My Ram Is Disappearing...

Welcome to Bleeping Computer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.
Click here to Register a free account now! or read our Welcome Guide to learn how to use this site.

Important Announcement: We have two terrific contests running on the site that I wanted all our members and guests to know about.

The first contest is the HP Magic Giveaway, which is underway as of November 28th. More information can be found at this topic, which will be updated very soon with further information.

The second contests, is for the chance to win two Seagate FreeAgent external hard drives. More information about this contest can be found here.

These are both amazing contests and I suggest everyone submit an entry for them.

- BleepingComputer Management

BleepingComputer.com > Hardware > Internal Hardware

2 Pages

1 2 >

My Ram Is Disappearing...

Options

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 08:44 AM Post #1
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	I have 512MB of RAM (256 x2), and it always used to work well. Since I changed to my integrated graphics chip (32MB), my RAM has been decreasing. First it went to 384MB, so I opened the case and took out the two sticks and put them back in. Now it's down to 256Mb! I was playing a game and all of a sudden it starting lagging like mad. Opened the Task Manager and it said there was 40k available memory, when it should have been much more, and I went to the Control Panel then to System and it said there was 256MB of RAM installed. How can I fix this? Is it because my integrated graphics is sharing memory with the computer? Help please? 256 is extremely low and I can hardly function with this.

ruby1 View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 08:56 AM Post #2
a forum member Group: Members Posts: 2,218 Joined: 27-August 07 Member No.: 153,171	QUOTE First it went to 384MB, so I opened the case and took out the two sticks and put them back in. Now it's down to 256Mb! hopefully an obvious... erm solution.... but are you sure you re-seated the sticks correctly and properly -------------------- 'How did I get infected?' 'So how did I get infected in the first place ?'

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 12:28 PM Post #3
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	Yes, took them out and put them back in and it kept going down. I went back to my old GFX card and now my RAM doesn't decrease. But the integrated graphics unit was just 32MB. How was it taking like 200MB of system RAM? Edit: Ugh! It went back down to 384! This post has been edited by Kanye: Mar 15 2008, 12:30 PM

ruby1 View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 12:44 PM Post #4
a forum member Group: Members Posts: 2,218 Joined: 27-August 07 Member No.: 153,171	I notice you posted a log on here (presumably from the same computer)which did not actually get an 'all clear' from the Experts on here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ind...&pid=719831 I am wondering IF something IS going on that you are as yet unaware of? does Task Manager give any indications? you have not yet tried to run superantispyware or asquared 'bugs finding ' programs? -------------------- 'How did I get infected?' 'So how did I get infected in the first place ?'

DaChew View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 01:06 PM Post #5
Visiting Alien Group: Members Posts: 4,987 Joined: 20-May 07 From: millenium falcon and rockytop Member No.: 131,963	power down and pull the power plug take the ram back out and look carefully at the slots and contacts on the sticks, I have had dust or dirt cause this same problem test each stick of ram and each slot one at a time -------------------- Chewy life is like a box of chocolates and stupid is as stupid does but you can always run

hamluis View Member Profile	Mar 15 2008, 01:20 PM Post #6
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 6,735 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068	As for changing the shared RAM amount...that would be an adjustment to be made in the BIOS. Louis

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 16 2008, 07:45 AM Post #7
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	ruby1: I will run a spyware scan right now then. But I doubt it is spyware because this only happened once I started using my integrated graphics. Task Manager seems normal. Basic system programs and StarWindServiceAE.exe (It's for Alcohol 120%, and I'm about to uninstall it anyway). DaChew: Tried that. Took out the RAM sticks, cleaned out the ports, dusted them off, tried each RAM stick individually and they both said 256. Put them in together and it says 384. Sometimes it says 512, but then it goes down to 384 randomly. And before somebody asks, yes, I'm sure my mobo can handle 512 MB. It's been handling it for years now. 512 is the mobo's max amount of RAM it can run. hamluis: My BIOS doesn't give me that option. This post has been edited by Kanye: Mar 16 2008, 07:48 AM

