Recovering Lost DRAM Size error on X58A-UD3R. Please help.

[bgarrant]

I have tried just about everything I can think of myself and wanted to turn to the experts before I RMA the MOBO. I have a X58A-UD3R board, Intel i& 950 and 12 GB of OCZ Gold 6GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory (Model: OCZ3G1600LV6GK). For some reason in the BIOS it is only showing 8 GB of RAM installed. It appears slot 5 and 6 (Channel C) are not enabled which I can see in M.I.T. Slots 1-4 show 2048 and slots 5 and 6 shows " - " where it says 'Enabled Slot (MB). It does however show the full 12 GB DRAM installed, but just not slot 5 and 6 enabled. I have not overclocked anything as this is a work PC. There are no warning beeps. The system will boot and will POST to hit "Recovering Lost DRAM Size" error and then reboot 3 times in same manner. On the 4th boot the PC will load windows 7 normally with no issues. I have flashed the BIOS to latest FC version. I read that many people have found bent CPU socket pins but I have checked and all is fine there. I even reset the CPU and heatsink just to be sure with a new application of Artic Silver.

Has anyone been able to fix this issue or do I need to just RMA the board?

Bryan

 

[jaquith]

I checked and they are all same set

You - stated "12 GB of OCZ Gold' and linked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Which MEAN 2 (two) sets of 3X2GB -> EACH set is matched to 'itself' 3x2GB there are several BINS that get packaged together. Throwing or MIXING -> MATCHED sets on the same Channel is not good and can cause issues.

Example:
Assembly line, Testing {timing/power/speed} BIN1 gets the fastest -> BIN5 the slowest
BIN1 / BIN2 / BIN3 / BIN4 / BIN5 / ETC

BIN1 = Set 1 {a,b,c}
BIN4 = Set 2 {g,h,i}

Mixed + Failure
DIMM 1/3/5 {a/i/b}
DIMM 2/4/6 {g,c,h}

Correct + Works
DIMM 1/3/5 {a/c/b}
DIMM 2/4/6 {g,i,h}

 

[jaquith]

My last post for the night.

I would also try DIMM slots 2/4/6 only & test; verify slot 6 if dead.

Next, use Isopropyl alcohol - clean RAM, insert damp into ALL slots one at a time to remove any production oils in the DIMM and/or RAM; allow to dry and test again.

Verify that the RAM is FULLY seated into DIMM slots and they 'snap-in' properly.

Also, the X58A-UD3R is not on top of my personal favorite MOBO; it's under-powered. I too assume that the 8-pin is being used and NOT a 4-pin.

X58A-UD3R - Google { X58A-UD3R +SSD +BSOD } - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

Good Luck!

 

[bilbat]

Will get back to you in about two hours - have to escort my mother, who has just begun dialysis, and is therefor a bit 'wobly', to a short shopping trip...

 

[bgarrant]

My last post for the night.

I would also try DIMM slots 2/4/6 only & test; verify slot 6 if dead.

Next, use Isopropyl alcohol - clean RAM, insert damp into ALL slots one at a time to remove any production oils in the DIMM and/or RAM; allow to dry and test again.

Verify that the RAM is FULLY seated into DIMM slots and they 'snap-in' properly.

Also, the X58A-UD3R is not on top of my personal favorite MOBO; it's under-powered. I too assume that the 8-pin is being used and NOT a 4-pin.

X58A-UD3R - Google { X58A-UD3R +SSD +BSOD } - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

Good Luck!

thanks. I tried all the above. Looks like I will RMA the board tomorrow. Slot 5 and 6 both do not work (channel c)

 

[bilbat]

Oops! Forgot to press 'submit' before I left!

 

[bgarrant]

Will get back to you in about two hours - have to escort my mother, who has just begun dialysis, and is therefor a bit 'wobly', to a short shopping trip...

Thanks. I think the channel C (slots 5 and 6) on the MOBO are defective. I think I will RMA it tomorrow to NewEgg. Nothing seems to work unless you have other ideas.

 

[bgarrant]

Oops! Forgot to press 'submit' before I left!

