4 gig of RAM installed, only 2 gig being detected....help!!!

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

my machine has vista 64bit....that's why i'm confused. logically, everything should be detected fine...yet i'm here stuck in a pickle with 2.5gig

2 x 2gb sticks? Put one in slot 1, and the second stick in slot 3. (If you say have 4 slots)

If not, just take out one stick and see which one is the bad one.

NOTE: If your motherboard is dated, it may only support 2gbs, 3gbs.

check that to.....i have a A8N32-SLI NFORCE4, checked two website's which have the spec and they both say max ram is 4 gig.

check that to.....i have a A8N32-SLI NFORCE4, checked two website's which have the spec and they both say max ram is 4 gig.

dudejay

when i tested the ram sticks in pairs, i used slots 1 and 3 and then 2 and 4. 2 x 1 worked with all 4. i just removed one 1 gig ram stick and bios was still showing only 2.5 gig.

i do have sp1 installed.

Up the memory voltages in bios to 2.1V, that will deffo work.kingyjr

checked in bios, couldn't see anything obvious as to memory voltages, closest thing was DDR VCORE which allowed me to change the voltage ranging from 2.6 - 3.2. i changed it to 2.6 just to stay close to the value you suggested, plus the bios setting stated that anything over 2.9 there is a risk of damaging the cpu and memory modules.......anyway...that still didn't work....

running out of ideas....

what's i've done so far:

- checked sp1 installed = yes

- checked integrity of ram modules = yes (tested all four ram sticks using slots 1,3 and 2,4)

- updated bios = yes

- checked motherboard can take 4 gig ram = yes (specifcations state 4 gig is the max)

- 64bit OS = yes

- tried altering memory voltage = yes (used 2.6 and also 3.0, still no change)

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

dudejay

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

[QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

MOCHIRON_MAN

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

Read the following for an exhaustive explanation on the 3gb barrier: http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm.fib112

i read the document, firstly, i had a headache and had a have a few painkillers, after a 15 minute rest away from the screen........

so is the total memory available a "my memory - memory of graphics card + this that and the other"?

i'm running SLI (2 Nvidia 8800GT'). marcthpro mentioned this in a reply earlier but didn't understand what he meant until reading that article.....

what's the easiest way to confirm why when having 2 8800gt's and 4 gig of ram, why i've only got 2.5? if at all one.....

[QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

dudejay

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

After is inserted the final stick, did you have the power off and/or restart the PC?

[QUOTE="fib112"]Read the following for an exhaustive explanation on the 3gb barrier: http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm.dudejay

i read the document, firstly, i had a headache and had a have a few painkillers, after a 15 minute rest away from the screen........

so is the total memory available a "my memory - memory of graphics card + this that and the other"?

i'm running SLI (2 Nvidia 8800GT'). marcthpro mentioned this in a reply earlier but didn't understand what he meant until reading that article.....

what's the easiest way to confirm why when having 2 8800gt's and 4 gig of ram, why i've only got 2.5? if at all one.....

the Video/Graphics cards RAM is separate from the system RAM, because the Video/Graphics RAM is dedicated RAM.

[QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

MOCHIRON_MAN

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

After is inserted the final stick, did you have the power off and/or restart the PC?

the sticks were insterted while the pc was powered off, and i powered the pc one each time to do the test to see the ram detected.

[QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

dudejay

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

After is inserted the final stick, did you have the power off and/or restart the PC?

the sticks were insterted while the pc was powered off, and i powered the pc one each time to do the test to see the ram detected.

Is it in the correct spot, fully clicked into place? and are the slots free of any dust?

[QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

MOCHIRON_MAN

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

After is inserted the final stick, did you have the power off and/or restart the PC?

the sticks were insterted while the pc was powered off, and i powered the pc one each time to do the test to see the ram detected.

Is it in the correct spot, fully clicked into place? and are the slots free of any dust?

when i did the test, i checked all four slots on the motherboard by using 2 sticks on 1 and 3 and then doing 2 and 4 using the other 2 sticks.

[QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"][QUOTE="MOCHIRON_MAN"][QUOTE="dudejay"]

hi,

i recently installed some extra memory into my pc, i originally only had 2x 1 gig sticks in my machine. after adding the 2 new sticks, the system was only detected 2.5 gig. i did some research and found that it is sometimes just the OS, so first thing is to check that bios is detected the right amount.....so i did, even in bios it detects 2.5 gig

i thought it might be something to do with the new ram sticks i've purchased, so i removed the old ones, and just left the new ones in, the new ones are detected as 2 gig fine, did the same test, removed the new ones and just left the old ones in, again 2 gig. so all 4 sticks seem fine. as soon as i put in another 2 totally 4x 1 gig stick, bios just see's 2.5 gig.

i'm totally lost! not sure what to do, i've updated my bios, still not change.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

dudejay

OK. If you can remember, (which I'm sure you can) what are the Exacts steps, that "YOU yourself" took when inserting you new RAM, from OPENING the side of the PC, to CHECKING THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES?