DaChew View Member Profile	Mar 16 2008, 08:03 AM Post #8
Visiting Alien Group: Members Posts: 4,987 Joined: 20-May 07 From: millenium falcon and rockytop Member No.: 131,963	I use a pencil eraser to lightly clean the crappy connections on cheap sticks(non-gold conductor) that tarnish, if it's shinny after years it's probably gold, which is fine. Other than a bios update(unlikely?) that's about the only thing I could think of might be causing this problem. Now if the sticks are not matched then anything is possible as bios may be having problems with one of the sticks? Weird problem for sure. QUOTE Alcohol 120% that's a red flag, we had one betatester over at Imgburn forum that had to repair SPTI(native bus) in windows XP to fix his dvd burning because of that software? There are a lot of semi-legitimate programs that install lower filter drivers that behave similarly to "rootkits" in their attempts to fool windows and game and movie protection schemes. Low level conflicts are capable of just about anything in the realm of instabilty or corruption of the operating system. -------------------- Chewy life is like a box of chocolates and stupid is as stupid does but you can always run

smurfgod View Member Profile	Mar 16 2008, 09:24 AM Post #9
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 432 Joined: 12-February 08 From: Illinois Member No.: 189,860	512-128=384 Most likely your video card is just yanking the 128 off the top. Every onboard card i've ever used has done that. Tho i'm not real sure why it wouldn't do the same with the 256... Like for instance with my girlfriends computer she's running an onboard card with 2x1G RAM installed. MyComputer>Properties says 1.85. System information says 1.38 available, with 2G total. If you put a physical video card in there i'm 90% sure it will read as your 512 Okay well i reread the first post, If its dropping to 256 on a mobo that maxes out at 512 that's probably not it. tho i would still try slappin the card you took out in there then checking it, after they close your log that is. This post has been edited by smurfgod: Mar 16 2008, 09:31 AM

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 16 2008, 06:33 PM Post #10
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	I opened the computer again and cleaned it out for the second time. Tried each slot with each individual RAM stick and I still can't figure it out. I can't figure out if it's the RAM stick or the DIMM slot that has the problem. I've tried every combination. Sometimes I put one stick in and it says 256, sometimes I put one in and it says 128. I take it out and put it back in and it says 256 again. Put in the second one and it says 384. Take it out and put it back in and it says 512. Start it up, use it for hours, reboot, and it says 384 again. Take one out and it says 256 or 128, move it to the next port and something else comes up. It's just random combinations. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Even on both DIMM slots. So either both slots/the mobo are messed up or I have defective RAM. I have no idea. It's completely random depending on how I slightly move the sticks, how I combine them, what slot they're in, if I restart my system, if I dust it off, etc. It varies everytime. I'm stumped.

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 21 2008, 03:19 PM Post #11
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	It's stuck at 384 everytime I boot up now...

RLI View Member Profile	Mar 22 2008, 04:59 PM Post #12
Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 2-December 07 From: USA Member No.: 174,101	the integrated video has a baseline of 32MB but will take more ram as needed. if you're using XP, it will allocate more ram for itself. I would suggest that you get a good video card and stop using the integrated.

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 23 2008, 09:56 AM Post #13
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	I've already stopped using the integrated video but the RAM is still stuck at lower than it should be.

smurfgod View Member Profile	Mar 23 2008, 11:22 AM Post #14
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 432 Joined: 12-February 08 From: Illinois Member No.: 189,860	how much lower? without the onboard This post has been edited by smurfgod: Mar 23 2008, 11:22 AM

Kanye View Member Profile	Mar 23 2008, 11:30 AM Post #15
Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 18-August 07 From: Canada Member No.: 151,000	It's supposed to be at 512 but it's stuck at 384 whether I'm using onboard or the card.

« Next Oldest · Internal Hardware · Next Newest »

2 Pages

1 2 >

1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)

0 Members:

Display Mode: Standard · Switch to: Linear+ · Switch to: Outline

Track this topic · Email this topic · Print this topic · Subscribe to this forum

Lo-Fi Version

Time is now: 2nd December 2008 - 02:40 AM

Advertise \| About Us \| Terms of Use \| Privacy Policy \| Contact Us \| Site Map \| Chat \| Tutorials \| Uninstall List
Discussion Forums \| The Computer Glossary \| Resources \| RSS Feeds \| Startups \| The File Database \| Malware Removal Guides