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SDRAM read-out at boot-up ...

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by denchan

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To anyone:

Below is the configuration for my system. I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate, overwriting Win XP Pro SP2. Thus far, except for missing drivers (which I understand most people are missing), I'm finding it a great OS...and I like Apples, too. I also found the advice I found here regarding legacy programs and how to get them to run on Vista very helpful, i.e., open them with "Run as an Administrator"...this worked very well with Adobe's Premiere Pro 6.5, Slow Gold 7.7, Steinberg's Clean 4.0, and others. ATI and Creative have released Beta drivers for my cards (being a musician, thank God), however, one cannnot help but think they, as well, should have been more on top of the inevitable ... oh well.

My query, if anyone can help, is that when I boot up the computer the ram displayed is only 3326 (or thereabouts), as opposed to the 4 gigs of DDR2 SDRAM I have installed. A techie I know suggested flashing my BIOS to a newer version but I understand this to be a tricky venture and could result in dead computer. And, it apparently is not a good idea to update your BIOS if all is working well .?. and all presently is. Maybe this RAM reading is normal and the OS is using the other 700 MB or so .?. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Chan

Custom built system:

- Thermaltake tower
- Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz 945/955X dual processor L2 Cache w/FSB 800 MHz
- ASUS motherboard P5LD2 Deluxe BIOS 0506
- 4 Gigs of DDR2 SDRAM @ 667 MHz
- WD 250 Gig HDD @ 7200 rpm
- ATI All-in-Wonder X1800XL video card w/ 256 MB of SDRAM
- Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum sound card
- Plextor PX-755SA DVD/CDRW drive
- Win Vista Ultimate 32 bit OS

11 replies

by thechas

From the manual for your motherboard:

"Due to chipset resource allocation, the system may detect less than 4GB system memory when you installed four 1 GB DDR2 memory modules."

What this means is that some of the I/O addresses for things like plug-in cards overlaps the upper end of system memory space.

A new BIOS will NOT correct a chipset design limitation.

2 things that I would do:

Disable ALL peripherals that you are not using in BIOS setup.

Drop the "B" bank of RAM down to 2 512MB DIMMs.

Your system will be more stable, and might even run a little faster if you don't have memory and resources fighting for the same address space.

Chas

by denchan

Hi TheChas ...

I see that on page 2-14, 2.4.2. Thanks a lot for that.

So, what perpherals are you talking about disabling in BIOS setup .?. examples ...

And, as I understand it, I should return my two 1 Gig SDRAM modules for 2-512 's .?. I hope the vendor will do that ...

Thanks again for the quick response ...

Chan

by thechas

You want to disable any device that you are not using.

In BIOS Setup, go to the Onboard Devices page.

If you are not using the devices listed here, disable them.

Odds are, you are not using the serial, parallel, or game ports, so you can safely disable them.

Lest I forget, before you disable these devices in BIOS Setup, open Windows device manager and remove the devices there first.

This may not give you any more RAM, but will make the system more stable.

Chas

by denchan

Thanks again TheChas .!.

Denis

P.S. I noticed in the BIOS that my total memory reads 4096 MB, with 3328 in use and 768 "Appropriated" ... have no idea what "Appropriated" means .?. any ideas .?.

by thechas

Just a quick thought, how big is your AGP aperture?

Appropriated usually means in use or set aside for a specific purpose.

It could be referring to RAM set aside for a specific BIOS level use, or the amount of RAM that is not available because of address conflicts with system hardware resources.

This does have my curiosity piqued. I will be looking into the chip-set details so that I better understand what is going on.

Chas

by denchan

Hi again ... I'm sorry, I'm showing my ignorance here but I have no idea how to look into that ... on the card .?. Would that be in the Specs section of the board at ASUS's website .?.

I've also done some more rearch on the web and found a few others who have a very similar problem ... from what I've read (and it was only a few articles) there does not appear to be a solution .?. I should have saved them ...

This one individual had the same motherboard, only his BIOS was more recent, 0603, whereas mine is 0506.

Thanks again for the input ...

Chan

by thechas

Restricted Memory

Reading over the technical data for the Intel 945P chip-set;

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/307502.htm

I now understand what is going on.

While the chip-set can address 4GB of RAM, the uppermost addresses are reserved for system resources.

If you check out figure 9.4 on page 213 of the data sheet, there is a list of what Intel uses the upper memory addresses for.

All of the memory based I/O for your hardware is in this upper range of memory.

Intel does not lock out access to this upper section of RAM. Intel does recommend for maximum system stability that the motherboard manufacture set up their BIOS to block out the upper RAM that they require for hardware functions.

For the P5LD2, ASUS determined that they needed to reserve, or allocate the top 768 MB of addressable memory for hardware services.

There is NO way to recover or get back any of the 768 MB that is reserved.

Since this is reserved by the BIOS, my earlier comment about improving system stability by changing the upper bank of RAM to 2 512 MB instead of 2 1 GB DIMMs may be false.

Based on the limitations of the chip-set, I would recommend that anyone building up a system that uses this chip-set save some money and not install more than 3GB of RAM.

Bottom line, the memory address from 3.256 GB to 4 GB are reserved for system resources and there is no way to use this space as regular RAM. There is nothing wrong with your system. Nor, any real need to make changes.

Chas

by thechas

I knew I should have looked at the manual first.

The AGP Aperture is a BIOS setting for allocating additional memory space for buffering data to the graphics card.

On your motherboard, this is in the Chip-Set section of BIOS setup and is referred to as PEG Buffer Length.

Setting this too low will limit the performance of your graphics card.

Setting it too high, wastes resources.

As I said, I need to look into this chip-set more to see what the issue is.

Chas

by denchan

Hi TheChas ... I'm impressed by your tenacity in trying to figure this one out .!. I appreciate it. And it's nice to know everything is as it should be.

Now when ATI and Creative issue new drivers for my cards so I can take advantage of all their features again (ATI X1800XL & SoundBlaster X-Fi), the system will be running like it was on XP Pro SP2.!. I hope .!.

FYI: I'm a retired Social Worker (of some 30 years) and former professional musician. Now that I'm retired (since last June), I have more time to devote to music and learning more about the technical aspect of computers.
I always find these forums very intersting.

Thanx again for all your assistance.

Chan

by thechas

I visit this site as a way to share my knowledge to help others.

It is always good when someone posts some positive feedback.

One request, could you rate my best response as helpful?

It is no so much a way of keeping score as it is a way to acknowledge when an answer has been helpful.

Chas

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