only 3.24Gb of 8Gb installed RAM used and other RAM issues

[vector72]

okay first of all before people ask this is my RIG:
Foxconn H55MXV
Intel i3 530 @ 2.83GHz
Radeon HD 5770
was 2x2Gb of RAM now trying to move to 2x4Gb

First off just want to say I’ve never swapped out RAM before so this is all kind of new to me.

I installed the new RAM, booted up the PC, everything was fine except when I checked the system information it said 'installed memory (RAM); 8.00Gb (3.24Gb usable)'
(pictures below)
I have so far tried going into the BIOS and enabling the 'Memory Remap Feature' which caused my PC to freeze/ get stuck on the splash screen for the motherboard the big Foxconn logo would appear, and then nothing else would happen. I then spent the next half an hour taking my PC apart to get to the CMOS jumper in order to reset it, putting everything back to normal.

I have since tried enabling 'maximum memory' in the boot options and updating my BIOS. Neither of which have done anything.

I have not yet tried re-enabling the memory remap since making these changed as my CMOS thing is a pain to get to and I'd rather not attempt anything before i know what could have gone wrong the first time I enabled it.

is it literally just that i needed to enable maximum boot memory? or could it be something else?



Sorry long post is long.

 

[AnEwG]

Edit:
Sorry wrong post.

 

[Bob57]

You didn't specify your OS. Are you running a 32bit or a 64bit OS? If 32bit, then that is the max you can access - if you want more, then you need to upgrade to 64bit. If already 64bit, then it gets a little trickier to figure out.

Sorry, I just saw the images you included and I see that you are running 64bit. Next question is back to CPU-Z. It is showing 4GB in one slot, if you have two 4GB sticks (and not one 8GB stick) then this is normal. What does the display show for the additional slots?

Here is a URL from someone who also experienced the same issue, maybe it will help: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/241713-8gb-ram-only-3gb-usable.html

 

[vector72]

Sorry for not specifying in the original description ^^;

yes i have 2 x 4GB sticks, and its exactly the same in the other slot, so that's working fine at least.

Thank you for the link I'll have a look then get back to you.

 

[vector72]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

 

[Quest_Skyrim]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

Did you use the suggestion for running MSCONFIG on your system? You do it by going to windows search (same place you use for searching files or start a program) in widows start menu. Type msconfig and enter. Go to BOOT>Advanced option [button]. It will it will show you BOOT advanced option where the right section should be unticked for maximum memory, if it isn't showing 0 then tick to get access and change it to 0 and click OK to save your change.

Do you see both stick in CPU-Z when you are in SPD view? Can you change between slot#1 and slot#2 or are stuck at slot#1?

 

[vector72]

Okay i have run MemTest and got no errors:

so hopefully that helps ?

 

[vector72]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

Did you use the suggestion for running MSCONFIG on your system? You do it by going to windows search (same place you use for searching files or start a program) in widows start menu. Type msconfig and enter. Go to BOOT>Advanced option [button]. It will it will show you BOOT advanced option where the right section should be unticked for maximum memory, if it isn't showing 0 then tick to get access and change it to 0 and click OK to save your change.

Do you see both stick in CPU-Z when you are in SPD view? Can you change between slot#1 and slot#2 or are stuck at slot#1?

First, yes i am able to switch between both slots on CPU-Z and they are both pretty much the same.

Second, at the moment maximum memory is unticked, with 0 in the box (although it is greyed out):

from what you said, i assume this is what it should be at?

 

[Quest_Skyrim]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

Did you use the suggestion for running MSCONFIG on your system? You do it by going to windows search (same place you use for searching files or start a program) in widows start menu. Type msconfig and enter. Go to BOOT>Advanced option [button]. It will it will show you BOOT advanced option where the right section should be unticked for maximum memory, if it isn't showing 0 then tick to get access and change it to 0 and click OK to save your change.

Do you see both stick in CPU-Z when you are in SPD view? Can you change between slot#1 and slot#2 or are stuck at slot#1?

First, yes i am able to switch between both slots on CPU-Z and they are both pretty much the same.

Second, at the moment maximum memory is unticked, with 0 in the box (although it is greyed out):

from what you said, i assume this is what it should be at?

It is correct. It was Bob57 here in this thread that put a link to it, so you can confirm it your self.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/241713-8gb-ram-only-3gb-usable.html

Are you still not getting access to almost all your memory? How does it look in task manager?

Here you can see I have almost 4 GB RAM (3935 MB) accessible for system.

After you made all these changes, did you restart your system?