If you see anything in the report let me know. Thx

 

[bilbat]

This is all moot - the chips are binned to the SPD/XMP - and nothing else...

The SPD/XMP parameters are chosen as a 'least common denominator' to the binning - parameter set is slow enough to cover that entire binning. 'Matched sets' are few, far between, and beaucoup expensive! Nearly every 12 or 24 set is actually just two 6's/12's...

As I mentioned earlier, nearly all parameter sets are chosen to accomodate a single DIMM per channel, and often won't work as-is on a full board. Typically a matter of bumping up the Vdimm a bit, the Vtt a bit more, making sure the command rate is set to 2T/2N (whichever your board shows), and a 10-15% increase in tRFC. You would think that, if buying a two-DIMM-per-channel set (2Gx6, or 4Gx6), they would already have set up the SPD/XMP to handle the slowdown for the extra DIMM per channel, but I've yet to see a full set with timings that differ from the 3 DIMM sets.

However, if your BIOS is not seeing XMP at all, they'll never work at their rated speed. It's not just a matter of the BIG FOUR: CAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS, but the other dozen to dozen and a half parameters that need to be correct as well for XMP to work...

I would put in three at a time, do a Load Optimized Defaults to set 'em properly to the lower spec'd speed, and run a pass of MemTest. That should check your third channel.

I have not gotten the emailed file. The management doesn't want emails posted, but it's in my signature anyway - don't see the diff - try both bilbat@wi.rr.com, and bilbat@bilbat.co.cc - hopefully one or the other will go through. To the moderator - a thousand pardons!

 

[jaquith]

I would exchange it for ASUS P6X58D-E. I have several and they're all running perfect.

 

[bilbat]

Ahh, jeez - made a noob - darned spam filter caught it! Got it, am opening, will get back soonest...

 

[bgarrant]

Ahh, jeez - made a noob - darned spam filter caught it! Got it, am opening, will get back soonest...

Thank you.

 

[bilbat]

OK - got a look at it, and still can't tell you much. Wierd, as a number of things I'm used to seeing come up 'undefined', but will have to wait 'till tomorrow - have a couple NewEgg boxes sitting in basement to turn into a system for a buddy of a buddy - will compare then to some 1600 G.Skill, and check register positioning. I'm fairly timid with my working dev system - still using a 775 w/DDR2! Planning either a UD9 or an SR2 for the next iteration, but still exploring some issues that need to be 'gelled', like how Areca RAID cards get along with nVidia NF200 multiplexors...

 

[bgarrant]

OK - got a look at it, and still can't tell you much. Wierd, as a number of things I'm used to seeing come up 'undefined', but will have to wait 'till tomorrow - have a couple NewEgg boxes sitting in basement to turn into a system for a buddy of a buddy - will compare then to some 1600 G.Skill, and check register positioning. I'm fairly timid with my working dev system - still using a 775 w/DDR2! Planning either a UD9 or an SR2 for the next iteration, but still exploring some issues that need to be 'gelled', like how Areca RAID cards get along with nVidia NF200 multiplexors...

thanks

 

[bilbat]

Well, a thousand apologies, and a couple ^%$#'s - nothings happening on my end for a few days - some idiot (name of bilbat, I believe) ordered a cheap board for someone, and an IDE DVD, like he always does, to conserve on SATA connections - then discovered one of the reasons the GA-H55M-S2V is so cheap is it has no IDE connector! Duh!

 

[Guest]

Late to the party, but I was having the same problem, got worse over the last couple of days.

x58a-ud3r
12 gb 1600, 3 4gb sticks @ 196 x 8
i7 950 @ 4.15

Fiddled with this, fiddled with that. Finally cleaned the pins with alcohol as suggested by jaquith, BAM. No more problems.
(I used a clean coffee filter (did I really have to say clean?)). The sticks were cleaned when they were put in, but not after a month of use. Got visible grime off each stick.

Thanks j

 

[DougM_60]

I had the same issue. I traced it to an issue on the DDR3_2 and DDR3_1 slot on my MB. Any memory chip in either of those two slots will trigger the error. Since cleaning pints helped for some maybe I need to clean the slots?

