All RAM not being detected

Ok, so I was running Win 7 RC and it was great. Its on a dual boot hard drvie with xp installed. Anyways, one day it wouldnt boot into Win 7, so I ran a scan with Win 7's diagnostic scan and it said I had some sort of hardware problem. I didnt think that was the case since Win XP boots fine. So I talked to a buddy of mine and he told me he had a similar issue and he resolved it by removing all his ram and putting 1 stick at a time back in, and everything was fine afterwards. So I tried the same thing. I have 4 sticks - 2x1GB and 2x512MB. After I tried this method, I all the sudden lost 1 GB of RAM. What I noticed was it was a specific 2 slots on my motherboard that dont seem to be detecting it. I also noticed that my northbridge fan wasnt working. I just finished replacing that. So, does anyone have any idea why or how this may have happened? So far, Ive tried to clean out the RAM slots with some compressed air and I have updated the BIOS. Im considering reseting the CMOS and seeing if maybe its a BIOS issue. Speaking of BIOS, the BIOS also detects only 2 GB. Im pretty sure the chips work as I have checked them on other slots. Any other help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Are you sure your setup was all OK before? If your motherboard is dual channel are you sure the matching sticks are in the proper channels? Usually alternate: 0>2 | 1>3 What exactly is the Windows 7 diagnostic scan?

Well everything was working fine. I honestly hadnt really looked at it in awhile, but I didnt touch anything either. Pretty much I built this computer a few years ago, and not much inside has changed. I have a MSI k8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard. It does support dual channel, and as far as I know, it is installed correctly. Then again, something may have switched up in the process. Like I said, it worked perfect before. The way my mobo has it is there are 2 purple slots and 2 green slots. I put the 2 1GB sticks into the green, and the 2 512's into the purple. And they do alternate. It seems as if the purples are not working. The windows 7 diagnostic scan is a scan you run off the windows disk, almost like pc recovery mode in the earlier version, except automated. I just had it scan my hardware and it apparently found something, but didnt say what. Ill do another scan in the morning.

I am still confused about that scan as I run Windows 7 and am not clear where you see this.

Is this a pre installation scan?


Anyway see what CPU_Z shows:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

the scan is actually the memory diagnostic tool. sorry for the confusion. OK, Ive never used CPU_Z, but I just took a look at the memory and it says type: DDR, size: 3072 MB, channels: Dual. Do you need anything else?

So hardware is showing 3GB. I do not know how this applies to your original question but as to RAM behavior I see no issue. If the original question is in regards to a failed boot into Win 7 could you describe that in more detail?

Well, actually no. My main question (for now) is still with the Ram. CPU_Z shows the 3 GB, but when I go to look at the system details, it shows 2 GB. As for Win 7… When I go to run it, I see the Welcome logo, but right after (9I think the starting part), it just sits there. It never proceeds to actually open Win 7. When I ran the memory scan the first time, it said there was an issue. But Ive ran it twice yesterday and it didnt find anything.

I'll try not to distract from the sequence of diagnostic work you have in process with Jephree. I would ask a couple of questions: 1. When you boot into Window XP, does system information recognize all of your RAM? 2. What is it that leads you to conclude that the "purple" (second paired channels) RAM modules are the ones not being recognized in Win 7? (does the same occur in Windows XP?) 3. If you run MS Memory Diagnostic in Windows XP, what result is being reported?

Ok, for the XP system info, it only shows 2 GB. As for the purple slots, I know this because when I first noticed, i switched out one of the 1 GB sticks for the 512, and it showed a difference. But not when I changed anything in the purple slot. And for the third, I didnt know xp had a memory diagnostic. How do I run it. PS: I am moving tomorrow morning and may not be able to reply here for a bit (hopefully not more than a week). Please dont close this thread.

Memory Diagnostic for XP
http://forums.whatthetech.com/How_Test_Mem…ms_t103823.html

Hope your move goes well.

Hello again, Sorry for the long wait. So I am running the windows memory diagnostic and I am not sure how long I am supposed to run it. So far, it has gone 4 passes with no error. Anyways, heres a quick review/update of whats going on. I have 3 gb of ram installed, 2 1gb modules, and 2 512mb modules. On my motherboard is 4 dimm slots, 2 green, 2 purple. The green ones pick up the installed ram while the purple ones dont seem too. I actually uninstalled all my ram, and placed one of the chips in the purple slot by itself and it my system wouldnt boot up. Now, the weird part is that when I run CPU-Z, it says 3 gb of ram and identifies the individual chips in all 4 dimm slots correctly. So I hope you can continue helping me and hope to get this issue resolved! Thanks again!

Hi BigMatt,

Welcome back. Hope your move went smoothly.

I'm not likely to be of much help to your with this issue.
I'll see if I can round up a couple of Hardware Techs who may be better equipped.

Here's an interesting and, at face-value, informative review of your board:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?art…1770&page=3

By virtue of reading your prior posts, it appears that you "may" never have been running the full 3gb of RAM.

However, running outside of the Windows environment, CPU-Z apparently "detects" all 3.
That doesn't necessarily mean that all three "function".

I wonder if the 1gb and 512mb sticks have different timing and voltage tolerances.
And further that in order to benefit from both, you may have to fall back to the best settings of the lesser of the two types. Or alternatively purchase two additional sticks identical in all ways to the two 1gb sticks.
Your MoBo BIOS seems to give you plenty of control for experimentation.
______________–

Now in contrast to the above discussion, another factor may be a roadblock.

It seems to me that you have indicated that either RAM stick detects in the Purple Slots,
But that neither RAM chip detects in the Green Slots.

If this is true, the Green Slots may be faulty.
And that would predict that unless you are a Wizard with a soldering pencil, you may have to make due with only the Purple Slots.

The good news, is that 2gb is plenty for XP and that Windows 7 will run just fine with 2gb.
________________

On yet an additional path of experimentation, it "may" be possible to "under-clock" the entire system, and then gradually increase the values to determine the fasted functioning your board will tolerate while allowing all four RAM Slots to function.
________________

Like I said, I'm not likely to give you good instructions on this issue, and you should not take any of my statements to be instruction, only suggestion of possible avenues of research.

I'll see if I can russel up some better help.

Now I have a Question:
Is there a separate persistent problem, that is:
Are you "never" able to boot fully into Windows 7 ???

That would probably be a separate issue. Please let us know.

Best Regards

I actually uninstalled all my ram, and placed one of the chips in the purple slot by itself and it my system wouldnt boot up.

Greetings again,

Beyond Doug's ideas and advice I pick up on the line I quote.

Can you verify:

Using a single stick of RAM:

With it in either Green slot it will boot?

With it in either Purple slot it will not boot?

If so I would come to the same conclusion that the slots are shot.

If this is the case and if the board is beyond an RMA and if you want more than 2GB I'd suggest getting 2 x 2 GB.


That being said I agree with Doug that 2GB should be all you need for decent performance under average usage.

With Windows 7 64bit and 4GB RAM my system only utilizes @ 1.25GB unless I am running high end games.

Ok. So for the ram, I have had all 3 gb show. It was fine before I pulled them out. Then it was the purple slots that arent detecting. Both of the green slots detect just fine, but the ram in the purple slots dont show. As for Win 7, it wouldnt boot at all, until recently, I just reseated the ram the other night, and now win 7 starts, but still showing only 2 gb of ram. Also, after 67 passes of the windows diagnostic test, no problems were found.

I am just posting again as I think we were typing at the same time and perhaps you did not see my post. Anyway the RAM appears to be OK so I would try the slot test as noted in my last post.