New Build - Two Problems

[nickhoff]

Okay first my specs, then my problem

i7 920
ASUS P6T Deluxe
6G Corsair Dominator 1866 mhz tri chan DDR3 Mem
WD VelociRaptor 300 gb hd
Seagate Barracuda 500 GB hd
GTX295

Okay now to the problem:

I just built my pc and everything is working, except for the second hard drive & my ram.

I have Windows Vista 64 MB Home Edition, but it only shows 2GB of Ram, However, my BIOS shows 6GB of Ram.

I can see both hard drives in my BIOS as well, but the second hard drive (my data drive) isn't visible when in Windows.

Now I updated my firmware & bios to the motherboard at asus.com, but Vista isn't recongnizing my ram or second HD.

Any advice or solutions?

 

[xthekidx]

If you have a 32bit OS, then all you will be able to use is 4gb of ram. Since your GPU has 1.8gb of ram, your system only sees about 2gb of your other ram.

 

[nickhoff]

I stated above I have Windows Vista 64 MB Home Eddtion, so it should be able to see all my RAM. Could there be another problem?

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h176/nicksjeep/OS.jpg

 

[foolycooly]

did you place the RAM in the correct slots? (one in each of the three orange slots on the P6T deluxe)

 

[nickhoff]

Yes, the RAM is in A1, B1, C1.

 

[jitpublisher]

Did you do a fresh install of Windows, or are you using the same install from the previous build?

 

[nickhoff]

I did a fresh install of Windows, do you think something got messed up during the installation? Would it be smart to reformat Windows? Also CPU-z reads that I have 6GB of RAM.

 

[jitpublisher]

Something is certainly not right, if it were me, I would do fresh install.

 

[Jack64]

Were there any problems during the install??? Also, if there weren't is windows working ok? Any problems is it acting wierd? If the answer is no, before you do a fresh format and install, there should be a solution, seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to if everthing else is ok. Just to make sure....you didn't by any chance plug your second hard drive into one of the orange SAS slots did you?? Did you try to set it up as a raid??? let me think, I''m sure there are other questions before doing a full install again.

 

[Jack64]

I know it's probably obvious, but just to make sure, are both HDD's SATA?? or is one perhaps a PATA and one a SATA? Also make sure in your bios the ram settings are in auto, not sure it really matters but if something funky is going on with the ram it could be from the bios setting. And is your data drive with the correct format? was it in other service before you installed it in here? is it NTFS or some other format....don't know if that would matter, but you never know with OS's was it in an older OS??

 

[nickhoff]

There was no problems during the install. The system is completely new, so it's only been running for two days, my PSU was DOA so it set me back some. However, last night I ran Prime 95 all night and when I woke up, the highest temp Core Temp produced was 71 c, while OCed to 4.0 ghz.

However, one wierd thing I notice is while rebooting it looks to go through two bios. When i go to the first one it just brings up the drives, then the second one is the real bios.

I found this at Microsoft's website while at work. So i'm going to check the PAE settings and the memmory mapping settings. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

As for the HD a friend at work told me I need to partition and format the drive in Disk management. Which is something I didn't do. It's a brand new HD.

The second HD isn't plugged into the SAS port. I didn't try to set it up as a raid. Both HDD's are Sata.

 

[Jack64]

Ok, sorry for all the questions...was just trying to help ya from having to do a fresh install. Yes, the thing it's doing on bootup is setting up the marvell thing and another one, mine does it too on every boot LOL. If it is brand new, perhaps that is it, but I'm not sure, should be fine without a format...would think so...Let us know how it goes and I'm sure I can bug ya with more questions...thanks for you patients.

 

[nickhoff]

No need to be sorry, and I will keep you informed. I'm not to concerned about doing a fresh install, since all I have on the new hard drive is prime 95, cpu-z, everquest 2 patched up to date, and norton 2009.

I think its something wrong with how its setup though, i'll toy with things before reformatting.

 

[Jack64]

Ok, I think your right. Maybe you'll figure it out...sometimes wierd stuff just happens like that, But If your bios sees it....you would think windows would. but who knows. LOL

 

[nickhoff]

My BIOS isn't the only thing that sees it. CPU-Z also sees it. However, I am happy with the temp's idle & load, while running at 4.0 ghz. I guess I got lucky with my processor. It's been running Prime 95 for about 24 hours now, i'll check it again when I get off work. With 13 hours of running 71 c was the max core 1 hit, 69 for core 2, 3, and 63 for core 4.

 

[Jack64]

Wow, great temps.

 

[grieve]

Is the second HDD formatted? Can you initialize it in Vista Disk Management?

Also… for the Ram, this is stupid as hell, try removing it and placing it back in and fire windows up again.

**The Ram issue is very odd; I can’t say I have seen that before. I can’t fathom why CPU-z would see it and Vista can’t. I am sure the answer is something trivial.

 

[nickhoff]

Cooled by air Thermalight Ultra 120 extreme 1366

 

[grieve]

nickhoff shouldn’t the Memory be in bank 0 of each slot, not bank 1 as you mentioned? (i saw you guys mention orange earlier, bank 0 is correct regardless of color)

 

[nickhoff]

The P6T Deluxe motherboard manuel states the orange slots A1, B1, C1. For a 6GB Tri Chan kit.

 

[grieve]

Hey try this for your memory:

Start > MSCONFIG > enter > BOOT > Advanced Options

Make sure that Maximum Memory isn't checked. If it is, uncheck it and reboot.

 

[Jack64]

I'm looking at my manual and it says for 3 dimms, place in A1, B1, C1 That is the second, fourth and sixth slot the first and the third and the fifth should be empty.
My board is also the P6T deluxe and the 2nd and 4th and 6th slots are orange

 

[grieve]

Sry man, ill b a little more specific... Forgot Vista not XP, no one can ever figure out where MSConfig is in Vista.

1) Click on the Vista start icon
2) Type MSCONFIG in the search box
3) goto the BOOT tab, advanced options.

Make sure that Maximum Memory isn't checked. If it is, uncheck it and reboot.

 

[grieve]

I think there is no question this is a Vista issue. You obviously have the right slot as you guys confirmed. plus the BIOS sees the memory as well as CPU-z

Furthermore you wouldn’t have got Vista installed if the ram was in the wrong slots. I’m 99% sure its Vista

 

[Jack64]

I agree with grief. gotta be Vista. coz everything else sees it!! Wonder if they make glasses for vista!! =-)