[drewhiggins]

...this was the exact stick that had been in the computer since day dot when I built it. So it's not a dual-channel issue or single-channel because one day it just decided to only recognize half.

So I went from 512MB to 256MB, in effect - it's my HD machine as well. I went and bought a new stick (Hynix DDR400 1GB) and how much do I get when I fire up the system...half again. Tried another stick, all sticks in different slots and still no go. Strangely, CPU-z recognises 1GB Hynix DDR400 RAM (so it's certainly doing its job) but the BIOS and Windows recognises only 512MB. As does Ubuntu and Knoppix.

I used Memtest86 and it said there were no errors or problems. All sticks were tried in exactly the same setup elsewhere and they find 1GB. So the next question is, why? Has the board become corrupted? For the record, it's a Gigabyte 848p board and Hynix RAM (the new one in case you didn't notice) - the original was Corsair RAM.

I've never seen this problem elsewhere and judging from people I've spoken to...they don't seem to have seen the problem either!

[mrdaveyk]

what OS you using?

then again i dont see why its only reading 512

i had a problem of reading 4gb, only to find out vista could only read 3gb

but i think this may be abit different

[Carbon]

Does your motherboard have on-board video?

[Mike0001]

Try going into the BIOS and somewhere in that morass you may find an option not to do a fast start, or an option to do a full memory check. You may want to look at how much the BIOS is reporting too.

Restart and (after waiting an eternity) see if that fixes it. If it does, change back to fast start.

Is the m/b old enough to need a new CMOS battery?

[drewhiggins]

I'm using XP Media Center 2005. Vista supports 3.14GB or something like that for 32bit.

My board doesn't have onboard video (I have the P model, the I model is integrated).

I'll try what Mike has suggested for the full memory check. Would most BIOSes after 2003-2004 have it - and I just fitted a new battery as recently as December.

[Mike0001]

Originally Posted by drewhiggins I'm using XP Media Center 2005. Vista supports 3.14GB or something like that for 32bit. My board doesn't have onboard video (I have the P model, the I model is integrated). I'll try what Mike has suggested for the full memory check. Would most BIOSes after 2003-2004 have it - and I just fitted a new battery as recently as December.

My year old Q35 laptop has it, dunno about desktops but I guess so.

[drewhiggins]

I'll take a look later on. Thanks for your help - I'll let you know how I got on.

[drewhiggins]

Alrighty, I finally got around to it - just checked about 20 minutes ago and there is no mention anywhere of a Fast Start or Full Memory Check at all. Any other ideas? I'm fresh out except buying a new board, but they're discontinued ages ago.

[Mike0001]

Originally Posted by drewhiggins Alrighty, I finally got around to it - just checked about 20 minutes ago and there is no mention anywhere of a Fast Start or Full Memory Check at all. Any other ideas? I'm fresh out except buying a new board, but they're discontinued ages ago.

I guess you have already put the latest firmware into your BIOS? Maybe re-flashing it will jog its memory! Dunno what to suggest apart from that, it is a pretty strange problem.

We had two HP Omnibooks in the past and one had exactly the same problem, but only in one slot, and I never got to the bottom of that, because the other slot and other laptop were fine. I put it down to hardware malfunction.