Available RAM much less than actually installed

bravoelt255 · 25 Nov 2010

Hi,

I was in the process of starting further tests with memtest but unfortunately I just noticed that one of the 2 ram slots is not functioning well. I did the following:

> I removed the the ram chip set from slot 1 so that I only had one chip set in slot 0. Laptop rebooted successfully with one 2Gb chip set.
> I switched the ram chip sets in slot 0 and once again I left no RAM chip set in slot 1. Laptop rebooted successfully with one 2Gb chip set.
> Then I did the same tests in slot 1 this time leaving slot 0 with no chip sets in both cases. In both cases the laptop couldn't reboot.

Is this a fault in the motherboard?

Kindly advise.

Thanks and regards,

bravoelt255

richc46 · 25 Nov 2010

Sounds like MB to me, based upon what I hear. This is why I suggested the Memtest. I have seen this before.
Try with all the RAM sticks in the bad slot.
Then test the ram stick that you used with memtest for 8passes.

bravoelt255 · 25 Nov 2010

Hi,

I tried to reboot with both ram in the bad slot, laptop starts and memtest cd starts running but nothing is displayed on the screen. Then after a few seconds the laptop is dead. The only thing that remains on is the power led.

I fear that the Motherboard is faulty. I think it would be best if I present this laptop to an acer representative. Of course I won't tell them that I did this test of switching ram chip sets because that would void my warranty.

What seems to be strange is that in my first test of memtest both ram chipsets could be seen. You can see that in the attached document in one of my previous threads.

Thanks & regards,

bravoelt255

brianzion · 25 Nov 2010

well done rich sound advice here

bravoelt255 · 30 Nov 2010

Hey guys,

I got a response from ACER representative. Mainboard has to be changed.

Thanks for your help! It's a good thing that my laptop is still under warranty! ;-)

Regards,

bravoelt25

brianzion · 30 Nov 2010

a new motherboard nice of acer report back and let us no of the result:)

ukbrocko · 08 Dec 2010

Hi, I am having the exact same issue. When i called ACER the representative told me that the graphics card is reserving the memory. Having seen this thread, and more importantly the outcome, I think i should submit another ticket.

Did you say anything specific when you contacted ACER bravoelt25? I want to get this sorted before the warranty runs out

Thanks

Brocko

brianzion · 08 Dec 2010

post your system specs :) use speccy this will help

FileHippo.com - Download Free Software
and i take it you have checked this

Under MSCONFIG (System Configuration) the Maximum Memory is not ticked.

ukbrocko · 08 Dec 2010

Hi brianzion,

Awesome liitle prog Speccy is.

Here is the output http://speccy.piriform.com/results/O...h7eVrKqgMysDWy for my system.

Max Memory is NOT ticked in MSCONFIG

brianzion · 09 Dec 2010

info taken from acer for your machine

LINK

http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/productv....CRC=2495451629
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 with up to 2816* MB of HyperMemory™ (1024 MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM, up to 1792 MB of shared system memory), supporting Unified Video Decoder (UVD), OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 4.1, Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 (* depending on size of system memory)