20gb RAM installed but only 15.5 usable ....Urgent HELP!!!!!!

Nabin Chettri

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Feb 8, 2014
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today, I bought one KNGSTN 8GB Hyperx RAM to match my existing one with one 4gb kingston, but my pc is now showing 20 gb installed(15.5 usable), i have Win7 Ultimate please somebody help ...thanks.
My pc specs:
FX 8150 3.6 ghz
2x 8gb Kingston Hyperx + 1 x 4gb kingston RAM
ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
Nvidia 650 ti 2gb


 
Solution
Kind of strange that's what fixed it, since both Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional have the same memory limitation of 192GB. Glad you got everything going :)

Those timings were only for the 8GB modules it most likely glitched due to the additional 4GB memory not being able to run at that timing specification.

IcemanIceer

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Ive had this problem once, cant remember the numbers. think it was 8gb and 6 usable, out of two 4gb chips. I removed them and installed again (moved stick A where stick B was and vice versa). Booted into windows to find out (8gb installed and 8gb usable). So you could try to swap them.
 
i am pretty sure that such config cant work properly together. better set specs manually, for perfect match. i would suggest ditching the 4gb stick of ram though, 16gb is enough for everything and running only 2x8gb will enable dual channel and better performance!
 

kingstonhq

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Hi, I'm Jewel with Kingston Technical Support and would like to offer our assistance. Chances are the memory is not installed in the correct configuration. One of the 8GB modules may be in a paired slot with the 4GB module so it is not being allocated properly. Your ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 motherboard is a dual-channel board and it would be better suited to one or two matched pairs of memory. Chris987 is right, 16GB is usually more than enough for gaming and general office use of a computer. If you are a heavy user of photo, music, and/or movie editing software than you might need the extra 4GB of memory, if running multiple instances of these applications at a time. The key to getting all the memory working is to make sure the two matched modules are in the matched paired slots. Best chance of getting all the memory usable would be to follow the recommended memory configuration in your motherboard manual. For dual-channel plus single-channel performance, install the 8GB modules in the blue DIMM slots (DIMM_A1/DIMM_B1) and the 4GB module in one of the black slots (DIMM_A2/DIMM_B2). If you do not need the excess memory, just install the 8GB modules in the matched blue DIMM slots and you will be set with dual-channel performance. For any further assistance, please call us at 1-800-435-0640 (USA and Canada only) M - F 6am - 6pm PT and I or another available Technician will assist you.

Thank you for selecting Kingston as your upgrade partner.
 

Nabin Chettri

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Hello, jewel and thanks for the assistance, I am pursuing 3d Animation so i need to use multiple softwares at a time. As you said i had installed the 8GB modules in the blue DIMM slots (DIMM_A1/DIMM_B1) and the 4GB module in one of the black slots (DIMM_A2/DIMM_B2) but the problem remains same , i also wanna know if there is any tweaking to enable it.
 

Nabin Chettri

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Hello, jewel and thanks for the assistance, I am pursuing 3d Animation so i need to use multiple softwares at a time. As you said i had installed the 8GB modules in the blue DIMM slots (DIMM_A1/DIMM_B1) and the 4GB module in one of the black slots (DIMM_A2/DIMM_B2) but the problem remains same , i also wanna know if there is any tweaking to enable it. thanks
 

kingstonhq

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First thing to check is to make sure that the 8GB modules are working properly. Remove the 4GB module and see if Windows recognizes roughly 16GB as available. If not, there could be a problem with the memory. Run Windows Memory Test or Memtest86 to see if there are any errors. If there are then it would be best to do a warranty replacement.

Second, make sure your BIOS is up to date, the latest version available is 1801, the previous released version 1503 states it improved memory compatibility which could factor into this issue (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A78LMUSB3/HelpDesk_Download/).

Third, try the memory in alternate slots; the 4GB in each black slot, then swap the 8GB into the black slots and try the 4GB in each blue slot.

