AboutBobbert Expertise Questions related to processors and memory from roughly a decade of personal experience, willing to take a stab at any question you might have, with knowledge reaching from the AMD K7 (Athlon, AthlonXP, Duron, Sempron) to the AMD K8 and K9 (Athlon64, Athlon64 FX, Opteron, Athlon64 x2, Phenom X3/X4) generations, and from the Intel Pentium III to Core 2 generation, as well as accompanying technologies, including mainboards, chipsets, and memory.
Experience Computer enthusiast and hobbyist, years of IT experience here and there (still always room to learn!).
Question Hi Bobbert,
Just purchased a new pc. Running Windows XP Pro SP3, downgraded from Vista. It came with 1GB RAM. I had the store remove the 1GB and install 2-2GB modules. When I check Accessories/System Tools/System Information it recognizes 4GB as Total Physical Memory. But when I check Windows Task Manager/Performance the Physical Memory Total is only 3GB. When I check Properties in My Computer it shows 3GB memory. I am running AVG Internet Security v8.5.x. When I check the System in Help/About AVG it shows 3GB memory. In each case available memory is about 2.2GB.
Is the pc somehow still registering the 1GB instead of the 2GB installed to replace it? Is there a setting or parameter that needs to be changed to properly see the 2GB module or even a jumper on the motherboard? Thank you. Robert
Answer Nothing at all is wrong with the system, this is simply a limitation of Windows XP's 32-bit architecture. There isn't a thing you can do to "fix" this issue, other than accept it as a limitation of software design. There will be no performance impact as a result of this, and I wouldn't be overly concerned as a result.
