I am missing Ram
To keep it short, I have 12gb of ram, but windows say I have 8.
Thing who say I have 12:
CPU-Z
My eye that see 6 stick of ram(unless there is 1.3gb ram stick)
bios say "memory installed 12gb"
the purchase proof say I bought 12gb
purchase proof also say I bought triple channel which wouldn't work with 8gb(only work with number that can be divided by 3)
Thing who say I have 8:
bios say "memory available 8gb"
Under system tab it say "ram installed 8gb"
Is there any fix for this or an explanation as to why I'm missing 4gb of ram?
Thanks for your help.
June 27, 2012
33 Comments • Newest first
[quote=BobR]Yeah, I really hate computers.
That, or a good smack on the side, is "the fix" more often than you'd imagine...[/quote]
That's what my friend had to do to his xbox to get it started then it could run for hours without any problem. Just need to kick it sometimes.
[quote=patrickpi666]Update: I reseated my RAM and everything fixed itself.[/quote]
Yeah, I really hate computers.
That, or a good smack on the side, is "the fix" more often than you'd imagine...
Update: I reseated my RAM and everything fixed itself.
[quote=walridge3][url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7]Actually, it's 16 GB for 64 bit systems.[/url][/quote]
because it maybe capped like that... it might be capping it not accordingly so maybe try installing linux 64 bit and see. Or find another free 64 bit operating system and dual boot just to see how much ram it shows
[quote=walridge3][url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7]Actually, it's 16 GB for 64 bit systems.[/url][/quote]
Weird I had the same problem on a home premium computer and it went away when we installed professional.
[quote=Chrozome]@patrickpi666
You said "It's win 7 home premium 64bit so yeah it should be using all 12 and not only 8gb."
Home premium has a soft cap at 8 GB so people buy the more expensive ones.[/quote]
[url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7]Actually, it's 16 GB for 64 bit systems.[/url]
@patrickpi666
You said "It's win 7 home premium 64bit so yeah it should be using all 12 and not only 8gb."
Home premium has a soft cap at 8 GB so people buy the more expensive ones.
[quote=patrickpi666]Yes it is. I posted a thread about this hopefully they can fix that.[/quote]
it might be possible that the motherboard is dell proprietary and they dont want you to add more ram but instead buy more of their products. (yay for capitalist scum ~)
[quote=BobR]One thing- is this an actual Dell computer..?
You could give their Tech Support a shot and see if they've run across this problem for this computer (or motherboard) before.
They might know right away what to do or change or tweak to get it working.[/quote]
Yes it is. I posted a thread about this hopefully they can fix that.
[quote=patrickpi666]Does anyone have anything else I could try before I dare to reinstall windows. [/quote]
One thing- is this an actual Dell computer..?
You could give their Tech Support a shot and see if they've run across this problem for this computer (or motherboard) before.
They might know right away what to do or change or tweak to get it working.
[quote=welch]download more ram[/quote]
We've been over that please try again.
Does anyone have anything else I could try before I dare to reinstall windows.
[quote=Jonzieee]Check if your bios has a dram/memory protect feature and disable it. It worked for me when my OS only saw 2/3 of the ram I installed.[/quote]
We've been over that earlier in the thread and still no success.
@bobr Whatever that's telling windows that there's only 8gb should die right now.(as long it's not vital for the computer)
[quote=patrickpi666]Passed the test and no errors. :S[/quote]WooHoo..!
I think hairamoose might have it..!
Sounds like that "Memory Protect" option in the BIOS that the video showed might be the culprit.
I ran into a similar thing where a completely innocuous sounding BIOS option let me painlessly unlock the 4th core in my AMD x3 CPU chip.
I only saw a mention of it once in some obscure thread talking about something else. Changed one setting and suddenly I have a 4 core Phenom II x4 CPU.
Hope that video gives the answer..!
Edit- oh.. really..? Damn.
I dunno... it sounds like there's something telling Windows there's only 8GB, and Windows is only reporting what it's being told by the hardware.
[quote=Sjoooberg]I remember a similar mistake I did once, I solved it like this:
[b]Open "Start" and search for "MsConfig", open it, go to the tab BOOT, click "Advanced Options" and make sure that "Maximum Memory" isn't 'crossed'.[/b]
Might not be like this in your case though, why not try? Please, let me know if it worked or not.[/quote]
Nope not that. :S
@hairamoose I'll watch it and see if it help. I watched it and sadly it didn't help either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AOylHaCyUA&feature=plcp maybe that video would help. Idk though
I remember a similar mistake I did once, I solved it like this:
[b]Open "Start" and search for "MsConfig", open it, go to the tab BOOT, click "Advanced Options" and make sure that "Maximum Memory" isn't 'crossed'.[/b]
Might not be like this in your case though, why not try? Please, let me know if it worked or not.
