Hardware reserved RAM Issue

[redrose_45]

I have a HP laptop (model 15-bs150sa) and i'm having an issue with the 4gb of preinstalled RAM. Task manager recognises the 4gb stick, however 1.8gb is hardware reserved for no apparent reason and it makes the laptop genuinely unusable. You can't even open chrome.

I have tried:

• Latest BIOS update
• msconfig settings that everyone appears to suggest
• reseating and swapping to a different SODIMM slot
• using an 8gb SODIMM from another laptop which then makes the laptop put 5.8gb of the ram into hardware reserved so i'm left with the same issue of only having 2.2gb left? This seems rather odd? (I know that this is a healthy RAM stick as it was taken from a different, fully working machine).

I have heard on some forums that HP may lock the amount of RAM or something along those lines within the BIOS as there aren't any RAM settings at all when I enter it. However I've not been able to find any validity to this?

[The_Fossette]

@redrose_45

I reviewed your post and I understand that you want to know whether you can remove the hardware reserved RAM.

Don’t worry, I assure you I will try my best to get this sorted.

I would like to inform you that some amount of RAM is used by the Windows and it is by design and there is no option to change this. HP doesn’t limit or reserve any RAM on the computer.

Hardware devices can reserve large blocks of physical address space. To see if a piece of hardware is reserving a large chunk of physical address space, launch "devmgmt.msc", select Resources by Connection in the View menu, and expand the Memory node.

Even though your video card has onboard, fast, dedicated video memory, Windows still has to address and interact with that memory using the same physical memory addressing that is used for RAM, PCI devices, and other devices. This can crowd the physical address space. 64 bit OS should cope better with this than a 32 bit OS, but its hands may still be tied to some device requirements.

I hope that answers your question and you have a great day!

P.S: Welcome to the HP Support Community 😊

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accept as Solution. Your feedback counts!

Cheers!

Stay Home – Stay Safe

[redrose_45 · Accepted solution]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I resorted to 'resetting this PC' and keeping files. That solved the problem and the hardware reserved ram dropped to 80mb. The laptop is now fixed and runs as it should.

[The_Fossette]

@redrose_45

Perfect, I am really glad to hear that!

If any other questions arise, please feel free to write back to me.

Cheers!