Question Windows 10 not seeing newly installed memory

Jun 7, 2023
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I've been at this for about 50 hours, have emailed the memory manufacturer and the board manufacturer and still no joy.

I'm an old retired tech guy but this really has me stumped. It's possible that I'm getting too old for this stuff.

A year ago I built a PC using an Asus TUF Z390M Plus MB, 2X16G Vengeance Pro RGB memory (32G total) in A2 and B2 and an RTX 1050 GPU (I built it to game with my grandson and I also wanted to try a water cooled build.) It has been running fine. Last week I decided to install a better GPU and additional memory as I'm rendering stacks of digital photos and it takes a really long time.

1. I made certain that the version of the additional Vengeance Pro RGB 2X16 was compatible with the MB by checking it on the Asus site.

2. I made certain the the MB and PSU would be able to support the RTX 3050 I wanted to install.

3. I upgraded the BIOS to the latest version.

The install went smoothly but on power-up, Windows 10 did not see the new memory nor did the RGB come on for the new sticks. The 3050 operated correctly. I booted into BIOS and it reported 32G, showing A2/B2 populated and A1/B1 slots as N/A. Back in the day I could set my memory manually in BIOS but I cannot find a way to do that with this MB. The fact that everything works correctly but there is no RGB on the new sticks make me think that they are not being powered, but I see no way on the MB to power them, I just assumed that all 4 slots were hot. I did open the glass and reseat them and I am confident they are in and locked.

As I'm typing this I realized that I should put the new sticks into A2/B2 and see if they fire up. I will do that but I'm dubious.

No RGB might be a red herring; do I reinstall Windows 10? Do I short the clock and remove the battery for an hour or so to clear the BIOS? I have reread the MB manual cover to cover multiple times and have more hours googling the last 4 days than I remember and I am out of ideas.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

3. I upgraded the BIOS to the latest version.
Did you clear the CMOS after you'd verified that the BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version?

For the sake of relevance please state the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?
 
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Jun 7, 2023
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First of all, thank you for replying.

No, I did not reset the CMOS after the BIOS upgrade.

Here are the current specs, along with additional BIOS information:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 3696 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
CPU cooler: NZXT Kracken X53 73.11 cfm Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Z390-PLUS Gaming (Wi-Fi) ATX LGA 1151
Ram: 2 X Corsair Vengence RGB Pro 32G (2X16G) DDR4-3200 CL 16 Kits
SSD/HDD: 2 X Crucial P1TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0X4 NVME SSDs
GPU: GForce RTX 3050
PSU: Corsair CX750M (approx. 18 - 20 months old)
Chassis: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case
OS: Windows 10 Home 64Bit, version 10.0.19045 Build 19045 (updated)
Monitor: HP 32 inch QHD 2560X1440
BaseBoard Manufacturer : ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
BIOS Version/Date : American Megatrends Inc. 3006, 10/12/2021 (latest I could locate)
BIOS Mode: UEFI
 
Jun 7, 2023
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You didn't mention if you reset the bios. Why not try that to rule out settings. Then you can focus on if the sticks are bad.
Thanks for the advice. I actually did say that I had not reset the CMOS in the second line of my reply, but it is good to hear that you think I should try it. Experience has taught me not to play around with BIOS unless absolutely necessary but in this case I think I will have to give the reset a try. I will remove the power cord and the the battery and short the CLRTC terminals for about 15 seconds and wait about an hour before replacing the battery. This may be overkill but I want it to start fresh.

On first boot, do I go directly into BIOS and set up the memory then let the BIOS reboot the system or just boot through to the OS and see if the memory has now been discovered?

Thanks again and I will update (and hopefully be able to close this thread once I have tried that.)
 
Jun 7, 2023
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The outcome is worse than when I started. I re-seated the memory once again, I removed the battery, shorted CLRTC as the MB manual indicated, replaced the battery correctly, put it all back together, held the DEL key to boot into BIOS and it powers up, the new memory is still not lit (perhaps it won't be until it is recognized by the BIOS?), everything looks as if it's running through the glass but now I have no display, no keyboard, no mouse, no BIOS to interrogate. I powered off using the Big Red Switch as I have no idea what is going on with the board. All of the cables are connected correctly.

I am regretting trying to upgrade a slower, but working, computer.

Advice, please?
 
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Jun 7, 2023
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I just tried running the Displayport connector to the internal GPU (iGPU?). That does not work, either. My display circles through it's various connection types indicating no signal from the Displayport and then goes to sleep. Still no joy.
 
I just tried running the Displayport connector to the internal GPU (iGPU?). That does not work, either.
Integrated GPU gets disabled automatically, when discrete graphics card is installed.
To use iGPU, you have to remove discrete card from system first.

Install only single ram module (one of original),
connect monitor to discrete graphics card and
try to start your pc.

If still no luck, then remove discrete graphics card and connect monitor to iGPU on motherboard.
 
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Jun 7, 2023
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That's pretty much what I was thinking about doing, except I didn't consider removing all but 1 stick of RAM. I did read an hour ago that I should have removed the 3050 before trying the dport, so we are all thinking in the same direction. I just panicked when nothing came up.

Perhaps my 750W PS isn't up to the task. It's a Corsair, one of the "better" black and grey ones, but I see that they aren't too highly regarded here. Tomorrow I'll start taking it all out and starting again using your suggestion of 1 stick.


Thanks again, I'll post the results.
 
Jun 7, 2023
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Why didn't you just reset it from in the BIOS like I recommended.

Are you sure you shorted the right pins? Didn't touch anything else on the board by accident?
I did. I attempted to reset via BIOS/UEFI multiple times via the reset but that had no effect.

Thanks, I am confident that I only shorted the 2 CLRTC pins as 1. They were isolated on the board and clearly marked CLRTC and 2. I am a retired IT person and I know my way around the inside of a PC.

The thing that I find aggravating is the retirement of actual BIOS in favor of UEFI as, in my opinion, the user has much less control over the actual base-level hardware with the replacement UEFI. It only seems to be good for overclocking CPU, GPU, memory and fan/cooler control. It's frustrating not to be able to do something as simple as setting the total memory in BIOS and rebooting. When I was working I only had occasional bad sticks that didn't fire up, but again, that was easy to deal with.

When I get home I'll be tearing the box down and starting with the internal GPU dport and some memory. If that is successful, I will slowly start adding pieces back into the box to find the failure point.

Thanks.
 
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Here is the outcome of the testing:

1. Removed new memory and GPU, restarted using iGPU and was able to boot into BIOS.

2. Reinstalled 2X16G memory. On power-up all 4 sticks RGB lit up but new memory did not show up in BIOS (via iGPU).

3. I removed all memory and put the new memory into A2/B2. RGB lit up but no video.

4. Replaced new memory with original and BIOS only saw 1 stick; powered off and switched sticks in slots, BIOS then saw both original sticks. This seemed pretty odd to me, maybe not seated well but I really took my time installing and it clicked in nicely.

5. Reinstalled the RTX 3050 and ran dport from it. Power-up into BIOS with original 32G memory showed memory and 3050.

6. Tested some flight sims and now getting better fps but not great, around 40. I guess I can live with that.

Even though this memory shows up on the MB compatibility list, I am not sure if it's a bad MB, bad RAM or a combination of things. I am returning this set and asking for a replacement, which I will try, but I'm not going to waste this muxh time on it again. If the new sticks don't work I will assume the MB is hinky, return the memory for a refund and use the box as-is. I have no desire to spend more money replacing a MB that may or may not be bad. That's just too much work. I'll wait until my next build and use a better MB.

I'll leave this open until I get to test the replacement memory.

Thanks.