# Half of the Ram detected by PC



## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

Greetings fellow gamers, tech guys (staff members and amateurs). Now this will be normal post and a normal problem, identified by many users. I just bought this 1GB DDR1 Ram stick. I had once a stick of 256 MB of Ram (DDR1) and then added one more stick of 256 MB of ram (DDR1). After a time I decided to buy another stick. So I bought this one. I have 2 slots for Ram Memory. Replaced one of the 256 MB of Ram stick with the 1GB Ram stick. And surprise! It is only showing 768 Mb of Ram. Switched their places, but still nothing. Removed the 256 MB of Ram stick. Now it was showing only 512 MB of Ram. Tried to "update" my bios. But I got a bit . . . stuck. As I am not an expert in PC 's I did not wanted to do anything stupid. It was made by A.M.I. (American Megatrends Inc.) My specs, so far, are:

ASRock K7VT4A+
AMD Sempron(tm)2200+ ~1.5GHz
1GB Ram (512 read only)
DirectX 9.0c
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128 MB
C-Media Wave Device

Visited the site of ASRock for info. And my motherboard supports a maximum of 2GB of Ram and a maximum of 1GB per slot. Can you please try to help me? Did all my best.

Edit: Some more details of my motherboard.

*184-pin DIMM Banking: * 2 (2 banks of 1)
*Chipset: * VIA Apollo KT400A
*Error Detection Support: * Non-ECC only
*Graphics Support: * AGP 8X
*Max Component Density: * 512Mb
*Max Unbuffered DDR SDRAM: * 2048MB
*Module Types Supported: * Unbuffered only
*Supported DRAM Types: * DDR SDRAM only
*USB Support: * 2.x Compliant

Each memory slot can hold DDR PC2700, DDR PC3200 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.
*Do I have to install matching pairs?
**No.*
No, you can install modules one at a time, and you can mix different densities of modules in your computer. But if your computer supports dual-channel memory configurations, you should install in identical pairs (preferably in kits) for optimal performance.

Official info from www.crucial.com


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

Any help would be nice, from eighter experts or amateurs. Just an idea. Anything. Anything that may help me. Please.


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## SMRDcompany (Jul 2, 2009)

Hello,

did you buy the 1GB of ram or did you get it from a friend? You should see the model and s/n of your ram and check online if it's really 1gb because you might've been frauded and given a 512MB ram stick.

I never tried an update to an ASrock bios but the procedure goes like:

1. Create a bootable system floppy disk.
2. Download an updated ASRock BIOS file (in your case: http://www.asrock.com/MB/download.asp?Model=K7VT4A+&o=BIOS) from the web site, unzip the BIOS file and save both ASRFLASH.EXE utility and BIOS file to the disk you created in step 1.
3. Boot from the disk you created in step 2.
4. At the "A:\" prompt, type ASRFLASH, hit space bar once, and type BIOS file name then press <Enter>. For example: A:\ASRFLASH K7S41GX2.00 <Enter> then you will see a message "Please wait for BIOS loading ROM".
5. After 30 seconds, you will see the message "Flash ROM Update Completed - Pass", then you have finished upgrading the BIOS.
6. After finishing upgrading the BIOS, please remove the floppy disk. Restart your system and press <F2> to enter the BIOS setup utility during boot up.
7. In Exit menu, please select "Load Default Settings" and press <Enter> to continue.
8. Select "Exit Saving Changes" and press <Enter> to exit the BIOS setup utility.
9. Now, system is booting up with new BIOS.

What went wrong after trying to update your bios? Did it start to update and quit halfway trough or it refused to update altogether? It's very risky to damage your BIOS (unfinished update).


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

> Max Component Density: 512Mb


This will explain why your 1GB DIMM is only being recognized as 512...

A BIOS update will not help this. If you have 4 slots, the max you can use is 512 x 4


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

This is not normal. It says it has a max of 2GB, but max component density is 512. And I only have 2 slots. Plus! I think It's a big problem here. Downloaded the Bios update when I tried to update, but I didn't create a floppy disk thingy. I only opened the update. And nothing happened. Is it dangerous? Cuz' my computer started to restart suddenly. And it still does that. Is is because of the Ram?


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks in advance to both you.


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## SMRDcompany (Jul 2, 2009)

It might be the RAM issue that's why it's restarting. Try to follow the procedure of creating a bootable floppy disk (if you have a floppy drive though) and then updating your BIOS.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Sorry about that. I was distracted by work. Do you know if you have high-density or low density ram?

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/hi-density-low-density-ram-287320.html


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

DDR400MHz, high density. Plus this morning it detects 1 GB.  God heard my prayers. Thank you very much.


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

Oh, dear God, now in this morning a blue screen error appeared, I restarted and now it says 512 MB of Ram again. What is happening?

Edit: My Ram stick is a Team Inc. one. Team Group Inc
It is double-sided. And it isn't so cheap.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

DDR isn't cheap. It has gone the way of PC 100/133 before it... It is still in demand, but there is nobody manufacturing it. 

You would have been better off purchasing a good quality, used RAM... 

RAM is a fickle beast, and your motherboard is not a high quality board. The mix is what is likely causing your issues. 

You are using 2 DIMMs, you will need to run memory tests...

Put one DIMM in slot 1, boot to a disc containing Memtest86+ and let it run for a minimum of two hours. Then swap the DIMMs and run it again for 2 hours.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Any failed memory addresses will show... 

Note the amount of memory you are showing in BIOS and Memtest.


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

I only use one memory stick. The 1GB one. I will try to use MemoryTest and I will tell you the results.


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## Tech Amateur (Jan 6, 2011)

Still nothing . . . Somebody help me please. No idea what to do. 512 MB detected of 1GB of Ram =(


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

It is most likely a compatibility problem, as I stated before.

You should get a good DIMM of low density DDR or (if you want 1GB) 2x 512MB DDR DIMMs.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

Just a thought, could your video card be using the other 512MB? I know in the System area of the control panel, the "useable" RAM is less than the installed RAM.


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