Click QOUTE when replying to me on THIS message.

i had 2 gig ram in my machine in the first place, so initially, took the 2 new sticks out and left the 2 original ones in, booted the pc up and checked for what bios was reading when the pc first boots up. 2 gig was the result. i removed the original sticks and put in the new ones in place, did the same test with the outcome being the same also. i put 1 extra stick in (now 3x 1 gig sticks installed), did the test and 2560mb was detected. when inserting the final 1 gig stick, the memory still stays at 2560mb.

After is inserted the final stick, did you have the power off and/or restart the PC?

the sticks were insterted while the pc was powered off, and i powered the pc one each time to do the test to see the ram detected.

Is it in the correct spot, fully clicked into place? and are the slots free of any dust?

when i did the test, i checked all four slots on the motherboard by using 2 sticks on 1 and 3 and then doing 2 and 4 using the other 2 sticks.

The only remaining thing that comes to mind is maybe you bought 1 type of RAM that your PC can use, and another not being the supported type.

definately got the right type of ram...made sure of that before purchasing the new sticks. seems i'm back at square one...

the thing that's fustrating me is what's happened to it, if i knew that it was getting allocated to elsewhere but is effectively still being used, then it would atleast justify the difference, but not knowing is doing my nut in...just need confirmation of what has happened to it.....

If your BIOS isn't showing it, its not being used. Your MB just might not work well with 4 dimms. My junky nforce4 board (ECS) won't work with 4 dimms. Actually I think it works, the RAM just doesn't show right.

depand of ur video card i say if ur window XP Home / Proffeiosnal 32 bits it shoudl see 3.5Gig at last.
While on OS 64 Bits it will use it all. but it use Twice the ammount of ram :P but support Twice more ram
marcthpro

true but even if you have a 32bit os the bios would still show 4096mb ram. does you mob support 4gb? some mobs have limitations on ram cpacity. what motherboard do you have?

[QUOTE="marcthpro"]depand of ur video card i say if ur window XP Home / Proffeiosnal 32 bits it shoudl see 3.5Gig at last.
While on OS 64 Bits it will use it all. but it use Twice the ammount of ram :P but support Twice more ram
imprezawrx500

true but even if you have a 32bit os the bios would still show 4096mb ram. does you mob support 4gb? some mobs have limitations on ram cpacity. what motherboard do you have?

checked my motherboard spec. and 4 gig memory is supported. checked that i was on the latest bios release (there is one other release after the one i am currently on, but that is a beta release so not sure i want to go for that).

if i've got 2x Nvidia 8800GT with 512 each, does this contribute to the overall RAM hence the deduction? i kind of understand the concept of memory allocation, but the fact that i just read up on it yesterday from the two links provided on this thread leaves me in dyer need of clarification.

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]

[QUOTE="marcthpro"]depand of ur video card i say if ur window XP Home / Proffeiosnal 32 bits it shoudl see 3.5Gig at last.
While on OS 64 Bits it will use it all. but it use Twice the ammount of ram :P but support Twice more ram
dudejay

true but even if you have a 32bit os the bios would still show 4096mb ram. does you mob support 4gb? some mobs have limitations on ram cpacity. what motherboard do you have?

checked my motherboard spec. and 4 gig memory is supported. checked that i was on the latest bios release (there is one other release after the one i am currently on, but that is a beta release so not sure i want to go for that).

if i've got 2x Nvidia 8800GT with 512 each, does this contribute to the overall RAM hence the deduction? i kind of understand the concept of memory allocation, but the fact that i just read up on it yesterday from the two links provided on this thread leaves me in dyer need of clarification.

Dedicated RAM is what you have on the video cards. They don't contribute to the overall system memory. They just store textures and other graphics for viewing later in the application.

I can understand your frustration, mate - a few people in this topic aren't actually reading what you've already tried when making suggestions. What CPU do you have? I think the CPU has the memory controller in it... meaning some won't support certain amounts of RAM. Also, some AMD CPUs, particularly in the 939 socket, have address allocation "holes" (gaps in the coding when the RAM is allocated), but some of these were revised (I think it's the E revision) to contain a memory remapping feature integrated into the memory controller. Check your CPU to see if it's a particular revision... do you still have the documentation/box that came with it?skapunkclarence

unfortunately, the company i purchased the pc from felt it was logical to exclude manuals. all i have is my invoice which lists the two below lines when it comes to details about my pc. i've downloaded the manual for my motherboard from the asus website which says "compatible ram is 4x 184-pin DIMM sockets support unbuffered ECC/non-ECC DDR400/333/266 memory module and supports up to 4 gb system memory".

