[SOLVED] Gigabyte Gaming 3 Memory slots 8gb hardware reserved

[grmius]

gigabyte gaming 3 ab350
2 - 8gb DDR4 G.SKILL Flare X Series Model F4-3200C14D-16GFX
Windows 10

Motherboard with 2-8gb memory sticks. Task manager shows 16gb memory today, but 8gb is hardware reserved. Troubleshooting this to make sure memory slots and sticks are good, I put 1 stick in slot 1, booted, shut off the computer, moved the stick to slot 2, booted, etc. Did that for both sticks, and all 4 memory slots( so 8 boots total if that helps). The slots, closest to the cpu to farthest from the cpu, are 4, 2, 3, 1.
With either stick in slot 4, the computer boots.
With either stick in slot 2, the computer boots.
With either stick in slot 3, the computer doesn't boot, no harddrive activity light illuminated, fans turn on,and no video displayed on the screen..
With either stick in slot 1, the computer doesn't boot, no harddrive activity light illuminated, fans turn on,and no video displayed on the screen.

I also noticed that the CVL list for the memory shows model F4-3200C14Q2-64GVK, which is different from I purchased...F4-3200C14D-16GFX. I thought I had purchased the CVL memory, but apparently I did not. I realize that uncertified memory is hit or miss, but I would like to get 8gb Hardware reserved resolved.So the questions I have is:

1. Is it normal that only the 2 slots closest to the cpu, with a memory module installed will boot? Or should the computer boot with 1 stick of memory in any of the slots?
2. If the 2 slots farthest from the cpu shouldn't boot the computer(which would indicate my slots and sticks are all good), any suggestions on how to get the 8gb that is hardware reserved to be usable? Would increasing voltage possibly help?

 

[dvo]

i have that same board. you want the ram in the two red slots (slots 1 and 2). to get all 16 gb available in windows you need to go into the bios and enable XMP and enable the XMP profile.

 

[grmius]

i have that same board. you want the ram in the two red slots (slots 1 and 2). to get all 16 gb available in windows you need to go into the bios and enable XMP and enable the XMP profile.

I have reset my bios by removing the battery for a few minutes, then reinstalling it. Booted into Bios, enabled XMP profile to Profile 1, and also changed cpu to 3.3 mhz(Ryzen 3 1200). Saved then exited, rebooted and Task Manager still shows 8 GB hardware reserved.

The memory in the bios I believe was setup for 3200, however, Task Manager shows it to be at 2400Mhz...so I wonder if increasing the voltage to the RAM, which I'm not sure how to do, would provide enough voltage to power both sticks properly?

 

[dvo]

if the ram was set to 3200 and tried to boot without enough voltage then it would fail to boot. it wouldn't lower the clock speed to boot, unless it did fail to boot and automatically reset the bios back to default settings on its next try. if it booted up on first try and is reading 2400 in windows then something isn't set correctly in the bios. i would go back into your bios and double check the XMP enabled properly and is set to 3200. side note: ive had a few friends with 3200 ram sticks that simply will not boot at 3200 without using slower timings on their ryzen machines. they've all had to back down to around 2933 or so. i would perhaps try some happy medium like 2600 just to see if settings are setting properly. If there is a Profile 2 I would try it as well.

that said, IF XMP is indeed enabling properly I don't know why you wouldn't have all 16gb available now. on my system (same motherboard, ryzen 5 1600 and Team ddr4 3000 memory) i had the 8gb reserved issue and setting up XMP solved it for me.

another side note: i suggest before overclocking the CPU, get the ram working at stock speeds first

 

[grmius]

if the ram was set to 3200 and tried to boot without enough voltage then it would fail to boot. it wouldn't lower the clock speed to boot, unless it did fail to boot and automatically reset the bios back to default settings on its next try. if it booted up on first try and is reading 2400 in windows then something isn't set correctly in the bios. i would go back into your bios and double check the XMP enabled properly and is set to 3200. side note: ive had a few friends with 3200 ram sticks that simply will not boot at 3200 without using slower timings on their ryzen machines. they've all had to back down to around 2933 or so. i would perhaps try some happy medium like 2600 just to see if settings are setting properly. If there is a Profile 2 I would try it as well.

that said, IF XMP is indeed enabling properly I don't know why you wouldn't have all 16gb available now. on my system (same motherboard, ryzen 5 1600 and Team ddr4 3000 memory) i had the 8gb reserved issue and setting up XMP solved it for me.

another side note: i suggest before overclocking the CPU, get the ram working at stock speeds first

I unplugged, pulled the battery, bios is now reset, cpu back to 3.1 MHZ(default). I enabled XMP, used Profile 1 which is the only profile available. Booted and Task Manager still shows 8 GB Hardware Reserved. I have stepped the memory all the way to down to 1666, and at each step Task Manager still shows 8GB Hardware Reserved. Currently I have the memory set at 2133. I have also changed the Voltage on the memory from the default setting of 1.2 to 1.3 and 1.35, still showed 8GB hardware reserved, so changing that made no difference. One thing I'm not sure about is when I changed the voltage for A/B, there seems to be 2 fields.... AUTO 1.2, which seems like it means A is on Auto, and B is set at 1.2. However, the only value I could change was the AUTO, so after I changed it, the voltage for A/B in the bios was set as 1.3 1.2.....so not sure if that 2nd field can be changed or not....but regardless, that didn't seem to make a difference. I did lower the voltage down to 1.0, and the machine didn't boot, so reset the bios and started over again.

