Solved New RAM not recognized

I have 2 Laptops Both very similar spec,I have just added more RAM to them both.Both were 4Gig Now they are both 8Gig. One Laptop has accepted the extra RAM and it shows up in Windows & every other program i can run. But in MY ACER its a different situation.it always had 4Gig installed right from new but windows has always reported it has 3Gig,that is to say if i open SYSTEM from the control panel,there it used to say "Memory (RAM): 3.00GB Usable Memory 2.93GB" that is what it used to say & yes i know i previously said it had 4GB thats because it did have 4GB. what windows reported was not accurate. But it never really bothered me so i just left it.it had 2 sticks of 2GB & double sided,its got 2 slots both are full & always have been. Speccy a program many will know always reported 4GB,thats mainly why i left it.Now it has 2 sticks of 4GB each, double sided RAM. SYSTEM now tells me i have 4GB not 8GB or 3GB Speccy tells me i have 8GB its correct & if i go to my BIOS before windows starts it tells me i have 8GB,(8192MB). Since i put in the new RAM & noticed Windows had changed from 3GB to 4GB but still does not recognize the full 8GB i have tried several other programs.PC Wizard is correct 8192MB 2X4096 DDR3-SDRAM. SANDRA From SiSoftware separates individual banks and says Bank 0 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 6-6-6-15 3-21-5-3-1T. it says exactly the same for Bank 1,2 & 3. It also tell me Maximum installable memory 8GB.but if i go to control panel,performance information and tools,advanced tools,then generate a system health report i get told i have only 3000MB again,that makes no sense to me,its even different to system that says 4GB.,i want to put it right because its the Windows reports that are wrong,i done Windows update,& all the usual things.This is with Windows VISTA Home premium sp2 32bit. ACER Aspire 5338 Intel Celeron T3000 ACER JV50 motherboard,

Yikes what a text wall.

You have windows vista 32bit. 32bit can only use 4gigs of ram in total, including system ram. Most 32bit system with 4gig will allow only 3.5Gigs actually useable.

So while your laptop can hold 8Gigs of ram, windows 32bit can't.

So does that mean the extra RAM is not getting used at all or does it mean windows will never actually recognize it,but it is getting used? it makes me wonder why it had 4GB to start with.I was about to put windows 8 on it,but i thought i will wait untill i sort this out first,i have windows 8 in 32 & 64 bit.a little program i have called SECURABLE tell me the PC is capable of running 64bit version of Windows.maybe i will think about putting the 64Bit version on it when i update,I have the full versions not just the upgrade for windows 8

ALL 32-bit OS's have the same limitation - they cannot address more than 4GB of RAM.
Your other 4GB is useless unless you swap to a 64-bit OS, which will involve a reformat however/whenever you do it.
You could either download a 64-bit ISO for Vista of the same edition as you currently use, and clean install that using the COA Key (make sure it's readable before you start!), or attempt the 'Upgrade' to Win8 64-bit - both of which which will wipe at least your system drive, so BACK UP FIRST!

I have got windows 8 on DVD in 32bit & 64bit i got it from PC World the full edition was £50 or the upgrade was £25 so i got 2 full editions so i can do both of my laptops one is already 64bit Windows 7 the ACER is 32bit Vista but it will run a 64bit edition of Windows acording to a program i have called securable,i have got an image of my HDD save on my external HDD i made with DRIVELIMAGE XML Runtime software,i made the tools disk to re instal it if i go ahead.and the extra partition on the ACER HD is still intact so providing i can still access it i can always reset it to manufacturers original settings.im tempted to do it but to be honest i dont need to it all works fine,im just a bit of an update freak i like new stuff.There is just 1 problem with the ACER,it keeps stopping me from deleting things telling me i dont have permission,it dont do it all the time just sometimes,so then i force delete whatever it is with Comodo system utilities

If you insist on doing things that the system is telling you not to do, you WILL encounter problems.
I wouls suggest a clean install with Windows 8 - check with the Upgrade Assistant that the machine is capable (you can cancel once you have the report), and check with the manufacturer's website for any necessary drivers.
Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

I'm running 8 on my Acer 8930g and only had to add my nvidia driver.

I dont use the finger print reader so I have no idea about it.

NoelDP said:

If you insist on doing things that the system is telling you not to do, you WILL encounter problems.
I wouls suggest a clean install with Windows 8 - check with the Upgrade Assistant that the machine is capable (you can cancel once you have the report), and check with the manufacturer's website for any necessary drivers.
Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

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I am not going to leave things on my PC i want to delete, if i was not thinking of upgrading to window 8 i would have sorted that problem out first,i have windows 32bit,if you knew anything you would know i will have to do a clean install to update to a 64 bit operating system.doing a clean install will obviously cure the problem of not being able to delete things on the odd occasion,i already said my system IS capable of running 64bit operating system.& i spent £100 on getting windows 8 full edition,i would not have done that without finding out if my system will run it first.& i know i need new drivers for a 64 bit system,i dont "insist" on doing anything thats why i am asking a few questions.

Just because your system can run 64-bit doesn't mean that Windows 8 drivers are available for all the hardware on it - run the Upgrade assistant to check.

NoelDP said:

Just because your system can run 64-bit doesn't mean that Windows 8 drivers are available for all the hardware on it - run the Upgrade assistant to check.

Click to expand...

I HAVE run the upgrade assistant,it will work,i done all that before i purchased windows 8 from PC World,i already said i have 64bit & 32bit full editions on DVD i have them both twice,2X 64bit &2X 32bit,you get both in each box.no need to download any iso image from any website Because i already have them.There is just one thing i will not be able to run and that is secure boot,but i can live without that.Please dont advise me about things i already done,you said download the ISO after i said i have them on DVD.ive done all the necessary checks,i have made an image of my current system setup just in case i need to revert to 32 bit,PATONB already told me about the RAM a 32bit windows OS can use way before you told me exactly the same thing,i appreciated his help & added it to his reputation & said thank you to him,If you tel me something i already know again or try telling me i INSIST on doing something thats quite normal i will just block you.i can't stand people who state the obvious & try & be clever by saying stupid sarcastic things when someone just wants some sensible advice.if you say something helpful i will immediatly add it to your rep,if you get sarcastic again i just block you

Since you appear to know everything, do it your own way - I'm out