Windows 7: Detecting incorrect Ram amounts

I am experiencing different amounts of Ram being detected off and on typically at cold boot. I have 10 megs in the computer Sometimes windows and the bios will see 2 or 6 meg of ram and not the whole 10 meg. Typicaly after a reboot or 2 and the computer being warm it detects all of the ram. CPU-z will always see all of the ram even if windows and the bios is showing less than the total of 10 that is installed.

My Ram is ADATA Gaming Series DDR3 1600 AX3U1600GB2G9-BG Settings per label on Ram CL 9-9-9-24 Voltage 1.55V~1.75V

It sounds like either a problem with the RAM or the motherboard. I would try flashing the BIOS with the latest version to start with.

How do you have 10 Gigs of Ram? how many sticks and what size?? You should be using 3 sticks in triple channel on your setup. Use slots 2, 4, and 6 for triple channel. A Guy

I was wondering about that. I also noticed in the OPs, system specs it list 12GB of RAM

Did a RAM stick go bad recently?

Disappearing RAM is a common occurrence with the x58 chipset.

There are many potential causes:

► Faulty RAM Module/s
► Faulty Dimm Slots
► Improper CPU seating (pad/pin contact between CPU and Heatsink)
► Incorrect RAM timings/voltages
► Aggressive QPI Link Data Rate
► Electrical Shorting
► etc

Did one of your modules die?

What speed are they set to run at ie 1066mhz, 1333mhz, 1600mhz etc and have you manually entered the voltages and timings?


Things to try:

AI Tweaker:

DRAM Frequency - set this as close to 1600mhz as possible - keep it under 1600 for now if you have to.

Manually enter the Ram timings in the ' DRAM Timing Control 1st Information' - 9-9-9-24


It may also be necessary to change your CR (command rate) from 1N to 2N (2nd information - DRAM Timing Mode)


Set your DRAM voltage to 1.64 and since you have virtually all DIMM slots filled, up your QPI/DRAM voltage to 1.300 - 1.35



(To eliminate the QPI Link, set the QPI Link Data rate to the slowest speed available)



If after manually entering the timings and voltages it still fails to detect all modules at POST, remove the 'now 4GB' kit and test with only the one remaining 'complete' 6GB kit.


If it still fails to detect all 6GB - then you'll have to start the laborious process of trying each module individually.

If any individual sticks fail to POST - then you've got a dud module/s.

If the machine POSTs with each stick, take a 'known good' stick and POST the machine from the other bootable slots

(*NB not all slots will allow the Machine to POST. ie A1, B1, C1 will allow the machine to POST with a single module - A2,B2,C2 will not)

In this instance leave a 'known good stick' in a bootable slot and add another 'known good stick' and see if it detects 4GB in all of the slots.

If it doesn't, you may have a dud DIMM/Mobo.


This is a 'quick' elimination method as you don't have to sit through memtest86+ runs - yet.



.

Thanks for your replies.........

This is a new machine and as questioned per my system specs I do have 12 Gig of Ram you can see all my posts in the Crashes and BSOD section upon arrival I was having Multiple BSOD which turned out to be a bad ram stick so it is removed waiting for replacement Ram in the mean time I am running the machine with the 10 gig that I have............computer is running fine just experiencing the wierd not seeing all the Ram issue, this issue seems to be isolated to a cold boot after a reboot or 2 and the computer being warm all the ram is recognized by the bios and windows, at any given time CPU-Z always sees the ram despite windows and my bios does or not..............Do you guys suggest just running the 6 gig in the 2, 4, 6 slot until the replacement Ram arrives or is 10 gig ok?? I will try the suggested remedies this evening as always i appreciate your help!

Per the Asus motherboard manual I have placed the ram in sequence it shows for the amount I have currently............

The motherboard bios has already been flashed to the latest which for this Asus board is 0808

Today my cold boot would only detect 2 gig of the 10 gig I applied the following suggestions:

1 I set the DRAM Frequency to 1333 for now

2 All Ram timings have been entered manually 9-9-9-24

3 Changed CR to 2N from 1N

4 Set DRam Voltage to 1.64 and QPI/DRAM voltage to 1.35

5 Set QPI Link to lowest speed

On reboot the machine is now detecting 10 gig of Ram in Bios and Windows..........this is the typical pattern after it is warm typically all ram is detected, I guess tomorrows cold boot will be the test...........

Any other things I should be looking at or changing at this point??

As always thanks for your help............

While it's detecting the full 10GB at 'loose settings', I'd do a memtest86+ run. 8 full passes should be sufficient enough to uncover any apparent dud dimms/modules.

This should help differentiate between potential hardware faults vs settings issues.


(Let it run overnight as 8 passes will take around 8hrs - although if you get errors quickly, halt the test. Then you have the 'pleasure' of removing/swapping modules to test dimm/moudules slots.)



If there are zero memtest errors and it still consistently maintains the full 10GB detection on a cold boot with the current settings, you can slowly start changing some of the settings back. However leave the DRAM volts at 1.64v as you'll need this to run @ 1600mhz

►Start by upping the mhz back to 1600mhz. *NB the UCLK frequency should be double what the DRAM frequency is. AUTO should do that automatically, but it's probably worthwhile setting it manually.

► Set the QPI link up one notch.

► *Optional* Set the CR back to 1N (although there really isn't that much noticeable difference in terms of speed between 1N and 2N, and with a full 10/12GB 2N is better for stability )

►After that you can start lowering the QPI/DRAM volts until it either fails to detect the full amount, or becomes unstable. Although 1.35v is perfectly fine.

If after adjusting any of these settings results in detection loss, go back to a lower setting.

(Depending on the board/RAM - 6GB kits are 'guaranteed' to run at the listed specs ie 1600mhz @ 9-9-9-24 1N, but are 'not guaranteed' to run at those timings in a 12GB config, hence the need to loosen some timings / increasing voltages, particularly the QPI/DRAM voltage etc)



However, if there are zero memtest errors with the full 10GB detected (basically eliminating faulty hardware), but it still occasionally fails to detect the full amount - I'd start looking at other culprits like the CPU cooler tension which affects the CPU pads / socket pin contact etc.

Todays update back to the same thing with out having made any changes to the suggested setting from my previous post at todays cold boot the system in bios and windows would only detect 2 of the 10 gig of ram.....reading some of your others suggestions ie. 6 gig guaranteed to run at 1600 in these settings and not 12 would it smarter to just go to 6 gig and not have these issues not really sure about the answer here at this point I use the gomputer for gaming interent and work from home at time.......i do alot of digital photography but nothing porofessional and I am not using photshop 64 bit to take advantage of the ram.....not really wanting to surrender but not sure if the efforts are worth it either at this point...in looking at comparisions in gaming performance not much is gained from 12 gig over 6 from what I can tell......................