Here's some screen shots if that helps:

 

[dvo]

hmm. im not really sure now. i do see in cpu-z that your memory should be 1.35v to run at full speed. it MAY be defaulting to 1.20, but on mine the XMP profile changed the voltage for me. I also see you have the chips in slots 2 and 4. if memory serves, that means you have one chip in a red slot and one in a black slot? they should both be in the red slots, which are labeled 1 and 2.

From the manual for the Gigabyte GA-AB350 Gaming 3:

https://imgur.com/a/ZuTJ2Mf

https://imgur.com/a/d01K5vD

 

[grmius]

hmm. im not really sure now. i do see in cpu-z that your memory should be 1.35v to run at full speed. it MAY be defaulting to 1.20, but on mine the XMP profile changed the voltage for me. I also see you have the chips in slots 2 and 4. if memory serves, that means you have one chip in a red slot and one in a black slot? they should both be in the red slots, which are labeled 1 and 2.

From the manual for the Gigabyte GA-AB350 Gaming 3:

https://imgur.com/a/ZuTJ2Mf

https://imgur.com/a/d01K5vD

My board is labelled, starting at the memory slot closest to the cpu(which is similar to the 2nd image you provided)
DDR4-4 which is black
DDR4-2 which is red
DDR4-3 which is black
DDR4-1 which is red.

I had the memory in both the red slots, which were DDR4-1 and DDR4-2 when I t took those previous screen shots that cpuz showed them in slot 2 and slot 4. I assume that cpuz is going by the count of closest to the cpu to farthest, so that would make the 2 red slots, as #2 and #4 when starting at the cpu, but as I'm not all that familiar with CPU-Z, that is only an assumption.

On a whim, I have now moved the memory sticks to DDR4-4(black) and DDR4-2(red), which is in opposition of the recommended configuration that is in the manual and the 1st image you provided. CPU-Z now shows the memory is slot 1 and slot 2...similar to what you stated CPU-Z displayed your system. Task Manager now shows 16 GB available, and 48.2 MB Hardware reserved. I will attach screenshots. This seems like it is recognizing all of the memory, however, I noticed that CPU-Z lists the memory as Single, rather than DUAL like it originally did when I had 8GB Hardware reserved. So is the memory acting as dual channel, or as 2 separate sticks? I'm a little perplexed..

 

[dvo]

that is very strange. i've never seen anything like that. i do know that running one in red and one in black will for sure give you single channel instead of dual, so CPU-Z appears to be recognizing that correctly. but as to why you're not getting the full 16 with it in the proper configuration is perplexing. have you tried the ram in the pair of black slots? the manual states that as an acceptable configuration as well, but I don't see how it would behave differently than the red slots. it's worth a try if you haven't already though.

if i get a chance here in the next day or two i'll see if i can duplicate that on one of my systems. my own system has a pair of 8gb chips in it but i only have two slots (ITX board). my daughter's board is higher end and has 4 slots but she only has a pair of 4's in it lol. if i get a chance i'll try my ram in her board and see if i can duplicate it. i vaguely remember though that her board would actually pause pre-post to tell me the ram wasn't in the ideal slots though when i got it wrong the first time.

i don't suppose you have access to someone else's system to try your sticks in, or someone else's ram sticks to try in your motherboard? since your original post stated that the ram you ended up with is very slightly different than the CVL list its not impossible to rule out that there is an incompatibility. first gen ryzen chips are somewhat known for ram issues, though I have built 3 ryzen systems and haven't had any major issues yet.

 

[grmius]

that is very strange. i've never seen anything like that. i do know that running one in red and one in black will for sure give you single channel instead of dual, so CPU-Z appears to be recognizing that correctly. but as to why you're not getting the full 16 with it in the proper configuration is perplexing. have you tried the ram in the pair of black slots? the manual states that as an acceptable configuration as well, but I don't see how it would behave differently than the red slots. it's worth a try if you haven't already though.

if i get a chance here in the next day or two i'll see if i can duplicate that on one of my systems. my own system has a pair of 8gb chips in it but i only have two slots (ITX board). my daughter's board is higher end and has 4 slots but she only has a pair of 4's in it lol. if i get a chance i'll try my ram in her board and see if i can duplicate it. i vaguely remember though that her board would actually pause pre-post to tell me the ram wasn't in the ideal slots though when i got it wrong the first time.

i don't suppose you have access to someone else's system to try your sticks in, or someone else's ram sticks to try in your motherboard? since your original post stated that the ram you ended up with is very slightly different than the CVL list its not impossible to rule out that there is an incompatibility. first gen ryzen chips are somewhat known for ram issues, though I have built 3 ryzen systems and haven't had any major issues yet.

I will see if I can get hold of a couple more sticks, or try someone else's machine in the next few days.

 

[grmius]

UPDATE: I have updated my cpu from Ryzen 3 1200 to Ryzen 5 2600x. In order to recognize the new CPU, I had to upgrade my bios from F10 to F23. Now, my memory is running in dual channel, with only 49MB reserved for hardware. In addition, I have successfully increased the speed of the memory to 3200, the system is stable. So I'm not sure if it was the Ryzen 3 1200 that didn't like the memory and the upgrade to the Ryzn 5 2600x resolved it, or if was the bios update that fixed my 8Gb hardware reserved issue...but either way it's working now.