I have 3 2-gig chips so I'm simply not using that slot for now. I can put the third chip in one of the remaining slots although I am (at least in theory) loosing some of the DDR3 speed by doing so.

On the other hand when I was using that slot I would get the "Recovering Lost Dram Size" error 3 times and the system power cycled itself, but on the fourth time it would always come up.

If the long boot time didn't annoy me I might have just let it be. Once the system came up everything appeared fine.

Doug

 

[Guest]

I don't know why, but this is what solved the problem for me (I have 2x2gb ram)

1. unplugged the power supply and the CMOS battery for 10 minutes, before plugging them back on place

I tried to start the computer but "Recovering Lost Dram Size"

2. I removed the secondary RAM-chips, leaving one chip in the motherboards first slot. (The computer actually worked with this setup)

Since the computer worked, I suspected it was my other RAM-chip who was defect.

3. Therfore, I switched the two RAM-chips, removing the first one and replacing it with the second. (The computer worked this time as well)

4. Finally, I tried again with both RAM-chips and for some reason it worked.

Again, I do not understand why this worked, but it did

 

[jwawa]

i had a very similar issue on a gax58-ud3r. Originally i was running 6gb ocz 1600mhz in triple channel (3x2gb) and i had to pull one stick because an experiment i was conducting which was restricted to 4gb memory. anyway, after a few months of just running 2 sticks i finally finished the experiment and popped the 3rd stick back in to boost my memory back up to 6gb, when i put the 3rd stick back in my computer was telling me i had 6gb installed but only 4gb were usable. then the "detecting dram loop" started to happen on startup and it would cycle 3 times before launching into windows 7(64bit) ultimate.

i started researching and tried every solution i could find that would hopefully extend the usable memory back to 6gb in triple channel. i did everything from flashing the bios to increasing memory voltage, as well as the obvious module elimination tests that all directed me to knowing all my ports were functioning and none of the 3 sticks were dead, yet i still got the detecting dram loop and unusable memory.

eventually i tried the last ditch effort of removing my heat sink and reseating the cpu. i cleaned out all my fans and the heatsink before physically removing the cpu and immediately seating it back in. i put everything back together and it booted straight into windows without the dram loop and all the memory was fully functional in triple channel at full speed.

this post is probably too late for you, but anyone else reading this might benefit from the solution that worked for me.

note: other people had success by pulling the mobo battery and re booting, i also tried this prior to my solution and had no success.

 

[supernatural006]

My last post for the night.

I would also try DIMM slots 2/4/6 only & test; verify slot 6 if dead.

Next, use Isopropyl alcohol - clean RAM, insert damp into ALL slots one at a time to remove any production oils in the DIMM and/or RAM; allow to dry and test again.

Verify that the RAM is FULLY seated into DIMM slots and they 'snap-in' properly.

Also, the X58A-UD3R is not on top of my personal favorite MOBO; it's under-powered. I too assume that the 8-pin is being used and NOT a 4-pin.

X58A-UD3R - Google { X58A-UD3R +SSD +BSOD } - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

Good Luck!

Thank you so much! this helped me as well!

 

[altecmayank]

Thank you very much. i was havng similar problem on x-58 UD7 .. solved it by placing RAM's in alternate slots rather than continuous slots.

 

[cisco-red]

i had a very similar issue on a gax58-ud3r. Originally i was running 6gb ocz 1600mhz in triple channel (3x2gb) and i had to pull one stick because an experiment i was conducting which was restricted to 4gb memory. anyway, after a few months of just running 2 sticks i finally finished the experiment and popped the 3rd stick back in to boost my memory back up to 6gb, when i put the 3rd stick back in my computer was telling me i had 6gb installed but only 4gb were usable. then the "detecting dram loop" started to happen on startup and it would cycle 3 times before launching into windows 7(64bit) ultimate.

i started researching and tried every solution i could find that would hopefully extend the usable memory back to 6gb in triple channel. i did everything from flashing the bios to increasing memory voltage, as well as the obvious module elimination tests that all directed me to knowing all my ports were functioning and none of the 3 sticks were dead, yet i still got the detecting dram loop and unusable memory.

