[GTALUG] Not recognizing added RAM

[Evan Leibovitch via talk]

Hi all,

I thought I would know how to handle this but it turns out that I don't.

I just added two new sticks of RAM to a system but it's not recognized by
the BIOS or OS.


# inxi -m
Memory: RAM: total: 7.74 GiB used: 2.93 GiB (37.9%)
Array-1: capacity: 16 GiB note: est. slots: 4 EC: None
Device-1: DIMM_A1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-2: DIMM_A2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-3: DIMM_B1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-4: DIMM_B2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s

So Inxi sees all 16GB (as does memtest) and yet in the first line it shows
RAM total at 8. dmidecode output is below

Motherboard is an Asus F2A85-M. BIOS has been reset to defaults but not
updated since the mobo was purchased.
OS is current Manjaro KDE.

The website specs say it can take 64GB.
Is updating the BIOS necessary or are there other solutions?

All help is greatly appreciated.

- Evan


-------------------------------------------------------------

# dmidecode -t 17
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0031, DMI type 17, 34 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x002F
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 4096 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_A1
Bank Locator: A1_BANK0
Type: DDR3
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 800 MT/s
Manufacturer: Undefined
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum1
Part Number: F3-14900CL9-4GBXL
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: Unknown

Handle 0x0033, DMI type 17, 34 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x002F
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 4096 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_A2
Bank Locator: A1_BANK1
Type: DDR3
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 800 MT/s
Manufacturer: Undefined
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum0
Part Number: F3-14900CL9-4GBXL
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: 30955 MT/s

Handle 0x0035, DMI type 17, 34 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x002F
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 4096 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_B1
Bank Locator: A1_BANK2
Type: DDR3
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 800 MT/s
Manufacturer: Undefined
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum2
Part Number: PSD34G16002
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: Unknown

Handle 0x0037, DMI type 17, 34 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x002F
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 4096 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_B2
Bank Locator: A1_BANK3
Type: DDR3
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 800 MT/s
Manufacturer: Undefined
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum3
Part Number: PSD34G16002
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: 1 MT/s



----
Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
@evanleibovitch or @el56

[Lennart Sorensen via talk]

Post by Evan Leibovitch via talk
Hi all,
I thought I would know how to handle this but it turns out that I don't.
I just added two new sticks of RAM to a system but it's not recognized by
the BIOS or OS.
# inxi -m
Memory: RAM: total: 7.74 GiB used: 2.93 GiB (37.9%)
Array-1: capacity: 16 GiB note: est. slots: 4 EC: None
Device-1: DIMM_A1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-2: DIMM_A2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-3: DIMM_B1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-4: DIMM_B2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
So Inxi sees all 16GB (as does memtest) and yet in the first line it shows
RAM total at 8. dmidecode output is below
Motherboard is an Asus F2A85-M. BIOS has been reset to defaults but not
updated since the mobo was purchased.
OS is current Manjaro KDE.
The website specs say it can take 64GB.
Is updating the BIOS necessary or are there other solutions?
All help is greatly appreciated.

Check the setting for the UMA Frame Buffer Size in the BIOS. Apparently
AMD's onboard video likes to take a LOT of memory by default if set
to auto. Many people have seen the auto setting like to take 50% which
is of course insane.

See page 2-20 in the manual.

[Lennart Sorensen via talk]

Post by Lennart Sorensen via talk

Post by Evan Leibovitch via talk
Hi all,
I thought I would know how to handle this but it turns out that I don't.
I just added two new sticks of RAM to a system but it's not recognized by
the BIOS or OS.
# inxi -m
Memory: RAM: total: 7.74 GiB used: 2.93 GiB (37.9%)
Array-1: capacity: 16 GiB note: est. slots: 4 EC: None
Device-1: DIMM_A1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-2: DIMM_A2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-3: DIMM_B1 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
Device-4: DIMM_B2 size: 4 GiB speed: 800 MT/s
So Inxi sees all 16GB (as does memtest) and yet in the first line it shows
RAM total at 8. dmidecode output is below
Motherboard is an Asus F2A85-M. BIOS has been reset to defaults but not
updated since the mobo was purchased.
OS is current Manjaro KDE.
The website specs say it can take 64GB.
Is updating the BIOS necessary or are there other solutions?
All help is greatly appreciated.

Check the setting for the UMA Frame Buffer Size in the BIOS. Apparently
AMD's onboard video likes to take a LOT of memory by default if set
to auto. Many people have seen the auto setting like to take 50% which
is of course insane.
See page 2-20 in the manual.

You could also have not quite seated the new sticks properly. After all
if the I2C bus connects, dmi data will show the sticks, even if the
memory controller can't talk to them.

How much memory does the BIOS see?