windows 7 - HP Pavilion g7 2300-sm reading only 920mb of RAM memory

07
2014-07
  • Dino

    My Pavilion g7 2300-sm have 4gb of RAM memory.

    I have installed Win 7 (original) on him. What I didn't know is that this laptop is made only for Win8. I did manage to install all the drivers, and everything is working, but the system only reads 920MB of RAM memory in stead 3.2GB of 4GB possible (because is a WIN7 32-bit -- I need this exact WIN7 for work).

    Did any one have the solution for this? I need it soon or I'll have to change my laptop because of this :(

    • Answers
  • David Schwartz

    If your laptop only supports 64-bit operating systems, running 32-bit operating systems will result in large amounts of memory being inaccessible. Hardware mappings must be placed in the first 4GB of address space, so systems optimized for 64-bit operating systems move as much memory as possible out of the way to leave room for hardware mappings. Sadly, 32-bit operating systems can't access the moved memory (unless they support PAE, which Windows 7 doesn't).

    Your BIOS might have a "memory remapping" option that you can turn off. But if not, you're just trying to make your machine do something it was never designed to do.

  • Ayodhya

    I have checked this model on HP Website. The available OS for your system is Windows 8 or 8.1 - 64 bit with all drivers (in case of windows). Windows 7 is not listed there. So I would suggest you to install Windows 8/8.1-64 bit for full memory usage.

    Hope this will help you.


    • Related Question

    Which Windows OS Supports 8 GB RAM in a Laptop and Suggestions for a Better Laptop for Personal & Developer Use
  • Ellen

    I am about to purchase a laptop and have zeroed on the following two of them.

    1. Toshiba L500-ST2544
    2. Toshiba L505-ES5034

    The Common Specification for both of them are as follows -

    RAM - 4GB DDR3 Memory HDD - 320 GB Processor - Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor WebCam and Mic - Available HDMI Port - Available Numeric Key Pad - Available Windows 7 (64 bit) Home Premium

    Now, the only difference between ST2544 and ES5034 is that, the ST2544 has a maximum of 2 slots with 2 GB in each. So, you can have a max of 4 GB RAM in that. The ES5034 can support 8 GB RAM, so, in a couple of years, if I want to add another 4 GB RAM I will be able to do it.

    The price for ST2544 is USD 629.00 whereas, the price for a ES5034 is USD685. A difference is USD 55.00 (not a major amount, but still something extra).

    Is it worthwhile going for the ES5034? Which Windows Operating System supports 8 GB of RAM?

    Edit: The ST2544 has 2 main memory slots, which means to get 4 GB, we need to use both slots. The ES5034 has 2 main memory slots with a max capacity of 8 GB.

    With the Edit, does it change anything? Getting 4 GB by using two 2GB slots is better or Getting 4 GB using one slot is better?


    • Related Answers
  • Josip Medved

    Any 64-bit Windows 7 edition from Home Premium and upward will be able to use full 8 GB of RAM.

    Since most of motherboards are able to use dual-channel mode if both RAM modules are present, for performance it would be better to have 2x2GB.

  • wag2639

    First, are you sure the chipset can actually support that much RAM?

    According to MSDN, the max for Home Premium is 192 GB but another source put it 16 GB.

    I've heard anecdotally that dual channel doesn't actually provide that much significant performance.

    Also, unless you're developing something which specifically requires huge memory requirements, it might be wiser to invest in something with a better processor. In the near future when you would upgrade that RAM, you may wish for a slightly more powerful processor. This is especially true considering the current price of RAM versus the increase CPU performance you can get for the same price.