Windows recognizing only half of total RAM on an HP Pavilion laptop
A friend asked me to take a look at his laptop that is running too slow lately. It is an old HP Pavilion laptop which is supposed to have 512 MB of RAM, but Windows is only seeing 256 MB. The BIOS is reporting all 512 MB, and a memtest86 test tested 512 MB as well. Although I appreciate [strong]any[/strong] suggestion, I'm not looking for suggestions on how to speed a low-resource machine up. I'm just having trouble making Windows recognize the whole RAM, so I am asking for recommendations or opinions regarding that specific problem. I don't have much information about this machine, so I don't know when or how this started. Event logs don't show anything related to this. I think that maybe reinstalling/repairing the Windows installation [strong]could[/strong] help, but I would like to avoid doing that unless it is absolutely necessary. It is an HP Pavilion dv5220LA machine with an AMD turion 64, running Windows XP professional SP2. It has 128 MB of video memory, and the main memory is not being shared with video. I have not had the time to open the machine to look at the physical memory modules, but I expect to do that tomorrow night. Thanks, CarlosDL
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
April 25, 2011 7:03 PM
UPDATED:
May 6, 2011 11:27 PM
Other Answers:
<a href=”http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6142_102-13132.html”>MAXMEM </a>setting?
Also see <a href=”http://support.microsoft.com/kb/108393″>this</a>. Or, <a href=”http://www.mombu.com/microsoft/windows-xp-security-and-administration/t-bootini-maxmem256–956163.html”>this</a>.
Looks like a very obscure setting that some programs may add to your boot string. Since BIOS and memtest86 both see the RAM, I would be surprised if it was in any way defective.
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maybe a suggestion carlos
1.maybe you can switch the ram position
2.take out both the ram and use an erraser and rub the golden finger till it is shining once again like brand new.
All suggestion are correct, also might want to update the BIOS, as it myt be a faulty DIMM – that about to expire.
Also might try and remove one module and see if its recognized and do the same for the other module. Then retry using the other memory bank
Thanks.
No MAXMEM setting.
I plan to make some tests removing memory modules tonight.
Update:
The machine has a single 512 MB memory module. I removed it and cleaned it but it didn’t help. I moved it to the other slot, with the same results.
Will try updating the BIOS tonight.
your memory may not support your Laptop, although it still reads but does not fully supports it potential…
Here a link that may help you track down the compatibility memory that support that particular Laptop.
http://www.memorystock.com/hp_pavilion_laptop.htm
this could also help..
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1304023060335+28353475&threadId=843758
Thanks,
The memory is fully compatible, I just checked the manual.