties it shows only 480MB of ram in what ever configuration.I re-formatted adn installed windows xp even then the same issue lingers
then I tried running different configuaration tools one tool ASTRA showed a facinating result , it shows the system memory as 480MB but two RAM of 512 MB installed.In the BIOS it shows the installed memory as 1024MB.
Then I tried running Windows Memory diagnostic ( A stand alone appliciation , without the OS) and it returned as showing no errors.After this I tried running GoldMemory in quick mode for both Auto detection and BIOS and here also it shows the installed memory as 1023MB.
Then I tried running in 512MB alone in all the modules and all the results are similar and windows shows as 480MB even now.I tried changing slots, reverting the clock speed to default state ( only the Venice was overclocked).All the OS less applicaitions shows the memory as 1024 (including BIOS) but windows shows as only 480MB ( with or without chipset drivers).I re-formatted adn installed XP once more , gain the same issue.
The next thing i can try to do is instal Linux and see what happens but this is a messy buisness and something which I can live without if I can resolve the issue.
I have attached the screen shots of all the tests run,System information and Dxdiag shows the memory as just 480MB.I believe that i am missing something but do not know what and i am really stumped.I would like to thank in advance for any advice any of U guys can render.
 

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  • ASTRA.JPG
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  • Asus probe-memory 1.JPG
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  • Asus probememory2.JPG
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  • CPUz.JPG
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  • Microsoft help and support system information.JPG
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TheMask said:
what slots are the 2 DIMMs in? Make sure both are in Blue slots..
Click to expand...
yep tried that , the modules are placed in dual cahnnel mode,If I use single channel mode[Blue and Black] CPUZ shows correctly as single channel mode.
apollyon said:
did u try flashing the bios?
sounds like a bios issue
Click to expand...

Opps.........forgot this step.Will try flashing the BIOS and give the updated result tommorow.
 
The next thing i can try to do is instal Linux and see what happens but this is a messy buisness and something which I can live without if I can resolve the issue.
Click to expand...

Then get knoppix live cd www.knoppix.org , it wont mess with your harddisk and post here the amount of memory knoppix shows.
 
Opps.........forgot this step.Will try flashing the BIOS and give the updated result tommorow.
Click to expand...
tried this step.up-dated to latest BIOS and chipset drivers and now there is a new item showing the usable ram ( in addition to meomry installed ) as 1024 MB ( 1 GB), but still no change in the ram column.
As I was saying everybody except widows identifies as having 1GB if memory.

dipdude said:
how much memory does it show in task manager/performance/physical memory/total...
Click to expand...
I am not sure will post if after i test this step,tks for the heads up.

Hacker said:
Then get knoppix live cd www.knoppix.org , it wont mess with your harddisk and post here the amount of memory knoppix shows.
Click to expand...

thanks will test this step.
 
Physical memory shows only as 480MB in task manager , but inside DXdiag gets sys-inof it shows different.............I have posted the Dxdiag info........Knopix is taking a bit of time to download.Once that is finished can test that.

]Dxdiag sys info file:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Manufacturer System manufacturer
System Model System Product Name
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 47 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~1813 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS A8N-E ACPI BIOS Revision 1010, 11/25/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.0 (xpclient.010817-1148)"

Time Zone India Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 240.04 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.82 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.41 GB
Page File Space 2.35 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Dxdiag complete information file
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 12/27/2005, 19:39:17

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) (2600.xpclient.010817-1148)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 480MB RAM
Page File: 115MB used, 2290MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.0001.0904 32bit Unicode
 
ok aceman, check your boot.ini file, run/msconfig/boot.ini - advanced, check if your /MAXMEM switch is enabled. if yes, disable it.

you can also directly check the boot.ini files & look, for ex
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /MAXMEM=12
 
dipdude said:
ok aceman, check your boot.ini file, run/msconfig/boot.ini - advanced, check if your /MAXMEM switch is enabled. if yes, disable it.

you can also directly check the boot.ini files & look, for ex
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /MAXMEM=12
Click to expand...
tks , will try it
 
dipdude said:
ok aceman, check your boot.ini file, run/msconfig/boot.ini - advanced, check if your /MAXMEM switch is enabled. if yes, disable it.

you can also directly check the boot.ini files & look, for ex
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /MAXMEM=12
Click to expand...

yep it now shows as 1GB, thanks a lot for your help guys :hap2: :hap2: :hap2: :hap2: .One week of headache is now solved :hap2: :hap2: :hap2: :hap2:
 
hacker, the maxmem switch limits the memory which your os can use, ususally it is disabled, but, some applications enable it.

Nobody uses it, i dont know how it was enabled in aceman's system.

This switch specifies the amount of RAM, in bytes, that Windows can use. For example, if you want Windows to use less than 64 MB of memory, use the /maxmem=64 switch.
However, the /maxmem switch does not account for memory holes. Therefore, we recommend that you use the /burnmemory switch instead. The /burnmemory switch accounts for memory holes.
For example, if you use the /Maxmem=64 switch, and the system requires 64 MB of memory to load, there may not actually be 64 MB availalbe to the system because of a memory hole. In this scenario, Windows would not start.
Click to expand...
 
dipdude said:
hacker, the maxmem switch limits the memory which your os can use, ususally it is disabled, but, some applications enable it.

Nobody uses it, i dont know how it was enabled in aceman's system.
Click to expand...

Even i myself had no idea such a system actually exists ( and the funny thing is i wrote BIOS for living some time back).
But i believe i have a answer.I installed Windows CE 5.0 evaluation edition and after that games started becomming slower.Then i usn-installed win ce and reinatalled windows.it was at this time the system started becomming slower and i noticed the re-duction in ram.
Great work dipdude,thanks for the help.
 
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