Hey everyone! I've had my laptop since 2022 and mostly used it for gaming. It originally had 4GB of RAM, but I recently paid to upgrade it to 12GB. Now, I'm facing a couple of issues. First, the task manager shows that 8.5GB of the RAM is reserved for hardware, leaving me with only 3.5GB for use. I tried to adjust this through msconfig but it didn't work. The technician who did the upgrade told me that's normal and necessary for the laptop's operation. I thought it would require much less to function correctly. Additionally, when I boot up my laptop, it completely freezes when the manufacturer's logo appears. The technician mentioned this could be an OS-related issue. Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
6 Answers
I've never heard of 8.5GB being reserved like that. Sounds suspicious; you might have been misled.
If you're using a 32-bit version of Windows, it's limited to 4GB RAM. However, since you upgraded, it could also be a compatibility issue between different RAM brands. For future reference, installing RAM is usually straightforward—just pop the new stick in yourself to save some cash!
How did you even end up with a laptop from 2022 with only 4GB of RAM? That's odd! The freezing during boot could be due to the second stick’s clock speed not matching the first. As for the reserved RAM, modern OSs generally require more than just having mismatched memory sizes like 4GB and 8GB.
Actually, it was a gift, and the laptop was bought in 2020. Prices are nuts!
Does your laptop have a dedicated graphics card or is it using shared VRAM? There might be a BIOS setting to control how much RAM is reserved for graphics, which could explain the 8.5GB issue.
Honestly, it sounds like you might have gotten scammed. It's too easy to exploit folks who aren't savvy about their hardware. I recommend getting matching RAM sticks—like 2x8GB—so they work better together. You should educate yourself about your laptop’s specs before upgrading!
Cut him some slack! He went to an "expert" for help and ended up in this mess.
What model is your laptop? When playing games, it should be able to utilize both RAM slots. You might want to check your SSD health with tools like CrystalDiskInfo to see if that’s the cause of your freezing issue.
Really? It seems like it should be more complicated than that to activate or manage RAM after installation.