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    Missing Ram on 8930

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by pewe, Jul 24, 2009.

  1. pewe

    pewe Notebook Geek

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    I have installed a new hard drive on my 8930, and done a clean install of Vista.

    I have 4GB of Ram installed, Windows System is only reporting 3096MB.
    If I boot from the original Aced Installation it shows 4000MB.

    Anyone any suggestions as to why the new install of Vista is reporting something different to the original??
     
    pewe, Jul 24, 2009
    #1
  2. hkseo100

    hkseo100 Notebook Evangelist

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    You probably have isntalled Vista 32-bit.
     
    hkseo100, Jul 24, 2009
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  3. pewe

    pewe Notebook Geek

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    Correct.

    But the Acer installation was 32bit too.

    CPU-Z reports 4096MB, and the Acer Vista install reports 4096MB - so why does my new Vista install not show the same :confused:
     
    pewe, Jul 24, 2009
    #3
  4. weinter

    weinter /dev/null

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    Upgrade to service pack 2.
    Part of Microsoft "fix" to service pack 1 to is to show the real total ram instead of the addressable RAM.
    Service Pack 2 include Service Pack 1
    Your clean install is Vista (6000)
    Factory Image Vista Service Pack 1 (6001)
    Latest Vista is Service Pack 2 (6002)
     
    weinter, Jul 24, 2009
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  5. nklive

    nklive Notebook Evangelist

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    This is so very old news. Try and google it and you will find the answer and a proper explanation. To cut the story short, 32-bit can recognise up to 4GB. But a lot of RAM below 4GB get reserved for use by system hardware like BIOS, PCI, PCI-E etc. So a typical system will show 256MB-1.5GB of reserved RAM space. Mine shows that I have 3GB of RAM. Don't worry then, it's happening to all of us who have 32-bit Windows and 4GB RAM.
     
    nklive, Jul 24, 2009
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  6. weinter

    weinter /dev/null

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    I know that but poster is asking why is there a difference.
    The reason is Microsoft Decided to change the way of displaying how much RAM is installed
    After installing Service Pack 2 it should show 4GB
     
    weinter, Jul 24, 2009
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  7. nklive

    nklive Notebook Evangelist

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    Forget my last post, it was wrong since I didn't read the first post properly. Very good answer weinter. Service Pack 1 should show 4GB RAM but still Windows will be able to use 3.5 GB and less depending on your system as I said before.
     
    nklive, Jul 24, 2009
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  8. pewe

    pewe Notebook Geek

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    Thanks Guys.

    Maybe I jumped the gun a little.
    My clean install was off my original Vista disc, and I had not run the automatic update (as it was so big and I was more interested in the BR playback problem) when I noticed the RAM difference.

    I am running the update now, so hopefully it will resolve the issue.

    Thanks again.
     
    pewe, Jul 24, 2009
    #8