M860TU: System (32bit Vista) recognizing, but not utilizing full amount of RAM.

I noticed this issue was mentioned in the troubleshooting thread, but I wanted to give it a little bit of spotlight with its own thread.

Today I added 2GB of Crucial RAM to my system; everything went well with the installation, and I booted up the notebook. I hit F2 on POST to confirm that the new stick of memory was recognized by the system, and it read as the correct 3k-whatever MB of memory. Satisfied, I booted into Windows and checked the system info in the Control Panel, which reads as 3.00 GB. CPU-Z also shows the 2GB + 1GB sticks of RAM.

The problem arises when I open the task manager, which only shows 2553MB of total physical memory. I opened 3dmark06, and this program shows a total of 2544MB.

So, has anyone found the reason for these discrepancies, and a solution that will give me access to the remaining ~500MB of RAM? I've upgraded two other 32bit Vista Premium systems to 3GB, and with neither did I encounter this issue,

 

Are you running Vista SP1? SP1 corrected some memory amount problems.

 

try what emike said, there is also a bios update. Mine read 2.5 until i got the bios update.

 

I came installed with SP1, but I didn't know of a new bios. I don't see an update on Clevo's site... would you mine linking me to it, Mausimo?

Edit: I'm currently on BIOS Revision 1.00.05; what's the latest?

 

im the same, 2553mb on the Nexus M860TU but on my old m15x i used to be able to see 3.1gb

 

I sent my laptop back to Eurocom days after i recieved it because of a bad lcd. At the time i asked about the 2.5 gig of ram and then informed me of a new bios update that will allow 3 gig. When i got it back the bios had been updated and windows and 3dmark06 and cpuz all report 3 gigs of ram.

unfortunatly i do not have the bios update myself.

 

Thanks for the info.

Would you mind checking your bios revision # for me? All you need to do is hit F2 after a reboot, and it'll be on the first page.

 

in class atm, and teacher is a dink and will flip his **** if people use laptops in this class lol. ill post after (1 hr from now)

 

my bios is revision: 1.00.07

i think that if you can get the upgrade from 05 to 07 then the chipset limitation in bios .05 is raised from 2.5 gig of ram to 3 gig of ram.

 

Thanks mate. I guess I'll call around to see if any of the vendors can send me the .07 bios.

 

hi,

let me know if you find something, cause i ve the same problem Thx,

 

Okay I have the .07 bios, now I just need to flash without bricking my system, and I'll let you guys know if it worked.

 

Flashing the BIOS is pretty safe assuming you don't suddenly lose power which shouldn't be a problem on a laptop as long as it's plugged in and has some charge left in the battery.

 

Just a naive question... But isn't the laptop supposed to be able to see but, more importantly, USE 4GB of memory (heck, I have even heard about 8GB)?

 

Ok, it worked! After the flash to 1.00.07, my system now recognizes 3066MB. You can get the bios here. You'll need to flash it in dos with a bootable usb flash drive. If you're lost on how to do this, I've uploaded everything you'll need (including the BIOS) in a tidy package right here.

1. Plug in the usb drive
2. Open the HP utility (HPUSBFW.exe)
3. Choose FAT32, check 'Create startup disk; select the bootdisk folder; hit start to format
4. Move the clevo folder onto the drive, reboot the computer
5. Tap F2 as it restarts to enter the Setup menu, move to the Boot tab
6. Press F9, then enter; your USB drive should move to the top; hit F10 to save and exit
7. At the C: prompt, type cd clevo
8. At the C:\clevo> prompt, type update to begin the BIOS flash

 

will it work with my usb hdd too or does ist format my whole hdd? cause at the moment i haven't a usb stick available.

 

I might be wrong but shouldn't you contact the guys that sold you the computer before updating the bios? I mean I remember it used to be a void of warranty with some companies unesss you had the green light from them...

 

nice one Kevin,thanks bro. as ioaniro mentioned ill chat to the kobalt brothers before i change anything.
+ 1 rep for your work and advice above.

 

I honestly don't know the proper protocol; I figured that since it's an official bios which came straight from Clevo, there wouldn't be any problems.

thnx DJ, no problem mate.

 

Not the M860TU - at least not 8GB; only the current D901C/9262 can accomodate 8GB of RAM (and even then, cannot utilize all 8GB because the logical address space is also limited to 8GB).

 

thx man, it works ! now 3gb were recognized

 

kevin, the second link you put in your post is not available.

 

Hmm, that's wierd, well I'll redo it on a couple different sights.

http://rapidshare.com/files/153655250/Flash.rar.html

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IMR035QL

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzgtdyjil4t

I see you're in the UK MrDJ, so if you would rather that I email the package to you, just PM me an address.

 

thanks for the links kevin.
im not to sure about the bios and im due a vist to kobalt so ill let the experts do it

ps. for anyone else, this has been confirmed by Andrew at Kobalt to work.