Passed the test and no errors. :S
I honestly doesn't feel like reinstalling even though it's easy the thousand of update to install is annoying, but if that's the only way then I'll do it. :S
I'll run the memtst86+ and will come back with the result.
[quote=Erudite]@BobR: Never seen a problem like that before. Do you think a re-installation of the OS would help ?[/quote]
That might be a useful thing to try.
There shouldn't be anything like a driver conflict between the OS and motherboard, but it's just really odd that Windows won't report the correct value.
[quote=Erudite]Edit: I think it may be faulty RAM slots or the sticks themselves[/quote]
The motherboard/BIOS sees all six RAM slots filled, and CPU-Z which does not go through the Operating System sees all six RAM slots filled with the correct amount of RAM.
That means the motherboard, RAM slots, RAM modules, memory controller and CPU are all working correctly.
For some reason Windows is not seeing all 12GB of RAM that the motherboard and hardware sees. There's apparently some problem between the hardware level and the OS.
@patrickpi666 You could try running a memory test program like MemTst86+ and see what it can find, if anything.
At least it would verify the amount of RAM the system is seeing and could possibly find any conflicts between the RAM and the motherboard/BIOS settings.
It doesn't use Windows so it eliminates any problems that Windows might be having with the amount of RAM it sees.
I just rebooted and checked for ram feature as well as "Memory Remap Feature" both are absent. It's been like that since I got the computer. I had forgotten about it until I opened it to clean the dust and saw the 6 stick.
Note: It was like that before cleaning so I didn't break a stick or something.(I hope so)
Are all the RAM modules identical? For tri-channel operation they should be.
I would expect the motherboard memory controller to recognize that there is a module in each slot and configure tri-channel properly, but just in case are there any BIOS settings regarding the RAM setup..?
Edit- yes.. since the motherboard and BIOS are seeing the RAM, it's not a problem with the RAM or motherboard (meaning the tri-channel must be working ok as well).
Sounds like something between the system level and the Operating System is not seeing the full amount of RAM.
Since you're using Win7 64 bit though, the OS shouldn't have any trouble with that much RAM.
Hmmm.
[quote=Erudite]Are all the RAM sticks seated properly ?[/quote]
If some program and even the bios say there's 12gb then I'm pretty sure they are seated properly.
Do you have a separate video card, or are you using the motherboard's integrated video system (if it has one)..?
Integrated video takes up part of the RAM installed on the motherboard to supply video RAM to the video system and will be subtracted from the total RAM reported by Windows and other OS level tools. Although 4GB seems pretty high for that, I suppose it might be possible.
Edit- hmm.. nope. Just saw you posted the model number for the motherboard and it doesn't have integrated video.
05dn3x that's the model of the motherboard.
I don't remember seeing that "memory remap feature" but I could check.
What motherboard do you have? If you can check through the BIOS, see if you have any "Memory Remap Feature" option available, and if so, enable it. (Looks like [url=http://www.sevenforums.com/attachments/hardware-devices/136750d1296935932-only-8-gb-ram-recognised-12-gb-sa.png]this[/url].)
[quote=ShintaRx]What Windows are you running? i'ma take a wild guess and say Windows 7 Home basic 64 bit, which only supports up to 8 gb. Windows 7 home premium 64 bit supports up to 16gb, which is what you need.[/quote]
It's win 7 home premium 64bit so yeah it should be using all 12 and not only 8gb.
@ness the motherboard can support up to 24gb tri-channel ram according to some website I just checked.
@above I plan on using that computer until it literally die or can't support being upgraded anymore.
Either what Ness said, or you didnt install all the chips correctly. I put 8gb into my laptop, and one 4-gb piece came undone. Try that.
[quote=their]try downloading more ram[/quote]
I laughed harder than I should have. You made me cry xD.
What Windows are you running? i'ma take a wild guess and say Windows 7 Home basic 64 bit, which only supports up to 8 gb. Windows 7 home premium 64 bit supports up to 16gb, which is what you need.
Did you check your motherboard's limit on RAM.
Of course not.
Your mobo has a RAM limit of 8gigs