I am losing my memory...

[VimesUK]

Hello

I have bought this motherboard for my HTPC...

GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-E7AUM-DS2H (rev. 1.0)

GA-E7AUM-DS2H

I have used 4GB of memory (tried 4x1GB sticks of Geil or 2x2GB sticks of OCZ and either work great).

I have allocated 256mb of memory for my IGP - 9400 NVidia.

With either 32bit version of XP (SP3) or Vista (SP1) I get 2.5GB of memory showing within task manager, the OS, of course, will use some of this for itself.

With 64bit Vista I get 3.5GB of memory via the task manager.

I understand the limitations of a 32bit OS addressing 4GB of memory but the PC I'm typing this on has 32bit Vista with a....

GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-P35C-DS3R (rev. 2.0)

GA-P35C-DS3R (rev2.0) and 4GB of memory. It has no IGP but uses a 512mb 4870 graphics card. It has 3.5GB of memory available via the task manager. When using Vista 64bit is has 4GB available.

I can see that even though I have only allocated 256mb of memory for the IGP on the GA-E7AUM-DS2H board this has taken a total of 512mb from Vista 64. But why does Vista 32 only have 2.5GB to allocate...?

I know that since SP1 Vista can report that a system has 4GB of memory, which it does, but it is the available memory to use which is down to 2.5GB that I find strange to think that this particular motherboard allocates so much to the system compared to the other Gigabyte board that I've noted.

[Nickel020]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Some boards have problems with their Onboard LAN, if you switch that off the RAM may increase in a 32bit OS. A BIOS update may also fix this.
And are you sure that you set the memory for the onboard VGA to 256MB or to use 256MB more than default? I'm not an expert on IGPs, but I think you should have 3.75GB.

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Thanks for your input :)

I disabled the LAN and it made no difference. I am sure that I have applied 256mb for the VGA to use, not to add to what it already takes.

I have read in another forum that others have experienced only having 2.5GB of memory available when using a 32bit OS with this particular board. So whilst it is not ideal it does seem to be not unique to my own set up.

I can't use a 64bit OS due to the fact that there are no known working drivers for my 7010ix TV card that I use on the HTPC.

Guess I'll just have to live with it.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: I am losing my memory...

That is odd, especially since you are seeing less than 4GB in x64 systems.

Can you borrow a Graphics card to see if this Onboard is actually using more then you are allocating as shared GFX memory? Although I do not think this is the main part of the issue, but it is worth a test if you can do so. x64 should see 4GB no matter what

What BIOS are you using? Have you asked Tech Support to test this issue out, if not you should and see what they have to say at least >>>
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Technical Service Zone

What happens if you apply the minimal onboard allocated memory for graphics, and more then 256? Just wondering

Also, what do you see here in the Standard CMOS Feature page? >>

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...


Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com


Images left to right....

The first (sorry it is blurry) shows 64mb shared memory and 4030mb available from POST screen.

The second shows 256mb shared memory and 3838mb available at post screen.

The third and fourth shows the BIOS screen memory available when either 64mb or 256mb is selected.

The fifth and sixth show the task manager and the memory available to Windows Vista 32bit.

64mb = 2941mb to allocate
256mb = 2557mb to allocate

I can no longer show what Vista 64shows as due to issues with my TV card it is no longer installed.

I can't disable the shared memory because the PC will not even POST and it then had to have the CMOS reset to allocate some memory to the IGP.

If I allocate the maximum memory of 512mb I have 3.5GB showing on the post screen but only just under 2GB available when Vista boots via the task manager. So using 512mb of memory for the graphics chip uses 2GB from my 4GB of RAM...!!!

I would imagine that the way that the BIOS allocates and maps the memory causes the above issues when using a 32bit OS, but hey what do I know :D

I am using BIOS revision F2 and I have submitted a report from the link that you provided, thanks for that :)

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Got a reply from Gigabyte...

Hi,

Due to Windows Vista/XP 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.

Also note due to standard PC architecture, a certain amount of memory is reserved for system usage and therefore the actual memory size is less than the stated amount.

Regards,

GGTS

Sometimes it makes me wonder if they actually read what I have sent them and not automatically send a standard response :(

Sigh

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Got another reply from Gigabyte when I asked why so much memory is being lost on this board compared to my other gigabyte board...

It will depend on components, system architecture, applications, and OS being used.

