Strange RAM issue

[knightryderelite]

Hi guys, I am new to the forums here and I have a little bit of a background in computers but I am having a strange issue with a system at work that I cannot seem to figure out. The system works great and has no issues except for the fact that it will only recognize half of any ram stick that you put in it. if you place a 1 gig stick in it, it only recognizes 512. if you place a 512 stick in it then it will only recognize 256. I am hoping that maybe someone else here has encountered this problem in the past and may know whats going on.

 

[Nitestick]

it's probably the graphics adapter borrowing memory for it's own use, this is common with onboard graphics and it can happen with certain graphics cards too. check the BIOS settings for shared graphics memory settings.

 

[knightryderelite]

Hmmm... I will check that out. Is it common for shared graphics to use up that much ram? I have never encountered that issue before.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Check for AGP Aperture size or something dealing with the graphics card using onboard memory in the bios, chances are the GPU is taking 50% of anything that goes into it, check dxdiag to see if it states the ammout of video memory.

 

[Nitestick]

Hmmm... I will check that out. Is it common for shared graphics to use up that much ram? I have never encountered that issue before.

i wouldn't say it's common for it to use so much but it was the only conclusion i could draw that seems to fit the symptoms properly.

 

[knightryderelite]

Checked the bios settings and AGP is set to 32mb. I did not see anything else in the bios that could be causing the issue and I even reset the bios all to no avail. The graphics card is a 128mb card so I don't think that is the issue. I have tried multiple sticks or ram and they all seem to have the same issue. I am stumped.

 

[oldskool]

Do you have dual-channel memory ? Is the mobo dual-channel memory capable ? Sounds like the system is not recognizing one stick like it is in a single channel configuration.

 

[GG1972]

depends on your CPu and mobo--some mobo will not recogrnise dual channel on DDR memory if memory controller are not installed--hence it recogrnizes only hal --do some research on your CPU and mobo if memory controller is needed and installed--maybe that might be the issue