Unsolved
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2 Posts
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March 4th, 2026 22:37
2.1 GB Hardware Reserved Out of 8 GB RAM After Upgrading From 4 GB to 8 GB
Why is 2.1 GB of my 8 GB RAM hardware reserved after upgrading my laptop from 4 GB to 8 GB, and how can I fix this issue? Before the upgrade, the system was using 4 GB, but after installing 8 GB RAM, a large part of it is now reserved by hardware. Because of this, I cannot use the full 8 GB memory in Windows. What steps can I take to reduce the hardware reserved memory and make the full RAM available?
ejn63
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30.8K Posts
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March 4th, 2026 23:40
A definitive answer requires the full model number (XPS 7590 etc.) but any system old enough to have come with 4G RAM from the factory won't allow for RAM adjustment - so whatever you see, will remain for the life of the system.
Tesla1856
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17.5K Posts
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March 5th, 2026 05:13
Interesting way to say it, but I think @ejn63 is correct.
You are surely already running 64-bit Windows or you would not see 5.9gb ram usable (8gb-2.1gb=5.9gb).
By now you would have any BIOS updates that were released for it (or they might even be hard-to-find or offline if laptop is deemed Legacy now).
I might even be temped to say it's the Intel video-card taking it, but I don't think they did that (or that much) back then.