onedaymyfriend

Hi, I have just purchased a Sony VAIO NR11 ZS. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU - T7250, a 200GB Hard drive and 4096mb RAM. It's also running on VISTA Home Premium.

When i go in to the speed/performance screen it show that I have 2038mb RAM?? I thought it was meant to be 4096mb??

OK, so i call Sony helpdesk. They take me to a system info screen in the start menu, it shows the following:-

Total Physical Memory:- 2037.81mb

Available Physical Memory:- 1.11GB
**You've probably guessed that I confused by now**
Total Virtual Memory:- 4.19GB

Available Virtual Memory:- 3.33GB

Page File Space:- 2.28GB

I would be so grateful if someone can explain this infomation to me. Do I have 4GB of RAM??

Any help VERY much appreciated,

Thanks,

Darren

madmatt10583

32 bit vista by any chance?

onedaymyfriend

yes is 32bit, is that bad??

madmatt10583

32 bit vista will only see up to 3 gb of ram (orso i'm led to believe) The 64 bit will see all 4 gb. If you have the vista cd, just install the 64 bit edition.
Ohh...does it show all 4 gb when the machine posts?

onedaymyfriend

does it show all 4 gb when the machine posts???

I'm afraid I don't know what that means?

I'm not thick as such just have a basic knowledge of pc's. lol

Sorry

madmatt10583

Right. Well forget about that lol. I'm pretty sure that it's because you have 32 bit vista. Install the 64 bit and you should see it all and it will use it all.

onedaymyfriend

Your not going to believe this there isn't any software with the machine?? Is that normal?

D

madmatt10583

Yes that's very normal and also very annoying. Take it back to the shop and tell the bloke that you need 64 bit vista to utalise the ram. There is no point in paying extra for all that ram if you can't use it.

onedaymyfriend

That's just it I ordered it from a catalogue, can't afford to buy one outright!! Poor batchelor here!!lol.

Is there anything else I can do? to get the 64bit that is?

madmatt10583

you could borrow a disc of a mate and use your vista serial. Has it got it stuck underneath the laptop? e.g vista xxx edition and then a long number?
It can be done. And i sympathyse with you...I'm skint too!

onedaymyfriend

thanks for that, it nice to know (in a way) that there are people in the same boat!!

OK, it says in the menu that I should create recovery disks, would you say that this is a good idea??

If i call sony and play hell, do you think that might send me a VISTA disc?

madmatt10583

I don't see why they wouldnt, espically when they've sold you something that you affectivly aint getting.(yes my spelling sucks) make a recovery disc and that if you want, i personally wouldn't bother.
When you get the disc after kicking some **** lol. put it in boot your machine. it'll say press any key to boot from dvd, do it. choose your language blah blah. it'll ask you what version of windows you purchaced. premium is it you have? Well anyway, lets say it is for now. You want vista premium x64 and NOT x86. That's if you got the option of both. My disc has.
Hope i'm making some sense. Basically, have a good moan and get the 64 bit disc. While you're on the phone, you will need the drivers cd aswell. install them after you have installed vista.
Hope this helps.

onedaymyfriend

You will get some sleep tonight I promise!!lol

Just been on the microsodt website and it says that I can only ugrade to another 32bit version of windows??

Dunno what to make of that??

What do u think Matt?

madmatt10583

Moan at the company you got the laptop off of.
Don't worry about me, I'm usually out drinking this time on a friday night. Probabily have a round on bf2 in a bit lol.
I build my own computers nowdays It's so much easier and you know where you are. The best thing is that it's so simple to do!

onedaymyfriend

so from my figures i showed in my first post what does it all mean?? do i have 4gb?? or if not why isnt it showing 3gb in the system performance screen?

madmatt10583

Because 32 bit can only use up to 3 gb

onedaymyfriend

lol, sorry to do this to ya mate.

So its showing 2038mb because its limit is 3gb,

I think iv been had, im gonna call 'em tomoz.

I only really wanna watch youtube vids, surf net n stuff is my spec ok for that??

D

madmatt10583

your laptop is more than good enough for that fella. I would still get on to them though as i don't think it's on.

onedaymyfriend

on the microsoft website the official side say that you can't upgrade from 32bit to 64bit, but im reading from the forums that you can.
Who should i believe??lol
Darren

madmatt10583

I don't think you can 'upgrade' to 64 bit but you can do a fresh install with 64 bit. Just get on to where you got your laptop and demand the necessary software so you can use all 4 gb of your ram that you purchaced.