RAM Issue SOLVED

My BIOS says I have 12 GB installed and Windows says 11 GB "installed". When I installed the RAM it showed 12 GB in Sys info in windows. How do I find out why the 1 GB is not recognized? Thanks for any help!

That would be my guess too, if you don't have a physical video card in the slot, I think that XPS comes with a Radion graphics chip but shares the memory. You may be able to control the amount of ram dedicated to graphics in the bios.
If you wanted to free up those resources, it would be pretty cost effective upgrade to get something like this IMO  http://www.amazon.com/Zot...ivly+cooled+video+card
 
One thing to keep in mind when upgrading those is the 450 PSU. I read a thread somewhere here that your issues began when you plugged in an additional HD? 450 watts was marginal back in the P4 days for those of us that like to install additional components. If you continue to have issues, I would consider a beefier PSU if you want to add things to that.   

Thanks for the info guys!!! Hey Grant how ya been!?!
 
I spoke with a local Computer whizz (repair guy) in these parts and he told me what you said. He also said it isn't a problem. He told me that if I wanted to go in and allocate the video memory I could but there was no need. The 11 GB RAM should be fine with what I use the PC for and if it didn't bother me to leave everything as is. Since he could very easily said "Yeah bring it in and I'll work on it for Ya" I think I will go on as usual. The new drive changed things but I didn't notice at the time . I was just relieved the PC still worked afterward. I have to say that some of my issue was when I was using Addictive drums 2 .When Sonar Support came on and tweaked my set up the problems vanished. AD2 2.2 seems to have fixed the erratic behavior. I post if I notice any problems. Thank you all so much for the help!!

I gotta tell ya about my last gig I did 'Live". A local 80's rock band lost their lead play and asked if I would cover for him. I said sure so I commenced to filling in. After each and every gig after jumpin around the stage like 40 year old I felt like I was hit by a truck. Make that a Semi!. Seems I can't set-up, play, and tear down like I used to. So i am semi retired and only do gigs I know won't break my bones, throw joints out of place, and/or have a pretty woman follow me home. A whole nother issue there  etc

I'm feelin ya bro, putting some stuff together to play live here I'm finding I may be up for 1 set if I have to rely on my voice. A charity event so no jumping around here. Salute for jumping in there with the 80's material, even stuff I use to play I would have to go over and practice it all over before I'd be comfortable to play live...  
  

twaddle
I have no idea what the reason is off the top of my head but I don't agree with the above answers as I'm assuming you mean that it shows as 11GB under 'computer/properties' the display window that shows basic information about your computer.
 
So surely how much of that RAM is being used has nothing to do it skycraft

Windows is reporting the RAM is has available to use, not how much is physically present in the system.

The task manager will tell you how much is being used but the, 'computer properties' is telling how much is installed and NOT how much is being used.
 
I had a problem where I had 12GB but windows was only showing I had 6GB, turned out I just hadn't pushed the new sticks in hard enough. It's very odd that it would show as being 1Gb less though as RAM these days is almost never in sticks of less than 2GB.
 
Steve

Depends on the version of Windows. They changed it to show installed RAM, precisely because people were getting confused. Used to show accessible RAM. I don't remember when they changed it.
 
At any rate if you think it is an issue of the RAM not being present you can check two things:
 
1) The BIOS. I'll report what is physically present in the system.
 
2) HWiNFO64. It'll again give you a report of what is physically in the system, including what sticks are in what slot and all that.
 
You can also have a look at Resource Monitor (an included windows tool) to see distribution. It'll show you a RAM breakdown, including hardware reserved memory. The amount can vary greatly depending on how much memory you have installed, what motherboard you have and what BIOS version (since that affects memory control), and what peripherals are in use. I've seen it be 0MB on some systems, and as high as 1.25GB on a 32-bit system at work with some hardware video capture cards. It is 31MB on my system at home, which the motherboard documentations notes it will be.
 
Given that he says his BIOS claims 12GB is installed, it is not likely to be a stick being loose, or other physical failure. The BIOS wouldn't see it in that case.