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Question RAM stick recognized in BIOS but not utilized when running

Jul 13, 2019
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Hi all,

I recently purchased a SAMSUNG 32GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 32 GB Server Memory Model M386B4G70DM0-CMA RAM stick for an upgrade to my computer. My motherboard is an Asus Z97-A, which I read supports up to 32 GB and DDR3 memory. However, when I replaced my previous 2 sticks, 2x4 DDR3 Gskill RipJaws with the new Samsung stick, my machine failed its POST. I figured that this is a compatibility issue, but I do not really understand why. If the stick is DDR3 and 32 GB, shouldn't it boot normally? I threw my original sticks back in to at least get to the BIOS, and as it turns out, the 32 GB stick is being recognized. (Image of BIOS below)
View: https://imgur.com/MhUng2q

However, when the machine boots into Windows, the task manager window displays only 7.9 GB and 2/4 slots filled, when in reality there are 3 slots. Is this a compatibility issue even if the 32 GB stick is recognized in the BIOS? Is there any way to make the 32 GB stick work or do I just need to return it?
 
The load-reduced dual inline memory module. LRDIMM is a load-reduction (LR) DIMM (used in servers) that supports higher densities than RDIMMs and contains a memory buffer (MB) chip, as opposed to a register, in order to reduce and minimize the load on the server memory bus.

Your motherboard does not support the use of LRDIMM - Load-Reduced Memory.

The module below is compliant to specifications for DDR3-1866 Load Reduced DIMM performance in Intel platform systems.
M386B4G70DM0-CMA Specifications
Capacity 32GB
Memory Type DDR3
ECC ECC
DIMM Type LRDIMM
 
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