laptop memory

[thirddays]

I have a Compaq presario v2000, It has a amd turion64 1.6 gig cpu, with 512 physical memory, it's running windows xp home ed service pak 2..Windows says 382 megs...but In the Hp total care it says u5 256 megs and u6 256, total memory 512, But windows is only using 382... :confused:

I had talked to Hp/compaq, and they said it was normal..i dont buy it because i payed for 512, not 382..the system bios says 512, dxdiag says 382, I dont know it runs like it should so i see..but i would like to find out why windows is only allowed 382, is there any way of changing that?

Thanks for your help
Tyler

[mjc]

Well...that is normal.

And you do have 512 MB in there.

The problem is, 128 MB of that 512 is being used for your video, which is onboard and 'shared' (shared means that a portion of your installed RAM is used for your video, because it has none of its own). Also the other 2 MB is probably used up in Video Bios Caching and such...I wouldn't know exactly without seeing what the BIOS says is on/off and the BIOS setup on that machine is going to pitifully limited...

[thirddays]

Ok thanks. sorry to waiste your time on that..Im quitew new with Laptops. and i built a desktop nothing was shared so i wasn't quite sure why it was 382, Thankf for your help. I greatly apperciate it

[PrntRhd]

Your question was valid, many new Compaq users are confused by how their computers show memory. Compaq seems somewhat unique in how they assign memory.