Dell Studio XPS 8000 - 4GB Installed BIOS shows 2GB - 64 Bit Windows 7

Chris, thanks for setting up the mobo swap.  The Dell tech swapped a new mobo, and BIOS saw the full memory (6GB as opposed to the 3GB before).

Unfortunately, Win7 wouldn't complete the boot up.  It booted into System Repair a few times without any luck.  By the time I was able to boot in, Win7 was in a horrid unusable state: directory permissions mangled, DLL SideBySide errors on practically ALL executables, etc.

I'm not entirely sure which factor(s) were at fault but here they are:

1. I had updated the BIOS version on old mobo to version A03.  New mobo had version A01.
2. I had updated several drivers on the old mobo.
3. My system is a two drive RAID 1 setup.  When we booted the new mobo the first few times, we forgot to change the BIOS setting for the drive controller to RAID.
4. The mobo service tag was left blank the first few times we booted up.
5. We interrupted the bootup sequence a few times with Ctrl-Alt-Del.
6. We booted the new mobo connected to a different monitor than the old mobo.

Eventually, I gave up, used the Dell utility to restore the factory image.  Strangely, the factory image startup ran into some errors near the end of the Win7 setup (more SideBySide issues), but I was able to pop in the Win7 reinstall disk and do a custom install of Win7 on top of the factory image Win7.

Ugh.  Just a warning to everyone doing a mobo swap to make backups before you start.

Tom

Wow....what a nightmare.  I will have to back up if and when I need it.  After the swap it will take at least a day to get back up and running....Dell just needs to bring a 8100 out and do a data transfer...LOL

O.k. got home and upgraded to the A03 bios and no change still read 6.00GB installed and 2.99GB usable in windows and 3GB installed in the bios .  Then I reseated all the memory modules and everything was registered correctly at 6.00GB.  I also made the bios changes as well with the Turbo options. Thanks everybody!!!

Mother board has been replaced and all is well.  I was contacted directly by the tech to schedule the repair, and contacted again to confirm, so things went very smoothly.

Thanks to Chris and Steve.

So i see this is a problem thats been going on for a while, i have alot of the same issues, i currently have 32 bit windows 7 with 4 gb of ram, but only 2 gb usable.

Ive tryed to move the memory around, and even try different combos of memory. Ive tryed a clean install of my OS twice now as for thats what the tech i spoke to today suggested, and still the same result. but the techs i spoke with didnt seem to be aware of this issue at all. He even remote accessed onto my cpu and could not seem to find the problem.

My bios shows the 4 gb, and the OS does as well, but only 2 usable still after many hours.

However, my cpu was purchased 2 years ago with 2 gb of ram, i didnt notice the problem until i tryed to max out my ram.

Motherboard seems to be a popular fix on this, any other suggestions?

Chris,

I have an Alienware Aurora with 9GB installed and only 6GB showing in the BIOS.  All 6 Ram slots are showing filled in BIOS.  Windows reports 9GB installed and 5.99GB usable.  Windows shows 3GB as hardware reserved.

I have phoned the tech support guys and went through 2 hours of validaing the ram and ram slots were ok. Ram and slots proved ok.  Finally, they were going to replace the motherboard, however I got a call from them a day before the technician was due saying a BIOS update will fix the issue and that the motherboard will no longer be replaced.  Bios update supposed to be available end of Jan 2010. 

The system as it is works very well, however all the ram should be able to be used.

What are your thoughts on the above comments?  Will a Bios update fix this or should I insist on a new motherboard.

I would be grateful if you could post if  the motherboard solved the problem.  I am still waiting for an updated BIOS that Dell have told me will rectify the issue on my PC

Have xps 8000. Eight gig installed and 3.99 gig usable. Will new MB solve problem.

Have you tried all the ideas in this thread?

Ok the Dell technician just left.

New motherboard and no more problems. :-)

One way to identify the problem is to move the memory DIMMs to test them individually by removing them all and testing each one by one.

Good luck to all!

Contacted Chris M. Next day DELL tech installed new MB. Problem solved. Can now see full 8 gig memory instead of 4 gig previously. Fast work from DELL.

Very similar problem here. Just solved it by removing and reinserting all memory.

My system came with 3GB. BIOS (version A03) only saw 1GB. Windows 7 64bit saw 3GB but only 1GB was usable; the rest was "reserved by hardware".

Each DIMM is 1GB and all appear to be identical. They were in slots 1, 2 and 3. I can't say for certain whether I put them each back into their original position when I reinstalled them, but I do know that I made sure each one went *click* when I pushed it in.

Alas... reseating the RAM didn't work for me.  I have an XPS 9000 (shipped in February), with 12GB (7.99 usable).  BIOS also only sees 8GB.  Worked with phone support and they had me reseat RAM again -- no dice.  Also, upgrading from BIOS A14 to A16 did not fix it.

I'm now waiting for the tech to call to schedule a mobo/RAM swap.  Sure hope my Windows doesn't go nuts after the swap!!!

So it looks like for some people (8000/8100 users?), reseating the RAM fixes it, but for 9000 users, some need mobo/RAM swaps.  Yikes.

Score one more for reseating the memory.  I followed the order provided, and my Studio XPS 8000 now sees all 8 Gb as readable.  Thank you!