Usable memory same after RAM upgrade

Anibor_11 · Dec 31, 2022

mhmtemnacr said:
Is there a way to setup custom bios or something, to enable locked settings and reduce gpu reserved memory ?

In some Lenovo AMD laptops (e.g. ThinkPad T495s) there is an option in the UEFI Setup to change the amount of reserved memory. It´s called "UMA Buffer Size", and can be set to 1 or 2 GB.

Winuser · Dec 31, 2022

mhmtemnacr said:
View attachment 48818 View attachment 48819

View attachment 48817

There is nothing useful in bios settings. I think advanced settings are locked but i don't know how to enter advanced bios

If your BIOS has any locked settings, you'll probably have to set a BIOS password to unlock them. If you set a BIOS password, you can remove it after you made the chages. By removing the BIOS password when done, you won't have to worry about forgetting it.

Dru2 · Dec 31, 2022

Fabler2 said:
Your machine has a dedicated GPU?
One AMD laptop with dedicated GPU shows Hardware reserved of 660 MB and the other one I have shows 2GB which has an APU.

This is just my guess, but I suspect companies had a lot of those boards laying around, so they pushed them into an 8gig role, though they were still 6gig boards. Now they could push a 6gig board for an 8gig price.

Yes, technically the board sees 16gig of RAM, but it's only giving Windows 6gig, allocating 10 to hardware. If your integrated graphics needs that much video RAM, well then as Chief Brody in Jaws said "You're gonna need a bigger boat"

That's me.

Berton · Dec 31, 2022

I was just going through some memory I've kept and found a 4GB DDR4 SODIMM. My year-old Notebook came with 8GB and has 2 module sockets, thought I'd try adding the 4GB and it works fine, now have 12GB RAM. I've encountered 2 anomalies with it, one is supposedly it only supports 8GB and the other is that Crucial is adamant it takes DDR3 modules while the motherboard is clearly marked as DDR4 and looking up the board model number agrees with DDR4. Bottom line is I gained the use of more RAM instead of discarding it.

Fabler2 · Dec 31, 2022

Dru2 said:
This is just my guess, but I suspect companies had a lot of those boards laying around, so they pushed them into an 8gig role, though they were still 6gig boards. Now they could push a 6gig board for an 8gig price.

Yes, technically the board sees 16gig of RAM, but it's only giving Windows 6gig, allocating 10 to hardware. If your integrated graphics needs that much video RAM, well then as Chief Brody in Jaws said "You're gonna need a bigger boat"

That's me.

There is definitely something weird with the setup. Whether it's the ram or bios setting. This is my (same) setup with 16GB ram, APU and Nvidia Dedicated.

mhmtemnacr · Dec 31, 2022

I tried something out and it's weird

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (first) installed

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (other) installed

One of the new RAMs is not working properly

They have same model and same specs though. Does this mean one of my RAMs have a defect or malfunction?

Fabler2 · Dec 31, 2022

mhmtemnacr said:
I tried something out and it's weird

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (first) installed
View attachment 48851

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (other) installed
View attachment 48852

One of the new RAMs is not working properly

They have same model and same specs though. Does this mean one of my RAMs have a defect or malfunction?

Yup. Nice find.

SIW2 · Dec 31, 2022

try the other 8gb stick plus an old 4gb. oh you did, that looks like the problem stick.

Does this mean one of my RAMs have a defect or malfunction?

yes it looks that way.
hopefully you can return the new ram ?

torchwood · Dec 31, 2022

Hi

from what i can find on the HP homesite for that model, or CANT find - are any W11 drivers,
Bios version is a lot later than yours
and based on your screenshots a NON windows UEFI, with secure boot dissabled ---- was this a linux/Freedos originally
So it begs the question how did you install W11

No HP diagnostic options, on mine there is a boot log file this will report any Ram issues

zbook · Dec 31, 2022

Please run:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/317051d1612150787-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-getmemoryconfiguration.bat

Post images or share links into this thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive.

Then remove the older and smaller RAM module.

Post a new image of Task manager > performance > memory

Dru2 · Dec 31, 2022

Fabler2 said:
There is definitely something weird with the setup. Whether it's the ram or bios setting. This is my (same) setup with 16GB ram, APU and Nvidia Dedicated.

View attachment 48853

Yours is good, but its higher than any seen on any of my systems.

BTW, I've had this conversation before - Ram halved by windows - Windows 7 Help Forums, and here - 4 GB of Physical Memory but 1.74 GB Usable - Windows 7 Help Forums

Dru2 · Jan 1, 2023

mhmtemnacr said:
So is it impossible to go beyond 6 gb usable ram on this laptop

Is there a way to setup custom bios or something, to enable locked settings and reduce gpu reserved memory ?

