Memory management problems

[Muftiman]

Hi, I recently bought a new rig whith 2gb ram. I've been using it quite often but the problem I've noted lately is that I cannot seem to use more than 1.2gb of ram. I'm using Windows Media Center and I have tried searching for solutions to no avail. Some sites have suggested using 3gb memory instead of the 2gb, but I cannot understand why.

Basic rig :

1 x Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 675MHz/PC2-5400 XMS Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty 98708
1 x Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe WIFI-AP AM2 Sound 2 x GigaLan 1394 USB 2.0 WIFI-G ESATA ATX 112170
1 x AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz) Socket AM2 L2 1MB 2x512KB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

I also have 3 320gb SATA hard disks and a 250gb ATA one.

[Xero (1)ne]

You can't use more than 1.2Gb total? No matter how many apps you're running? Are you sure you're not getting it confused with your page file?

I would say that one of the RAM sticks could be crapping out on you...try memtesting and use CPUz to show you're true amount of RAM.

[timberwolf120]

Using more than 1.2GB of RAM or seeing more than 1.2GB?

[Muftiman]

Using more than 1.2GB of RAM or seeing more than 1.2GB?

Xero is right. I can't USE more than 1.2-1.4gb and as soon as I do start to get closer to 1.4 I cannot open other programs.
I have thought that maybe my ram sticks were going so I turned Page fule off and tried each stick underload and it seems there is no problem with either stick. I have not used CPUz, nor have I tried Memtest yet. I have been told by a few people to change from media centre to Windows XP Pro so I am doing that now on another hard disk.

Also wanted to point out, my PC specs allways say Physical Address Extension under the ammount of memory I have so I tried the /NOPAE and /3gb switch in my boot.ini to no avail.

Any idea guys?

Thanks again.

[timberwolf120]

No idea from me until after you tried what Xero suggested.

I wouldn't have assumed the 3GB switch would work. You shouldn't have to do that anyways. I wouldn't recommend it either if it did actually work.

[Muftiman]

No idea from me until after you tried what Xero suggested.

I wouldn't have assumed the 3GB switch would work. You shouldn't have to do that anyways. I wouldn't recommend it either if it did actually work.

I did use CPUz - Told me I was using 2048MB ram in Dual channel mode. I did ran memtest86 and got passes all throughout.

[Muftiman]

Forgot the Cpuz img

[Kougar]

Howdy Muftiman. First, what are you using to determine what amount of your RAM is being used at any given time? Second, CPUz tells you how much RAM is installed, it has nothing to do with how much RAM is in use.

Unlike Vista XP attempts to keep the memory free as much as possible, it'll gladly fill up the page file long before using the full 2GB or 3GB of installed RAM if you open lots of programs simultaneously.

Timberwolf is correct in that you shouldn't use the /3GB switch as that is for something completely different. The /PAE switch is likely already automatically enabled due to your system hardware, even though there is no entry in the boot.ini file. There are several tools out there, I can't recall the more popular ones at the moment but I've frequently used Iarsn's TaskInfo with logging enabled to monitor system resources. http://www.iarsn.com/taskinfo.html

[Muftiman]

I see. I'll try this in a few minutes, I've been using Task Manager that is built in windows to get an idea of how much memory is being used.

Just downloaded TaskInfo, not really seeing much that I can understand, though I do like the "Free RAM Fast" function since it seems I can use a little more by pushing excess to pagefile memory :p.
Edit : I just got a window from TaskInfo saying I have too many User Objects, too many windows. Any idea how to either reduce these or raise the limit?

[Kougar]

Well one of the graphs at the top monitors the RAM being used.

I've only seen a window appear notifying about to many GDI objects when to many IE windows or other application windows were open at once. There is a point where, once exceeded, the OS's ability to draw new windows will cease to work properly since XP uses the GDI to draw everything on screen. Typically you'll see missing or partly drawn IE windows just before it hits the limit. The only way to reduce them is to close open windows, as far as I know it is a hard limit since the GDI is a major part of the operating system itself.