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MSI K9A Platinum - 4GiB RAM as 3GB usage RAM memory.

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Hi there,

I ve got problem with RAM - I use 2 sets of GEIL Dual Channel RAM PC6400 (2 x 1 GB), sa I ve 4 gigs installed.
Bios indicates 4 gigs physical memery and 3 gig usage memory.

My machine is AMD64 X2 4000+ , MSI K9A Platinum mothherboard, 4GiB of mentioned memory, 500GB Seagate SATA HDD and rest...

The problem is that when I use 4 sticks of memory system boots really slooow (9 minutes) and works much less effective and slower then with 3 sticks in single channel , moreover system (Debian linux) does not see the 4gigs but just 3gigs. Linux has Highmemory support compiled. 64 bit linux also does not see 4 gigs (amd64 Debian is also installed).

None of RAM sticks is broken - you can use any 3 of 4 sticks in any combination/ any slot.

This machine is my own built so some part of BIOS settings is stil auto (timings etc.)

I wish to have 4 gigs of memory working at 100% performance.


Thanks for any help.

More about : msi k9a platinum 4gib ram 3gb usage ram memory

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I'm guessing two things about the slow post:

1. The bios is trying to auto-detect the ram specs.
2. After that, the bios is trying to do a quick check on the ram.

You can try setting up the memory speed & timings. You need to know the specs of the ram. If they're different, you make a compromise by going with the slower settings. I think it's in Advanced Chipset Features.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/images/articles/115794691...

And Cell Menu:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/images/articles/115794691...

i.e.
kit1: 4-4-4-12@1.9v
kit2: 5-5-5-15@2.0v

You would go with 5-5-5-15@1.9v for all 4 sticks. If no luck, try 2.0v.

Hi!

I have recently ordered a MSI K9A Platinum motherboard
with an AMD 6400+ Black Edition processor.
On the MSI website I found out I have to have the latest bios
(1.7) on the MoBo to use this CPU with it.
My question is:
Can I at least boot up with the computer to update the bios
from a floppy, or i will not work at all???
Many thanks for the answers!

methodman1982 said:
Hi!

I have recently ordered a MSI K9A Platinum motherboard
with an AMD 6400+ Black Edition processor.
On the MSI website I found out I have to have the latest bios
(1.7) on the MoBo to use this CPU with it.
My question is:
Can I at least boot up with the computer to update the bios
from a floppy, or i will not work at all???
Many thanks for the answers!


Hello Methodman,
You can count on getting the run around from MSI for any help questions. I recently had to update my bios from 1.2 to 1.7. It was originally quite the pain in the butt. I got some help from some folks here in the forums. I ended up flashing from my CD-Rom drive. You should be able to use a floppy just fine. Just create a bootable floppy disk, and add the extracted bios file and flash program to the disk. If you have any questions I will put a link to the area of the forum where I got my help. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245805-28-cool-quiet-vista Good Luck!

Hi!

many thanks for your quick respond, ira176!
You were right, everything went smooth, now
I have 1.7 bios on the motherboard. There's one
annoying thing left, I CAN NOT CHANGE THE CPU's
MULTIPLIER IN THE BIOS. Is it the bios's fault, or
what? I'm using 4 Gb of memory, can not go back
to 1.5 bios. Has anyone had the same problem?

Thanks for any help!
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