RAM Issues

[drspookie]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530. It came with 2, 512 MB ram sticks for a total of 1g of RAM. I received a 2GB stick of RAM (which I confirmed is compatible with my PC), but when I installed it with the 2, 512 sticks, my computer is only indicating that I have 2.5 GB. I expected it to find 3GB. Why is this?

 

[316]

most dells have a limit to how much RAM they can use and yours might be 2.5 gigs, idk why they would put it so low but thats the only reason i can come up with unless windows doesent recognize them or one is not in right so you might want to check that before doing anyhting else