Memory seen but not utilized

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stebbinsd

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Apr 22, 2017
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I recently had to replace my motherboard and power supply. Well, I've got two RAM sticks: An 8GB Ram Stick of the same model as this one ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mushkin-Enhanced-Stealth-8GB-240-Pin-DDR3-SDRAM-DDR3L-1600-PC3L-12800-Desktop/381200711689?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I've also got another stick that I don't know the manufacturer of, which is 2GB.

Now here's the weird part. My task manager says that I only have two gigabytes of memory, and when I try to launch apps that take up a lot of memory (e.g. games), I get an error message saying "error allocating memory."

But ... my control panel ... my "system information" app ... and my "dxdiag" app all say that I have 10GB of memory installed!

How do I get my computer to actually use the other 8GB?
 
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stebbinsd

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The CPU went into the socket without issue. How would it even go in if it had bent pins?

Also, why would it recognize one ram stick but not the other? Remember: The 8GB ram stick is not "usable" by the system regardless of which RAM slot I use but the 2GB stick is.
 
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stebbinsd

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By "memory channels," do you mean the four slots I stick my memory into?

If so, then I've already ruled out that possibility because I have the same problem regardless of which of the four slots I use.
 
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stebbinsd

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If it helps, I should point out that I recently had to replace the motherboard because the old power supply blew out and damaged the mobo along with it.

Is it possible the 8GB ram stick also got damaged?
 
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stebbinsd

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Ok, I went and did a little research into what exactly a memory channel is. Turns out, it's not the slots the ram go in. Turns out, they're supposed to be multi-colored according to their channel.

My motherboard has four ram slots ... two black and two grey. It's also supposed to be dual-channel. So I assume the two black slots belong to one channel and the two grey slots are also one channel.

So my 2GB ram stick is in a grey slot. I moved the 8GB ram stick into the other grey slot, so it would be on the same channel as the working 2GB stick, thus eliminating any possibility that I might have a disabled channel.

I still have the same problem. My Control Panel > System and Security > System page still very clearly says "Installed memory (RAM): 10.0 GB (1.97 GB usable)." My task manager still only says that there are 2014MB of allotted memory.

So at this point, can we safely say that this isn't a CPU issue, since I've ruled out the possibility of a memory channel being disabled?
 
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Rogue Leader

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No, because the exact issue you are describing is exactly what happens when an AM3 processor has a bent pin. It reads the memory but won't allow you to access it.

Pull the CPU and check the pins with a magnifying glass or jewlers loupe, you can use a mechanical pencil with the lead removed to straighten them.
 
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stebbinsd

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Ok, new update: I actually switched the RAM sticks around. The 8GB stick went into the slot that the 2GB RAM stick was previously in.

This had a tangible effect. Now, I have 8GB of memory and the 2GB one is unusable.

So basically, there is only one RAM slot that actually works.

Does that confirm your theory?
 
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