More computer specs would help, like do you have a video card or are you running on board graphics.

Also, try another gauge and see if it shows something different.

Sorry about the lack of info. Here goes: When I had the 1gb card CCleaner, Auslogics Sys Info and any Sysmetric gage I used showed 1020mb of memory available. Then after a boot up one day all of the above showed 768mb memory available. The "matched pair" of 1gb memory cards are what Crucial.com called the units I bought. I have an HP Pavillion a1320n 2005 Media center edition, Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHZ, with ATI Radeon Xpress 200 video card (intergrated). After the installation of the two 1gb cards all of the above programs show 1791mb of memory available. As does my system properties in Control panel. Virtual memory paging file set to 2560mb if it matters. Dxdiag shows 1792mb memory. Anything else I should look for in dxdiag? Thanks for the replies.

Thanks mafutnyoas. I am still concerned that the memory size changed all of a sudden. I have had the computer about 3 years now. I try to watch my computer closely. I will look into the changing of the ram used by my card.

BigDogBigFeet, both system properties and dxdiag show 1792mb of memory. So if bios shows the "missing" memory is used by the video that would be a good thing, no? Like I stated originally, everything runs fine, actually even better with the memory upgrade. I was concerned with the sudden change as I am not wanting to refurbish or purchase a new computer at this time. This set up has no problem running anything I put in it game or program wise. Thanks again. Karma to you.

IF at one time it showed one amount, then all of a sudden did not show the same amount, I would sumise somthing is wrong with either the ram or the ram slot. if in system properties it is not showing the correct amount of ram " which it did before".

Even with Video delegated Ram the ram still will show in the system properties. My lap top has shared ram (512 meg) in it for the onboard Video but It still shows a full 4 gig installed within System properties.

Typically Bios does not keep the system from seeing Ram installed It just reserves it for preset uses.

As far as I remember, the only time Bios will report incorrect ram would be if it was designed that way from the begining.( it's not uncommon)  In which case it would have never reported the proper amount to begin with.

Now, If you switched all ram cards then I would sumise it is possibly one of the Ram slots. If you are using the old ram as well it could be a bad card. The following steps will help you find or eliminate both possibilities.

To check Ram slots:     Remove all but one card ( preferably one of the new ram cards),reboot and see if it lists proper amount of ram installed. if so move that ram card to the next slot, do so until you have tested all ram slots with the same ram card. If you find it shows incorrect amount of ram with one of the slots then it is a bad slot,and cant be fixed.

To check old ram :    Now if all slots report the correct amount of ram and you are using one or more of the old ram, install one of the old ram cards. boot pc, if it lists the proper amount, that card is OK, do this for all old cards you are using.

I will gather you will either find a bad Ram card * yes they do die out after time* or possibly a bad ram slot. They too tend to give out in time. In some instances it could be both. You can use the bad slot * not recommended* but if you must,  (I would recommend puting the bad card in it or the smallest ram card possible, if there are no bad cards) but it can have adverse issues by trying to run. especially when the PC tries to write/read to/from that perticular section of ram.

If by chance neither the ram nor slots are bad.. then you may try a CMOS battery. It may be getting weak and the bios could be misreporting the amount of ram installed. This is reaching for straws here but worth a try..other than that, I have no idea...

Hope this helps

Hey stu103 what you will be looking for is to verify it isn't a hardware problem in your Bios which should show the full 2 GB's of installed memory.  If it isn't something strange has happened.  Possibly a hardware problem as HG_Eliminator said.

I do know that for my HP Media Center PC there was a Bios Flash update that HP recommended maybe over one year ago.  You'll find critical updates for your PC that are only available at HP Update and not available through MS Update.  Check that out as well.

Good Luck.

You just update your ATI north/southbridge drivers??

The way I'm reading the OP's Reply #10, it's not a memory stick problem.  Could still be a hardware problem in the memory slots/MB.  I'm intersted in knowing if his Bios shows the full 2 GB's as installed.  Might shed some more light on the problem.

Well, I'm glad to hear you've got it resolved to your satisfaction.  The Bios was certainly the last remaining place for it to be a software problem which tends to be the easier problem to solve as compared to replacing a MoBo.  Happy computing.

always good to have something resolved before it starts a new page.  Glad it was.  And the stardock forums are a great place for help, unlike many other forums, the people here are far more polite than anywhere else on the net.

Well done folks. I love how the community pulls together to help out someone in need.