Another Asus Question

[SageOfTheWabash]

Hi All, I haven't been on the boards lately. But, I have been reading and learning.

I had to replace a mobo which led to a complete new build. The only component that is original is the P4 3.06ghz HT.
I chose an Asus P4S800D-X
256mg ATI AIW.
Creative Labs Audigy 2 Platinum.
4 1gig sticks of DDR 2 400 By "Talent"

Everything seems to be burning in and I am having fun tweaking it up in different ways.

My problem is that The bios is only showing 2.9 gig of ram
Windows System info shows 4 gig installed but 2.9 available.
The mobo will recognize all 4 sticks individually. So I know that they are all good. I have updated bios.
A friend says that it must be a bios issue.
Another friend says that if I had not used cheap ram and bought Corsaire I wouldn't have a problem.
We are having the same problem at work with an upgrade.

Any thoughts?...

 

[LinkedKube]

We've seen this problem here many times actually. I think its the difference of xp 32 bit and 64 bit. I dont know many specfics sorry

 

[SageOfTheWabash]

Thanx, can you guide me to previous posts?

 

[raybay]

Corsair is merely Samsung memory, and is nothing special...
But if you are using value ram, and the modules vary in size and shape, or brand, that still could be the cause of your problems.
"Talent" brand is third tier memory that varies from week to week. The modules are assembled from bins of chips. The customer does the quality control.
Have your tried runnning memtest86+. It is available at www.memorytest.org, and www.majorgeeks.com, and is free. Run it for four hours and you will know a lot more about your memory and computer problem.

 

[CCT]

Microsoft 'answer' (NOT!);

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888137/en-us


The Asus site has a 'QVL' list of approved RAM - had you bought that you could probably return the board - still could I guess BUT every board you get may not recognize the RAM you bought if it isn't 'approved'.

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=407&l1=3&l2=12&l3=45&l4=0

 

[nickc]

Windows does not reconize over 3 gigs of ram, if it is the 32 bit program. if u had bought the 64 bit Windows, it would or should reconise it but then u would have a lot of programs that would have to be replaced. if u look in the BIOS at the right place, I bet u will find that the BIOS sees it. I have the same problem and am living with it.

 

[RUDEBWOY]

ok i myself also have a asus mobo a p5b i got 4 gig ram my bios shows 3 gigs into windows shows 2.93 gigs of ram even tho i have 4..now when i did a bios update there was an option about some pci reallocate memory so i disabled it after i did that bios showed 4 gigs of ram but in windows showed 2 gigs of ram now..i guess you need a 32 bit system to actually see more than 3 gigs so nothing is wrong with your ram.btw you can also check your ram with cpu-z itll show w.e you have in each ram slot which is what i did at first.plus if anything was wrong with the ram im sure your system would of not booted up etc.

 

[Tedster]

that is not correct. Windows XP can handle up to 4gb of RAM.

Also Sage - please read the upgrading ram guide in the guides forum your questions are all answered there.

 

[SageOfTheWabash]

Just got a chance to read these responses. Thanx to all. Especially you Ted. I will be sure to do the reading you suggested.