Have 4Gb Ram, But Can Use Only 2 Gb .....

[DummDays]

I hope, somebody will be able to help or emplain me my current Situation with my Notebook:

It had following original Configurations:

Vista Home Starter Edition with 4 GB Ram

as it was very slow, I got adviced to upgrade to Windows 7 Starter 32 Bit - still was not able to use my full 4 GB Ram

Due to a lucky Circumstance with a newer Netbook I rencently bought, I was switching this mentioned Notebook to Windows 7 Premium Home Edition -

but just by providing online a valid Registration Code to Windows

So here I am:

having a powerfull 4 GB RAM, but I am only ablee to use 2 GB RAM

anybody knows, how I could get into the Usage of my full 4 GB?

Thanks in Advance to all this bright People here in this Forum for any Advice

[garyh]

I don't know why you have only 2GB available maybe I memory stick has failed or not in properly. However with windows 32 Bit it will only ever use 3.2 GB of ram, windows 64 bit will use all of the 4 GB if the ram is working properly. To change to 64 Bit you can not upgrade you will need to do a complete new install of windows.

[Supernova]

Windows 7 "Starter" Edition only supports up to 2GB RAM.

See: Comparison chart

[DummDays]

Windows 7 "Starter" Edition only supports up to 2GB RAM.

See: Comparison chart

thanks for your participation, but as I wrote:

I am now on Windows 7 Home Premium, no "starter"

[Bartman]

When you upgraded to Win 7 Premium:

""but just by providing online a valid Registration Code to Windows""

Does this mean that u just upgraded online with "windows anytime upgrade"?

or

Did you fully re-install Win 7 Premuim over the top of Starter?

Does the Bios see 4GB of ram...? u get to the Bios on startup. Depending on the laptop it is accessed with "DEL" or a Function Key"

Did you see 4GB in Vista? Your laptop may only support up to 2GB or Ram.. What mobel Laptop is it?

Edited April 10, 2011 by Bartman

[h90]

Try a 64 bit system and look if it makes a difference.

Are all 4 GB recognized in the bios?

[Mrjlh]

How many chips installed? Two? Check to make sure they are installed correctly.

[CMSteve]

First check BIOS to make sure you are setup/capable to use 4Gb. If that's not it make sure that both slot/chips are working correctly. Trial and error by replacing chip into each slot and startup. If both slots and chips are working, try another OS. Download a version of Linux(32bit should do, but if the laptop is capable try the 64bit). Check the memory in there. If it shows under the linux disk, you're upgrade didn't take. You may have to try a fresh install.

[DummDays]

When you upgraded to Win 7 Premium:

""but just by providing online a valid Registration Code to Windows""

Does this mean that u just upgraded online with "windows anytime upgrade"?

or

Did you fully re-install Win 7 Premuim over the top of Starter?

Does the Bios see 4GB of ram...? u get to the Bios on startup. Depending on the laptop it is accessed with "DEL" or a Function Key"

Did you see 4GB in Vista? Your laptop may only support up to 2GB or Ram.. What mobel Laptop is it?

thank you very much for your answer

I have looked up in the bios - it recognizes 4 GB RAM

its a HP laptop, but a model, what only was sold in germany for a short time, due to recurring problems and reclamations with this model, like overheating ....

I have hopefully resolved most of the basic technical problems with the help of a friend - but still have to run 2 different cooling systems

the "upgrade" to windows 7 home premium was a kind of strange:

from my last visit in germany, I bought an acer netbook with this windows version

as my acer also failed 2 times,so acer thailand upgraded my acer to windows 7 ultimo

so I just validaded my windows version an my HP with the code from the former windows version of my acer

hope, these infos can help to get closer to a full use of my memor, because in full working mode, nearly 1,80 GB are in use

I have even tried to add virtual memory, but it seems to be no real help

Edited April 10, 2011 by DummDays

[phazey]

You may need to enable "Physical Address Extension"

Look at your system panel in the control panel, this should help.

On some systems, you have to edit the boot.ini file and add /pae to the start options to enable this. In any case, you wont see more than 3.5GB.

[2008bangkok]

As many have said if you want to get full use of 4gb RAm then you will need a 64bit version of softrware even if the system shows 4gb ram then it will only use 2 gb.

The fact that the origianal was home started and you upgraded just by inline regsitratiion could be your problem, your best bet is to reinstall anyway and see if you can get the source files to home premier 32 or 64 as you now have a license for that and see if that fixes your problem

[innerspace]

As many have said if you want to get full use of 4gb RAm then you will need a 64bit version of softrware even if the system shows 4gb ram then it will only use 2 gb.

No, 32 bit Windows (and other OS) support just over 3 GB of RAM, depending upon your graphics card and system requirements.

2GB is a windows starter limit and a reinstall with your new license will likely resolve it.

[2008bangkok]

As many have said if you want to get full use of 4gb RAm then you will need a 64bit version of softrware even if the system shows 4gb ram then it will only use 2 gb.

No, 32 bit Windows (and other OS) support just over 3 GB of RAM, depending upon your graphics card and system requirements.

2GB is a windows starter limit and a reinstall with your new license will likely resolve it.

typo there i meant to say will only use 3gb