A8N32-SLI NFORCE4 A64 S939
AMD ATHLON 64 X2-4800+ DUAL CORE PROCESSOR

The documentation for my board seems to also include the processor as well, so i can only assume this is a bulk package - on that note, one would assume maximum compatability would be aimed for....but then again, the do say assumptions are the mother of all f...........well, you get my drift...

where would i look for the revision number of my processor? checked in device manager, couldn't see anything obvious there..

A Revision number, hmm, its definetly on the mother board itself (well I'm pretty sure it is) try checking for it, shouldn't be to hard, it may be around where the base of the intake fan is.

Wait a minute, it says it supports DDR400/333/266 ram... did you happen to maybe not get that type of ram. Did you buy faster DDR ram or even try DDR2? If so then that is the problem. Your mobo only supports DDR(1) ram with 400/333/266mhz speeds. Please PHONE Asus and talk to a techie there. They should be able to help you.

[QUOTE="skapunkclarence"]I can understand your frustration, mate - a few people in this topic aren't actually reading what you've already tried when making suggestions. What CPU do you have? I think the CPU has the memory controller in it... meaning some won't support certain amounts of RAM. Also, some AMD CPUs, particularly in the 939 socket, have address allocation "holes" (gaps in the coding when the RAM is allocated), but some of these were revised (I think it's the E revision) to contain a memory remapping feature integrated into the memory controller. Check your CPU to see if it's a particular revision... do you still have the documentation/box that came with it?dudejay

unfortunately, the company i purchased the pc from felt it was logical to exclude manuals. all i have is my invoice which lists the two below lines when it comes to details about my pc. i've downloaded the manual for my motherboard from the asus website which says "compatible ram is 4x 184-pin DIMM sockets support unbuffered ECC/non-ECC DDR400/333/266 memory module and supports up to 4 gb system memory".

A8N32-SLI NFORCE4 A64 S939
AMD ATHLON 64 X2-4800+ DUAL CORE PROCESSOR

The documentation for my board seems to also include the processor as well, so i can only assume this is a bulk package - on that note, one would assume maximum compatability would be aimed for....but then again, the do say assumptions are the mother of all f...........well, you get my drift...

where would i look for the revision number of my processor? checked in device manager, couldn't see anything obvious there..

ram is the correct type. pc3200 400mhz. all sticks tested and to working in pairs max'in up to 2 gig.

the burning question...is the problem hardware fault or hardware characteristics (> 3gig barrier limitations) ?

2 of the 4 sticks has ddr-me written on it. i've checked online and can't see any confirmation on what the "me" part means.....is this something to take it to consideration?dudejay

Yes. You always have to make sure that you are buying the right type of RAM. Like DDR, DDR - me, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, GDDR2, GDDR3. otherwise it won't be compatible.

find the manufacturures website, and exact location of the motherboard, and paste a link in here, I want to see this mother board, if you don't mind pasting me a link.MOCHIRON_MAN

cannot send you the direct link as the website doesn't have a specific url for the motherboard, it goes through some script i suppose.

i've uploaded the file and can be retrieved from the below link

in bios setup i had to go to advanced-> cpu config. -> memory config. -> and enable hardware memory hole

seems to be now showing 4 gig, both in bios and in windows. one question i do still have is, when the pc starts up and bios is going through it's check, why does memory show as 4 gig and installed show as 2560? below is what bios says exactly.

4096mb ok (installed memory: 2560mb)

in bios setup i had to go to advanced-> cpu config. -> memory config. -> and enable hardware memory hole

seems to be now showing 4 gig, both in bios and in windows. one question i do still have is, when the pc starts up and bios is going through it's check, why does memory show as 4 gig and installed show as 2560? below is what bios says exactly.

4096mb ok (installed memory: 2560mb)

dudejay

So your BIOS says that it has allocated the 4096 MG of RAM?

So is this your mother board?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article299-page1.html

Well if BIOS says there is 4096 MB of RAM, then there shouldn't be a problem, so I don't know what could be happening, maybe it's just being stupid on you, and not agreeing with the BIOS.

Do you have any games made by EA after the year 2004? If so, check "EAsy Info 2" in the program directory. It may show 4096 MB of RAM.

ok, will do. it's certainly looking alot more promising than before.

thanks to all who have inputed into this thread, much appreciated...have learnt heaps!

you need to have the "memory remap feature" set to "ENABLE" in the North Bridge config in bios.

Just a tidbit, i think you have the issue resolved already. Hope this helps.