Recovering Lost DRAM Size error on X58A-UD3R. Please help.

[bgarrant]

I have tried just about everything I can think of myself and wanted to turn to the experts before I RMA the MOBO.  I have a X58A-UD3R board, Intel i& 950 and 12 GB of OCZ Gold 6GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory (Model: OCZ3G1600LV6GK).  For some reason in the BIOS it is only showing 8 GB of RAM installed.  It appears slot 5 and 6 (Channel C) are not enabled which I can see in M.I.T. Slots 1-4 show 2048 and slots 5 and 6 shows " - " where it says 'Enabled Slot (MB).  It does however show the full 12 GB DRAM installed, but just not slot 5 and 6 enabled.  I have not overclocked anything as this is a work PC. There are no warning beeps.  The system will boot and will POST to hit "Recovering Lost DRAM Size" error and then reboot 3 times in same manner.  On the 4th boot the PC will load windows 7 normally with no issues.  I have flashed the BIOS to latest FC version.  I read that many people have found bent CPU socket pins but I have checked and all is fine there.  I even reset the CPU and heatsink just to be sure with a new application of Artic Silver.

Has anyone been able to fix this issue or do I need to just RMA the board?

Bryan

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

The problem you are encountering is due to one of two things. Either the CPU socket has some bent pins or the more likely scenario the settings for the memory in the BIOS need tweeking because you have filled all the memory slots putting a greater load on the controller which needs to be compensated.

If you post your memory settings I will do my best to help you sort them out.

[bgarrant]

I checked the CPU pins again and see no issues.  I reset it again and applied new thermal paste.  Slot 5 and 6 will not show in BIOS as enabled.  I can't figure out why?  On forth reboot it will load windows 7 and show all 12 GB.  That is what seems odd is why would it work on 4th reboot?  The BIOS does not show full amount ever it seems, but windows 7 does on 4th reboot.  Here are a few screen shots for how I have it now with 6Gb installed.  You can see it still says slot 5 is not enabled.

[bgarrant]

I have a REV 2 board if that helps and I have latest FC BIOS update from GIGABYTE.

[Dark Mantis]

Right then you need to make sure all your memory is working alright so you need to install one module in the first white slot and then run Memtest86+ on it for at least ten loops before swapping it with the next one and so on. This is time consuming but it is the only way of making sure each module is not faulty. If they all pass the test with no faults then we can move on to the next stage of installing them all and setting the voltages etc manually.

Memtest86+    http://www.memtest.org/

[bgarrant]

I tested all modules yesterday by booting and running with each one alone.  All worked fine.  It just seems slot 5 and slot 6 in MOBO wont work.  I do not care if I hit memory specs of 1600, but 1333 would be nice for all DIMMS.

I think maybe the AUTO settings are not setting the voltage correct or something.  Any advice is helpful as I am not familiar with tweaking these settings.



Here are memory specs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

[Dark Mantis]

Ok then if you are happy that the memory is 100% (personally I don't consider what you did as a thorough test but we will move on)

Try these for size if you have all slots filled.

Your Uncore needs to be set to 16x - 18x
Your memory voltage needs to be set to 1.55V maybe even a touch higher.
QPI/Vtt should be set to 1.15 - 2.00
Change tRAS to 24


If you could post the exact kit number of your memory so I can see the detailed specs it would be more helpful.

[bgarrant]

i ran the windows 7 memory test and all was fine as well once I booted to windows on 4th try.  It seems to be some setting in BIOS.  If CPU Pic was issue, why would it work on 4th try consistently?  I looked and saw no bent pins.

[MoviemanXS]

I'm seeing the same issues with a system I built for a customer a couple months ago.
System specs:
X58A-UD3R ver 2.0 board
i7-930 cpu
3x2 gig Corsair XML DDR3-1333( also tried 3x2 gig Corsair GTX2's)
Corsair TX650 PSU
EVGA GTX460 vid
The issue with the "posting after 4 attempts" only came up after flashing bios to latest version.
Prior to that the sole issue was when you'd go to shut down the machine would reboot instead and then you could shut down.
Should have stayed with the old bios I think.
Any thoughts?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I take it that the BIOS you have updated to is the latest one available ?

You can of course revert back to the one before if that is less of a problem.

Have you tried clearing the CMOS before loading the Optimised BIOS Defaults ?

It might be worth trying disabling all the power saving settings as they seem to cause inumerable problems.

[MoviemanXS]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I take it that the BIOS you have updated to is the latest one available ?

You can of course revert back to the one before if that is less of a problem.

Have you tried clearing the CMOS before loading the Optimised BIOS Defaults ?

It might be worth trying disabling all the power saving settings as they seem to cause inumerable problems.

Thanks for the reply.
As I remember( as the machine is at the customers home) bios is set at defaults across the board.
No OC involved on cpu or memory.
I'll try your suggestions and see what happens.
Thanks.

[Dark Mantis]

I would suggest that you do a full clear of the CMOS by removing the battery and power supply for at least 10 minutes after draining any residual voltage left in the PSU.

[MoviemanXS]

I would suggest that you do a full clear of the CMOS by removing the battery and power supply for at least 10 minutes after draining any residual voltage left in the PSU.

Will do and Thanks again..

[Dark Mantis]

This only POSTing on every forth try is a weird one and no mistake. I can't even imagine how they would code the BIOS to do that. Probably better to return to an earlier BIOS and try and sort out the other problem.

Please see my PM