Odd RAM problem

[nsafreak]

I'm asking this question for a guy that I met at a LAN party as I wasn't 100% sure of the answer I gave him before I left for the evening. The issue he's having is that Windows 7 Pro x64 is showing that only 3.94 GB of his 8 GB of RAM is use-able. He has two sticks of 4 GB apiece. The BIOS only shows 4 GB available but if you go into the advanced settings and look at what is in each DIMM slot it'll show two slots populated each with a 4GB stick. I don't know which motherboard he has other than it's an Asus AM3+ motherboard with a Phenom II x6 Thuban processor in it. I don't believe he's tested each individual slot with each individual stick but the system will boot and work ok with either individual stick in any slot. I'm thinking that he has a bad stick of RAM that works alone or potentially a bad DIMM slot. Any other possibilities I should have him take a look at?

 

[TeeJay1952]

Needs 64 bit Windows to see more than 4 gig RAM.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

He should definitely start with moving the sticks around to see if anything changes.

 

[Matt1970]

I am thinking bad stick of ram. I can't imagine that board has a 4GB max but I would look it up to be safe.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Two things to check in the event that bad RAM is not the cause; have him open MSCONFIG, click "Advanced options" on the "Boot" tab, click to clear the "Maximum memory" check box (if already checked), click OK, and then restart the computer.

Next, have him check the BIOS settings to see whether the memory remapping feature is enabled. This can be listed as memory remapping, memory extension, or something similar. Depending on the mobo his BIOS may not support the memory remapping feature.

 

[nsafreak]

Two things to check in the event that bad RAM is not the cause; have him open MSCONFIG, click "Advanced options" on the "Boot" tab, click to clear the "Maximum memory" check box (if already checked), click OK, and then restart the computer.

Next, have him check the BIOS settings to see whether the memory remapping feature is enabled. This can be listed as memory remapping, memory extension, or something similar. Depending on the mobo his BIOS may not support the memory remapping feature.

I actually saw him change the BIOS setting for Memory Remapping to Enabled but I'll have him double check that one. I'll also have him check the advanced option in msconfig. Thanks for the tips we'll see if they help or not.

To the other posters, he does have Windows 7 x64 (ie 64 bit) loaded and running. I'm thinking it's a bad stick as well but I just wanted to be sure that there wasn't something I was missing.