Comp doesn't detect all of RAM

Well, the Bios does say I have 2gbs, but the comp is incredibly slow and the Task Manager shows only 700Mb are being used of all of the ram. After trial and error I finally got the right 1gb sticks: PC2 4200. Comp is a Sony Vaio VGC-RC210G. The manual does say the max ram is 2gb. I'm close to just reformatting the dumb thing. So like, is there a way to get the comp to recognize it all? I've already played with the bios and I can only edit time/date in it.

 

Oh, also the cpu is running just fine, clearly showing that it is the RAM's fault for the slowness. Could it be the motherboard dying?

 

go to system properties and find out how much ram windows detects.

 

You could also try a 3rd party app like Everest or BlackBox or PCwizard to find out how much RAM is accessible.
:-D

 

Here's some attached screenshots of what my task manager says and what Blackbox reads. Clearly somethings wrong here... the comp detects the stuff but refuses to use all their resources.

 

Ok go to system properties/advanced/performance/settings/advanced. there you can set the pagefile to a custom setting of 1 and half times the amount of ram for minimum and 2x for maximum. restart your system so the new settings take effect.

 

Just tried that, still super slow. :cry

 

Download this and run autorun that will tell us what is running on your system and what is your biggest resourse hog
http://majorgeeks.com/Sysinternals_Troubleshooting_Utilities_d5473.html

 

Ok, heres a pic of that program, I think, running:

 

wow you have a lot prosseses running. what you should do is cut down on the number of apps running. is that just at startup or were you doing doing something. is norton your choice of antivirus or is that what came with the system? is there a reason sql server is running?

 

Umm, let's get back to basics here, Windows controls how much RAM gets used.

Your screenshots show that Windows recognises the 2Gb of RAM that you have installed and is using what it needs to, based on the processes running.

My computer is working pretty hard here (see attachment), using fewer processes but more RAM and virtual memory than yours.



Like Geminiione, I think it looks like you have way too many processes running, perhaps there is one or more that is causing your computer to slowdown.

I'd like you to go through the basic maintenance procedures http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=106650, to check your startup processes, use http://majorgeeks.com/Startup_Control_Panel_Standalone_Version_d4359.html and base your decisions on whether to disable any of them after checking them here http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php or check back here with any you are not sure of.

 

Norton is not my choice of AV, I've been trying to get around to uninstalling it for a while. I think last time I tried I couldn't anyway to. I'll try again. I have no idea what that sql server thing is. I'll try those programs out now...

 

I fixed the issue! It was Symantec AV that was using all the mem. What a piece of junk program. I'm using Avanquest Sys Suit now. Thanks for the help!