Ram not reading rightSolved/Closed

Question

Hello, 
Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I have an HP Pavilion N3350 that I'm trying to put more RAM into. There's a 64MB stick in already, but it only reads 56MB on the System Properties page. Its the PC 100 type. I've put an additional 256MB stick in and it only reads 184MB. I put the 256MB stick in alone and it only reads 120MB. I've also tried switching locations but it gives the same numbers. Would love any help you can offer. I'm at a loss.
Thank you kindly,
David

Configuration: Windows XP / Internet Explorer 7.0

jack4rall · Answer

Hello,
Are you sure its 256MB RAM ? Seems like its 128MB RAM. Can you please check once again and let us know about it. or you can try the below application to check your RAM size.
Click on the below link and download the file.
https://ccm.net/downloads/security-and-maintenance/4993-cpu-z/
Extract it --> Double-click on CPUZ --> Click on "SPD" tab --> Under memory slot selection, select the slot in which 256MB RAM is placed from the drop-down menu. If you not sure which slot it is then just keep changing the slots. Check the "Module Size" Is it showing 256 MBytes or 128MBytes ?
Good Luck

David · Answer

Thanks jack4rall. I will try that. The sticker on the 256MB stick reads 256MB but I'll download the file and check it out. Even if its 128MB I don't understand why it reads a little short. Is that an XP issue or HP? Thanks again and I'll get back to you on the progress!

David · Answer

Okay, ran CPUZ. Great little program! Thanks for that. (Who thinks of these things?) I checked both sticks - 64MB & 256MB. Any suggestions? Both sticks are 100 Mhz. Is there somewhere you can raise the levels it looks for? Thanks for your time. You guys are awesome.

jack4rall · Answer

Hello,
Is the "Module Size" showing your as 256MBytes for the 256MB RAM ?
Good Luck

David · Answer

Hi,
Yes the module size shows as 256MB.
Thanks jack4rall

jack4rall · Answer

Hello,
Seems like its because of the shared video video memory. 
Click on Start --> Run --> Type dxdiag and press Enter. Click on "Display" tab.
Let me know the "Approx. Total Memory:" 
Good Luck

David · Answer

Hi,
Checked the display memory. Reads 8MB. Also checked total memory from System Info page. Reads 192MB, the 184MB+8MB of course. Seems I'm missing 128MB somewhere. Sounds like a 128MB stick but CPUZ read 256MB. Wonderful little mystery.
Thanks again, jack4rall

jack4rall · Answer

Hello, 
Try this 1 
Go to BIOS --> load default settings --> look for the option VGA frame buffer size or shared video video memory and set the size to 64MB --> save the settings and exist from the BIOS. If the problem still exists then 
update your BIOS. 
Good Luck

David · Answer

I believe I have found the answer. Looking on the HP site I found the manual for this model. I've discovered there is a Hibernate Partition on the hard drive that is connected to the RAM size and slated for no more than 256MB (128MB for each slot) of RAM out of the box. This is why it is only recognizing 128MB from the 256MB stick. In order for it to recognize and accept more RAM than this you have to create a larger Hibernate partition and then reformat the hard drive choosing a larger partition, then reload everything. Wow! A lot of work for the extra RAM but I may give it a go. Thank you very much for your continued help on this. Sorry about the time you've spent jack4rall but I just found this info. I did try what you had suggested and at the very least got to upgrade the BIOS and learned a whole bunch. Thanks again so much!!!

Ram not reading right

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