16Gb installed RAM (4Gb usable)

[Absalom76]

Hello all!
I noticed when poking around in my computer settings and hardware information, that my RAM is showing (16Gb), but only 4Gb are "usable". I have been looking all over creation to find out why, but to no avail. I am utilizing:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS,
AMD Phenom II x6 1090T,
ASRock 970 Extreme3 mobo,
4 (4Gb) sticks of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 ram,
and a
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 graphics card

I have tried all sorts of things, from tweaking the volts a bit (which showed 8 Gb usable out of 16 installed and crashed the computer),
to putting one stick in the mobo at a time, and booting with each stick (this gave me 5 short beeps when trying to boot two of the sticks individually). As a side note, When I have all RAM in it shows all 4 in my bios and on my System Properties.

I now have the 2 sticks in (that didn't cause the 5-beep error) which is 8Gb, and it's only showing 4 Gb usable.

On another note, from time to time when booting, I get an error that says to, "reboot, and select a bootable device" even though the HDD has not been changed or manipulated in any way. If all of these things are able to be addressed through a tweaking of my bios, I can't seem to find an easy way to do it anywhere!

My apologies if I missed a thread that pertained to this issue, but I have a bit of a Frankenstein computer on my hands here and could use some advice!
Thank you in advance!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello and welcome Absalom mate try a memtest first up maybe you have some bad sticks or slots even .

You need to make a bootable disk then set the BIOS to boot from the optical and then let it run for at minimum of 8 passes unless you get errors straight away see http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

 

[AddRAM]

But have you talked with ASRock about it ?

 

[Absalom76]

I have not talked with ASRock about it. Right now, I have 8Gb inserted and 4Gb is usable. I have actually done a memory test with the Windows program that comes with my OS, and it didn't come up with anything. It even automatically ran check disc. Basically the "monster" runs, but not to full capacity. THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

 

[AddRAM]

Go into task manager/performance/resource monitor/memory all the memory should show up and tell you where it`s being used.

 

[Absalom76]

Go into task manager/performance/resource monitor/memory all the memory should show up and tell you where it`s being used.

If I plug in all my sticks of RAM, all 16Gb show up, however only partial memory is "usable" (normally 4Gb) no matter how much I have plugged into the mobo

 

[AddRAM]

Did you do what I told you ?

Post a snip of it.

 

[Absalom76]

Did you do what I told you ?

Post a snip of it.

I will be doing a memtest overnight as they request that you let it run that long. I will reply with my findings as soon as I have more info! thank you for the advice! I will keep you posted!

 

[AddRAM]

A memory test will do nothing for your problem.

And who is THEY ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya AddRam I said at the beginning I think it was that the memtest should be run for at least 8 passes but stop if it showed errors straight away.

I don't know exactly who THEY are but suspect it might be in the tutorial but without reading through it again can't be sure.

I only advised that if only to rule out bad sticks or slots and then go from there.

Absalom mate are the sticks all the same - are they a set of four or two sets of two (matched sticks) or are they just a mixture of different numbered sticks (not all exactly the same numbers on each one of them) ?

 

[Absalom76]

"Absalom mate are the sticks all the same - are they a set of four or two sets of two (matched sticks) or are they just a mixture of different numbered sticks (not all exactly the same numbers on each one of them) ?"

My apologies for the slow responses! I still have yet to run the memtest to see if the sticks are good or the slots are ok. The sticks are all the same and came in 2 sets of 2. I have 4 4Gb RAM sticks.

 

[Absalom76]

Addram, "they" refers to the people that offer the memtest program to see if the sticks are bad, or the slots are bad on the mobo. The link is in an above post by, ICit2lol.

 

[AddRAM]

Still waiting for the pic of resource monitor.

 

[AddRAM]

Arf Arf

Sometimes I don`t feel like typing out a 100 words for something so simple, my 1st reply told him everything he needed to know, but you take over.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Now folks this not productive eh? we all make mistakes and I am the first to admit I make some pretty stupid ones and sometimes it can get a tad frustrating and again that gets us nowhere lets get back together and help this bloke out eh?

 

[Absalom76]

Actually AddRam, your first post was a question about, "whether I had spoken to ASRock about it". This did not help at all, and was an obvious attempt to be lazy and unhelpful. Nothing you have posted lends any credibility to anything you have to say so I would politely like you to not post anymore of your nonsense on this thread.
Also, if it is apparently so easy for you, I suggest that you take some time to work on your social skills because they are obviously lacking.

This is a troubleshooting thread which hopefully will help a lot of people with the same issue. This is not a thread for people to post their egos in an attempt to gain recognition.

With that being said, I have had some real life things come up, which could not wait and so I apologize for that. I am simply trying to troubleshoot the issue at hand.

I very much appreciate the assistance ICit2!

 

[Solarstarshines]

I have not talked with ASRock about it. Right now, I have 8Gb inserted and 4Gb is usable. I have actually done a memory test with the Windows program that comes with my OS, and it didn't come up with anything. It even automatically ran check disc. Basically the "monster" runs, but not to full capacity. THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

is it Ultimate 32 bit or Ultimate 64bit ?

 

[Absalom76]

Thank you for your reply Solar!
It is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

 

[Solarstarshines]

Click start menu type Msconfig right click to run as Admin

you should see these windows come up click boot and make sure none of your boxes there are checked make sure it says one cpu and not 6 if your running a hexcore make sure the ram is unchecked if not check it and raise the ram values

Normally it would be the other way around anyway hope this helps you out

 

[Absalom76]

both are unchecked and the way they "should be"
good question though!

and nice "pen tool" skillz btw, Solar!