An issue with my RAM/RAM sockets

[Wetyy]

So i have my new computer i built myself that i'm using currently there specs are pretty low and a lil old now but when i first started to build it was about 1 year ago but never had the money or time to fix it up but i did recently. So to get to my issue i have 2 RAM sticks that both work. The problem being that it only shows 1 as working at a time and its the one in the second DIMM socket but what gets to me is that Windows Recognises that i have 4 gigs but only 2 (1.96) gigabytes are usable.

RAM: 2x 2GB Kingston 1333mhz (http://www.netplus.com.au/product/MY...BS2G_for_Dell_)

and the motherboard is an Asus p7h55 m lx

I know these are pretty low end i do honeslty understand that but any help would be appreciated (don't really have the money to take it into a computer shop but will if i have to.)

[chazus]

Okay, a couple things.

You say only "One works at a time" yet windows says you have 4gb. These are conflicting statements.

First... Does EACH stick work on its own in EACH slot? This will determine if one of the sticks is bad, or one of the slots is bad.

The fact you said Windows sees 4, but can only use 2, sounds a lot like you are reserving 1.5gb-2gb for video ram in BIOS. Do you have a dedicated video card? If so, turn off onboard video.

[Wetyy]

Ok to answer your first question. Each RAM stick works in the second socket soo my theory is that the first socket is kinda faulty but if soo why would it still know there is 4 gigs of RAM there

For your second thing i don't know how to turn of the onboard graphics i thought it already turns off if i have a dedicated plugged in.

[chazus]

Each RAM stick works in the second socket soo my theory is that the first socket is kinda faulty

What happens when you put 1 ram stick in the first slot only? Does the system not boot?

i thought it already turns off if i have a dedicated plugged in.

Usually not. It might just not put video to that port, but that doesn't mean it's 'Off'.

You should just be able to turn the computer on and boot into BIOS (usually by pressing Del right after it turns on) and in there should be some settings regarding video options.

[Wetyy]

No the computer doesn't boot if i have only 1 RAM stick plugged in and it being in the first socket.

also http://imgur.com/c6VsL

Going to test the Video thing now.

Soo i went into my BIOS and from what i saw there was no section/sub section labelled video i did take pictures of each of the seconds though.

[chazus]

Well, the fact your system wont boot with RAM in that slot, implying that the slot is bad, can do anything really. Maybe the system is recognizing that power is being delivered to that slot, but can't use it. Honestly, with a damaged motherboard, anything is possible. It could well tell you "4gb detected, Banana available".

I looked up the manual for your board, and it's sort of shoddy for mucking with the video settings. It's under "Chipset" and "Uncore Configuration" for Initiate Graphic Adapter. It's possible it might be set to "PEG/IGD" or something.. basically you want to ensure that IGD is not an option available. PEG/PCIE is probably your best bet.

[elye]

Ok , that is rather odd indeed , i thought chazus had it with the memory being assigned to IGPU but now i'm wondering if the ram slot is faulty , make sure the on board video is disabled on the motherboard because the i5-760 doesn't have on board graphics the motherboard could be trying to assign memory for a graphics system that doesn't exist .

You could try to run a memtest available here http://www.memtest.org/#downiso ( go for the bootable usb version)
Hopefully putting some strain on those chips might give you an indication of what's wrong .

Secondly if it is the motherboard ... i've had many dealings with asus customer support over the years and they are very good at honouring their warranties , how old is that motherboard , maybe you should RMA it as faulty and get them to replace it .

Good luck

[Wetyy]

It's closing in on 2 years old now.

Also to answer chazus's question it is set to PCIE/PCI and the only other option of the 2 is PCI/PCIE

[Panther-z]

If either ram stick works and boots it slot 2, but neither work or boot is slot 1. The slot is bad rma the motherboard before the warranty runs out.