 

[vector72]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

Did you use the suggestion for running MSCONFIG on your system? You do it by going to windows search (same place you use for searching files or start a program) in widows start menu. Type msconfig and enter. Go to BOOT>Advanced option [button]. It will it will show you BOOT advanced option where the right section should be unticked for maximum memory, if it isn't showing 0 then tick to get access and change it to 0 and click OK to save your change.

Do you see both stick in CPU-Z when you are in SPD view? Can you change between slot#1 and slot#2 or are stuck at slot#1?

First, yes i am able to switch between both slots on CPU-Z and they are both pretty much the same.

Second, at the moment maximum memory is unticked, with 0 in the box (although it is greyed out):

from what you said, i assume this is what it should be at?

It is correct. It was Bob57 here in this thread that put a link to it, so you can confirm it your self.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/241713-8gb-ram-only-3gb-usable.html

Are you still not getting access to almost all your memory? How does it look in task manager?

Here you can see I have almost 4 GB RAM (3935 MB) accessible for system.

After you made all these changes, did you restart your system?

Yes I've restarted the system since applying the changes, still nothing, and it's not showing up in task manager either:



When i looked in the resource monitor, 4.8Gb of it is 'Hardware reserved' which makes me think it's to do with the BIOS, however i don't know how to fix it...

 

[AnEwG]

Try using one RAM stick to start your system in each slot at a time. If your system fails to boot, it could be either a bad RAM stick or a bad slot.

 

[vector72]

Try using one RAM stick to start your system in each slot at a time. If your system fails to boot, it could be either a bad RAM stick or a bad slot.

Well i just tried every possible combination of slots and stick, there's only 2 of each so not that many, and the PC only booted when both sticks were in, it didn't seem to matter which way round, just that both were in. with only one stick it blue screened when trying to load windows saying 'IRQL not less or equal' if that helps

 

[vector72]

I have also now tried running a windows memory diagnostic, which also found no errors...

 

[AnEwG]

There is no reason your PC wouldn't be able to boot with a single stick. Getting this error can indicate corrupt system files or bad drivers or incompatible or faulty hardware. The first possibility would explain why you got the insert disk message as it was probably asking you to insert Windows 8 disk to copy or replace some corrupt files on your system. But seeing how this problem has started after you swapped your ram there is also a strong possibility that this is a compatibility issues.

 

[vector72]

There is no reason your PC wouldn't be able to boot with a single stick. Getting this error can indicate corrupt system files or bad drivers or incompatible or faulty hardware. The first possibility would explain why you got the insert disk message as it was probably asking you to insert Windows 8 disk to copy or replace some corrupt files on your system. But seeing how this problem has started after you swapped your ram there is also a strong possibility that this is a compatibility issues.

First of all, i don't know where you got the part about inserting a disk from, as i haven't said anything about that.
I will try and boot from a single stick with the old RAM tomorrow to see if its the RAM or just my PC, but i would assume that as i have been able to use these new sticks normally in every way other than in not going above 3.24Gb, it wouldn't be a compatibility issue as they've been in the machine and running quite intensive stuff for the last few days, I just can't get it to recognise the full 8Gb

 

[AnEwG]

Maybe I confused this post with something else since I open multiple tabs at once.
You may want to take a look at this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1653275/fix-irql-equal-error-windows.html

 

[Quest_Skyrim]

Okay I've read through that other forum and it says what seems to be the common answer with this which seems to be going into BIOS and enabling 'Memory Remap' however when I did this it caused my PC to freeze when booting on the screen seen in the second of my pictures in my original post. so i was wondering if
A: i need to leave it at that screen for a while as it sorts stuff out (i left it for about 10 minutes last time)
B: if there are other BIOS settings i need to alter before accepting changes and restarting
C: my PC's borked and i need to rummage around inside to sort it out

Did you use the suggestion for running MSCONFIG on your system? You do it by going to windows search (same place you use for searching files or start a program) in widows start menu. Type msconfig and enter. Go to BOOT>Advanced option [button]. It will it will show you BOOT advanced option where the right section should be unticked for maximum memory, if it isn't showing 0 then tick to get access and change it to 0 and click OK to save your change.

Do you see both stick in CPU-Z when you are in SPD view? Can you change between slot#1 and slot#2 or are stuck at slot#1?

First, yes i am able to switch between both slots on CPU-Z and they are both pretty much the same.

Second, at the moment maximum memory is unticked, with 0 in the box (although it is greyed out):

from what you said, i assume this is what it should be at?

