You don't understand why your OS "doesn't see" all 4gb of the memory, instead of starting the "4 millionth thread on this" please read this Microsoft article that explains the issue in detail. If it still doesn't make sense, please search the forum or google the problem. I'm posting this as I tried to find answer to a separate memory problem and all I found was a gazillion threads on this matter.

This article answers your questions.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Mods, can you please take this thread or one like it and turn it into a sticky? If you must persist, here's an article in regards to PAE that may allow you to get closer to see 4gb in your 32bit OS if you must.

For anybody interested in PAE check out.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/syst [...] AEdrv.mspx

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796.aspx

(If you don't undertand what PAE what that means, please read the article.)

Why can't it read all 4?

Basically it's saying that the hardware I/O needs to keep a certian amount of system memory for itself.The amount of memory it uses depends on the hardware in the computer and how it's configured.

Dahak

You want to run all 4GB of RAM, you need a 64-bit OS. This issue is becoming a dead horse on this forum.

To the Moderators: CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A STICKY ON THIS ONE?

Haha, I kid...I kid. Because it is posted so much, you would think that people would actually have the attention span to AT LEAST make it to page 2 (because you know it gets asked about once a week) to look up an answer. But do they...NOOOOOO... Do they even google it? NOOOOO...

I agree with the sticky but I think people go right to posting and do no research what so ever. It is sad though...it is like watching lemmings march over a cliff but annoying because you can't prevent it.

At very least maybe we should link those threads to a sticky or thread at the very least instead of spoon feeding everytime.

I don't think a sticky should imply that pae is useful on xp and vista to go beyond 4G, because it isn't. On xp/sp2 and vista, pae is used only for dep support

hmmm the question is, do current AMD based offerings such as the x2 and phenom support the PAE hardware abilities? I think it should, due to how long ago the Pent pro came out.

yes, all amd and intel processors support pae. But that doesn't do much, if Windows doesn't make full use of it

thanks for starting another thread on it

It is cruel irony isn't it? Just pretend it is the elephant in the room...no one talk about it...we can only refer to this as "it" or "that thing that gets posted twice a week."

Doh...I said it...I said it again...thats two its...

hehe this old favourite...

Here's the answer for any morons that post because their 'precious new 4gb build doesn't see all 4 gb'.

RMA whole computer and go to www.dell.com

cyberjock, why do you call them morons? It is a very natural thing to wonder why this happens. Not all people is this world know the architecture of a pc

This is why when I ordered my laptop and was asked to pay and extra $200 for 4GB of RAM over the 3GB, I said no. I probably wont run 64-bit OS for one reason: driver support. Its just not there 100%...yet.