[Ste]

HI, I have recently added more memory to my PC ( DDR400 PC3200). I had 2gb in four sticks of 512mb. I have taken two out and replaced them with 1gb sticks in expectation of then having a clear 3gb. This memory is made by a different manufacturers though I don't think that is the problem. I have tried different combinations regarding arrangement of the ram including inserting two 512mg sticks of yet a different make into two of the slots with the following same results which are as follows (so I am not thinking there is a fault with the ram).
–With the two new 1gb sticks (actually 1024mb each, this is the limit of each slot according to the manual) in ‘properties’ from ‘My computer’ shows ‘2gb’ with the two ‘1gb sticks’ plus one stick of 512mb it shows 2.50gb as would be expected but when I add the second 512mb stick properties shows a total of 2.87gb ram. I seem to be missing some ram. Could anyone tell me what might be happening here? I have noticed the following in an MSI(mainboard manufacturer) info program –
Name : Physical Memory
Memory Capacity : 1024MB
Memory BankLabel : RAS 0 & 1
Memory DeviceLocator : DIMM1
Memory Type : 3DRAM

Name : Physical Memory
Memory Capacity : 512MB
Memory BankLabel : RAS 2 & 3
Memory DeviceLocator : DIMM2
Memory Type : 3DRAM

Name : Physical Memory
Memory Capacity : 1024MB
Memory BankLabel : RAS 4 & 5
Memory DeviceLocator : DIMM3
Memory Type : 3DRAM

Name : Physical Memory
Memory Capacity : 512MB
Memory BankLabel : RAS 6 & 7
Memory DeviceLocator : DMII4
Memory Type : 3DRAM

Where instead of DIMM4 in the fourth section here it has 'DMII4' as you can see which seems odd as I would expect ‘DIMM4’
I don’t know anything about memory but if you need to know more I’ll try to find out,
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Steve.

[Advertisements]

If you have onboard graphics it will automatically set aside ram for its use, then windows will report the ram *after* the fact

[MichWasHere]

If you have onboard graphics it will automatically set aside ram for its use, then windows will report the ram *after* the fact

[jeffk813]

The first thing I'd do is rearrange the memory so that the 1GB sticks and the 512MB sticks were in consecutive slots. For example, put the 1GB sticks in slos 1 and 2, and the 512MB sticks in 3 and 4. This may or may not help, but it can't hurt.

The second thing I'd do is update the BIOS on the motherboard to the latest version.

It's indeed possible that there's some bad memory. If updating the BIOS doesn't solve the issue, you might try a memory diagnostic program. DocMemory is a good one available HERE: http://www.simmteste...doc/docinfo.asp for free. For more help, a motherboard model number would be helpful to those of us who might want to look for known issues with that specific board.

Oh, and yes. My answer is assuming that your video card doesn't use shared system memory. The missing .13GB is awfully close to 128MB.

Edited by jeffk813, 01 March 2008 - 08:21 AM.

[Broni]

You have to also remember, that 32-bit OS will recognize only from slightly under 3GB to 3.5GB of RAM (depending on computer configuration).

[Ste]

Hi, thanks for these responses. I’ve been having fun trying to solve this. First I had a problem trying to get a ram test going so I decided to put that off until I had done some simple deduction. I have another system which has the same main board as the one with the problem in fact the only differences are that the processor and the graphics card. I put the Ram from my main system which isn’t showing the amount it should, into the other system and it shows as 3GB which is what I would expect. Does this rule out a Ram problem? I presume it does. I have also tried inserting all the Ram separately into the problem system and each stick or sticks show their correct value until I put the fourth stick in then it shows the 2.87GB, which is of course short of the full amount. This has made me wonder about what ‘MichWasHere’ said about onboard graphics but I do have an ATI Radeon 9600/x1050 series graphics card installed so does that rule that idea out? Do you think this is a main board problem?

If it helps the main board is –
MSI 865PE Neo2-PS (MS-6728 v2.0) (Platinum Edition).

And the processor is- FSB 400 (for Northwood only), 533, 800MHz, (Supports up to 3.2GHz or higher speed).
By the way the BIOS is the latest though it is dated 3/10/06
I don’t know about shared memory but is there memory allocation settings involved? Broni, what configuration are you thinking of?
It’s not as though it’s giving me pain, my PSU gave up the ghost this morning, that gave me pain, but I would like to solve it if you have any more ideas, If you need more details….Cheers,

Steve.