It is correct. It was Bob57 here in this thread that put a link to it, so you can confirm it your self.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/241713-8gb-ram-only-3gb-usable.html

Are you still not getting access to almost all your memory? How does it look in task manager?

Here you can see I have almost 4 GB RAM (3935 MB) accessible for system.

After you made all these changes, did you restart your system?

Yes I've restarted the system since applying the changes, still nothing, and it's not showing up in task manager either:



When i looked in the resource monitor, 4.8Gb of it is 'Hardware reserved' which makes me think it's to do with the BIOS, however i don't know how to fix it...

I agree that it looks fishy. I use approximately 161 MB from my 4GB of RAM on my laptop as Hardware Reserved space when I take a look into Resource Monitor.

Is everything looking OK in Device Manager on your Windows system? There is no problem with yellow exclamation marks or anything?

 

[vector72]

I agree that it looks fishy. I use approximately 161 MB from my 4GB of RAM on my laptop as Hardware Reserved space when I take a look into Resource Monitor.

Is everything looking OK in Device Manager on your Windows system? There is no problem with yellow exclamation marks or anything?[/quotemsg]

Looked in Device Manager and the only thing with a yellow exclamation mark is 'Intel(R) Turbo Boost Technology Driver'

 

[Pinhedd]

Hi,

The H55MXV motherboard from Foxconn has two legacy PCI slots on it. Motherboards that have PCI slots often have a firmware setting to enable/disable memory-hole-remapping. The reason for this is that while the x86 physical address space has exceeded 32 bits since 1995 (although it remains clamped to 32 bits in 32-bit consumer versions of Windows), the PCI bus has a native address space of only 32 bits which without proper support constricts the PCI device view of the system. This presents a compatibility issue for some devices and operating systems, disabling memory-hole-remapping clamps the size of the physical address space to 32 bits.

I have confirmed with your motherboard manual that this feature is present and by default appears to be disabled. Enabling it in the system setup should solve your problem.

You can find more information in your motherboard manual located on page 21

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/driverdownload/Motherboard/Intel/Socket1156/H55MXV/Manual/English/H55MXV%20Series-Manual-En-V1.0.zip

-Pinhedd

 

[vector72]

Hi,

The H55MXV motherboard from Foxconn has two legacy PCI slots on it. Motherboards that have PCI slots often have a firmware setting to enable/disable memory-hole-remapping. The reason for this is that while the x86 physical address space has exceeded 32 bits since 1995 (although it remains clamped to 32 bits in 32-bit consumer versions of Windows), the PCI bus has a native address space of only 32 bits which without proper support constricts the PCI device view of the system. This presents a compatibility issue for some devices and operating systems, disabling memory-hole-remapping clamps the size of the physical address space to 32 bits.

I have confirmed with your motherboard manual that this feature is present and by default appears to be disabled. Enabling it in the system setup should solve your problem.

You can find more information in your motherboard manual located on page 21

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/driverdownload/Motherboard/Intel/Socket1156/H55MXV/Manual/English/H55MXV%20Series-Manual-En-V1.0.zip

-Pinhedd

if you are talking about this section:


>Memory Remap Feature
This item is used to enable/disable memory remapping around memory hole.
PCI doesn't actually care much which addresses are used, but by convention the PC platform
puts them at the top of the 32-bit address space. For many years it wasn't possible or practical to
put that much RAM into a PC. But now it is, so it's up to the memory controller and host bridge to
figure out what to do. Many systems cause that high RAM to simply be ignored, resulting in the
loss of effective RAM. More complex systems will take the RAM that would occupy that 3.5-4GB
address space and re-map it into the 4.0-4.5GB address space. The RAM doesn't care because
it's just an array of storage cells, it's up to the memory controller to associate addresses with
those storage cells. Of course, that only works if you're using a 64-bit (or 32bit physical address
extension (PAE) enabled) OS that can deal with physical addresses larger than 32 bits. Once
this option is enabled, BIOS will display the true size of memory installed.

Then when i tried to enable it last time it froze while booting up on the foxconn splash screen/loading thingy, so I'm not sure if i need to just try it again or do something first so it doesn't do it.
I've begun to wonder if i need to flash the BIOS or something.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hi,

The H55MXV motherboard from Foxconn has two legacy PCI slots on it. Motherboards that have PCI slots often have a firmware setting to enable/disable memory-hole-remapping. The reason for this is that while the x86 physical address space has exceeded 32 bits since 1995 (although it remains clamped to 32 bits in 32-bit consumer versions of Windows), the PCI bus has a native address space of only 32 bits which without proper support constricts the PCI device view of the system. This presents a compatibility issue for some devices and operating systems, disabling memory-hole-remapping clamps the size of the physical address space to 32 bits.

