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I recently bought a used Celeron 1.7 Hz. The vendor from whom I bought told me that the system had 128MB of RAM. However when I checked the My Computer properties, the system is reporting only 96MB. I am running Windows 2000. The vendor told me that this is normal for Celeron 1.7 systems as the 32MB are set apart by the system for virtual memory and only 96MB appears on the system properties. Is the vendor bluffing?

rational611

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by TallCool1

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A few clarifications and practical checks that build on 's point for .

The vendor's wording about "virtual memory" is incorrect. Virtual memory (the pagefile) lives on disk and does not permanently remove RAM from the operating system. What you are seeing in Windows is almost certainly physical memory reserved by the motherboard/chipset for hardware (most commonly an integrated graphics adapter) or a BIOS mapping, not the pagefile.

How to confirm:

  • Watch the POST screen or enter the BIOS setup (common keys: Del, F1, F2) and note the total memory the BIOS reports. If the BIOS shows 128MB but Windows shows 96MB, that confirms hardware reservation.
  • In Windows run msinfo32 (System Information) and check Device Manager -> Display Adapters to identify an integrated GPU that might be using shared RAM. dxdiag can also show display memory details.
  • If the BIOS reports less than 128MB, reseat or individually test DIMM modules to rule out a bad stick or seating issue.

How to address it:

  • Look in the BIOS for settings named "UMA Frame Buffer", "Shared Video Memory", "Pre-Allocated Video", or similar and reduce it to the minimum or disable onboard video. If you install a discrete video card, the reserved RAM will usually be freed.
  • If the BIOS offers DVMT/dynamic video memory, allocation may be automatic and not user-adjustable. In practice the easiest fix is to add more RAM (another 128–256MB), which both restores usable system RAM and improves Windows 2000 performance.

Safety/caution: power off and unplug before touching memory, discharge static, and follow the motherboard manual for compatible DIMM types. A BIOS update can occasionally change reporting behavior, but only apply updates from the motherboard vendor and follow their instructions.

Member Avatar for TallCool1

I recently bought a used Celeron 1.7 Hz. The vendor from whom I bought told me that the system had 128MB of RAM. However when I checked the My Computer properties, the system is reporting only 96MB. I am running Windows 2000. The vendor told me that this is normal for Celeron 1.7 systems as the 32MB are set apart by the system for virtual memory and only 96MB appears on the system properties. Is the vendor bluffing?

No, they are not lying. Many Intel-based systems (and low-end systems in general) use an onboard video adapter that uses memory shared with the system, so it does not appear in the available-memory pool. I would highly recommend adding at least 128 MB of additional memory, 256 MB would be even better -- 96 MB is simply not enough for Windows to work efficiently, especially on a Celeron.

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