Loss of Ram

Gimpy32R · Feb 3, 2017

Hi All,

The missus and I play KOTOR. The other night her pc was lagging like crazy. Not loading models, taking literally 10 mins to load the menu. So after a quick check we found that in the Sys properties and it said she has 4gig ram installed. It should be 8gig.

I've tried running the pc with only 1 lot of ram in, and I get 4gig, does not matter which stick I use. I've tried different slots, either stick in either slot is only 4 gig.

Haven't made any changes to the system at all for quite a while,and this is out of the blue

Any idea?

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

was it 8gb before this???

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

Hellfire13 :

To be honest I don't know, I can't remember

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

Ok, I am assuming that you have two sticks and when you install either of them separately, you see 4gb total. And also when you intsall them together, then also you see 4gb total. Is that correct???

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

Yes, that's correct

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

In that case your sticks are not working in combination, as it should show 8gb total, unless you are using 32bit windows. That might suggest a motherboard or memory controller issue rather than faulty sticks.
What windows version are you using???
Also do you recollect it showing 8gb total ever???

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

That's what I was thinking.

Running 64bit Win 7

I don't remember ever checking the ram before hand, and neither doe the missus

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

Have you tried all the combinations of slots???
Also, are the two sticks identical or are they different???

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

Hellfire13 :

She has 4 slots on the board, 2 white and 2 blue. I have tried different combinations in the white slots, but not the 2 blues. I did try putting 1 in the blue and 1 in the white, but apparently the colours are paired and the pc just beeped alot.

The sticks are identical, bought from the same place as a pair kit

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

Well, for a start, try all possible combos.

If that doesnt help, then try this.
> Open msconfig from start menu.
> Go to Boot tab.
> Go to Advanced Options.
> Uncheck both "Number of processors" and "Maximum Memory".
> Save that and restart your pc.

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

Hellfire13 :

Have tried sticks in all 4 ports, ram in the blue slots causes pc to beep and not boot.

Both those options are unchecked already.

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

Then, your motherboard memory controller might have some issue. Though unlikely, as a last resort run memtest86 for atleast 6 to 8 passses on each stick to check the integrity of the sticks themselves, interchanging the sticks and slots. You can also run mdsched from start menu at extended level.
Also check your bios settings for any change that could have happened accidentally or automatically.
Also clear the motherboard cmos and jumper settings.
There are not very many options left other than to reinstall windows, but i am not sure if thats going to help in any way.
You can also try restoring windows to a point earlier than when it started.
If all above fails, you might have to consider servicing/repair/rma from your motherboard manufacturer or some local repair shop.

Gimpy32R · Feb 4, 2017

Hellfire13 :

Alrighty, i'll have a play around and see what I can do. Motherboard is 5+ years old so i'd say not worth a repair, if I could get a new one for a decent price.

Thanks for the help

Hellfire13 · Feb 4, 2017

welcome...cheers

Gimpy32R · Feb 5, 2017

Tried using memtest and mdsched, neither come up with any problems.

Checked the bios, its running a really early version (f2) so i'm going to try updating it to f8 using Q-flash. Only problem is, Q-flash doesn't pick up the flash drive i'm trying to use and I don't have a floppy drive.

Have looked through this forum and tried a few things and still no good

Hellfire13 · Feb 5, 2017

Did you clear cmos and jumper pins???
Also, i think you can run the bios update as executable... http://www.wikihow.com/Update-Your-Computer's-BIOS

Gimpy32R · Feb 5, 2017

Figured it out, flash drive was too big (4gig)

Used a smaller one and q-flash detected it, but I now get a check error after reading the bios file.

The page you linked is gone, there is a program @bios to flash, but alot of people recommend not using it.

Bios file was downloaded from the Gigabyte page

Hellfire13 · Feb 5, 2017

Gimpy32R :

That is interesting. The page opens through google, but not through the link. Unless its deleted just now and using my cache mem. :sarcastic:

Anyways...when you paste this(3 ways to update bios) into google, the second link will be from wikihow. Use that.

Gimpy32R · Feb 7, 2017

http://www.wikihow.com/Update-Your-Computer's-BIOS

Read through that. I can't run the bios update tool that comes with the update, as its 32bit software.

I have confirmed that the board is a P55A-UD3 Rev 1.0.

I looked up the "Bios checkID error" , people saying you get that when trying to use a wrong update file, possibly a 32bit one?

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1874374/bios-update-x64.html

Just had a play in the bios under M.I.T current status, and it look like the bios is picking up 2 dimms, but only 2 gig each instead of 4gig each?

Hellfire13 · Feb 7, 2017

And when you put in one stick only, does it pick up as 4 gig as well with single stick in??? You have mentioned earlier that each of the sticks shows 4 gig when used as single sticks only.

Gimpy32R · Feb 7, 2017

Yes, with just the 1 stick in it registers as 4gig.

I managed to update the bios from F2 to F8, still not showing the ram but its now idling at 35% ram used instead of 70%+

Hellfire13 · Feb 7, 2017

Do you have any spare ram to test with??? Or maybe get/borrow from someone???

Loss of Ram

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