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lisfan

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18 years ago

L

lisfan

2 Posts

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3237

February 5th, 2009 20:00

dimension 8400 memory upgrade help????????

hi guys

i am a computor novice.       i have a dell dimension 8400 with xp proffesional, just went out of warranty. i upgraded recently from 1G to 3G with dell memory.  no problem i wanted to bring it up to 4G. i pulled out the two 512 and replaced with 1g sticks from dell also. i have 1g sticks in all 4 slots. when  i click on my computor properties it still shows 3G. it didnt show a memory added message like the first upgrade. it also has a new battery installed

when it boots i clicked f2 key ,  in memory line it shows 1g in all 4 slots.  but not when when you click on my computor properties just 3G of ram.

 do i need to get extended warranty or call dell support?  do i need to update the bios? it is AO3. there is an upgrade to A04. i have never done a bios upgrade. is there any thing wrong?

 can you please help me?   i appreciate the help and thank you ahead of time

 best regards phil

  • shesagordie

    12 Elder

    46017 Posts

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    Posted February 5th, 2009 20:00

    lisfan

    You have a XP 32bit system, this does not recognize 4gb of memory.

    3gb± is all a 32bit system can address. Basically what it means is, while you can install 4gb of memory in the system, the reason it’s not recognized is mainly due to 32-bit processors & 32-bit applications on memory address limitations.

    64-bit processors & operating systems will recognize beyond the 32-bit limitation.

    See HERE

    Bev.

  • LA1

    107 Posts

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    Posted February 5th, 2009 20:00

    I guess you are running xp 32 bit, that is not uncommon, best case it will show 3.5 gig max.

  • lisfan

    2 Posts

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    Posted February 6th, 2009 06:00

    hi robin

    thanks  for the quick answer. thanks to everyone else for their help:emotion-2:

  • RobinBredin

    6 Operator

    3717 Posts

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    Posted February 6th, 2009 06:00

    Hi lisfan, I would leave it, as it is. Though you wont see the 4GB because of the 32bit system, you will get the 3.25GBof ram.

  • shesagordie

    12 Elder

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    Posted February 6th, 2009 12:00

    lisfan

    You are welcome.    :emotion-11:

    Bev.