Asus P5B-E with 4 x 1GB ram not detecting all the ram.

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Deimos

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
1,166
Hi all, I need some help with a very strange problem I'm having with this board and memory config.

I have 4 1GB memory modules (Transcend) rated at 800Mhz installed on my P5B-E and despite my best efforts I can't get the board to recognise all the mamory installed, I have enabled the BIOS option for "Enable Memory Remap Feature" but that only makes it go from the expected 3GB (with the option off) to 3.5GB (with the option on)

I'm running Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 edition, windows also shows 3.5GB available.

If I run CPUID it shows 4 GB of installed memory.

I have tried dropping the memory speed down to 667 but this makes no difference, I even tried lower and relaxed the timing, it still will not detect the final missing 512.

I have tried 3 different BIOS versions, including the latest which I have no choice in (because the mobo is running without a video card and earlier BIOS versions will not post without a video card)

All I can say is WTF!!?? at this point I am suspecting a compat problem with the board and RAM because I cannot find any one else with this problem, and the board is supposed to support 8GB of ram, so it should be able to detect 4GB no problem, I called the guy I bought the board from and told him I wanted to switch the memory for some Corsair but he told me its a limitation of the board and even if I change it will still show 3.5GB.

Any one have any suggestions for me?

Thanks
 
don't know man, lately Asus boards are real POS (have the same board as you but with only 2gb). there should be a bios fix. my only suggestion

xp32 wont see more then 3gb ram, but the x64 variants should.
 
To detect the full 4GB or more, you must enable Memory Remap in the BIOS. If you are using 32-bit OS (Windows XP), you will be limited. To use the full amount of memory installed, you must use 64-bit OS (XP 64-bit, Vista 64-bit, etc...)
 
To anyone replying, thanks but please make sure you read my entire post before giving suggestions.

I'm running 1202 BIOS, I believe my board shipped with 0706 but I could not get the board to POST without a video card on the older BIOS versions, only the latest would work.

I guess what I really want to know is if anyone has had the same problem, like I said, I suspect my ram isn't fully compatible, its pretty low end stuff and I am considering swapping it for Corsair.

Any help would be great, thanks.
 
I have ordered 4 GB of Corsair TWIN2X ram, I'll let you know how I get on in case anyone is interested.
 
What other devices are installed in the computer? Some device may not like being remapped past 4GB, thus you end up with a chunk missing.
 
I've got the same Motherboard, installing the system now, and its about to head back to newegg tomorrow I'm thinking.

I've got 2x2GB G.Skill pc6400 sticks and with XP64professional I'm still only seeing 3.5gb of RAM as well.

I'm running the latest bios, I couldn't get the 0706 to boot with my 8800gts installed.

Only things in the system:

intel 6320 proc
eVGA 8800GTS (640mb)
2 x WD 500GB drives
Samsung DVDR
 
I'm running a single PCI video card and 2 SATA 120GB hard drives, if I remove the video card it still only sees 3.5 GB, on board sound is disabled, I run without any video or sound because it is my server.
I don't have this issue with my AMD system.
I should get the new memory on Monday so we'll see how that goes I guess :/
 
BTW srage2k2 have you enabled the memory remap option, it is normal to only see 3.5GB with this option off, my problem is that with the option off I only see 3GB and on 3.5GB
My AMD sees 3.5 with the option off and 4 with it on.
 
Your missing 512MB has gone to hardware memory caching, even with the memory hole remap option on, and 4GB under an x64 environment. I don't know what to tell you, you could always call M$ tech support for Server 2k3 or XP/Vista...it's only $260 per call, lol.
 
Deimos said:
BTW srage2k2 have you enabled the memory remap option, it is normal to only see 3.5GB with this option off, my problem is that with the option off I only see 3GB and on 3.5GB
My AMD sees 3.5 with the option off and 4 with it on.
Click to expand...

WIth memory remap diabled, I only saw 3008MB in BIOS and in xp64.

I wound up clearing the CMOS and suddenly I have my entire 4GB in xp64 now.
 
