Half my RAM is missing
 

Ok the long and short of it. My old boot HD failed, and I replaced it. Installed a new copy of XP home and reinstalled everything. Its been a few months and I just noticed that when the computer boots, it only counts off 1GB RAM.

This is a few years old, it is a Gigabyte MB and when it's finished counting is shows that "memory runs at dual channel". Physically, the MB has 6 slots for memory and my two cards are in the "orange" primary slots.

Do these machines care which pair of slots the memory is installed in? If the MB is bad, I can try moving the memory to the second pair of slots. I suppose this will help me figure out if its the memory or the board. Any thoughts?

location of ram in the slots can make a difference
 

mostly whether it runs as dual channel or not, however, some mobo's require ram to be in specific slots to be "seen". double check your manual.

there is always the possibility the ram is not seated, but unlikely.


cpu-z is a good tool to validate ram, cpu etc is what you think you bought.

Interesting problem there. If it's showing dual channel, then it's seeing both sticks. I would pull out one of the sticks and see how much ram it sees, then put the other in and remove the one that's installed and see if it sees the same amount again. Then reinstall the second and see if you get double. It's most likely a seating problem. Some manufacturers offer lifetime warranties on ram, so if it's bad, you may be covered. :)

Eric

Thanks for the replies. I've removed and reseated the modules with no change. I guess I'll try to take one out and then the other. This should help narrow down if it's ram or mobo. I'd be concerned if its the mobo as this is a bigger problem to say the least!

I think this is Kensington's so they might have a good warranty. I wonder if they'll change both pairs cause they are a matched set? Makes sense to me!

Go into Control Pannel... System... General tab. Look at what it says under "Computer:" That's how much RAM XP is seeing.

If it's only 1 Gig, go into the BIOS upon booting up. Are there any memory settings that might be forcing your computer to see only 1 Gig? Perhaps somehow a BIOS setting got changed during your reinstall.

If everything is as it should be in the BIOS, visit http://www.memtest86.com/ . You can dowload a free copy of memtest86 from their site or buy it on a CD. Memtest86 will tell you the RAM and bus configuration that your computer sees upon boot-up.

If memtest86 only sees one stick of 1 Gig or 2 sticks for 512 Mb, turn off the machine and pull out one stick and run memtest86 again. How are the results different? Do the same pulling out the other stick of RAM. How did things change? This will tell you which stick or memory slot is bad. So try putting the stick of RAM that you believe is bad in the slot that the "good" stick is in. Run memtest86 again. This will tell you if the memory stick is bad or the memory slot on your mobo is bad.

Next, download a copy of the manual for your mobo. Try putting the RAM into different slots (being sure you don't do anything you shouldn't w/ your mobo) and run memtest86 again.

And finally, but probably firstly, read the sticker on the RAM. Does it say it's a 1 Gig stick?

Good luck!