MotherB

Bert! · Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:02 pm

Someone gave me an old motherboard that was similar to the one on my comp but a bit newer then mine with a slightly faster processor. I put it in and it has worked fine with all my other hardware with one exception. It only reads 6G of ram no matter how much I put in, it just doesn't read any more than that. So I'm stuck at 6G (DDR3). That's close to minimum for most new games, usually not enough (I didn't get BF1 since its min is 8G). I don't really want to put the old one back in again...Any ideas on this?

«DN»Lasky® · Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:18 pm

What motherboard are you running Bert?

Could you tell me what "firmware" version its on?

Bert! · Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:37 pm

I went from an Asus P5e to a P5e3 premium.

Bert! · Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:38 pm

no idea firm

«DN»Lasky® · Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:20 pm

When you start up your system, you should have "post" which is a black screen that lists your hard drives/SSD's, your total installed RAM and any optical drives. Also, are you using 32-bit or 64-bit?

«DN»Lasky® · Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:27 pm

I have done some research in to your motherboard and it should support up to 8GB (more research has brought up a post that says that a poster has had 16GB of RAM working in it). Manufacturer says it officially only supports 8GB as per this link: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5E3_ ... fications/

And this line:

4 x DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066/800 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory

Bert, it appears that your system only supports officially only 8GB of RAM, but some people have had 16GB installed and running on it.

Are you trying to use more than 8GB of RAM?

6GB limit may also be imposed by the CPU you are running, what CPU are you using?

You may also be able to get your BIOS update from here: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5E3_ ... _Download/ that may solve your issue. I caution that you must follow it's instructions carefully otherwise you may end up with a dead board if you do it incorrectly.

Chem · Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:58 pm

CPU's dont limit the amount of RAM your computer registers lol. The only thing the CPU will do is lower the DIMM speed if the RAM is running higher then the CPU's limit.

If you remove 1 stick of RAM and then check what the operating system registers then put it back and remove the next one and keep doing that with every stick you can figure out whats wrong with it.

If it has no effect (Always says 6GB) on the total RAM your operating system registers every time then its an issue with the BIO's.

If every time you remove one it changes to 4GB except for once, then its a problem with that slot on the Motherboard.

If it says 4GB every time then 2GB is being allocated to your video or something is really screwed up with your OS and you will have to run memtest.

«DN»Lasky® · Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:09 pm

I am sure that as a gaming system that it has a dedicated Graphics card.

It could be a fault with one of the cards, never thought of that, thanks Chem.

Chem · Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:17 pm

«DN»Lasky® wrote:I am sure that as a gaming system that it has a dedicated Graphics card.

It could be a fault with one of the cards, never thought of that, thanks Chem.

Never assume, even if he does have a video card (probably does, but we don't know) it could be bugged, it could be old, the system could not be reading it properly, there is a ton of reasons why it could be allocating 2gb of ram for video. Computers don't work right sometimes, hint why he is having a problem lol.

«DN»Lasky® · Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:58 pm

Well. I checked his motherboard and it does support 8GB. Unless a bios update is required, I am unsure why he is having this trouble. Perhaps a faulty RAM module is the cause.

Chem · Tue Nov 01, 2016 4:01 am

Yeah, its most likely either a bad stick of ram or a bad slot on the motherboard. But one thing I learned doing IT is never rule anything out until you actually rule it out. I can't even count how many times i spent 15 - 20 minutes troubleshooting a problem for someone only to find out the PC wasn't plugged in or something stupid lol. Obviously not the case here, but you get the idea.

«DN»Lasky® · Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:15 am

Of course...

Bert! · Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:06 pm

when I install the new 2x4G I have it doesn't boot...only the old 2x2 and 2x1 = 6. I will maybe have time to troubleshoot over the weekend, thanks for the ideas.

«DN»Lasky® · Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:38 pm

It might be a good idea to check the version of your BIOS to be sure you have the latest installed.

«DN»Lasky® · Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:23 am

Update.

Bert an idea. Try 4x2GB as it may be that the board only allows you to have 8GB in that configuration. May also be worth checking the clock speed as well.

The above assumes you have 4 RAM slots.

Sorry for late post.

Bert! · Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:28 pm

It does have 4 Ram slots. I just built a new computer over the holidays so fixing this older one isn't as pressing now. I was do for an upgrade because of all the newer games anyways, so I whipped out the old credit card.

ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Pro Gaming motherboard
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition
i7 6800K
EVGA Supernova 850W power supply
Samsung 850 EVO M.2 2280 1TB SSD
Team Elite Plus 2x8GB DDR4
LG 12X Blue-Ray disc drive
Corsair Hydro Series H105 liquid CPU cooler
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS
Enermax case

Thanks for the ideas, I still plan to work on the old one and get the Ram fixed someday, but my new one still has that new smell...

«DN»Lasky® · Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:55 am

Tasty... pics?