5672 4 Gig Memory Upgrade

I recently upgraded the processor to the T2600 and the memory to 4Gigs. The laptop is only recognizing 3GB. I upgraded the BIOS to 3236. Is there anything I can do to utilize the extra Gig. When I run the BA.exe program from within Windows it shows 4Gigs of RAM installed. I am currently running Windows Vista Ultimate.

 

If you are using the 32-bit edition, then any version of Vista will only see 3GB. If you want it to see all 4, you must upgrade to 64-bit.

EDIT:
If you do not know what version of Vista you are running go to:
Start --> Control Panel --> Classic View --> System

The page that loads will have a bunch of info including "System Type" which will say either 32 Bit or 64 Bit

 

It has to do with the chipset. Mobile Intel 945 Express chipset only see up 3. something GB(definably less than 4gb). You can only see 4gb in a Santa Rosa Notebook TZXZZ (x=odd number)with a 64 bit OS( i think.

 

classic. 32 bit operating system means 2^32 addresses for your cpu to register memory. that comes out to a convenient 4 Gb- however- some of those registers are reserved for other system components. so 32 bit operating systems only get away with about 3Gb of memory. upgrade to a 64 bit OS and you will be solid until you get to 128 exabytes i think?

(we aren't quite there yet)

oh wait does the bios recognize all 4 gigs?

 

Pretty much what they ^ said to you is the reason you are only seeing 3Gb. You have basically gone pass the addressable ram limit of a 32bit OS which is approximately ~ 3 - 3.25Gb. If you want to see and use all 4Gb you must get a 64bit OS (I am assuming you have 32bit vista here if you have 64bit vista and you can't see the 4Gb then it is a hardware limitation of your mainboard).

 

2 problems I see with this. I have the T2600 which I believe is a 32bit CPU, so I couldn't go to a 64 bit OS. Problem #2. When I boot the machine prior to the OS even coming up during the POST it only shows 3GB or RAM, so the OS wouldn't make a difference.

 

Ok I did some checking and it turns out that most of the current notebooks with mobile Intel 945 chipsets (the 5672 uses the 945 chipset) can only see a total of 3gigs no matter whether you have a 64 bit OS or not, also the processor doesn't make a difference. For further proof of this Check the ram deals thread and you will see the limitation of your notebook chipset in the first post.

So it turns out that it is a hardware limitation of your notebook therefore having 4 Gb is a waste because your notebook cannot use it sorry...

 

That sucks