HALF MY RAM IS "HARDWARE RESERVED" (12.1gb out of 24gb total)

[SolarDare]

Good Day to all

This is my first time posting and I come seeking for help regarding "Hardware Reserve" RAM

First off here is my pc specs - 
Ryzen 5 2600
Gigabyte B450m DS3H
24GB 2400mhz DDR4 ( 2x 4gb, 2x 8gb)
GTX 1650S
1tb wd blue
Corsair vs550w  

Just the other when I was playing video games I noticed how my performance was significantly slower than it used to be I checked Task Manager to view the performance tab and was worried when I saw that ram usage was high. Upon further inspection, I wondered why it said that the total amount of ram that was available for use was 11gb despite it stating that I have a total of 24gb installed. That's when I realized that half of my total ram was under "Hardware Reserve"

Now I've tried fixing the problem myself by way of, regedit (setting the value to 1), msconfig (unchecking boxes in the advanced boot options), and swapping the positions of my ram (although I haven't tried putting identical rams side by side i.e slot 1&2 - 8gb sticks, 3&4 - 4gb sticks). I would like to note that my ram sticks are also of different brands. The two 4gb sticks are generic (will look into it, but these are the sticks that I built my pc with in the first place and only then upgraded the extra 2x 8gb sticks, BEFORE ADDING THE EXTRA 16GB MY SYSTEM USED ALL 8GB OF RAM)

But alas I had no luck in the following solutions

I was wondering if this meant I had faulty ram, but as I stated - before upgrading the extra 16gb, all of my 8gb ram was used, whereas now with the 2x 8gb sticks installed, I have 11gb available for use

Hoping someone could help, it would be much appreciated

[NTDaws]

Definitely possible due to different brands and different sizes that this will cause issues. The only thing I can recommend is reseating the RAM. Otherwise the likely scenarios are due to the fact you are using different brands and sizes.

[Master Disaster]

The weird thing here is that the 12GB shown as usable doesn't match up to either the 8GB or 16GB sets you have which means its either using 4GB out of the 16GB or its ignoring 4GB of the 16GB (and the 8GB).

 

If you pull the 2x4GB sticks out do you get 16GB usable?

[SolarDare]

6 minutes ago, Dawson Wehage said:

Definitely possible due to different brands and different sizes that this will cause issues. The only thing I can recommend is reseating the RAM. Otherwise the likely scenarios are due to the fact you are using different brands and sizes.

Regarding the reseating of ram - I've already done so, swapping their original positions form SLOT 1&3 - 4GB STICKS, SLOT 2&4 - 8GB STICKS to vise versa. Although I haven't tried reseating them with each identical pair next to each other (will post if it works soon)

I was afraid the difference of the brands would be the case, but the thing is it still reads as a total of 24gb and gives me the available 11gb with the rest as hardware reserve. So the former 8gb total ram was upgraded to 11gb while half of the total 24gb is now hardware reserve. (correct me if Im wrong in this statement because I threw even myself in a loop trying to explain lol)

[SolarDare]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

The weird thing here is that the 12GB shown as usable doesn't match up to either the 8GB or 16GB sets you have which means its either using 4GB out of the 16GB or its ignoring 4GB of the 16GB (and the 8GB).

 

If you pull the 2x4GB sticks out do you get 16GB usable?

I will be trying this later and will get back to you.
You have a point here because it will probably help determine if there is a faulty stick

[SolarDare]

I'd like to thank @Master Disasterand @Dawson Wehagefor trying to help in this endeavour
I am pleased to report that my problem has been fixed by way of - SEATING THE IDENTICAL RAM STICK NEXT TO EACH OTHER ( Slots 1&2 - 8gb sticks, Slots 3&4 - 4gb sticks)
My system now shows that I have over 23gb of ram available for use with 50mb+ as Hardware Reserved

Any and all who may face the same dilemma, I advise you to exercise the same means I have in order to thoroughly assess the matter.
1. Reseat the sticks and test if it fixes the problem if not continue to - 

2. Update BIOS
2. Uncheck the boxes in the msconfig Advanced boot options (tutorial can be found online)

3. Set value to 1 in regedit (tutorial found online simply use "Hardware Reserve Fix" keywords)

 

I hope this proves helpful to any and all who may need it

[Stashu]

On 1/17/2021 at 2:47 AM, SolarDare said:

I'd like to thank @Master Disasterand @Dawson Wehagefor trying to help in this endeavour
I am pleased to report that my problem has been fixed by way of - SEATING THE IDENTICAL RAM STICK NEXT TO EACH OTHER ( Slots 1&2 - 8gb sticks, Slots 3&4 - 4gb sticks)
My system now shows that I have over 23gb of ram available for use with 50mb+ as Hardware Reserved

Any and all who may face the same dilemma, I advise you to exercise the same means I have in order to thoroughly assess the matter.
1. Reseat the sticks and test if it fixes the problem if not continue to - 

2. Update BIOS
2. Uncheck the boxes in the msconfig Advanced boot options (tutorial can be found online)

3. Set value to 1 in regedit (tutorial found online simply use "Hardware Reserve Fix" keywords)

 

I hope this proves helpful to any and all who may need it

you.. put the identical sticks in a1&a2? and 2nd set of identical sticks to b1,b2? im very confused.