I have confirmed with your motherboard manual that this feature is present and by default appears to be disabled. Enabling it in the system setup should solve your problem.

You can find more information in your motherboard manual located on page 21

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/driverdownload/Motherboard/Intel/Socket1156/H55MXV/Manual/English/H55MXV%20Series-Manual-En-V1.0.zip

-Pinhedd

if you are talking about this section:


>Memory Remap Feature
This item is used to enable/disable memory remapping around memory hole.
PCI doesn't actually care much which addresses are used, but by convention the PC platform
puts them at the top of the 32-bit address space. For many years it wasn't possible or practical to
put that much RAM into a PC. But now it is, so it's up to the memory controller and host bridge to
figure out what to do. Many systems cause that high RAM to simply be ignored, resulting in the
loss of effective RAM. More complex systems will take the RAM that would occupy that 3.5-4GB
address space and re-map it into the 4.0-4.5GB address space. The RAM doesn't care because
it's just an array of storage cells, it's up to the memory controller to associate addresses with
those storage cells. Of course, that only works if you're using a 64-bit (or 32bit physical address
extension (PAE) enabled) OS that can deal with physical addresses larger than 32 bits. Once
this option is enabled, BIOS will display the true size of memory installed.

Then when i tried to enable it last time it froze while booting up on the foxconn splash screen/loading thingy, so I'm not sure if i need to just try it again or do something first so it doesn't do it.
I've begun to wonder if i need to flash the BIOS or something.

Try enabling it with only one DIMM installed

 

[vector72]

Hi,

The H55MXV motherboard from Foxconn has two legacy PCI slots on it. Motherboards that have PCI slots often have a firmware setting to enable/disable memory-hole-remapping. The reason for this is that while the x86 physical address space has exceeded 32 bits since 1995 (although it remains clamped to 32 bits in 32-bit consumer versions of Windows), the PCI bus has a native address space of only 32 bits which without proper support constricts the PCI device view of the system. This presents a compatibility issue for some devices and operating systems, disabling memory-hole-remapping clamps the size of the physical address space to 32 bits.

I have confirmed with your motherboard manual that this feature is present and by default appears to be disabled. Enabling it in the system setup should solve your problem.

You can find more information in your motherboard manual located on page 21

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/driverdownload/Motherboard/Intel/Socket1156/H55MXV/Manual/English/H55MXV%20Series-Manual-En-V1.0.zip

-Pinhedd

if you are talking about this section:


>Memory Remap Feature
This item is used to enable/disable memory remapping around memory hole.
PCI doesn't actually care much which addresses are used, but by convention the PC platform
puts them at the top of the 32-bit address space. For many years it wasn't possible or practical to
put that much RAM into a PC. But now it is, so it's up to the memory controller and host bridge to
figure out what to do. Many systems cause that high RAM to simply be ignored, resulting in the
loss of effective RAM. More complex systems will take the RAM that would occupy that 3.5-4GB
address space and re-map it into the 4.0-4.5GB address space. The RAM doesn't care because
it's just an array of storage cells, it's up to the memory controller to associate addresses with
those storage cells. Of course, that only works if you're using a 64-bit (or 32bit physical address
extension (PAE) enabled) OS that can deal with physical addresses larger than 32 bits. Once
this option is enabled, BIOS will display the true size of memory installed.

Then when i tried to enable it last time it froze while booting up on the foxconn splash screen/loading thingy, so I'm not sure if i need to just try it again or do something first so it doesn't do it.
I've begun to wonder if i need to flash the BIOS or something.

Try enabling it with only one DIMM installed

Okay mucked around a lot with it today, and i will report my findings here:

With one DIMM installed it will allow me to enable memory remapping, but crashes when loading windows saying either 'Bad pool header' , 'IRQL not less or equal' or 'PFN list corrupt'

(this happens in every configuration of single DIMMs installed)

When i enabled memory remapping with two DIMMs installed it got to the part in POST messages where it would usually say '4,096Mb loaded' (with a single DIMM) and stopped.

