Windows 7 Wrong "Installed Physical Memory"

[JoLyn]

Hello . . I have recently clean installed Windows 7 32 and it is indicating 1gb of installed physical memory when it should be 2gb. My previous installation of Vista showed it correctly. Anyone know what can be done to fix this?

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Dell DXP061
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz, 1862 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 2.2.0, 1/3/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name MyWindows7\Jo Lyn
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 1.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 303 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 848 MB
Page File Space 1.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

 

[reghakr]

Your video card may be taking 512 MB or a high-end card can take 1GB away.

This is not a problem.

 

[JoLyn]

That is good to know! I had read somewhere that the listing for Installed Physical Memory should read correctly at 2gb. But you are saying that is not necessarily so?

Thanks bunches!

 

[reghakr]

No problem

 

[JoLyn]

I had read somewhere that the listing for Installed Physical Memory should read correctly at 2gb. But you are saying that is not necessarily so?

 

[Saltgrass]

Do you know if there are any bios updates avaliable for your system? While in there you might turn on the boot up check or memory check or whatever it is called so the memory is tested during the boot.

If you go into the bios, you might check and see if the video memory is shared..

 

[JoLyn]

Dell does not support Windows 7 for my system yet so no bios update! I will check back on the site periodically. I did find the memory test and did the 'basic' one and it showed no problems. I'll do the standard or the advanced (I think that is what it said) one and see what happens.

Thanks for your reply . . I really appreciate it.

 

[Saltgrass]

From your description, I cannot find your computer on the Dell site, but the bios is not related the the Operating system. Since your bios (version 2.2.0) is dated in early 2007, I would be willing to bet there is a newer one. It might help.

 

[JoLyn]

My system is XPS/Dimension 410. There is a bios update but when I tried to install there was an error. I thought that was because it may have been only for XP and Vista. I'll try it again and see what the error states.

 

[Saltgrass]

The bios update is for Vista, which means it will run in Vista ( and probably Win 7). You may have to run it as admin for it to work. If that doesn't work you might be able to use a boot disc to install it, just read the instructions.

The bios says it is urgent, but seems to address a network adapter situation, so it may not help with your memory situation, but it won't hurt to get a newer bios. Just make sure you do not interrupt the install.

Did the boot memory check show 2 gigs or 1 gig?

 

[JoLyn]

I was able to update the bios successfully then I did the extended memory test. There were no problems found but my system information still shows 1gb instead of 2. Have no idea what to do next. I did think of moving the memory into different slots just to see what might happen.

Thanks so much for your help & suggestions. I will post again if I figure anything out . . .