ACer 9424 RAM issue

Hi people.
According tot he specs on the ACER 9420 notebook series the 9424
should be able to deal with 4GB of Ram. So I installed a matched set
Kingston. And what happens? The bloody thing only sees 3GB! Anybody
have an idea OR done the same without any problem ( in which case I
have a hardware issue - still under guarantee).

Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).

This is a limit of 32-bit OS's in general. They can only 'talk to' 2^32
(i.e. 4GB) memory addresses, but some of those addresses are reserved for
hardware. If you want to read more about it check out this link, although
it's pretty tech-y:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/ar...22/218527.aspx


wrote in message
...
Hi people.
According tot he specs on the ACER 9420 notebook series the 9424
should be able to deal with 4GB of Ram. So I installed a matched set
Kingston. And what happens? The bloody thing only sees 3GB! Anybody
have an idea OR done the same without any problem ( in which case I
have a hardware issue - still under guarantee).

Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:27:57 -0400, "The Babe With the Power"
wrote:
Sorry guy, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the POST
only sees 3GB. So this is either a BIOS or a mob fault. All I want to
know is 'did anybody update any of the 9420 series notebooks to the
(specs) max ram of 4GB and had the same problem.'?

If so, i can go to acer and request replacement of the faulty mob.


This is a limit of 32-bit OS's in general. They can only 'talk to' 2^32
(i.e. 4GB) memory addresses, but some of those addresses are reserved for
hardware. If you want to read more about it check out this link, although
it's pretty tech-y:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/ar...22/218527.aspx


wrote in message
.. .
Hi people.
According tot he specs on the ACER 9420 notebook series the 9424
should be able to deal with 4GB of Ram. So I installed a matched set
Kingston. And what happens? The bloody thing only sees 3GB! Anybody
have an idea OR done the same without any problem ( in which case I
have a hardware issue - still under guarantee).

Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).

its the OS.not acer

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:27:57 -0400, "The Babe With the Power"
wrote:
Sorry guy, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the POST
only sees 3GB. So this is either a BIOS or a mob fault. All I want to
know is 'did anybody update any of the 9420 series notebooks to the
(specs) max ram of 4GB and had the same problem.'?

If so, i can go to acer and request replacement of the faulty mob.


This is a limit of 32-bit OS's in general. They can only 'talk to' 2^32
(i.e. 4GB) memory addresses, but some of those addresses are reserved for
hardware. If you want to read more about it check out this link, although
it's pretty tech-y:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/ar...22/218527.aspx


wrote in message
. ..
Hi people.
According tot he specs on the ACER 9420 notebook series the 9424
should be able to deal with 4GB of Ram. So I installed a matched set
Kingston. And what happens? The bloody thing only sees 3GB! Anybody
have an idea OR done the same without any problem ( in which case I
have a hardware issue - still under guarantee).

Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:20:32 -0400, "The Babe With the Power"
wrote:

its the OS.not acer

I am sorry guy but you are wrong. In order for the OS to use the ram
available it has first to be recognized by the mainboard ( i.e. BIOS)
as being present. That's what the POST is all about. Making sure that
everything is there and can be addressed.


wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:27:57 -0400, "The Babe With the Power"
wrote:
Sorry guy, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the POST
only sees 3GB. So this is either a BIOS or a mob fault. All I want to
know is 'did anybody update any of the 9420 series notebooks to the
(specs) max ram of 4GB and had the same problem.'?

If so, i can go to acer and request replacement of the faulty mob.


This is a limit of 32-bit OS's in general. They can only 'talk to' 2^32
(i.e. 4GB) memory addresses, but some of those addresses are reserved for
hardware. If you want to read more about it check out this link, although
it's pretty tech-y:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/ar...22/218527.aspx


wrote in message
...
Hi people.
According tot he specs on the ACER 9420 notebook series the 9424
should be able to deal with 4GB of Ram. So I installed a matched set
Kingston. And what happens? The bloody thing only sees 3GB! Anybody
have an idea OR done the same without any problem ( in which case I
have a hardware issue - still under guarantee).

Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).

You guys and all of your rampant speculation... Let me give you all a clue..
If you want to see more than 3.25GB's of memory, install a 64 bit OS. ALL
32 bit OS's (Mac OS, Linux Ubuntu and Windows) do this. At the Mac store
they don't even offer 4GBs for 32 bit machines.

wrote:
its the OS.not acer

I am sorry guy but you are wrong. In order for the OS to use the ram
available it has first to be recognized by the mainboard ( i.e. BIOS)
as being present. That's what the POST is all about. Making sure that
everything is there and can be addressed.


Sorry guy, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the POST
only sees 3GB. So this is either a BIOS or a mob fault. All I want to
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
Other question: The mainbord in the 9420 series has a dip-switch on
it. ANYBODY have any idea what it is for? ( Acer doesn't seem to).