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    I have added total 4 GB RAM to my Lenovo laptop. Why does it only recognize 3 GB?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by aspirele, Sep 14, 2009.

  1. aspirele

    aspirele Newbie

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    I just increased the RAM memory of my Lenovo 3000 N200 laptop to 4 gigs but the computer only recognizes 3 gigs. I am running Windows Vista Business as the OS. How can I get Vista to recognize all the RAM?
     
    aspirele, Sep 14, 2009
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  2. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Notebook Consultant

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    Is it a 32bit operating system or 64? That's probably your problem.
     
    justanormalguy, Sep 14, 2009
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  3. aspirele

    aspirele Newbie

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    Windows Vista 32bit
     
    aspirele, Sep 14, 2009
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  4. nickem

    nickem Notebook Consultant

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    yeah you need 64bit in order to utilize the RAM above 3,xxGB of memory
     
    nickem, Sep 14, 2009
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  5. aspirele

    aspirele Newbie

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    Just reinstall a new OS 64BIT?
     
    aspirele, Sep 14, 2009
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  6. justanormalguy

    justanormalguy Notebook Consultant

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    Not quite, you need a separate license for a 64bit OS. Provided that you have a key for the 64 bit you can use it, chances are you're using the OS provided with your laptop, correct?
     
    justanormalguy, Sep 14, 2009
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  7. BinkNR

    BinkNR Knock off all that evil

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    This is not necessarily true. If you have a license for Vista, you are licensed for either the x86 or x64 versions of the product. You can use either or—Microsoft does not care.
     
    BinkNR, Sep 14, 2009
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  8. gmoneyphatstyle

    gmoneyphatstyle Notebook Deity

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    Yes you need Vista 64bit to use more than 3GB Ram. Since you own a computer with Vista32 you don't need to purchase Vista64, but it's not a simple procedure.

    This is the thread you want, The Clean Install Guide by Stallen. It is over 100 pages now but you don't have to read it all. I have not tried it myself but I would advise you to (a) make sure you have your recovery disks, and (b) use acronis True Image or Norton's Ghost software to create an image of your harddrive in its current state. Then if anything goes wrong you can recover to the disk image. I use acronis myself.
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783
     
    gmoneyphatstyle, Sep 14, 2009
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  9. cereal killer

    cereal killer Notebook Consultant

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    Ditto. I switched my x61 tablet to vista bus64 with no difficulty
     
    cereal killer, Sep 14, 2009
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  10. receph

    receph Notebook Evangelist

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    Not true. Same key for both versions. Only need to make sure it's both the same version, Home for Home, Ultimate for Ultimate, etc.
     
    receph, Sep 15, 2009
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  11. paul27

    paul27 Notebook Guru

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    I just did a clean install of Vista 64 on my T61, which came with Vista 32. I found a legit copy (via torrent, no cracks or serials) and installed onto a spare HDD following Stallen's excellent guide noted earlier ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783). Once everything was up and running, I used an Ubuntu live image (via USB) to delete the hidden partition from the first HDD and to clone the new install onto it. It was a painless experience, though I did it in steps over a week's time, using my netbook as a temporary replacement. My T61 runs far better now, likely due to a mix of a clean install, no extra Thinkpad software, the 64-bit OS, and an extra GB of RAM.
     
    paul27, Sep 16, 2009
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  12. wirx

    wirx Company Representative

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    At least Estonian Microsoft says that you can use 32bit or 64bit version with one key and activation also works fine. If you want see 4gb on 32bit version use Dell windows, somehow it shows 4gb and uses(taskmanager) 3.6GB (windows vista oem 32bit uses about 3.2GB)
     
    wirx, Sep 16, 2009
    #12