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I've installed 12 GB of memory on my Windows 7 computer, and yes it is a 64 bit computer. I can see the memory in bios, as well as in the properties of the computer, but when looking in the properties it says "Installed memory (RAM): 12,0 GB (2,93 GB usable)"... I want to use all my memory. I've tried to start msconfig and changed the maximum memory in the Advanced Options under the boot tab to the maximum value, but after each boot it shows up as 0 again.

Screenshot shows the properties of the computer.

alt text

EDIT: Solved, solution was to upgrade bios. Pretty weird considering the computer is only one month old or so.

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Is the memory recognized at POST? – Vasileios Lourdas Sep 29 '10 at 13:28

migrated from stackoverflow.com Sep 29 '10 at 13:40

6 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

I finally solved, the problem seemed to be an outdated bios. After upgrading the bios the memory shows up as it should. I should have thought of that before, but the computer is only two weeks old so that did came to mind.

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up vote 1 down vote

I've had similar problem in the past, when I had some faulty RAM. It may not be your issue, but you can confirm this by running Memtest86 overnight.

Additionally, confirm that your mobo can handle 12GB, and if there are any further constraints. You might find help on the manufacturers forums. Sometimes you'll find that a board supports say 12GB but that it requires a certain type/brand/speed sticks.

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Memtest86 want do it since i think it is targeting the x86 platform. – Tomas Jansson Sep 29 '10 at 14:00
@mastoj Why wouldn't memtest86+ work? It does support all newest processors. – AndrejaKo Sep 29 '10 at 14:52
I might have been wrong there, I thought from the name of it and after just a quick read that it was targeting the x86 platform. And I was pretty sure, as you was hinting, that this was not my problem. As I answered further down the solution was to upgrade bios. – Tomas Jansson Sep 30 '10 at 9:00
@mastoj You should post that in an answer and select it. This way the question will be considered solved by the sotware. – AndrejaKo Sep 30 '10 at 9:18
I know... I posted the answer yesterday but I can't select it until tomorrow for some reason. – Tomas Jansson Sep 30 '10 at 13:59
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up vote 0 down vote

Maybe it's a hardware limitation. Make sure your motherboard supports 12 GB.

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Motherboards typically don't report more memory than they support. E.g., if it only supported 8G, it would report 8G even though he has 12G installed. – TMN Sep 29 '10 at 13:59
Motherboard support 16 GB, at least. – Tomas Jansson Sep 29 '10 at 13:59
up vote 0 down vote

Try to unlock it, here's what I found: http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/15751-how-make-windows-7-x64-use-all-your-memory.html

Hope that helps.

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Already tried it and it didn't help. – Tomas Jansson Sep 29 '10 at 14:00
up vote 0 down vote

I understand that you have a 64 bit OS, but I would still try the technique used in the following link. Something may have changed on your machine and caused it to understand more than 3GB of RAM. The only other problem could be motherboard limits.

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2009/08/19/make-windows-7-and-vista-32-bit-x86-support-more-than-4gb-memory/

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up vote 0 down vote

Have you checked if you have Maximum Memory configured?

  1. Run msconfig.
  2. Choose the Boot tab.
  3. Click the Advanced Options button.
  4. Turn off the Maximum Memory option.
  5. Close the dialog boxes, and then reboot the system.

enter image description here

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