System only reads half of my RAM

[TIMMY]

Well before I start I did read the ram FAQ thread, but I just wanted some input incase there is anything else I can do.

I've got an asus p5b deluxe board, and 1 gig (2 512 sticks) of pc6400 dc OCZ ram. I bought this ram and I know it's gotta be compatible with my mobo because with my old ram I got the beep codes telling me my old ram wasn't going to work.

Anyways, I've got them in the correct color slots. At first I thought I just needed to flash my bios, but after that was said and done I still only have 512 mb of ram :\

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Tedster]

you have to RTFM to determine what BRANDS your board will accept. HAD you read the FAQ carefully, it would have told you ASUS is very picky about what brands it will take.

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic65114.html

 

[TIMMY]

YEs i did read that part, but I figured since it booted in the first place that that wasn't the issue.

 

[Sharkfood]

Need more specific information. "OCZ PC6400 RAMZ" doesn't tell us much.. need the precise model/OCZ memory.

Also, what precise Asus P5B deluxe do you have? Is it the E/WiFi, etc.etc.etc. Lastly, what precise version of the BIOS did you update to?

P965 BIOS's always default to very, very low and incorrect settings in order to allow them to POST. This is because they are designed for 1.7V memory, which most modern DDR2-667/800 memories wont even POST at. For this reason, they'll default to some wonky, extremely incorrect form JUST to get you to the BIOS where you can fiddle with the settings, speed, timings and sizings AND adjust the voltage enough to get a secondary post with fingers crossed all groovy.

 

[F1N3ST]

Its 1.8v sharkfood

 

[Sharkfood]

Its 1.8v sharkfood

I honestly couldn't tell you what Asus has done (nor could anyone) given there isn't enough information in the original post to determine this. The only thing we do know for a fact is that the 82P965 MCH's VCCSM DDR2 I/O range is 1.7V to 1.9V, with Intel providing full support for JEDEC 1.8V's. Most third party BIOS's will support up to 2.1V previously, with some newer tweaks up to 2.4V.

The real question is how the bios is configuring/timing and adjusting the unrecognized memory, so my bet would be something that POST's with 1.7-1.9V (per spec).. with a need to get into the BIOS and fiddle/push higher to see if this particular bios rev or mainboard->memory combo CAN be pushed to it's real allocation.

 

[Tedster]

You can't go by that. ASUS is VERY PICKY about BRANDS. Using non-recommended brands by the manufactuer will yield problems. I had an ASUS board once and immediately got rid of it for this very reason. I now stick with MSI.

 

[TIMMY]

ok. this is fishy.

I just bought some new ram, seeing as the OCZ ram i had wasn't on the list of ram supported by my motherboard. I bought some kingston 2 gig ram, the exact model of ram off of the website, so i know it's compatible.

I got 2 gigs, 2 sticks of 1 gig each, and now my system is showing only 1 gig of ram. why!???

 

[foozy]

Sounds like a bad DIMM slot. Switch the sticks around?

 

[Tedster]

the chances of two different types of RAM not working in the same slot is very low. Especially if they're recommended brands. Sounds like you have a bad slot - and that's not uncommon. I had a slot go bad in an older system after a power spike.

 

[TIMMY]

hmm, ok. i'll have to try switching the slots tonight. thanks

EDIT: well hey what'd ya know? it worked. only like 230 bucks later after some new ram

Oh well, a quick question... I was thinking about selling my OCZ ram to get some money back, but if I get asus to replace my mobo would it be safe to run 3 gigs of memory?
They're the same kind of memory, same speeds and everything, except MY OCZ is 4-5-4-15 and I believe my kingston is 4-4-4-12.
WOuld I be ok?