eventually i tried the last ditch effort of removing my heat sink and reseating the cpu. i cleaned out all my fans and the heatsink before physically removing the cpu and immediately seating it back in. i put everything back together and it booted straight into windows without the dram loop and all the memory was fully functional in triple channel at full speed.

this post is probably too late for you, but anyone else reading this might benefit from the solution that worked for me.

note: other people had success by pulling the mobo battery and re booting, i also tried this prior to my solution and had no success.

i also had the dram problem when i got my ud5 back from rma, (burnt 24 pin socket), heavy gaming! anyway tried about everythng suggestion on here then decided to try your approach by clening cpu and then the lost dram went away also i got my full 8gb of ram back where before it would only recognize 6 or if i put 6gb mem in it would only see 4. but i still had a problem with booting, it would wind up all the way to veryfying dmi pool then just sit there, after a few minutes i remembered i have an Intel x25 ssd with my win7-64 ultimate on it and it was at the top of the boot order in the bios, i changed that to the second boot device because i have 2 seagate 500 gb drives also and it booted. For some reason it will not boot with the ssd at the top of the boot order in the bios, go figure. clean, clean, clean that is probably 90% of the trouble people have these days. hope this helps someone.

 

[mrbish]

I've been having this problem - did a Google to double check there weren't any known bugs before bumping up the voltage, and ended up here.

For some reason the board defaults to 1.5V or less. Bumping that up to 1.64V gets results. I mean, I'm sure keeping the system clean may help (if you don't, more fool you), and I guess some peoples' more random switch-it-off and on again approaches with flashing and removing mobo batteries have worked out for them (happy accident, I reckon), but fundamentally it seems to be the board just isn't sending the sticks enough juice.

 

[gamblore]

Just wanted to add I had the exact same problem as described here with a Gigabyte X58A-UD7 motherboard. My solution as uping the memory voltage from 1.5V to 1.6V.

In my case I had 6 sticks of RAM totalling 12GB RAM & working fine from day 1. A year or so later I started getting the "Recovering Lost DRAM" message and repeated restarts during the BIOS boot process.

Memtest each stick of RAM proved they were all fine. Tried different RAM port combinations in case it was a bad memory port but all seemed to work with less sticks in dual and triple channel mode. I ended up on this forums and the voltage suggestion and now back to 6 sticks and working fine.

Thanks everyone that contributed. I hope by adding my MB model number it might help someone else out with the same board.

 

[a2nbot]

Just wanted to add I had the exact same problem as described here with a Gigabyte X58A-UD7 motherboard. My solution as uping the memory voltage from 1.5V to 1.6V.

In my case I had 6 sticks of RAM totalling 12GB RAM & working fine from day 1. A year or so later I started getting the "Recovering Lost DRAM" message and repeated restarts during the BIOS boot process.

Memtest each stick of RAM proved they were all fine. Tried different RAM port combinations in case it was a bad memory port but all seemed to work with less sticks in dual and triple channel mode. I ended up on this forums and the voltage suggestion and now back to 6 sticks and working fine.

Thanks everyone that contributed. I hope by adding my MB model number it might help someone else out with the same board.

hey gamblore,

Did you computer ever restart just by itself before you changed the voltage to 1.65v?

i have the same MB Gigabyte X58A, its doing a lot of right now where it will reboot by itself in couple minutes after i start the computer.
then the "Recovering Lost DRAM" message will show up, and I have to reboot it again to get it to work.
In many occasions I have to do thus several times to get the computer to be "stable"

 

[TenPc]

I7- 950 requires DDR3-800/1066 ram on a triple channel motherboard which means that although the motherboard allows for dual channel ram, this particular CPU requires triple channel use.
http://ark.intel.com/products/37150/Intel-Core-i7-950-Processor-(8M-Cache-3_06-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI)

The motherboard requires up to 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM and your ram is 1.65 Volts.

Even though OCZ supports i7 x58, it is not suitable for the i7-950 but perhaps moreso for the I7-2600 series.

"The OCZ PC3-12800 triple-channel memory kit designed specifically for the Intel® Core™ i7 processor / Intel® X58 Express Chipset. " -
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-ddr3-pc3-12800-gold-low-voltage-triple-channel.html