RAM issue that's driving me up the wall?

Question

I have 8 gigs of RAM on my laptop, but only 3.93 is usable. The rest of the roughly 4k mb is "hardware reserved"
Please note it is Windows 7 64 bit, Intel Core i7 with 2 RAM slots, each holding a 4gb chip on an HP Envy 17.

Let me start off by saying what I've already tried...
>Updating BIOS-- Caused more problems than it fixed.
>Update drivers on everything-- nothing
>Checked BIOS for a memory remapping function, it doesn't have one. Go figure.
>Unchecked maximum memory in msconfig. Did nothing.
>Tried same as above but checking it, again, nothing.
>Memory testing each stick. Each came back fine.
>Swapping the sticks. Nothing changed.
>Programs from a few shady places that would 'let me control the RAM'. Did nothing, ran virus scans to be safe.


...And just about every other stupid trick imaginable.

I would just save everything to my external drive and reformat if this laptop actually came with a disc with Windows on it...

I've also checked very thoroughly and it's not a bad motherboard or RAM slots. There's just no rhyme or reason they wouldn't work.

There are only 2 computer places within a reasonable driving distance..
Best Buy and a local computer shop.
I no longer use Best Buy as their inexperience broke my last computer, they cracked the screen on another... and literally lost a desktop. No joke, they LOST it and refused to give me any sort of refund.


I no longer use the local family owned place because they are incompetent. It will come back with missing screws, things not connected (like the hard drive.. of all things), insane wait times, clueless when it comes to certain topics, and they're outrageously expensive to even LOOK at your PC.

You get the picture. I'm stuck with a fantastic gaming laptop that should run whatever I throw at it, now reduced to the speed of something you pick up at Walmart for like $300

Help me Yahoo! Answers, you're my only hope.

Answer 1

Come on lets not be melodramatic here, the extra ram is not going to make that much difference it will run fine on 4GB. Except for those games. So there have been reports of chipsets on some Pcs not having memory re mapping in particular Lakeport Chips, so it wouldn't matter if its running 32 or 64 bit. There is no solution or workaround, check what Chipset you have and get a copy of Speccy from piriform it will save to a text file you computer configuration.

Answer 2

Can you boot up the machine with both ram chips individually?



If it doesn't say 8gb at POST then there's no need to look at any settings in windows.



At this point i'd try memory testing software from a boot disk like memtest ... it's possible your memory is bad... meh but you tried that. You could send it into HP I guess. other users report that they are replacing motherboards with similar issues.



actually you know what try a Linux liveCD and see how much memory it reports.

Answer 3

im sorry im having a hard time understanding what the question is. im going to guess that you are asking why your 8gb or ram only shows up at 4gb. that is very common, especially on laptops. the thing about ram is that its a cache. the computer stores data on is that you access alot. it gets reset when you shut off your computer. the longer you have your pc on the more it stores onto your ram and the less available ram you have. i have 12gb installed in my pc with 8gb usable.



another thing to check is do you have a dedicated grpahics card of integrated because integrated graphics allocate ram to video memory so that could be the "hardware reserved" notice your seeing.



if im not mistaken windows 7 64bit uses about 4gb of ram just for normal functions so seeing 4gb available less than you actually have is not an issue or anything to be concerned about. thats just windows doing its thing.



IF you think your ram is causing the computer to run slow then i suggest upgrading it. check what speed your ram is running at and what your laptop's motherboard can take. they make 8gb sticks now. and they are not very expensive so get 2 for 16gb or ram and i suggest no speed lower than 1333mhz, my standard speed for ram i use in customers pc's is 1600mhz and 1600 works beautifully.

Answer 4

First question....Is your operating system 32bit or 64bit? 32 bit system will only recognize up to 4GB RAM, 64bit will recognize all. You can find out what version you have by going to control panel>system page and it will say windows 7 xxbit (xx being your version 32 or 64).

Next i would do a search for the specs and "highlights" about your specific model because some may use part of the RAM installed to share with the integrated/on board video controller, although i have never heard of any system sharing that much.