8gb (3.99gb usable) - tried everything, need ideas

MiTz · 27 Sep 2012 at 19:43

I had this problem on my old Asrock board and the setting was called "memory hole" i enabled that to see all ram.

TheBrooder · 27 Sep 2012 at 19:48

I've been through the settings a number of times and nothing is immediately obvious that would enable the extra ram.

I'm absolutely stuck!

MiTz · 27 Sep 2012 at 19:58

I'm not familiar with your bios, but on mine it wasn't in the memory or cpu overclock section, it was in a seperate advanced tab with "boot guard" and "cool and quiet" took me a while to find it.

Maybe yours doesn't have it, but deffo worth a good look.

I also remember at the time someone fixed theirs with a clean windows install, always worth a shot as a last resort.

triggerthat · 27 Sep 2012 at 22:28

TheBrooder said:
Passed memtest86+ with no errors.

I tried an old pair of ripjaws (2x2gb) and they didn't run in dual channel either - 4gb installed (1.99gb usable), so it looks like a mobo problem.

Any ideas?

Haven't read the thread in full detail, but have you checked BIOS (dual channel option) and checked with different RAM slots. If those don't make a difference, then sounds like motherboard issues.

cobbly123 · 27 Sep 2012 at 23:28

Try resetting the bios,

tamzzy · 27 Sep 2012 at 23:37

i know that its been suggested already, but i'll just put this here:
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showpost.php?p=597837&postcount=4

wazza300 · 28 Sep 2012 at 00:50

what cpu vtt are you using? and have you loosened the cpu heatsink? try quarter turn on each mounting bolt

are you 100% sure theres no bent cpu socket pins? and have you bent/pressed down or flexed the mb at all when installing the cpu heatsink?

still need to know if a single memory stick boots the pc from one of the blue ram slots,test both slots one at a time

TheBrooder · 28 Sep 2012 at 07:14

wazza300 said:
what cpu vtt are you using? and have you loosened the cpu heatsink? try quarter turn on each mounting bolt

are you 100% sure theres no bent cpu socket pins? and have you bent/pressed down or flexed the mb at all when installing the cpu heatsink?

still need to know if a single memory stick boots the pc from one of the blue ram slots,test both slots one at a time

I'll check the pins again today, but they seemed fine before.

A single stick boots the pc from the blue slot and shows the entire 4gb as usable.

I changed the Vtt to around 1.2 yesterday, I think I reset the bios again to optimised defaults so it'll all be on auto again.

Leezy · 28 Sep 2012 at 09:48

I had the exact same problem as this. I have the same mobo.

I fixed it by enabling 'XMP memory Profile' in the Bios, and altering the memories speeds/ratio settings.

hope this helps.

ZXSpectrum · 28 Sep 2012 at 09:48

Its the board, i have the same problem but it was when it was installed with 16Gb. They "apparently" put the issue down to the amount of pressure a waterblock/heatsink puts on the CPU causing it to have poor contact on the cpu socket pins. Now i havnt got any bent pins and i have loosened off my waterblock and still the same.

Big thread http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/159441-half-memory-not-usable-please-help-me-understand-where.html

I ended up trying different memory 4 x 4gb but would only show 7.99gb useable. replaced with 4 x 2gb and it said the same. Then after a while i started just showing as 8gb...

Also tried setting to XMP and still the same.. I got rid of the additional memory and just put up with it till i buy new hardware.

Swinbag · 28 Sep 2012 at 12:05

I've had the same problem with my P55 MSI-GD80 before, I can't for the life of me remember how I fixed it though.

I do seem to remember loosening the screws on my H50 and resetting the BIOS at some point, I'll see if I can rack my brains over it as it's working fine now - I must have done something right!

TheBrooder · 28 Sep 2012 at 12:43

I'm puzzled why it only shows as single channel when both sticks are in the correct dual channel slots.

Idleman · 28 Sep 2012 at 13:10

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=130607.0

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1452669&page=2

It seems like a bent cpu pin is the main cause of this problem, judging by some of the forums.
You might want to have a closer inspection of yours.

Stanners · 28 Sep 2012 at 13:58

Rezolve said:
I've had the same problem with my P55 MSI-GD80 before, I can't for the life of me remember how I fixed it though.

I do seem to remember loosening the screws on my H50 and resetting the BIOS at some point, I'll see if I can rack my brains over it as it's working fine now - I must have done something right!

Same here. I did fix it somehow, I Just can not remember how :mad:

Divx · 28 Sep 2012 at 14:57

I've had the same issue on my current board (evga p55 le). I tried most of the things you've done such as reseating the cpu a few times and checking for bent pins, reducing the heat sink pressure and adjusting bios settings. Admittedly i didn't bother running mem test, but didn't rule out the possibility that a stick of ram was faulty.
Eventually i got round to replacing all 4 sticks with some different ram and have been good for a few months now.

TheBrooder · 28 Sep 2012 at 15:28

Divx said:
I've had the same issue on my current board (evga p55 le). I tried most of the things you've done such as reseating the cpu a few times and checking for bent pins, reducing the heat sink pressure and adjusting bios settings. Admittedly i didn't bother running mem test, but didn't rule out the possibility that a stick of ram was faulty.
Eventually i got round to replacing all 4 sticks with some different ram and have been good for a few months now.

I've tried it with 2 sets of ram and it's the same... it has to be the motherboard.

Tattysnuc · 28 Sep 2012 at 15:43

I had this issue on an X58 board - caused by applying the CPU block too "firmly".

I got the memory working properly on my main rig by loosening off the CPU block. Now all 12 Gb shows. On my other rig, only 4gb shows of 8gb installed just like this. I believe I've broken one of the tracks between the memory and CPU by over-flexing the board. Sometimes it'll show up when the machines been left off for a while (ie it's cold) but when it warms up half my memory disappears. VEry frustrating, so now that machine is my media centre server.....

cs2000 · 28 Sep 2012 at 22:16

May be a longshot, but do you use any onboard graphics and thats taking the RAM?

Nickolp1974 · 28 Sep 2012 at 22:47

Looks like a bent pin, fyi http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/296217-12-usable

SoundsGood · 28 Sep 2012 at 23:36

Toggle 'Dynamic Memory Remapping' in the BIOS. I had this issue before and the 8GB appeared after turning it off, rebooting then turning it back on again.