I tried clearing the BIOS but that didn't work for me, the new RAM arrived today so I will test it tonight and see what happens.
 
The new ram didn't do shit, still shows 3.5GB :(
email sent to Asus
 
do you only see 3.5GB in the BIOS as well?

I'm running 2x2GB sticks without a hitch after I that CMOS clear and resetting the BIOS settings. I see all 4gb in xp64.
 
Both BIOS and Windows (2k3 x64 edition) i tried a BIOS reset with the new ram as well, no difference :(
 
Has anyone else got any suggestions for me? Asus stopped emailing me when I told them I have no video card installed :(
 
I ordered this motherboard before doing any research, and this will be the last asus product I ever buy

It seems they did something completely non standard with the memory remapping, as even 64-bit linux distro's fail to even boot with it enabled. The only one I have gotten to work is Ubuntu, and disabling the intel_agp kernel module. Once that is done, it will boot with memory mapping, but is unstable with any kind of disk I/O. SUSE/Fedora/Centos all fail miserably with no work arounds getting it to work correctly.

I have another board being delivered today to replace it, and will try out some x64 windows OS's on the P5B-E to see what happens. I either see 3.02gb in bios, or 4gb depending on the remapping setting, and the same value in linux.

Most likely I will be selling it off and getting a new board.

ETA: Using 2x2gb sticks, and getting 2x2gb more today with the delivery, I also want to see how it handles the full 8gb.
 
Well I got it up and running with XP-64. I installed with "memory remap feature" = disabled, and with 4gb physically installed. With this, bios reported ~3gb, and xp as well.

Once I installed sp2 and updates, I set it to enabled, and bios and xp saw the full 4gb. Installed the other 4gb (now 4 x 2gb ddr2-800), and xp sees it all as well (all 8gb).

If you set memory remap feature to enabled, you should see all installed ram (4gb/8gb/etc), not installed minus random crap.

If you have already swapped out memory, I would say its a board/bios issue.

p5b-e
4 x 2gb G.skill ddr2-800
c2d e6600
256mb Evga 7900gs
 
I think it has got to be a board issue, no one else here or on the Asus forums have the same issue as I do.

Memory remap works OK for me (apart from not showing all 4GB) windows runs OK, I am using 2 ATA raid cards with 8 200GB hard drives in Raid 5 and it works a treat, I just want all the ram to show up as I am wanting to run another 2 virtual servers for some study I am doing and it would be handy to have it all available.

Still waiting for Asus to reply to my last email.
 
I am running into the same issue on my EVGA i680 board. I am running XP(32bit) Is that a why? DO you need a 64bit OS to use 4gigs?
 
As far as I know..

32bit OS's from Microsoft only support UP to 4gig of memory. (And this is counting memory on graphics card, sound card, etc) So in reality you'll never see 4gig of RAM on a 32bit OS.

64bit OS's from Microsoft support up to 8gig. (Long with some business server variations which go ridiocuously high like 126gig or something)
 
Asus tech support is a joke: (read from bottom up)

Memory remap is already enabled, I already said this in my initial enquiry (see the bottom)


---------- Original Message ----------
From:ASUS TSD
To:XXX
Date:2007-07-12 17:36:45

Dear sir/madam,

Please simply enter BIOS setup screen, and set "Advanced-->Chipset-->Northbridge Configuration-->Memory Remap Feature" to "Enabled".

Sincerely,

Penny
ASUS Customer Service Center(China)




---------- Original Message ----------
From : XXX
Sent : 2007-7-10 18:37:32
To : "[email protected]"
Subject : Re:Re:Re:Re: Motherboard P5B-E



[CASEID=WTM200707101828233837]



A video card is not required to boot up the system, only to load windows, once windows is installed
you can enable remote desktop and remove the video card from the system.
I don't think I should have to explain this to tech support because you should already know that this
is possible, can you please refer my case to someone else?

