Can't boot all the way with 4 gb.

Barman58 said:

One possible problem that has not been mentioned is that it may not be the fourth RAM module that is faulty but the Fourth slot on the motherboard - just a thought

Ha! Hmm. That is a thought. However! I was using 4 sticks previously to this, so it shouldn't be bad unless it just now coincidentally went bad. But I should be able to pop my 4 old sticks back in to test that theory. I will as a last resort (I'm having to actually use my PC for work so it is difficult to turn it off, I'm just doing it when I get chances to mess with it).

Before I put the new RAM in this morning, it was running successfully on 4 sticks of ram, all 512mb each. I've got the same setup going now all with 4 1gb sticks, except with the problem I'm having. I can use 3 1gb sticks ok!

Barman58 said:

One possible problem that has not been mentioned is that it may not be the fourth RAM module that is faulty but the Fourth slot on the motherboard - just a thought

Exactly.


Also: do disable the devices. Everything you rule out is one less variable that makes it harder to pin down the real issue. Disable/remove all non essential hardware.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Go there, download memtest86+ (supports 64-bit) and burn it to CD. Put 1 stick in slot 1, run the test. It is a pretty intensive test, so passing a single time should mean you are good. 1 Single error also means you are probably not good. If it's good, take out the first stick and pop a stick 2 into slot 2. repear for stick and slot 2, 3 & 4. If all pass it could be something else. This should keep you busy for several hours.

I just realized that some mobo's are picky about where sticks of ram are, and you might not boot without adhering to their guidelines. If you run into a problem with a stick in slots 2,3 or 4 try just using slot 1. Once you have each stick tested: try all 4 at once.

Thanks for the input so far. I could be wrong and I don't have any data to back this up, but I just don't think the new memory is bad.

Like I said, I can use any stick in any slot as long as I am only using 3gb and it runs great. The only problem I have is Windows won't boot past the Starting Windows screen when there are 4 gigabytes of RAM in it.

Plus I also ran the Memtest program suggested, with all 4 sticks in the slots, and it found 0 errors and reported the proper amount of memory in the system as well.

Why would I put one stick in and scan them individually when Memtest will scan all 4 in all the slots, and show 0 errors? :\ I'm confused as to why that would need to be done.

I have a somewhat related issue:
When I previously ran Windows Vista X64 it wouldn't boot with 4 gig in, only with 3 (1 gig sticks). I never found a solution, so I ended up giving up with the last stick in my desktop drawer.

Now that I have installed the Windows 7 rc I remembered the stick in my drawer, so I took it out and put it in my computer. All of a sudden it boots! I was intensley happy.

BUT

The system information says "Installed memory (RAM): 4,00 GB (2,98 GB usable)", and the Resource manager claims that 1041 MB is "Hardware reserved".

This would be perfectly understandable, I have a video card that shares memory, I run a raid controller and so on.
If it weren't for the fact that when I run it on 3 GB it only puts 1 (one) MB as "Hardware reserved" and I get more usable (3071 opposed to 3055 MB) memory..

This is getting somewhat frustrating.

BIOS recognizes 4096MB with all 4 sticks installed.

@cheetah1: I read something about this somewhere, my friend had the same problem and we fixed it. I'll try to look that up again and see if it relates to you and post back here.

@skunksmash: I am going to reload my OS with all 4gb loaded. I think it is, for whatever reason, an OS problem. We'll soon find out.

cheetah1, If it's the same problem my friend had, it's a BIOS setting that has to be enabled. Something about remapping memory. Can you tell me the motherboard you have? He has some type of Asus motherboard I think, a P52N or something like that.

Nuts! Reloading my OS didn't fix it. Windows 7 wouldn't install with the 4gb in there, it only works if 3gb is there. So I went ahead and reinstall the OS anyway to clean up some stuff while I was at it. This makes me think that when I do finally figure this out, if I can put 4gb in there, that I hopefully won't need to reinstall my OS at that point.

I may have found a later BIOS update than I found the other day. If so I'll apply that and see if that helps. However since my BIOS sees 4gb anyway, I don't think that is the problem either. :\