Fourth, check out the maximum memory settings in Windows and if memory remapping is enabled in BIOS. More info on these steps under "Things to Try" in this KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610
The memory remapping setting according to your motherboard manual should be under "DRAM Controller Configuration" and is called "Memory Hole Remapping" on pg 2-14 (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM3+/M5A78L-M_USB3/E8017_M5A78L-M-USB3.pdf)

Hope this helps :)
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
What are the actual model numbers, you could try raising the DRAM and MC (memory controller voltages (DRAM up + 0.06 and the MC (prob listed as CPU/NB voltage) up + 0.14)...also chack and see what the tRFC timing is at (it's in the advanced DRAM timings) chances are good it may be low, but need the model #s of the sticks
 

Nabin Chettri

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i have checked removing my 4GB modules and it shows 15.5 GB usable,I had updated my bios from 1503 to 1801 and also swapped the 8GB modules to the the black slots and the 4 GB to the blue one,Maximum memory settings is checked in msconfig, Memory Hole Remapping is enabled in BIOS...i think the problem is in the motherboard, coz i hv read some forums that ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
only supports 16GB, but in ASUS website and in some other its specification shows 32GB .
 

Nabin Chettri

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KHX1600C10D3B1/8G
 

kingstonhq

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There is an older 2011 version of your motherboard's manual that shows it only supports 16GB of total memory. I do not think that is the issue though since it is recognizing all the modules, just cannot utilize them. The issue is more likely that the motherboard does not support the use of three modules at once. There are multiple entries in the manual that allude to no support for three modules. Most "clearly" on page 1-16:
"SS: Single-sided / DS: Double-sided DIMM support:
A: Supports one module inserted into any slot as single-channel memory configuration.
B: Supports one pair of modules inserted into either the blue slots or the black slots as one pair of dual-channel memory configuration.
C: Supports two pairs of modules inserted into both the blue slots and the black slots as two pairs of dual-channel memory configuration."
Those are the only three listings of how memory is supported being installed in the motherboard. So it implies that using one pair plus a single module is not a supported configuration. Pretty sure if you had another set of paired modules it would most likely be able to utilize that additional memory in dual-channel.

Just FYI, KHX1600C10D3B1/8G timings for the DDR3-1600 spec are CL10-10-10-27 @ 1.5V, by default they should run at DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9 @ 1.5V.
 

Nabin Chettri

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SOLVED.. I have reinstalled my OS from Ultimate to Professional and now its using all of my RAM (20 GB)
BUT as per your information i changed its timing 10-10-10-27 @ 1.5V my PC freezes at MB logo but again when i change it to default it runs perfectly.
 

kingstonhq

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Kind of strange that's what fixed it, since both Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional have the same memory limitation of 192GB. Glad you got everything going :)

Those timings were only for the 8GB modules it most likely glitched due to the additional 4GB memory not being able to run at that timing specification.
 
Solution

Nabin Chettri

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thank you Jewel for helping me out of this problem....i checked using only two 8GB modules with the new setting and its running smooth so i decided to use 20 GB with the default settings...thanks again ...bye
 

browser243

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browser243

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I had the same problem on a Gigabyte board GA-H55M-SH2 socket LGA1156 and so did many others with boards with the Intel H55 chipset---just checkout the forums.
My bios ,showed the correct total of ram--2x4gb---BUT it showed one of the DIMM slots as Disabled.
In win 7 64 bit ultimate, it showed as 8gb installed but only 2.96gb useable.
THE PC RAN OK BUT ABOUT ONCE A WEEK IT WOULD FREEZE UP.
Tried everything like many others on the net but could not fix it.
BUT NOW IT'S SOLVED.
My problem was caused by the contact fingers in the LGA1156 CPU socket on the motherboard, not contacting the contact pads on the bottom of the processor when it was installed in the socket.
When you looked at the fingers in the socket they all looked in line and perfect---BUT somehow quite a few never contacted the processor pads and if you looked carefully at the pad you could see they were perfectly smooth with no evidence of contact scratching or indent.

After carefully bending the contact fingers up a bit and re assembling the PC with the 2x4gb ram sticks everything in the bios showed correctly 8gb' 2x4gb both dimms activated and in win 7 it showed as 8gb available/useable.

The PC has not frozen up since.

Hope this gets out on the web to help people who are having weird problems on some of the older boards---check the bottom of your processor for signs of contact marks on every gold contact pad.