Question Hardware reserved memory issue

[doctorazubah]

Hi,

I have 16g installed on my PC. But only 7.96GB is shown as usable.

I've tried removal of both sticks, each works individually as 8g, with no suppression of any RAM.

I've tried msconfig, maximum memory fix.

My Bios is Gigabyte EUFI dualbios and I cannot find any options, at all, to do with the GPU. Or any other Bios fix. Both sticks are showed as installed and in use in the Bios as well.

Though it is showing all 16g in Bios as operating with no issues.

I have a Nvidia card. There is no onboard graphics, nor was there ever.

This is doing my head in. The Memory Use tab days it's holding 8gb for hardware. But with no onboard graphics (My card has it's own 6g) I can't see why my Bios would want to keep 8gb in reserve.

I have windows 10 Home edition installed. 64bit.

Any help would be a godsend.

 

[kanewolf]

Were these two 8GB DIMMs purchased as a set? Have you run MEMTEST86 to see if there are any errors? Are you trying to run XMP?

 

[doctorazubah]

They are a set yes.
I have not yet run Memtest86.
XMP is set to Profile 1.

I originally had 2 x4g sticks, replaced with 2x8g.

 

[kanewolf]

They are a set yes.
I have not yet run Memtest86.
XMP is set to Profile 1.

I originally had 2 x4g sticks, replaced with 2x8g.

Have you verified that your motherboard supports 16GB RAM? What motherboard do you have?

You could try running without XMP enabled.

 

[doctorazubah]

It's a gigabyte uefi dualbios 970a-ds3p, so yes to supporting 16g.

I will try turning XMP off once I get home. Hopefully that does some good.

 

[kanewolf]

Yeah, the gigabyte web page says 16GB/slot is OK so 8GB DIMMs isn't the issue. Has this RAM ever worked correctly?

 

[doctorazubah]

It's brand new RAM. And it works perfectly when solo. Tried both sticks. 8g no reserve. But together, it seems to withhold half. And they were a pair when bought. Sealed packaging.

 

[kanewolf]

Usually "hardware reserved" means that the motherboard and the DIMMs have compatibility issues. If you had any manual overclock or other RAM related BIOS tweaks, you need to reset you BIOS to defaults for RAM.

 

[doctorazubah]

Will turning XMP to disabled do this? Or do I need to select reset Bios to default?

 

[kanewolf]

Will turning XMP to disabled do this? Or do I need to select reset Bios to default?

If it was me, I would take notes (or photos) of each BIOS page, especially storage settings. Then reset the BIOS to defaults and apply the non-RAM changes. Then I would run MEMTEST for 6 to 12 hours. If it comes back clean then I would try to boot the OS.

 

[doctorazubah]

Just turning off XMP gave me a can't boot situation. So no go.

Also a load defualt settings only dropped the ram speed from 1899 to 1366. but didn't stop 8g being reserved.

 

[kanewolf]

Just turning off XMP gave me a can't boot situation. So no go.

Also a load defualt settings only dropped the ram speed from 1899 to 1366. but didn't stop 8g being reserved.

Then you have RAM that is incompatible with your motherboard. Or you have a memory hardware problem. If you RMA, you will have to send both DIMMs back to the manufacturer. You can at least go back to your two 4GB DIMMs. I don't have any other recommendations. If running at 1333 didn't resolve it, I don't know what will.

 

[doctorazubah]

G.SKILL RipjawsX 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1866MHz (PC3 14900) Ultra Performance Desktop Memory 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM Model F3-14900CL10S.

I'm sure this is compatible with my gigabyte ga-970a-ds3p motherboard. Else the RAM wouldnt work at all, surely.

Thanks for the help though. I'm quite new at This, and learning as I go.

 

[Calvin7]

RipjawsX - F3-14900CL10S-8GBXL
Memory modules sold as Singles are not guaranteed to be compatible in any other configuration other than as a Single module.

If your want to use two, buy a kit of two. Memory is guaranteed in the form sold.

 

[01hunterv]

RipjawsX - F3-14900CL10S-8GBXL
Memory modules sold as Singles are not guaranteed to be compatible in any other configuration other than as a Single module.

If your want to use two, buy a kit of two. Memory is guaranteed in the form sold.

If you had read the thread, you would know that this is not the problem. Doctorazubah purchased an entirely new kit that is 2 8gb sticks. It was sold as 1 kit, so it was tested and worked before sold.

 

[01hunterv]

I am having this same Issue.

Specs: Asus Prime X370 Pro
Ryzen 1700x
32gbs Hyper X DDR4

I originally installed 1 kit of 2x 8gb sticks and was having the same problem, 8.1gbs was being recognized in the task manager memory performance tab and 7.9 was being used as "Hardware Reserved." and I could not find the solution anywhere.

I purchased an additional kit of the exact same ram 2x 8gb sticks as well and now the problem persists, but with 16.1gb in use and 15.9 as Hardware reserve. (I already understand that 2 separate kits are not guaranteed to work together, but I am certain that this is not the issue because of the details in this forum and others just like it I have read. Continuing to point this out will not help me solve the problem so stop saying it) The Hyper X Ram is listed as Compatible with the X370 Prime Pro Motherboard so this shouldn't be the problem either.

I read on a form of someone who replaced their motherboard with a new one and it solved the issue, it seems as though that specific X370 he was using had a damaged DIMM. However, the seller replaced it with an entirely new model (A crosshair hero iv) and all 32 gigs worked so it is unconfirmed if the issue was with the X370 model or just that specific board. I contacted ASUS about the issue, and am in the process of receiving a new board. I will update the forum if this seems to be my issue.

It is also worth noting that if this is as common of a problem as it is, there is probably something we are missing, and this new board will not fix the issue.

 

[gskill support]

Make sure to have the latest BIOS. This issue can be almost anything so it will require some troubleshooting to isolate. Very possible it is not the same cause for both cases.