total RAM not showing

I just installed some RAM but its showing about 366 & not the 512 it should be. I even checked the computers current RAM before I got more to make sure I got the right kind & speed. (I added 256 to the existing RAM.)

my computer:
http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T3504

Any ideas on where the memory went & how to get it back?

 

What does it show exactly in System Properties?

One thing thats doing it is your onboard video shares system ram.

 

System properties (if I looked in the right place) says 368 MB of RAM. I also installed a new video card at the same time.

ATI Vision Tek Radeon 9250 PCI (it has 128MB of its own RAM)

Any ideas?

 

Look in device manager>display driver.If two graphics are listed disable the onboard card.Be carefull ATI have primary and secondary driver -do not touch there.

 

So even tho I installed a video card with its own RAM, the onboard video is soaking up over 100MB of RAM? This is odd because the onboard video only used about 32MB before the addition of more RAM & the video card.

How can I stop the onboard video from using up my RAM?

found more system info:
Available Physical Memory: 512MB
Total Virtual Memory: 2GB
Available Virtual Memory: 1.96GB

 

Well, the 512mb is showing up there Ok . . . where did you see the 366mb listed? Is it possible that this was showing the available RAM at that time? Having a PC use 146mbs of RAM would not be unusual, even after a re-boot.

You might check your BIOS settings under graphics, and make sure there is nothing there you need to adjust - most newer boards automatically disable the on-board graphics when an add-on card is detected, but you never know. While in BIOS, check to make sure the system is reading both RAM modules properly.

How long have you had the PC? Could there have been some dust in the second slot? You might try re-seating the RAM

If you can't find any other cause, it's not beyond the pale you could have some defective RAM. I once had a 512mb PC2100 drop 128mb every now and then. I'd check once, and it would read fine - then later it would only read 384mbs. It was still under warranty so I had it replaced. There are some free memory testers here at MG you can check out.

 

Hey ,this is something new.I think the problem here is missreading. right click My Computer>properties,and see there.

 

System info: 368MB
CCleaner: 366MB
I also clicked a button in the ATI control panel marked system info & it said it was 512MB.

I checked the hardware profiles & had 3 videos showing but 1 had an exclamation point. I manually disabled it also & no effect.

I will try removing the RAM & blow out the slot. I will also try a memory tester. Any suggestions on which one?

 

plenty to be found here
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads26.html

this one appears to be popular
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Memtest86_d1247.html