Will my laptop detect 4GB of ram???

davie23223

davie23223

New Member
I have a 3 year old laptop with 1GB of ram. On the specification sheet for my computer it says i can have a maximum of 4GB of ram (2x2GB sticks) I then did a crucial ram test and found out i can upgrade to the maximum 4GB, just to be more certain. I'm on windows XP. Now since in my laptop manual, on the specification page it said maximum 4GB of ram, will my laptop detect 4GB of ram on windows XP, or do i have to upgrade to Widows Vista or Windos xp 64bit? I heard windows xp only detects 3GB or something. But since my laptop manual says i can have a max of 4GB, will i really need to upgrade to those newer windows versions, or does my laptop have some special customized files in my recovery/installation dvd, since i used a customized windows xp copy that is designed strictly for my laptop, like you know the recovery dvd?

edit:
And if i do need to upgrade to windows XP 64 bit or vista, i am not going to, $200 isnt worth it for this laptop. If it only detects 3GB of ram, i still want to buy 4GB of ram instead of 2GB, so if i buy 2x2GB sticks and it only detects 3GB, will it still be running in dual-channel? If not, then what would be better, 2GB of ram under dual-channel, or 3GB non-dual-channel(if dual-channel isnt possible)

your help would be very much appreciated :)
 
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no, a 32 bit OS will have up to 4GB of memory.

If you want more you will need a 64bit OS, but 4GB is the top of it.

only maybe 3.5GB will be shown, but that is because of the memory used by your video card. Say if you video card has 512mb of memory, you will have 3.5GB shown, if you have a 1GB card, 3GB will be shown.

It is still there and being used, but elsewhere in your system
 
If the hardware itselfs only supports 4GB of address space, a 64bit edition will have the exact same amount of missing ram as 32bit xp (shared or no shared gfx).
 
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Damn, I suggested Cromewell to make it a sticky, with a catchy title, like "4GB RAM problems, first view here". But he replied me the link of the announcement posted in this section. I dont think any newbie will ever read that announcement before posting.
Same question comes over and over, and solution is a sticky, not an announcement with title "RAM, Hard Drives and RAID guides/Forum Rules".
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great to gain a little more knowledge about ram. I think i'll be getting 4GB of ram. my laptop is always using up all my ram. thank you guys
 
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