Probably not the answer but my 2 cents while you wait for more learned SME experts...
I suspect a hardware issue...
Have you checked that the BIOS recognises all 1500 mb of RAM?
If not, I'd try them one at a time to see if one stick is faulty.
If any don't boot, try them in another slot in the unlikely event you have a damaged memory slot. If this fails you have a dead ram stick or its incompatible with the system.
If they all individually work, but are not fully reported by the BIOS when used together, then they may be incompatible with each other.
Are you using an integrated graphics card?
If so check how much RAM its using.
Is the Graphics Aperture size in the BIOS set to 512MB ?
Is there any mix of ECC and standard RAM?, If so only use the same RAM
The only other hardware related solution I can think of is trying to reset the BIOS just in case its been corrupted. This probably wont help but could be worth a try. NOTE: This will cause you to loose any customised BIOS settings, eg Boot Priority, so be aware of that.
If the BIOS fully reports 1500+ mb of RAM, then I'd say it may be a software issue, in which case most of the above will be completely irrelevant.
Hope this helps.
JoshAU