hey all. I’ve tried different ram, a different windows version, I’ve messed around in bios and updated it as well. How can i get my pc to register the rest of my ram??
-cross posting-
I had this exact issue a couple of years ago. Exactly the same problem: 16gb installed (and recognised by the BIOS), but Windows wouldn’t use more than 8gb, even though it could detect its presence. And right now, I’m really annoyed with myself for not being able to remember what the fix was. It was… definitely something hardware-related, not software/configuration. I’m off to bed now, so if it comes to me overnight, I’ll pop back in tomorrow.
Since what everyone else has suggested hasn’t worked, there’s 3 more things to test:
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Update your BIOS. Depending on the age difference between your CPU and your MOBO, the BIOS might not be configured correctly for your CPU and thus half your RAM is unable to be addressed.
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Test your RAM sticks and memory slots individually. Put your sticks in the primary channel (per your MOBO specs) one at a time and reboot to see if they’re actually working. Then try moving them around to see if the issue is a bad slot, rather than a bad stick.
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Are you sure you’re not running a 32-bit OS? You’d be capped at 4GB system memory on 32-bit Windows, for example, no matter how much physical RAM you have.
doesn’t a 32 bit OS cap memory usage at 4GB per process not for the whole system?
Sort of, it depends on implementation. There are some techniques (which I don’t really know) that will allow a 32 bit OS to address more than 4GB, but natively it can’t for the same reason that the process will still be limited to 4GB.
Perhaps you already know this but: 32 bits can only represent 2^32 numbers (4.294.967.296), which is how many bytes 4GB is equivalent to, and so anything after that cannot be reached. This also means 64 bits can address up to something like 17 billion GB, or about 16 EB.
Tried updating my bios but when attempting to through the bios itself it states “not a valid bios” even though it’s through the updater built in??
Do you mean you’re getting an error message saying the “selected file is not a proper BIOS file”?
Or are you getting a different error? If it’s the above, you’ll need to remove and redownload the updated BIOS, as it was corrupted during download, and you’ll need to make sure you have a stable connection while downloading to avoid it happening again.
If you’re getting a different error I’d need to know the exact wording to help any further.
msconfig has a maximum memory option. Worth checking that to make sure it’s not set to 8gb.
Could also be that you’ve installed the sticks in a weird configuration. Often if you have 4 slots the board actually wants you to populate slots 2 and 4 if you’re only using 2 sticks. Details are usually printed on the board.
Or could be reserve for the iGPU, have a look in the bios.
Okay, I’m back and I have slept. Have a look at your CPU. I’m 90% sure that’s where the problem was when I had this issue. I think in my case, one of the pins was slightly bent, and once it was very carefully straightened, the problem went away. But it could also be just not seated properly, or is overheating, or has dust on it.
I saw in another post that you borrowed your partner’s RAM. Is it possible for you to borrow their CPU (assuming it’s compatible with your mobo)? If all the RAM is usable when you’re using their CPU, that would point to your CPU having an issue, as there is the potential for a failure there that’s not visible to the naked eye. If the problem still happens with your partner’s CPU, then at least you’ve eliminated one possibility, which is useful for diagnostic purposes.
