Fun w/ 4GB of Memory and LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D Motherboard!

[bari]

So I recently upgraded the memory in my PC from 2GB to 4 GB of RAM (4
x 1 GB single channel DDR 400). Now the problem arrives - the BIOS
can only see 3 GB. Additionally, Vista (64 bit) Ultimate can only see
3GB (under "System Information").

My first thought was that one of the DIMMs was bad, so I checked each
DIMM separately and rebooted my machine with only 2GB at at time.
Each memory permutation posted correctly and was recognized correctly
in both BIOS and Vista.

Next, I thought an updated BIOS could do the trick. I have a LANPARTY
UT nF4 SLI-D, so I checked the product page on DFI's website (http://
us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?
PRODUCT_ID=3469&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=US). Under the BIOS section, I
saw several updates of which I decided the version dated 2006/04/06
would be the best choice for me. I tried using WinFlash, but I keep
getting an error that: "OnBoard BIOS not Award BIOS !". This error is
not valid as I verified my BIOS version inside of BIOS. Since I don't
have a floppy drive, I burned the BIOS files to a bootable CD and
tried to flash the BIOS the old fashioned way. The system recognized
the bootable CD, but just froze at the "Boot from CD:" screen. Either
way, none of the features listed from my version (2005/06/23) to the
newest version (2006/04/06) appear to address any memory issues.

The weirdest part of the whole scenario is that SiSoft's Sandra Lite
(http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?
dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=) can recognize all 4GBs
in Vista.

System Setup:
AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 2.0GHz Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D Motherboard
4 x 1GB DDR 400 (single channel) DIMMs
2 x GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Microsoft Vista Ultimate 64 bit

Any and all input is appreciated.

FYI . . . Microsoft Lists Vista 64's memory limit to over 128GB and
DFI lists the motherboard memory limit at 4GB.

 

[Spirit]

Not weird at all,,,,,,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294418/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

 

[James Matthews]

Great have fun! 64 bit windows should be able to use alot more ram though

 

[Qu0ll]

So I recently upgraded the memory in my PC from 2GB to 4 GB of RAM (4
x 1 GB single channel DDR 400). Now the problem arrives - the BIOS
can only see 3 GB. Additionally, Vista (64 bit) Ultimate can only see
3GB (under "System Information").

My first thought was that one of the DIMMs was bad, so I checked each
DIMM separately and rebooted my machine with only 2GB at at time.
Each memory permutation posted correctly and was recognized correctly
in both BIOS and Vista.

Next, I thought an updated BIOS could do the trick. I have a LANPARTY
UT nF4 SLI-D, so I checked the product page on DFI's website (http://
us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?
PRODUCT_ID=3469&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=US). Under the BIOS section, I
saw several updates of which I decided the version dated 2006/04/06
would be the best choice for me. I tried using WinFlash, but I keep
getting an error that: "OnBoard BIOS not Award BIOS !". This error is
not valid as I verified my BIOS version inside of BIOS. Since I don't
have a floppy drive, I burned the BIOS files to a bootable CD and
tried to flash the BIOS the old fashioned way. The system recognized
the bootable CD, but just froze at the "Boot from CD:" screen. Either
way, none of the features listed from my version (2005/06/23) to the
newest version (2006/04/06) appear to address any memory issues.

The weirdest part of the whole scenario is that SiSoft's Sandra Lite
(http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?
dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=) can recognize all 4GBs
in Vista.

System Setup:
AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 2.0GHz Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D Motherboard
4 x 1GB DDR 400 (single channel) DIMMs
2 x GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Microsoft Vista Ultimate 64 bit

Any and all input is appreciated.

FYI . . . Microsoft Lists Vista 64's memory limit to over 128GB and
DFI lists the motherboard memory limit at 4GB.

Sounds like a hardware problem of some kind and if the BIOS only recognises
3GB then you have little chance of Vista seeing any more than that. I had a
similar problem with 2 sticks of 2GB RAM. Each on its own would install as
2GB but together they would only give a total of 2GB. Replacing one of the
sticks solved the problem.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[bari]

There is a great article at http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm
which explains many of the issues with 4GB memory with 32 and 64 bit
windows in different hardware configurations. I believe my particular
problem will only be solved with a memory remapping feature available
in BIOS.