Hi, long time no see.

I first built my computer using a Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86 GHZ. Since then I upgraded the CPU to a Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.67 GHZ. My BIOS recognises it and so does my System, but when I look in my Device Manager, it still shows the E6300 CPU. How am I able to rectify this issue.

Also, I now have 3 Gig of DDR2 667 ram, and would like to put more in, my MoBo can handle 8 GHZ of ram, however, on saying this I have also been told that Vista only recognises 3.2 GHZ of ram. Is this true? I am using Vista Ultimate 32 bit OS. I will be honest and say I have never had any issues with my machine, this includes drivers for my hardware, they all work.

Thanks in advance for any help relating this issue. I have plenty of appreciation and respect for those of you whom have taken their own quality time in helping some of us unfortunate people who just are not quite in the know. It is just nice to know there is still people on this planet who do not mind sharing their knowledge

Have you tried updating your Windows Experience score in Control Panel?

Any 32 bit OS is limited to 4 gB of addressable memory space. Due to system requirements, this usually translates to around 3.26 gB (although I've seen from 2.5 to 3.5 mentioned online).

If you want more RAM, I'd suggest reading this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/15/vista_workshop/
In short, with 4 gB of RAM it just isn't worth upgrading to a 64 bit OS.

But, you may be able to obtain 64 bit for free from this link (read it carefully): http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033...ia/default.mspx

Finally, here's a topic that I started about my trials with 8 gB of RAM: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic133772.html
Some strange things are going on within my OS!

Thanks for your reply John, I had great joy in reading your attempts with the 8 Gig Ram. Good luck with that. My issue isn't with the ram though, it's the fact that my device manager still thinks that I am using the E6300 CPU when in fact I have the E6700. Any idea why this might be happening?

Sorry, but I tend to get sidetracked on issues that are of interest to me. Have you tried updating your Windows Experience Score?

Thanks again for your reply John. No need to worry about replying so soon as I know you're a busy man and what I am asking is not affecting the way my computer runs anyhow. My Windows Experience Score is as follows;

Processor: 5.5
Ram: 5.5
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.9
Primary Hard Disk: 5.3

As you can see, my scores are quite good. BUt I thought that when you change a CPU, the Device Manager should recogise the change.

If you update your scores in the Windows Experience Index it should re-recognize your CPU.
But, as you can see from my last link in my first post - that didn't work for me! Vista says that I don't have any RAM or a CPU!

That being said, it does recognize my CPU (but I haven't changed it).

Several things to try:
1) Right click on the Processor heading in Device Manager and click on "Scan for hardware changes" Does that work?
2) Check to see if you've got the latest BIOS version for your motherboard. If not, scan the updates that are available to see if they address CPU recognition. If you find this, then you may have to flash your BIOS (be very, very careful!!!)
3) I don't have the courage to do this on my system - but you can uninstall the processors by right clicking on the and selecting "Uninstall" Once you've done that, reboot the system and let Windows re-detect the processors. I've never done this, so I don't have any idea of how it'll work - but it works with other hardware devices. Good luck!

Thanks again for your help John. My BIOS was updated only a couple of weeks ago, (thanks to a mate who knows how to do this as I too do not wish to delve into doing it). I did a Scan for hardware changes as you suggested, but still no change. As for the uninstalling, I think I will do more research on this before I attempt it. Cheers