Solved 8 gb ram only 4 recognized

[tapuz]

A friend of mine bought a refurbished computer, with 2 sticks of 4 gb memory, total of 8 gb.​

From the get go it only registered as 4, we tried both sticks, simultaneously in a different computer, and they both registered, total 8 gb.​

He went to a computer technician, and he said, many times, if the two ram sticks are not identical, there can be a problem, he wrote to the seller, and received 2 new ram sticks. He put them into the computer, and only 4 gb registered, at one time after putting them in, they both registered, but after a restart, we were back to 4 gb.​

The operating system is windows 7 professional 64 bit.​

Let me just point out, the computer doesn’t even show 8 gb, just 4 (not like others that had a problem of 8 gb, and only 4 gb usable)​

Any help would be greatly appreciated.​

 

[fireberd]

What does the BIOS show for memory. If the BIOS does not recognize the full 8GB, Windows will not see it. Check the motherboard vendors specs for this board. 4GB may be the max, or there could be a problem with the motherboard considering it is a used PC.

Unmatched memory would not cause the problem you are seeing.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Also please fill in the system spec's of the machine with the issue,
Use the link above my signature to help you out if necessary

How many ram slots on the board does it have and which slots are you using as far as I know there should be 2x2 colored slots take a picture of them one of the slots might be defective ?

 

[tapuz]

okay, sorry for the delay, we experimented with what you wrote. it took a while to find all the variables.
it looks like thrashzone hit it on the button, that there is a faulty ram slot.

we checked the bios and it registered only 4 gb ram.
we tried putting in 2 2 gb ram, and it registered only one of them.
we tried putting in one 4 gb ram in the second slot, and it did not register at all, only when when we put it in the inner slot.
we also tried an identical laptop computer, and only in the outer slot, and no problem, and when we put in 2 x 4 gb, it registered 8 gb.

so it seems to be a physical problem.

thank you very much for the help.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Good detective work
Bad deal you have a defect mobo though hopefully the refurbisher steps up and does the right thing