System not recognizing newly installed RAM

Question

I have a Dell Latitude D820, came from the factory with 2GB of RAM, recently installed 2x2GB sticks for 4 GB of RAM.

System recognizes 4GB of RAM installed, but total physical memory is only 2GB. I'm aware that I should only see around 3.3 GB when it is all up and running, but 2GB?

What do I need to do to fix this? I have BIOS A07.

Thanks

EDIT: Here's the System info

OS Name    Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Business
Version    6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
Other OS Description     Not Available
OS Manufacturer    Microsoft Corporation
System Name    DD31T2D1
System Manufacturer    Dell Inc.
System Model    Latitude D820
System Type    X86-based PC
Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7600 @ 2.33GHz, 2333 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date    Dell Inc. A07, 6/15/2007
SMBIOS Version    2.4
Windows Directory    C:\Windows
System Directory    C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device    \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale    United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer    Version = "6.0.6001.18000"
User Name    DD31T2D1\Student
Time Zone    Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory    2.00 GB
Available Physical Memory    1.14 GB
Total Virtual Memory    4.23 GB
Available Virtual Memory    3.39 GB
Page File Space    2.29 GB
Page File    C:\pagefile.sys

ejn63 · Answer

Try each module in each socket - if both modules work in both sockets independently, it may be the RAM is incompatible. It will also tell you the other possibilities - that one module or socket may be faulty.

dgizinski · Answer

How will I determine what I want from this?

If the RAM is incompatible, it wouldn't have booted (new sticks in both sockets, both sockets were working before)

How will I know if one socket/module is working?

ejn63 · Answer

Try each module alone in each socket -- if one module fails to work in either socket, it's bad. If both modules fail in one of the sockets, the socket is bad.

It isn't necessarily true that incompatible RAM would prevent a bootup - sloppy-tolerance (cheap) RAM can cause all sorts of problems. Is this RAM certified to work in a Dell system, or is it not -- worse, is it "Value RAM"?

dgizinski · Answer

Tried it. Works fine in all combos. Oddly enough, the CMOS/BIOS recognizing 3347MB of memory, it's only when in Vista that I can't see it.   The RAM is made by Patriot, pretty reasonable stuff.

ejn63 · Answer

It sounds like a compatibility problem - try a different brand of RAM.  Crucial makes compatibility-guaranteed RAM.

dgizinski · Answer

Anyone?

dgizinski · Answer

It is compatibilty guaranteed.

Mobo recognizes it in BIOS, it says there will be 33xxMB available to system.

I've heard it might be caused due to memory remapping being on, or if the memory is run as dual channel. I don't know how to adjust these.

dgizinski · Answer

So any recommendations as to what to purchase and how to go about proving to the manufacturer that the RAM that was guaranteed to be compatible isn't>

ejn63 · Answer

You cannot adjust those parameters - nor does the chipset in this system support memory remapping. If the BIOS recognizes the memory, Windows SHOULD show about 3G total physical RAM - you won't see all four on this system. If it doesn't, you have a compatibility problem.

And yes, there ARE cases where the BIOS will recognize RAM and Windows wont, and yes, these ARE compatibility issues. I would contact the vendor or manufacturer of the memory.

ejn63 · Answer

Simply call their support line and describe the failure you're seeing.

dgizinski · Answer

They say it is an OS issue.

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System not recognizing newly installed RAM

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