16gb ram installed, bios and os see 8gb, cpu-z and memtest86+ see 16gb

[dbruce]

Hi, I have exhausted all of my personal knowledge and need some help troubleshooting this. First off, some background: I have been having issues for almost a year now where my computer would freeze during various tasks. Not often, but maybe has happened 6 or 7 times now. Twice it happened during an program installation or repair of one that caused my OS install to become corrupted and required a fresh reinstall of Windows. I have not been able to replicate this, it seems very random. In the process of checking my ram I ended up corrupting my OS as well somehow. I'm not entirely sure the freezing is connected to my RAM issue, but felt I should mention it just in case. 

 

Yesterday I noticed my system was using 80% memory with only a few chrome windows open and thought it strange. Looking closer I noticed it was only recognizing 8gb of RAM, when I have 16 (4x4gb) installed. So to troubleshoot, I popped out all my ram and individually reinsterted them, booted into the bios to check them to see each stick appearing to work just fine. So, I tried 2 sticks in every combination possible, but it showed 8gb no matter what. Then I tried 3 in each combination and only get 8gb now, same as with all 4 sticks. Thought that was strange. Checking CPU-Z I noticed it acknowledges all 4 sticks of ram being present. But task manager says 2 of 4 slots being used. There is only 50mb of RAM reserved for hardware. Memtest86+ shows all 4 sticks available, and no errors in 2 full passes. BIOS are up to date.

 

Totally at a loss of what else to try. The RAM is not new, and I haven't changed the BIOS in quiet awhile, this just appeared recently as far as I know. I'm going to try clearing CMOS when I get home, but if that doesn't work, I'm totally at a loss of how to troubleshoot further. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.

[Fasauceome]

Gotta know what CPU, motherboard, and ram. Also, a BIOS update can't hurt

[homeap5]

Try to unlink them in BIOS (disable DUAL channel). And check then.

[Lordclouds]

7 minutes ago, dbruce said:

Hi, I have exhausted all of my personal knowledge and need some help troubleshooting this. First off, some background: I have been having issues for almost a year now where my computer would freeze during various tasks. Not often, but maybe has happened 6 or 7 times now. Twice it happened during an program installation or repair of one that caused my OS install to become corrupted and required a fresh reinstall of Windows. I have not been able to replicate this, it seems very random. In the process of checking my ram I ended up corrupting my OS as well somehow. I'm not entirely sure the freezing is connected to my RAM issue, but felt I should mention it just in case. 

 

Yesterday I noticed my system was using 80% memory with only a few chrome windows open and thought it strange. Looking closer I noticed it was only recognizing 8gb of RAM, when I have 16 (4x4gb) installed. So to troubleshoot, I popped out all my ram and individually reinsterted them, booted into the bios to check them to see each stick appearing to work just fine. So, I tried 2 sticks in every combination possible, but it showed 8gb no matter what. Then I tried 3 in each combination and only get 8gb now, same as with all 4 sticks. Thought that was strange. Checking CPU-Z I noticed it acknowledges all 4 sticks of ram being present. But task manager says 2 of 4 slots being used. There is only 50mb of RAM reserved for hardware. Memtest86+ shows all 4 sticks available, and no errors in 2 full passes. BIOS are up to date.

 

Totally at a loss of what else to try. The RAM is not new, and I haven't changed the BIOS in quiet awhile, this just appeared recently as far as I know. I'm going to try clearing CMOS when I get home, but if that doesn't work, I'm totally at a loss of how to troubleshoot further. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.

Reinstall windows .remember to format it. Check if you have your bios updated. Interchange memory sticks two see if the other to show up.

[homeap5]

24 minutes ago, Lordclouds said:

Reinstall windows .remember to format it. Check if you have your bios updated. Interchange memory sticks two see if the other to show up.

What? Reinstall Windows if problem is hardware and even BIOS see only 8 GB?

Problem is with BIOS or with ram compatibility, not in system.

I bought new mouse - should I reinstall system? Damn, when this reinstalling madness ends?

 

[Lordclouds]

1 minute ago, homeap5 said:

What? Reinstall Windows if problem is hardware and even BIOS see only 8 GB?

Problem is with BIOS or with ram compatibility, not in system.

I bought new mouse - should I reinstall system? Damn, when this reinstalling madness ends?

 

Windows automatically download updates that could mess up with your drivers is to make sure that is not windows issues and to freshly reinstall drivers. It is a necessary step.Another way could be to roll back but a fresh install is better.

