Problem with memory reporting on XP

I just had a look at my XP SP3 computer to check how to find out the installed memory to advise a friend on how to do it (I wasn't sure of the exact steps) and found something very odd.
First - the installed memory is 2 x 512MB sticks dual channel
The report using Control Panel System Properties is 1GB
The report using START --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Information was 8,192.00MB
Tried using the Crucial memory checker and it couldn't identify the motherboard and also thought the installed memory was 8,192 MB
The bios doesn't directly report the installed memory but CPUz gets it correct at 1GB
The system is
Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 NF4, S939 motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket939 processor

Any suggestions as to what has gone wrong

There are at least two ways for the system to report how much memory is present: the memory sizer in the BIOS (or the OS, if it has one), and the Serial Presence Detect ROMs on the DIMMs. The SPD ROMs also include stuff like vendor ID, configuration details, and such like; tools like CPU-z and the DIMM-vendor memory scanners use the SPD info to work out what's installed.

It is possible (but unusual) for the SPD ROMs to disagree with what's actually present. If the OS's memory sizer and the SPD info disagree, it's probably best to take the lid off and use the Mark 1 Eyeball test.

The bios utility from Gigabyte reports it correctly as 1GB

Oldjim,

I seen this with a XP laptop and found that is was the onboard graphics memory requirement reducing the available memory to the OS - not sure if this is relevant though...

4M2

Edited by 4M2 (Thu 27-Jan-11 11:35:01)

This is the other way round - and the graphics aren't on board -

It could be the old 1000/1024 bytes chestnut.

In reply to a post by Oldjim:

The report using START --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Information was 8,192.00MB

Is there any chance you can take a screendump of the system information page?

I have a sneaky suspicion that the 8,192MB of memory is Virtual, as opposed to physical. A screendump should help though.

Screen dump here - and no it is a physical memory reporting problem
http://www.holtlane.plus.com/images/memory.jpg

Strange.

My guesses would be:

32-bit operating system and there's more than 4GB of various memories addressed (RAM, swapfile, graphics card too).

BIOS is misreporting it, but I doubt this. Generally the OS will follow the lead of the BIOS. Might be worth looking at your BIOS version Vs the available versions and see what changes are mentioned.

A fault in the system information program.

You actually have 8GB, and....nah!


Have you tried Speccy? It's a sys info tool from the makes of CCleaner. Basically a slightly nicer way to view the data. Not sure where Speccy pulls the data from, but it might be worth a go.

One last option. If the memory can run in single channel mode. Try each stick in the first slot, and see what is reported for each. Then try swapping them over and see. It would be interesting to see what the sys info programs sees if just one stick is in.

Seems to be only the Windows System Utility which gets it wrong although the fact that the Crucial Memory advisor doesn't work is probably significant.
Total memory including graphics card, virtual memory is still less than 4GB so I don't think that is a factor.
Thanks for your interest but I am not sufficiently concerned to start pulling my wife's computer to bits to check

Edited by deleted (Fri 04-Feb-11 12:49:38)