A Couple of RAM Questions

Layback Bear said:

When you can disable P/S. Do not have P/S start at boot.

Set memory to Windows 7 Manage. No memory allocated to anything.
Then take a look at the same Task Manager/Resource Manger as you did in post
#4.
Is it different? If so what is different?

Take a look in System Configure/Boot/Advanced Options.

At the top do you have check marks in the square boxes and what # are in the boxes.
*Number of processors
* Max Memory

** Have you installed any new hardware?
What CPU cooler do you use and have you been doing any maintenance on the cooler?

***Do you have the motherboard manual?***


Why I ask I want to know if the 3 modules are installed in the motherboard as per the manual.
I understand the white slots work and the blue slots don't work.
Is that the way the manual indicates?

In the screenshots I posted above, Photoshop is not open. Photoshop doesn't start up on boot. The extra memory I allocated to Photoshop only takes place when the program is opened with a large file in order to help it perform faster. The screenshots above are still accurate regardless if I had just reallocated Photoshop memory because this program is not open nor is it running in the background.

Windows 7 is infact, managing everything dealing with RAM at the moment because I do not have Photoshop open.

msconfig/System Configuration/Boot/Advanced Options was the first thing i looked at. Both boxes are unchecked and the numbers are greyed out at 1 (Number of Processors) and 0 (Maximum Memory).

No new hardware was installed for almost 3 years (CPU built on Dec 2011). My CPU cooler is a Coolmaster Hyper 212 EVO. Problem only arised last night.

Yes, I still have the manual. Yes, it's the way the manual indicates for Triple Channel.

I want to be as thorough as I can since it's hindering my job.

I'm using a ATI Radeon 4870. This is my RAM CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP12GX3M3A1600C9 - Newegg.com

If my cooler was on too tight, I would've had this RAM problem a long time ago right? It was fine for more than 2 years, and only the middle 2 RAM slots (B1 and B2) appear to be failing as of yesterday. The first two, A1 and A2 that are closest to the CPU are working without issues.

Can memtest86 detect a failing DIMM slot?

MemTest86 came out clean after an overnight test, no errors. Memtest says I have 8GB (8191MB) RAM like it did on my BIOS, while Windows and CPUZ says I have 12 installed.

I'm suspecting my BIOS and Memtest completely ignored the fact that I had a stick in Channel B and only scanned A and C. Afterwards, I removed Sticks A2 and C2 with RAM only in B2 to run Memtest, since I already suspected the culprit to be the B Channel.

The results were a blank screen. It didn't even show the POST bios screen so I couldn't run Memtest on B.

Swapped the B2 stick with A2 stick after, and the results were the same.

It's like my Channel B RAM is there, but it's not being read at all.

I didn't think this would have worked, but I just placed the B2 stick into C1.

A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2

Now I have all my 12GB RAM back. Only difference is CPUZ indicating my RAM running Dual Channel instead of Triple. My PS files are opening again with access to all RAM so I guess this is solved.

Thank you Layback Bear, for being patient with me.