Short version: why is the PC only recognizing 384mb of ram, even though there is 512mb installed?
A friend had me look at his PC, said it would sometimes freeze & he'd have to reboot it. He said virus/malware scans came back clean.
I checked it out, even in safe-mode everything tested clean, but it locked up while the screen saver was on.
I noticed the system properties showed 384mb of ram which seemed odd. When I opened the case & looked, it was tagged 512mb. So I swapped in another good 512mb & it also showed 384mb. I added another 512mb to the 2nd slot, and it brought it up to 896mb.
So is there a motherboard problem causing it to not recognize the full ammount of ram in slot 1???
Onboard video? If so, that's where it went.
Yes, onboard video. Never had it it happen on any other PC with onboard video though?
Some onboard video systems have their own RAM. Most, especially older systems, do not. Shared RAM is really common on motherboards that are more than about 5 years old.
Thanks Derick, I swapped in another video card & it showed a full gig of ram.
...unfortunately, the hard drive crashes after a couple minutes & the CPU eventually locks up.
That sounds like someone needs a new PC...
Do a hard drive test. It might be as simple as swapping in a used hard drive.
I swapped in a known good hard drive & it still locked up in a matter of minutes.
If it's older than a couple of years old, it's time to part it out. Check the power supply, because they don't always fail 100%, and make sure the cooling fans are all working. Less than about 4.7 volts on the 5 volt rail and less than about 11.5 volts on the 12 volt rail will cause instability. Check it with a meter, but don't really do too much more because throwing parts at a computer is never a good idea.