[Lordclouds]

Just now, Lordclouds said:

Windows automatically download updates that could mess up with your drivers is to make sure that is not windows issues and to freshly reinstall drivers. It is a necessary step.Another way could be to roll back but a fresh install is better.

And if bios sees it then it points to windows being the issue lol.

[homeap5]

10 minutes ago, Lordclouds said:

Windows automatically download updates that could mess up with your drivers is to make sure that is not windows issues and to freshly reinstall drivers. It is a necessary step.Another way could be to roll back but a fresh install is better.

No, it's just the only way you can "fix" any problems. Leave system alone, some people really work on it instead of having fun by reinstalling system all the time.

 

And lol - read topic title, lol man.

[Lordclouds]

3 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

No, it's just the only way you can "fix" any problems. Leave system alone, some people really work on it instead of having fun by reinstalling system all the time.

 

And lol - read topic title, lol man.

If I had that issue I would reinstall windows and I work too. Windows takes like 30 min to install.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, Lordclouds said:

If I had that issue I would reinstall windows and I work too. Windows takes like 30 min to install.

Still it's not showing in bios. Very unlikely that reinstall would help, would waste all the time to redownload programs and files.

[homeap5]

7 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Still it's not showing in bios. Very unlikely that reinstall would help, would waste all the time to redownload programs and files.

I noticed that some people must using only system without any programs or even settings, because they think that reinstall takes only 30 minutes. For real users it may take even days to restore everything.

[Lordclouds]

7 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

I noticed that some people must using only system without any programs or even settings, because they think that reinstall takes only 30 minutes. For real users it may take even days to restore everything.

I work as a music producer so reinstalling takes me 30 to 40 mins max

[homeap5]

12 minutes ago, Lordclouds said:

I work as a music producer so reinstalling takes me 30 to 40 mins max

Interesting. Music producer that don't must reinstall all VST plugins (some of them probably needs also serial codes).

Nevermind, just don't say "reinstall windows" like you know where is a problem.

 

[Lordclouds]

4 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Interesting. Music producer that don't must reinstall all VST plugins (some of them probably needs also serial codes).

Nevermind, just don't say "reinstall windows" like you know where is a problem.

 

When I say reinstall I mean to restore a previous point in which the system work, should've stated that my bad

[Lordclouds]

Just now, Lordclouds said:

When I say reinstall I mean to restore a previous point in which the system work, should've stated that my bad

my vst's are external and portable so I can use them on any pc

[dbruce]

Hi, just got back home and am going through the comments now. I mentioned in the initial post that my OS install was corrupted and required a fresh install. I checked to see if I could disable dual channel that was mentioned earlier and I did not notice anything that would allow me to do that in the bios. Also the BIOS are up to date.

 

As for the specs I am running an i7 3770k on an Asus Sabertooth z77 with G.Skill DDR3 4x4GB

[homeap5]

2 hours ago, dbruce said:

Hi, just got back home and am going through the comments now. I mentioned in the initial post that my OS install was corrupted and required a fresh install. I checked to see if I could disable dual channel that was mentioned earlier and I did not notice anything that would allow me to do that in the bios. Also the BIOS are up to date.

 

As for the specs I am running an i7 3770k on an Asus Sabertooth z77 with G.Skill DDR3 4x4GB

Well, you're right. There is no option is ASUS bios for that. It's probably the only case when MSI has option that Asus don't.

 

Still, it was only my guessing. Are you sure that every pair of your ram is placed proper? A2+B2 and A1+B1?

 

Also - this may help:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?58734-HELP-only-8gb-ram-recognized-by-windows-with-16gb-installed

see last post from first page with explanation, but still read everything there. Is not your motherboard, but it's basically the same problem.

[dbruce]

 

7 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Well, you're right. There is no option is ASUS bios for that. It's probably the only case when MSI has option that Asus don't.

 

Still, it was only my guessing. Are you sure that every pair of your ram is placed proper? A2+B2 and A1+B1?

 

Also - this may help:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?58734-HELP-only-8gb-ram-recognized-by-windows-with-16gb-installed

see last post from first page with explanation, but still read everything there. Is not your motherboard, but it's basically the same problem.

Hnmm, I have no idea how to tell which 2 ram came together, they all look identical and have been mixed and matched so many times since I bought them. I didn't think it mattered since they were all the same timing and frequencies but I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert, I really have no idea. There is only 4 DIMM slots though and I've tried a ton of different combination, I'm sure at some point I have tried them correctly. Thanks for the link, I'll read through that a bit.