When do you notice that your memory has dropped to 192 Mb? Is it when the computer is first booting up and memory amount is shown on the DOS-like screen before Windows loads? Or is it after Windows loads, and you view the amount of memory in System Properties?
I ask this because you are able to configure various settings in your Soundblaster software to set aside a certain amount of memory to be used for SoundFonts using the AudioHQ application(for example). This setting would only take effect after Windows loads. Therefore, if your pc during bootup displays the correct amount of RAM (256Mb), but Windows shows 192Mb, then you should read your manual and investigate these memory caching settings. If you do not have a hard copy of the manual, you can download it here http://www.americas.creative.com/support/manuals/Files/sblivevalue.pdf and do a search for the word memory.
If, however, your pc shows only 192Mb of RAM during bootup with the Soundblaster card installed, then you do indeed have something else going on. You should, in that case, try moving the Soundblaster card to another available PCI slot and see if the condition changes.
If this does not help, then you should check your motherboard documentation for possible conflicts with certain cards and memory, or check the motherboard makers website for a possible BIOS upgrade fix.
