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I have the Foxconn G31MXP-K motherboard and I have 4 GB of RAM memory installed. But my operating system reads only 3.12 GB. How can I maximize the available memory? My operating system is Windows 7, 64-bit. There's a note about this in Microsoft KB article 929605.

If i change my operating system to Windows 8, will this problem go away? Or does Windows 8 have this problem too? Is there any solution to this problem that does not involve changing my operating system and my hardware?

My graphics board is off-board NVIDIA 630GT. My motherabord has the option memory hole at the 15-16MiB. (no know if is to remapping, i beleive that no) I'm using only one slot of memory (4GB DDR2 800).

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  • Why is this a problem?
    – Samir
    Sep 11, 2014 at 21:02
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    No; upgrading to windows 8 will not allow you acess to more memory
    – Ramhound
    Sep 11, 2014 at 23:26
  • @sammyg Is a problem why the system do not user more than 800 MB is very memory to lose.
    – Sileno Brito
    Sep 12, 2014 at 13:29

4 Answers 4

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To make your x64 Windows recognise the full 4GB of memory, there are a few more prerequisites.

  1. Chipset should support address remapping.
    • To understand what the remapping is and why it's important here, please read this. Using x64 Windows is not enough to overcome the problem.
  2. The BIOS on your board should also have an option to "enable" the remapping. Yes, it is disabled by default because it may cause compatibility issues if not, especially on 32bit OS.
  3. There should be no built-in GPU or whatnot in use which consumes main memory on your motherboard.

I read some documents about your motherboard and it seems that the chipset itself supports remapping(#1). However, the BIOS supplied by Foxconn does not seem to have the option(#2). This means, even if you solve #3 by attaching a dedicated graphics card, you won't see the full 4GB memory in use anyway. I am not sure if their latest BIOS update finally got that option though, so you may give it a try at your own risk. Or, there might be a tweaked BIOS for you to turn that on, but I personally do not recommend that. Therefore, check your BIOS issues before buying anything.

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This is not a "problem" as you seem to think it is. The KB article you link to explains the reason why it is not a problem. Windows 8 will not "fix" it because nothing is "broken".

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  • I believe that is a problem. Has very hardware limit to 4GB and the "S.O " can recognize, recognizes, but choose not using the hardware in perfect condition.
    – Sileno Brito
    Sep 12, 2014 at 13:38
  • That is incorrect. The operating system is using the hardware in perfect condition. It is simply reserving part of the memory for essential OS functions such as the GPU, as the KB article you linked to explains perfectly.
    – allquixotic
    Sep 12, 2014 at 13:49
  • Ok, but my on-board VGA is disabled, i' m using off-board VGA not is necessary reserve memory to GPU (if i'm wrong, please fix me). GPU is a Graphic processor not is to using only by Onboard VGA and in this case how the Onboard VGA? Is the Onboard VGA is disabled is correct the S.O use this resource?
    – Sileno Brito
    Sep 12, 2014 at 14:19
  • @SilenoBrito Off-board VGA also reserves memory address space in order to function.
    – misha256
    Dec 24, 2014 at 8:58
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No, you can't solve this problem without upgrading your hardware. Changing from Windows 7 to Windows 8 won't solve your problem. Your motherboard is limited to 4 GB (DDR2, 667/800 MHz) of RAM in total. It needs to support at least 8 GB. The motherboard is based on Intel G31 chipset and has integrated graphics (82G31 Graphics and Memory Controller). This eats away some of your precious RAM memory. So you will have to add at least another 1 GB module. But since you have probably already populated both DIMM sockets (2GB per DIMM), and the motherboard is limited to 4 GB anyway, this won't work. Another thing you can do is add a dedicated graphics card, and disable on-board graphics if necessary in BIOS/UEFI. But either way, you can't solve this problem without changing something.

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  • He didn't ask about adding more RAM. He just wants all the RAM that he has to show up in System on Windows. The KB article in his very own question tells him why that is not possible.
    – allquixotic
    Sep 11, 2014 at 21:13
  • But installing more RAM is part of the solution to the problem, is it not? If he wants 4 GB to be available to Windows, he needs to install more than 4 GB.
    – Samir
    Sep 11, 2014 at 21:18
  • @sammyg actually no it's not this is a software and hardware configuration problem. You mention he has to upgrade to 8gb but mention his hardware does not support more than 4gb how is that helpful?
    – Ramhound
    Sep 11, 2014 at 23:28
  • I believe that add more memory is not possible, i have more memory, but motherboard support is only 4GB. By being in the limit of the hardware that I would like to know if you have to get more capacity of memory.
    – Sileno Brito
    Sep 12, 2014 at 13:22
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If i'm not mistaken, the g31 chipset supports up to 8gb of ram even if the board manufacturer says differently...i've seen this many times so it doesnt hurt to try. And yes, the onboard gpu is where your missing 800mb has gone. Theres sometimes a bios option to change how much ram it will reserve.

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