Issues with unused memory slot

[Ramath]

I have an issue with my computer, in that it is not reading the entire 3rd channel. (I hope I'm using the right terminology here.)

I have a Gateway FX6803-25. It uses DDR3, triple channel memory, 6 DIMM slots, and supports up to 12gig.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium.

I bought 3 new memory sticks, 4gig each. When I put them in and fired up my machine, I found that it only had ~8gig memory.

After doing testing, I found each stick is in fact working and functional. As part of that testing, I put the original 6 sticks back in, and found that my machine was running on 6gigs. I thought, "See, its reading the originals", however, as I was pulling them out, I realized that one of the sticks was actually a 2gig. I look at all of the originals and found that 3 of them were 2gigs, while the other 3 were 1gigs. Realizing that the math wasn't adding up with my original thought, I went back and found that in reality only the first 2 bays (with both physical slots for each bay), were actually in use. 2gig stick + 1gig stick, x2 bays, comes out to 6gigs... To top it all off, the original spec for the machine was 9gigs, but I was only getting 6.

I looked here for several solutions, and in the process found CPU-Z. I installed that and ran it. To my surprise, CPU-Z is able to detect and recognize all 3 of my new 4gig stick, in addition to the 3 slots that they are in. Also, when I did a reboot, I noticed that it still shows tri-channel memory (the black screen with blocky white text before the windows splash screen).

Yet, my dxdiag still only shows 8gigs (4gig sticks x2, not the desired 12gigs)

I have tried to explain the situation to the best of my ability. I am also completely baffled. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[meghrajbaria]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware

Whats the maximum RAM capacity of your mobo ?

 

[Ramath]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware

Heh... thanks...

Whats the maximum RAM capacity of your mobo ?

My Motherboard (assuming that's what you meant by 'mobo') is 12gigs. My OS is up to 16gig.

 

[inzone]

What do you mean by the OS is up to 16 gb, if your running Windows 64 bit then you will see what you put in , 16gb , 32gb, 64 gb and that is depending on what the MB supports.
If you put the new 12 gb of ram in, is there any issues with running windows? Any freezes , crashes (BSOD)? The only issue being that it only sees 8gb?
With the new ram in if you go to the start menu and type in msinfo32 and in the window that pops up on the right side it will tell you what amount of ram is installed and what is available.

 

[scout_03]

see the specs of your system it support 12 gig but on the six memory slot total http://support.gateway.com/s/desktop/2010/gateway/fx/fx6803/FX6803sp2.shtml

 

[Ramath]

What do you mean by the OS is up to 16 gb,

When I was doing research to identify just how much RAM my OS could support, I found a page listing various version of Windows. I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. According to the page, it says that the OS could use up to 16 gigs.

if your running Windows 64 bit then you will see what you put in , 16gb , 32gb, 64 gb and that is depending on what the MB supports.

That's exactly what I thought, but sadly that's not the reality. I'm only seeing 8gigs on the screen when there are clearly 12gigs installed.

If you put the new 12 gb of ram in, is there any issues with running windows? Any freezes , crashes (BSOD)? The only issue being that it only sees 8gb?

No, there are no malfunctions of any other sort. The machine runs well otherwise. It just isn't seeing anything in my third bay.

With the new ram in if you go to the start menu and type in msinfo32 and in the window that pops up on the right side it will tell you what amount of ram is installed and what is available.

I ran the msinfo32, like you said, and again, it's saying that I only have 8gigs installed Phys Memory.

see the specs of your system it support 12 gig but on the six memory slot total http://support.gateway.com/s/deskt [...] 3sp2.shtml

Yes, but even if I got 6 2gig sticks, that still doesn't solve the issue that Windows isn't even acknowledging the entire 3rd channel. I would still only be sitting at 8gigs, with the 4gigs in channel 3 being ignored.

Even the original modules that came with the machine, Windows was not acknowledging the third channel.

That was the exact link I used to make sure that I was getting the right type of memory modules for my machine.

According to that link, I should have triple channel memory, 6 DIMM slots, allowing up to 12 gigs of RAM. But Windows, as far as am able to see, is only seeing 2 channels and is ignoring the entire 3rd channel, even though CPU-Z clearly is able to see all 3 channels and all 6 DIMM slots.

 

[scout_03]

see this for settings from microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610/en-us

 

[Ramath]

see this for settings from microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610/en-us

Thank you for that link, but unfortunately, each of those ideas listed are things I've already looked at. I looked them over again, just in case I missed something.

I don't have a (X.XX usable) issue. Windows is giving me a straight 8.0gigs. Also, 8gigs is a much larger drop from the expected 12gigs, unlike a 4 to (3.5 usable) drop.

The issue, that I'm afraid people are missing, is that my machine should be running Triple Channel memory, but it's not. It says Triple Memory on the initial start-up and CPU-Z also says Triple Channel.

No matter how much, or how little, memory I put in, the displayed total memory is consistent with only the first 2 channels in operation.

My PC is not using Triple Channel. There is no option in my BIOS to enable Triple Channel, nor any other memory controls.

 

[scout_03]

i would try to contact gateway if they could tel you something for that and since this is a intel cpu see if intel got something for your motherboard or the board maker