Usable Memory - 1.44GB RAM recognized of 4GB - Acer Aspire V5-122P

Hi

I have a problem with the usable RAM memory of the Acer Aspire V5. The machine cames with 4GB of RAM but only 1.44Gb is usable, which is very low and make the system unusuable when trying different applications.

This problem started since I had to replace a damaged HDD and I reinstalled Windows 10 from an USB Stick. (The same problem shows up on Windows 7 32/64bits)

Full Model: Acer Aspire V5-122P-0642
Windows: Vesion 10 64bits.
Full RAM: 4GB.

I tried:

1) In Windows 7 and Windows 10 the MS tips about it. "msconfig- Boot tab - Advanced options and uncheck "clear the Maximum memory check box". It didn't work.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/978610

2) The BIOS doe snot has any options on about " AGP video aperture size" or "Memory Remapping". I was not able to find anything like that (help is welcome)

3) The BIOS of the machine is updated to the latest: 2.12 - 2014/07/24

Please, any help or idea is welcome. I don't remember what was the amount of memory usable before (with the older crashed HDD) since I didn't have that lacking memory problems.

Regards

Accepted answers

All comments

IronFly

if you boot to BIOS, how much is the ram amount?

martiniturbide

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The BIOS sees 4GB. Also Windows sees 4GB.

Regards

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IronFly

BIOS is set to UEFI or Legacy/launchCSM?

on task manager, click on Resource manager, then on resource manager, click on Memory and take a screenshot.

martiniturbide

Hi

I tried "Legacy mode" with Windows 7 64bits and got this issue.

After that I tried with UEFI enabled and installed Windows 10 64bits and I have the same problem.

Here are the screenshots.

Regards

Memory-ResourceManager.PNG

DevManager-Memory2.PNG

IronFly

have you already tried to Clear CMOS?

open the bottom of your laptop and take off the silver round battery and disconnect laptop battery too, for about 10-15 minutes, then put everything back.

the main issue is that your laptop comes with just one ram slot, so you can't even try to boot with less ram (or if you have a spare ram module around).

martiniturbide

Hi

The removal of the internal battery and CMOS battery did not work. I leave it disconnected for 15 minuts, when I restarted it, Windows 10 took a little longer to boot, but it is still have the same 1.44GB usable.

I will try what you suggest to put some other memory temporary to see what happens.

Regards

martiniturbide

Hi

It is not going good for the moment.

I open up teh latop and removed the SO-DIMM module. On the tag it says 2GB. so why it is recognized as 4GB? Does this latop has any kind of memory on the MB ?

I booted with other 2GB SO-DIMM module. Windows recognized it as 2GB of RAM and 1.44GB usable, but on the next reboot it recognized it again as 4GB of ram with 1.44GB usable.

So, I'm clueless right now. I will keep doing more trial and error.

Regards

IronFly

Enter BIOS and press F9 to load defaults and then F10 to save and exit.

Check if ram is recognised correctly.

martiniturbide

Hi

I reset the BIOS when I removed the battery. I even got to set the clock again, so I'm guessing it was with all the BIOS default.

I just found 8GB DDR3 memory and install it. I removed the BIOS battery and full battery again. The BIOS recognized 10GB of RAM. (so it should have 2GB of RAM somewhere on the MB). I pressed F9 to reset defaults and put the clock on the real time.

Windows 10 also lagged when boot and it took some time to get control of the mouse.

Now I see "10GB of RAM (1.44 GB usable)".

So right now I'm clueless.

Regards.

brummyfan2

martiniturbide wrote:
Hi

I reset the BIOS when I removed the battery. I even got to set the clock again, so I'm guessing it was with all the BIOS default.

I just found 8GB DDR3 memory and install it. I removed the BIOS battery and full battery again. The BIOS recognized 10GB of RAM. (so it should have 2GB of RAM somewhere on the MB). I pressed F9 to reset defaults and put the clock on the real time.

Windows 10 also lagged when boot and it took some time to get control of the mouse.
Now I see "10GB of RAM (1.44 GB usable)".

So right now I'm clueless.

Regards.

Hi,

Could you please check specs of memory sticks, whether they are 1Rx8 single channel and PC3L(Low Voltage)

martiniturbide

Hi

I will post the specific specs of the Memory that is currently on the machine and the one that I tried.

But I can confirm the ones that I tried are not DDR3L (low voltage).

Regards

brummyfan2

Hi,

You have 2GB single-channel DDR3L memory on board, you can upgrade up to 6GB, addition of 4GB RAM with the same specs as the one already installed will work.

Get something similar to this:https://www.impactcomputers.com/index.php?_route_=kn.4gb0g.022.html&manufacturer_id=99

This is only an example, you can buy any brand, Crucial, Samsung etc.

martiniturbide

Thank you very much.

Indeed it seems that it was the problems. I found a DDR3L memory (8GB) and tested it on the machine. Now 9.4GB are usable on Windows.

I'm guessing that someone (I'm not the first one to open up this machine) changed the memory for a non low voltage and didn't notice it was not being recognized by the machine.

Now I have a different non-related issue with the machine is that the battery on Windows only charge to 70% max. Is there any tool you know to reset the battery ?

Regards

brummyfan2

Hi,

You are welcome, try calibrating the battery, follow the manual calibration in this tutorial:http://www.howtogeek.com/172271/how-to-calibrate-your-laptops-battery-for-accurate-battery-life-estimates/http://www.howtogeek.com/172271/how-to-calibrate-your-laptops-battery-for-accurate-battery-life-estimates/

chatango

opa eae n falo engles entao usa um tradutor ae por favor preciso muito de ajuda eestou com o mesmo problema meu notbook e da acer aspire 5251 e eu comprei ele usado e ele veio com 4 gb e entao estava lento dai eu comprei uma memoria de 4 gb e coloquei e ficou 6 o computador ele detecta os 6 gb mas so ultiliza 1,74 mesmo quando era 4 gb ele so detectava isso ja fiz ms confg ja testei meu hd e outro pc e deu no mesmo ja limpei as memorias e continua assim