Help me diagnose my RAM issue.

[basslover1]

So I'm pretty sure that the new stick of Crucial RAM I bought is bad, bust just help me out and make sure I'm not missing anything before I send it off for replacement.

Latest BIOS, mobo sees the new stick as 8GB of ram, but says only 4GB is usable. Doesn't matter which slot (there are only two) it's in, or if it's paired with its brother or all on it's own, only 4GB usable.

Windows sees the physical 16GBs, but is only allowed to use 11.2 (~800mb for iGPU). Resource monitor says ~49xx mb is hardware reserved.

CPU-Z sees the 16GB, but doesn't mention anything about the amount that can be accessed.

So far I've tried running it in both slots, by itself or paired, still only 4GB usable. I've also looked into msconfig advanced boot options and made sure that maximum memory is unchecked.

Not sure what else to try, but I'm leaning towards it being a bad stick though I just wanted to make sure before I send it in for replacement.

 

[Elixer]

Could be a BIOS setting...

 

[TemjinGold]

Which windows are you using? Also, is your old stick working fine by itself then?

 

[basslover1]

Could be a BIOS setting...

I looked, but there aren't many settings that I can adjust, other than timings.

Which windows are you using? Also, is your old stick working fine by itself then?

Win 7 Pro 64. Yep old stick shows the full 8GB either by it self or when paired with the new stick.

 

[nenforcer]

You will want to run both the Windows Memory Diagnostics which you can schedule from within Windows and will run following the next reboot.

You will also want to run MemTestX86 on both DIMM's to confirm if there is any error.

Also, update to the latest BIOS if you have not already done so.

 

[basslover1]

Sorry for the delay,

Ran both the WMD test and MemTest86, both showed no errors. However, I did notice that running MemTest, it only tested about 12Gigs of RAM instead of the full 16GB.

Bios is on the latest revision.

 

[phis6]

have you tried to view the bios POST before your system boots up of what memory amount it shows before booting?

 

[iluvdeal]

If you run your old stick by itself with MemTest and it shows the full amount (8GB) and then if you run MemTest with just your new stick and it shows 4GB available, I'd RMA it.

 

[MongGrel]

Try taking it out and reseating it.

Is it in the right slot for a second stick ?

 

[basslover1]

have you tried to view the bios POST before your system boots up of what memory amount it shows before booting?

The post screen zips by to fast to see it, but when I'm in the bios it shows both sticks of 8gb but the new one shows only 4gb usable.

If you run your old stick by itself with MemTest and it shows the full amount (8GB) and then if you run MemTest with just your new stick and it shows 4GB available, I'd RMA it.

I'll do that this evening and post the results.

Try taking it out and reseating it.

Is it in the right slot for a second stick ?

I've only booted into the OS (no tests run) with both sticks in either slot and each stick by them selves in either slot (there's only two) and the new one shows 4gb usable while the old one shows 8gb regardless of which slot they're in, single, or dual channel.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

I've heard of bent CPU socket pins on intel systems causing problems like this. I realize your signature system is AMD, but the problem could be motherboard related--hard to tell for sure without another stick of memory to test.

 

[basslover1]

I've heard of bent CPU socket pins on intel systems causing problems like this. I realize your signature system is AMD, but the problem could be motherboard related--hard to tell for sure without another stick of memory to test.

Well, both the BIOS and Win7 can see that I have two 16GB sticks installed, but only 12GB are usable. The new stick, regardless of single/dual or which slot it's in only ever shows 4GB as being usable.

I ran MemTest again with only the one new stick and it showed only 4GB of RAM, so I'm guessing it's bad I'm going to RMA it now.

 

[phis6]

If your BIOS reads it as an 8GB RAM and just Windows reports it as 4GB usable then it could be something in your windows environment that's using its half 4GB capacity.

 

[basslover1]

If your BIOS reads it as an 8GB RAM and just Windows reports it as 4GB usable then it could be something in your windows environment that's using its half 4GB capacity.

The BIOS reports it that way as well.

 

[phis6]

then I'd say you can already conclude an RMA for it. best of luck

 

[basslover1]

Got the RMA today, installed it just seconds ago and it's showing a full 16GB of RAM, 15.2 usable due to iGPU.


Thanks for the tips everyone!