8 gb RAM Only 3.9gb usable

[iidivineprods]

I've had this problem ever since i built my computer and its just been annoying me.

I have windows 7 ultimate 64 bit
AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core
Asus M5A97 EVO ATX AM3+
G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM
MSI GeForce GTX 650 2GB
NZXT Guardian 921 RB ATX Mid Tower

I have also enabled time remapping PLEASE HELP!
THANK YOU!

 

[P1nnacle]

Make sure the ram is fully seated in its slot

Make sure the RAM is in the right slots (colors are the same or you have placed them in the slots the motherboard manual told you to put them in)

 

[ShaBaz Khan]

your bios needs update...have you updated it?

 

[ShaBaz Khan]

Are you running 32 bit Windows? If so, you will be limited to 3.75 Gb of ram.

he wrote windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

 

[P1nnacle]

Are you running 32 bit Windows? If so, you will be limited to 3.75 Gb of ram.

he wrote windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

Just noticed that. Updated post, thanks.

 

[Barhumbug]

MIght be worth checking this out:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1696236/solution-8gb-installed-9gb-usable-similar-problem.html

 

[iidivineprods]

UPDATE: I have updated my BIOS but didn't do anything.
I have also tested both of my ram sticks and they work fine and i did everything that Barhumbug has suggested and it still says 3.9gb usable.

After i rebooted my pc after BIOS update, it said that i have 3.92gb ram usable. I have no idea what i have to do.

 

[P1nnacle]

Do you have the CPU power plugged in on your motherboard? It's an additional 4 pin or 8 pin connector near the CPU.

 

[iidivineprods]

Yes i have all of my cables plugged in properly

 

[P1nnacle]

Does all of your Memory show up, but only half is usable?

 

[iidivineprods]

Yeah in system properties it says that i have 8gb ram but it also says that only 3.9gb is usable

 

[P1nnacle]

Try entering the BIOS on your system and go to the advance tab, enable the remap feature (if you have it)

 

[iidivineprods]

I have already done that 🙁

 

[bobgbob]

I had the same problem.

I think that the answer to fixing this problem is to reduce the speed of the RAM manually by one speed level in the BIOS I reduced mine from 1600 Mhz to 1333Mhz. (The actual hardware speed of my Crucial chips are both 1600MHz. My RAM chips are both Crucial BLS4G3D1609DS1S00. They are not recommended by ASUS for the board. The nearest recommendation is Crucial BLT4G3D1608DT1TX0.16FM(XMP). Maybe the motherboard's BIOS is not stable yet. I loaded the latest BIOS version ie. Version 2101 dated Oct 2013 but this didn't fix the problem.

I then turned off the whole computer at the power socket in the wall. Afterwards, I switched the power on at the socket but made sure that I did not press the power button on the computer. (You must do it this way to get the MeMOK! button to work). I pressed the MeMOK! button on my Asus M5A97 R2.0 motherboard (It is near the RAM chips on the motherboard - see the manual of the motherboard). The MeMOK! light flashed a few times and made noises. The computer loaded up to the point on the BIOS where it asked me to press the F1 key and then save the changes that it made to the BIOS. I did all this and the system recognised my 8GB of RAM.

If this does not work I found that I got it to work by turning off the computer at the wall socket so that there is no power lights on the motherboard again. I then took out both the RAM chips and put them back into the same slots again (ie. the two blue sockets). I think that this seemed to tell the computer that the chips are new chips on the board. I turned on the power at the socket and then pressed the MeMOK! button again. The computer loaded up the BIOS to where it asked me to press the F1 key and then save the changes that it made to the BIOS (ie. save the changes when you exit the BIOS). I did all this and I found that I got the BIOS and Windows to recognise my 8GB RAM.

I found this out because I took out my RAM chips to find out their speed etc. After I took them out the system recognised my 8GB of RAM but said that only 3.9GB was useable again as before. Once you have got it to work leave your RAM chips in the sockets and there won't be any problems.

You might have to do all this a number of times to get it to work. I can't guarantee that it will work for you but I can say that it has definitely worked for me. I have since shut my computer down and reloaded it a number of times and it still recognises the 8GB without any problems.

(As you know to get into the BIOS on an ASUS you press the delete key or the F2 key when the message appears on the screen when you are loading up the computer (ie booting the computer). I write this to help others that don't understand how to get into the BIOS. Then you click on the "Advanced" button (F7 key or use the mouse if I remember correctly). Find the "Memory Speed" (I think it in the "Tweek" menu and change it. Then save your changes when you "exit" from the BIOS.)

I now have the full 8GB working properly without the 3.9GB useable message. I also notice that the Microsoft RAM speed moved from 5.9 to 7.4 when I did a new Speed check. It seemed to think that I changed my hardware and asked me to do the speed check again after I fixed the RAM to work properly. Everything works beautifully now.

This all looks very complicated but it isn't really. I have tried to includes as much detail as possible so that anyone can do it. Print this out to help you do it.

 

[Lukewlff]

Thanks bobgbob for posting you solution! I was playing a game when I got a blue screen ( shutting of my PC) and When windows 7 ultimate loaded again it was saying that only 4.5GB was usable out of 8GB. I have an ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard and 8GB (2 sticks of 4GB) of 1866MHz G. Skill Ripjaws X series. I tried updating my bios and that didn't work, but I did what you said by going into bios lowering my MHz even lower than what it already was and turned my PC from power socket then turned it back on through hitting the MeMOK button and loaded into the bios with it registering 8GB! thanks so much!

Not that it matters to me but Windows 7 used to say all 8GB was usable but now it says 7.42 GB are usable.