RAM problem?

[eleanor296]

hey guys,

lurker here. Been learning a lot, saving up for building a computer around Christmas.

Well, my father's been having trouble with his older Gateway GT5056, and I noticed that Windows XP only sees 896 MB RAM, even though he's supposed to have 1024 MB... what could be the problem there? RAM gone bad, should I just get some new RAM?

If needed I can give more specifications of the PC... the CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+.


I hope that's not a common problem... couldn't find anything on Google.


Thank you!

Andy


Edit: Aida32 also tells me that physical memory is 894 MB, 489 MB used and 405 MB free...
It can't give me the Motherboard Name, only an ID. FSB properties: AMD Hammer bus, real and effective clock are 200 MHz.

[Sprint]

Some of the memory is probably reserved for IGP and other MB devices.

If it was faulty RAM youd have alot of issues (crashing, freezing, booting problems etc)

[eleanor296]

Originally Posted by Sprint

Some of the memory is probably reserved for IGP and other MB devices.

If it was faulty RAM youd have alot of issues (crashing, freezing, booting problems etc)

Cool!

Thanks a lot!

What are some smaller upgrades I could make to get the computer Win 7 ready if possible? 2 gigs of RAM, a newer AMD processor?

[Uzen]

i dont really see a point in putting the money into that computer to make it win 7, finding a newer cpu, is hard i tried to replace my old althon x2. 50$ + on ebay, + u would need to find more ram like 30 $....id just stick to xp pro sp3 imo

[eleanor296]

thanks for the advice Uzen, that's actually what I ended up doing