The motherboard should work fine with 4GB of ram since it supports 8GB according to the manual, I
have updated to the latest BIOS but it will still not detect all 4GB of ram and I even spent extra money
to get "qualified memory" according to your website and the motherboard manual and yet the board
still only sees 3.5GB of ram.

No one else I have talked to seems to have this problem.

Oh and one final thing I should mention, I have built the PC with the least amount of devices possible,
that is, no CD rom, no add in cards (including video card) a single SATA hard drive, CPU and memory
and it still refuses to detect all 4GB of ram and I am running server 2003 64 bit version.

---------- Original Message ----------
From:ASUS TSD
To:XXX
Date:2007-05-18 18:22:32

Dear sir/madam,

If you remove the PCI VGA card, which VGA card do you use to boot up the system? The
motherboard P5B-E doesn't have an onboard VGA card.

Sincerely,

Penny
ASUS Customer Service Center(China)




---------- Original Message ----------
From : XXX
Sent : 2007-5-9 15:14:12
To : "[email protected]"
Subject : Re:Re: Motherboard P5B-E



[CASEID=WTM20070509155563678]



I have a PCI video card, the card is only used for configuring the BIOS and was removed after
windows was installed, that is why I put "none" for the video card type.

---------- Original Message ----------
From:ASUS TSD
To:XXX
Date:2007-05-08 18:42:58

Dear sir/madam,

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is Penny. It's my pleasure to help you with your problem.

Please check your VGA card whether it occupies the system memory capacity. If you have
another VGA card, would you please change that one to use and have a test?

If you have any problem, please refer FAQ(Frequently Asked Questions) or contact us again. We
will try our best to help you.
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Sincerely,

Penny
ASUS Customer Service Center(China)




---------- Original Message ----------
From : XXX
Sent : 2007-5-7 14:30:59
To : "[email protected]"
Subject : Motherboard P5B-E



[CASEID=WTM200705071422459060]



Apply date : 5/7/2007 2:22:45 PM
[Contact Information]
*Name : Damon
*Email Address : XXX
Phone Number XXX
City : Auckland
*Country : New Zealand

[Product Information]
*Product Type : Motherboard
*Product Model : P5B-E
*Product S/N : XXX
Place of Purchase : OEM Computers
*Date of Purchase : 2007/5/1

[Motherboard Specification]
*Motherboard Revision : C2
*Motherboard BIOS Revision : 1202

[VGA Card Specification]
*VGA Card Vendor : None
*VGA Card Model : None
*VGA Card Chipset : None
*VGA Card Driver : None

[CPU Specification]
*CPU Vendor : Intel
*CPU Type : Socket 775 Core 2 Duo
*CPU Speed : 1866Mhz

[Memory Specification]
*Memory Vendor : Corsair
*Memory Model : DDR2 CM2X1024-6400
*Memory Capacity : 4GB

[HDD Specification]
HDD Vendor : Seagate
HDD Model :
HDD Capacity :

[Add-on Card Specificatio]
Add-on Card Vendor :
Add-on Card Type :
Add-on Card Model :

*Operating System : Win2003 64bit

[Problem Description]
I have installed qualified Corsair memory however it only detects 3.5GB, memory remap toption is
enabled, I have also tried another memory brand and it shows the same thing in BIOS and Windows.
Click to expand...
 
Bigbacon said:
I am running into the same issue on my EVGA i680 board. I am running XP(32bit) Is that a why? DO you need a 64bit OS to use 4gigs?
Click to expand...

If the BIOS shows 4GB, you're seeing what you ought to see. A 32-bit Windows install will report less, due to how it allocates memory. I have 4GB (see sig) and the board BIOS shows it correctly, but the OS reports 3.25GB. This is normal; I mainly bought the extra RAM to future-proof my machine, since DDR2 prices are probably as low as they're going to go for the forseeable future.

For a good article just written about this, check here:
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034

The original poster's problem is that the board BIOS isn't reporting all the RAM either, and so I'd consider that a real issue. It appears that either the ASUS board has a problem with its memory addressing, or it's really picky about RAM modules, or something else.
 
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