Unless there is a BIOS update by the vendor allowing it, no, nothing you can do

That even though you can physically put 16gig of RAM in the system, the BIOS will only allow 6 to the OS. This is hardware limitation imposed by the manufacturer, and in which the end user has no control; and especially if they hide BIOS settings - DIsplay/Graphics allowing one to decrease the reserved memory (Hardware Reserved) to the GPU.

The bottom line is no matter how much RAM you install, the OS will only get to use 6gig of it, and the rest allocated to hardware

clam1952 · Jan 1, 2023

Dru2 said:
Unless there is a BIOS update by the vendor allowing it, no, nothing you can do

That even though you can physically put 16gig of RAM in the system, the BIOS will only allow 6 to the OS. This is hardware limitation imposed by the manufacturer, and in which the end user has no control; and especially if they hide BIOS settings - DIsplay/Graphics allowing one to decrease the reserved memory (Hardware Reserved) to the GPU.

The bottom line is no matter how much RAM you install, the OS will only get to use 6gig of it, and the rest allocated to hardware

Need to read post 46 as there is 9.88GB available when an old 4GB is used with one of the new 8GB sticks to give 12GB but not the other new stick.

Dru2 · Jan 1, 2023

clam1952 said:
Need to read post 46 as there is 9.88GB available when an old 4GB is used with one of the new 8GB sticks to give 12GB but not the other new stick.

Please go over the entire thread paying close attention to the images the OP posted, and my replies to those.

The bottom line is the OP can only use 6gig of RAM of their total RAM.

Berton · Jan 1, 2023

Further to my Usable memory same after RAM upgrade, the Notebook is a Dell Vostro 3400 according to the invoice and Crucial shows the model that uses DDR-3 RAM. However the motherboard in it calls for DDR-4 modules. Further investigation finds Crucial also has another entry for a Dell Vostro 14 (3400) which does take the DDR-4 modules. What a difference a number makes.

TechnoMage2021 · Jan 1, 2023

"All that to say the best way to go with memory is to get matching modules from the same source."
In every shop I've ever worked in, including my own, that statement in quotes was an ABSOLUTE, not just a suggestion.
There are a lot of things you can mix....But NEVER mix RAM!!!
Whenever I've ordered multiple sticks of RAM from "Crucial" (my one and only RAM Source) I always make sure they are "Matched Pairs".
Mismatched RAM can result in anything from reduced performance to failure to boot.

TM

Dru2 · Jan 1, 2023

@mhmtemnacr

Since you said you updated the BIOS. Go back into the BIOS and choose "Load Optimized" defaults if available. Check Hardware Reserved?

mhmtemnacr said:
I updated bios version to latesy available, and it didnt make a difference. In bios settings there is no option for ram.

Yes, I know you said updating the BIOS made no difference but give the above a try anyway.

And yes, matching modules is key.

mccnavy · Jan 2, 2023

This was a very interesting article to me. Admittedly, I had similar questions a while ago and this jogged my memory. On the Z270 (w/ i7-7700K) I'm using right now, I originally bought it with 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB HyperX 2666MHz). Just last year, to extend it's life, I had to look but found 2 more sticks..I've since upgraded from a SATA M.2 to a NVME and that too has my "old" system running very well. Interestingly, when I use CPUID, the two sticks have identical specs but the manufacturer is different...the newer ones are SK Hynix and I can't remember the original ones (Micron I think). I made sure to properly install them such that they were paired on the same channels according to my motherboard manual. Anyways, I get 31.9GB usable out of 32GB (61.8MB harware reserved). On my Dell XPS 15 9510 laptop, the factory-installed memory gets me 31.7GB usable out of 32GB. I confirmed with some other users that is normal. I'm a little confused on whether that unusable RAM actually performs some function for something (motherboard, graphics, Windows, etc.) or is it something else. I was afraid I had memory issues but they test out just fine, and online it says this is normal.

Winuser · Jan 2, 2023

mhmtemnacr said:
I tried something out and it's weird

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (first) installed
View attachment 48851

This is 4gb old ram + 8gb new ram (other) installed
View attachment 48852

One of the new RAMs is not working properly

They have same model and same specs though. Does this mean one of my RAMs have a defect or malfunction?

There is definitely a problem with the second memory stick. If you can, return them for two new sticks.

Winuser · Jan 2, 2023

Dru2 said:
Please go over the entire thread paying close attention to the images the OP posted, and my replies to those.

The bottom line is the OP can only use 6gig of RAM of their total RAM.

I'm not saying you're wrong but the first pic in post #46 does show 4GB + the first 8GB as having 9.88GB of usable memory and the second pic shows the 4GB + the second 8GB as only having 3.38GB of usable memory. I would think that is showing that the second stick of 8GB memory is defective.