Got it. Thanks

Search (bottom of page) this forum for "3GB RAM". There is lots of information here.

32 bit operating systems can only "see" 2.5 to 3.5 gigs of ram.

best to leave sys restore on...you not gonna notice any difference in performance with 1gb allocated to sys restore

" I was told by Dell support when I called that the missing GB has been partitioned off for some system restore tool. Well I'm still trying to figure out what that is and how to get rid of it so I'm utilizing all 4 GB. "

 

This is not true. System restore uses part of the hard disk ( Several GB ) to hold the system image that is used to restore the system to factory as recieved condition. Not to be confused with Ram. The missing Ram is not seen due to hardware device mappings and is a inherent in any 32 bit OS.

 

pcgeek11

The reason I wanted the extra RAM to appear is because I'm going to be building a bunch of virtual servers and RAM will be allocated to them. I worried about whats going to happen once I allocate 2 GB of RAM to virtual machines. Will the OS be using the remaining 2 GB or only the other 1 that its seeing?

Yeah thats what I was afraid of. Bummer. I have Vista Ultimate. Why the heck did I buy the 32-Bit version? I wonder if Dell would swap it for a small fee. I've had the computer for about 3 months.

Hint: It cannot use it if it cannot map it. What you see is what you have available. To do what you want I would invest in a 64 bit operating system. Windows, Linux, BCD, or something.

 

pcgeek11

I don't believe Dell has the 64 bit version. You can call them and check it out.

 

You can find it here though:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116215