So it seems that the GA-E7AUM-DS2H has some real issues when it comes to memory mapping compared to my other GA-P35C-DS3R (rev2.0) motherboard.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Ya the language barrier may be why your reply was like it was the first time. They may hav thought you had the "General" Less then 4GB ram questioned asked more and more each day.

About your last comment, I thought something along those lines when I first read this thread and had to go look how much your board even supported. I know some chipsets do allocate memory very weird and some even limit things weird as well, so this board/chipset may be affected like I have seen in the past with a similar issue

So Although it allows up to 16GB, you may never be able to use that. I can say vista is a real issue with this problem for sure due to the way it steals, I mean allocates shared memory to whatever it likes. See this thread and it may help you get some back, but then again it could all be that chipset (Thanks VorLonUK wherever you are) >>
VistaFAQs.com - Why does Vista use all my memory?

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

I agree, regarding the possible language misunderstanding.

Thanks for the link. In my first post I noted...

With either 32bit version of XP (SP3) or Vista (SP1) I get 2.5GB of memory showing within task manager, the OS, of course, will use some of this for itself.

I have just had to accept that it is indeed one of the quirks of the chipset / memory mapping features with this board.
Someone within another forum has written about it....

BTW folks - Please, if your getting problems with the video in Vista or XP 32bit with 4Gig, please open a problem report with Gigabyte.

They are generally responsive and if you give them the basic details of the nvidia drivers used, OS version, etc you can avoid going around in circles with them.
Including a dump from msinfo32 would be best.

You can tell what the video display range is in msinfo32 by going to Components and clicking on Display.
Note the Memory Address ranges and see if it changes between using 2gig and 4gig.

They may argue back that it's normal, but if your getting crashes then it may get their attention.

its the memory mappings in the bios/dsdt thats causing the >2Gb crashes. As signal pointed out the memory is mapped in unprotected memory somewhere in the vicinity of 3.2GB.

So it does seem to be an issue...

[VorLonUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

VimesUk,

I was reading your post earlier and got sidetracked ;-) . I know you've provided some screenshots, but does your bios memory counts reflect what the OS says too? (on both counts)

Just was wondering if this was an issue at the hardware or OS level..

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

The BIOS memory count - both within the BIOS on the bluescreen and in the POST one is not the same as when the 32 bit OS is booted. When you look within the control panel and launch the system details it will show that 4GB is installed but the task manager will show what memory is available for the OS to allocate. This is show in the screengrabs I posted.

So I allocate 256mb for the graphics chip (the BIOS screen shows 3838mb left at the POST screen) and then I find that the system details page will show 4GB installed but the task manager, confirmed by Si-Soft Sandra and Everest, shows that there is only 2.5GB of memory to allocate.

Some motherboards and their memory mapping techniques, along with devices attached and graphics cards, are better than others. Some offer memory remapping options, this board doesn't.

My other Gigabyte motherboard (GA-P35C-DS3R (rev2.0)) allows 3.5GB of memory to be allocated by Vista 32 with a 512mb graphics card installed.

My wife's Abit IP35 XE allows 3.3GB of memory with a 320MB graphics card installed.

This GA-E7AUM-DS2H allows 2.5GB when allocating 256mb of memory to the Graphics chip.

[VorLonUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

Obviously as per yourself I know about the 32bit OS limitation and the way i believe Vista 32bit from SP1 shows the full amount of physical ram installed. Not sure if XP does that on SP3?

Anyway, I wonder if the limitation is hampered more down to an issue with an AMD chip and chipset, compared to an Intel one?
I was just going to have a look at the MS knowledge base, to see if there was anything on this.

[VimesUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

The other two examples that I have noted in my posts both use Intel P35 chipsets and Intel CPU's.
The board with the problem uses an Intel chip but an NVidia chipset along with the NVidia 9400 IGP.
I tend to feel that if there had been an Intel chipset available to use then maybe the situation might not have been so restricting in regards to the memory mapping.

There is a link below which gives some useful information...

The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed

which includes as a workaround.....

The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature

[VorLonUK]

Re: I am losing my memory...

That's interesting stuff...

I didn't realise (as i hadn't looked) that your other chipset was Nvidia using an Intel CPU. I tend to know the Intel/Intel chipset GB model numbers but I'm not so good with the AMD/Nvidia based board numbers.