Total Physical Memory incorrect

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Tcal

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In XP, Total Physical Memory shows incorrectly in System Information. However, the amount shown in "System" from Control Panel does show correctly @256MB, but the amount from Sys Info from Accessories/System Tools/System Information does not, and shows 192MB, i.e. at exactly 75% of actual total memory on board.

I have 2x128MB with a 3rd slot empty. The modules have been removed and reseated, just to check that, but nothing changed.

General info: I'm running an Athlon 750 on an Asus motherboard. I just changed the HDD and went from 98SE to XP on it. The HDD is from another computer which ran on P4 system. It is partitioned x3. I reformatted only "C" where XP was installed clean. I actually do not know if this Total Phys Memory problem existed on the computer before I upgraded, as I hadn't checked it for a long time.

Is this familiar territory? I'm lost here and don't know why this would show up in this way.
 
Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Do you have onboard 64MB shared graphics?

If you do that is where the memory is going.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:
 
Thanks, Howard, for the input. I don't think I have shared graphics, but not certain. I posted a profile of the system before answering this post where you can see other info if you want. The system was built with an ATI Expert 128 16MB Vid Card. Since I pulled the old HDD when I loaded XP it might have reset things -- but I didn't think this Asus board had graphics -- not sure though.
 
I`ve just checked and you`re right. No onboard graphics.

I`m afraid I don`t know what else would cause your problem.

Maybe it`s just a Windows glitch.

If you right click my computer and select properties, how much ram does it say you have there?

Regards Howard :)
 
It says I have 256MB from My Computer/Properties. It says that everywhere -- except from System Information, where it says the Total Physical Mem is 192MB.
 
I also just noticed that the Available Physical Memory is only about 98MB. I'm not using that computer here and now and it isn't running any programs. That's a pretty small number out of 256, or even 192, isn't it?

Do you suppose that having pulled the HDD from a P4 system, leaving the old Recovery and Backup Partitions for that other computer on the HDD, would somehow have something to do with it now that it's on an Athlon Motherboard? I loaded the XP on this machine with the C partition wiped clean, but... ??

I guess I could switch the 2 modules of memory and see what happens. In a board with 3 mem slots, do they read sequentially, i.e., could I skip over the middle one and go to the 2 outside sockets, or do they have to be read in order?

Thanks.
 
Tcal said:
I also just noticed that the Available Physical Memory is only about 98MB. I'm not using that computer here and now and it isn't running any programs. That's a pretty small number out of 256, or even 192, isn't it?
That's normal. The memory is there to be used, isn't it?

Do you suppose that having pulled the HDD from a P4 system, leaving the old Recovery and Backup Partitions for that other computer on the HDD, would somehow have something to do with it now that it's on an Athlon Motherboard? I loaded the XP on this machine with the C partition wiped clean, but... ??
No.

I guess I could switch the 2 modules of memory and see what happens. In a board with 3 mem slots, do they read sequentially, i.e., could I skip over the middle one and go to the 2 outside sockets, or do they have to be read in order?
Usually it's recommended to fill the memory slots in order, I guess the reason is that some chipsets have problems with empty slots between the modules.
 
Mictlantecuhtli said:
That's normal. The memory is there to be used, isn't it?
Mictlantecuhtli said:
I don't really know. That's the real question. It's there, but is it "there"? My other computers all "see" all the phsycial RAM that is on the board when using this same method to check. I've done some tests since last posting. I took out all the modules, moved them around, booted with each of them on board one at a time to be sure they were both good, booted with them in slots 1&3, etc. In all situations, it "sees" 128MB with either one of the modules individually, but only shows 192MB with both, in any arrangement. Other computers I have, as I said, always show all RAM in System Information.

I haven't tried putting in more memory and filling all 3 slots to see what happens.

Could this be a BIOS problem?

Are there any test programs that might help out?

Thanks for the input.
 
Tedster said:
you need more memory... 256MB is tiny....

You're right about that -- but I'm trying to find out what is going on here first. If the computer is actually only using 192 of 256 on board now, adding more may be adding nothing. I may have to dig up a single 256 module and see if it "sees" all of that in a single slot. Didn't think of that in my head scratchings yesterday.
 
if you have integrated graphics, you're not going to "see" the memory your video is using.
All the more reason to get more memory.
 
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