(again it happens no matter which way round they are installed)

just in case it is important, at this point i did have to hold down the power button to get it to turn off, making me think maybe i just have to leave it for a while while it re-maps? i have tried leaving it for about half an hour to no avail, but maybe it just has to be longer?

also as a side note if i had changed my graphics card at any point (which i did about a year ago), which included an increase in dedicated graphics memory, could that effect it? as i do still have my old graphics card if maybe i need to enable memory remapping with new RAM and old graphics card then switch to the new graphics card?

if nothing else over the weekend I might try to flash the BIOS, but having never done that before I'm a little hesitant.
or just restart the whole system to factory settings, but again. last resorts.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hi,

The H55MXV motherboard from Foxconn has two legacy PCI slots on it. Motherboards that have PCI slots often have a firmware setting to enable/disable memory-hole-remapping. The reason for this is that while the x86 physical address space has exceeded 32 bits since 1995 (although it remains clamped to 32 bits in 32-bit consumer versions of Windows), the PCI bus has a native address space of only 32 bits which without proper support constricts the PCI device view of the system. This presents a compatibility issue for some devices and operating systems, disabling memory-hole-remapping clamps the size of the physical address space to 32 bits.

I have confirmed with your motherboard manual that this feature is present and by default appears to be disabled. Enabling it in the system setup should solve your problem.

You can find more information in your motherboard manual located on page 21

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/driverdownload/Motherboard/Intel/Socket1156/H55MXV/Manual/English/H55MXV%20Series-Manual-En-V1.0.zip

-Pinhedd

if you are talking about this section:


>Memory Remap Feature
This item is used to enable/disable memory remapping around memory hole.
PCI doesn't actually care much which addresses are used, but by convention the PC platform
puts them at the top of the 32-bit address space. For many years it wasn't possible or practical to
put that much RAM into a PC. But now it is, so it's up to the memory controller and host bridge to
figure out what to do. Many systems cause that high RAM to simply be ignored, resulting in the
loss of effective RAM. More complex systems will take the RAM that would occupy that 3.5-4GB
address space and re-map it into the 4.0-4.5GB address space. The RAM doesn't care because
it's just an array of storage cells, it's up to the memory controller to associate addresses with
those storage cells. Of course, that only works if you're using a 64-bit (or 32bit physical address
extension (PAE) enabled) OS that can deal with physical addresses larger than 32 bits. Once
this option is enabled, BIOS will display the true size of memory installed.

Then when i tried to enable it last time it froze while booting up on the foxconn splash screen/loading thingy, so I'm not sure if i need to just try it again or do something first so it doesn't do it.
I've begun to wonder if i need to flash the BIOS or something.

Try enabling it with only one DIMM installed

Okay mucked around a lot with it today, and i will report my findings here:

With one DIMM installed it will allow me to enable memory remapping, but crashes when loading windows saying either 'Bad pool header' , 'IRQL not less or equal' or 'PFN list corrupt'

(this happens in every configuration of single DIMMs installed)

When i enabled memory remapping with two DIMMs installed it got to the part in POST messages where it would usually say '4,096Mb loaded' (with a single DIMM) and stopped.

(again it happens no matter which way round they are installed)

just in case it is important, at this point i did have to hold down the power button to get it to turn off, making me think maybe i just have to leave it for a while while it re-maps? i have tried leaving it for about half an hour to no avail, but maybe it just has to be longer?

also as a side note if i had changed my graphics card at any point (which i did about a year ago), which included an increase in dedicated graphics memory, could that effect it? as i do still have my old graphics card if maybe i need to enable memory remapping with new RAM and old graphics card then switch to the new graphics card?

if nothing else over the weekend I might try to flash the BIOS, but having never done that before I'm a little hesitant.
or just restart the whole system to factory settings, but again. last resorts.

Update the firmware if you haven't done so already (BIOS update). If that doesn't fix it then something is broken and will need to be replaced.

 

[Quest_Skyrim]

I think you have checked what is possible to check now from your hardware side, Vector. Maybe you could try out an free LINUX distro to see how it will report your memory. It is possible to run some distro as LIVE (from USB or DVD/CD) without installing it. If you could see all your memory from any Linux distro, then I would think it is must be something with your Windows OS that isn't working as it should.

 

[vector72]

Update the firmware if you haven't done so already (BIOS update). If that doesn't fix it then something is broken and will need to be replaced.

Hey, spent the last few days looking at how to update the BIOS and it sounds kind of complicated, I have taken some steps, but just wanted assurance that i'm doing the right thing:

First of all Foxconn have a live update utility called 'FOX LiveUpdate' that most people seem to say works, but also seems to be discouraged. i tried using it to backup my BIOS and it gave me these files:

is this the right kind of thing for a back up? and how would i use them if something went wrong?

Furthermore, the updating tutorial on the foxconn website is not very clear on how to actually start the updating process talking about an AFUDOS that doesn’t seem to be in the update files that I downloaded.: