Strange memory issues

[KeithGS]

Hello!


I'm having a very strange issue, and I'm not sure what it could be, I recently upgraded my system, installed 16GB of RAM, and I've noticed something strange, I rebooted went into Windows, seen that only 12GB of RAM were usable out of 16GB, rebooted, 16GB of RAM is available, rebooted again, works no problem, rebooted again later on, 8GB of RAM is only usable.. I did memtest and it passed, no problems..made a RAM disk (when it was allowing me to use 16GB of RAM) and it worked under high load no issues, I've reset my BIOS, updated it to the latest 2.22 version on the MSI website, I haven't reseat the RAM yet, well because I'm using a very large cpu cooler which is right on top of the RAM, in order for me to reseat the RAM, I'd need to remove it, and it would be a pain in my ***..however I checked and all the DIMMS are securely in place (from what I can see)

I have no memory remapping option in my bios, I've been googling for days now, and I can't find a solution, so hopefully someone can point me in the right way

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231460

EDIT: The RAM seems to be going into "Hardware reserved"

EDIT 2: I checked msconfig advanced option, max memory is unchecked.

[
Summary
Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

RAM
16.0 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
MSI 990XA-GD55 (MS-7640) (CPU 1) 39 ?C
Graphics
Philips (1920x1080@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
Hard Drives
59GB OCZ OCZ-VERTEX3 ATA Device (SATA) 30 ?C
488GB Hitachi Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 ATA Device (SATA) 34 ?C
Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

CPU AMD FX(tm)-8120 Eight-Core Processor

RAM
Memory slots
Total memory slots 4
Used memory slots 4
Free memory slots 0
Memory
Type DDR3
Size 16384 MBytes
Channels # Dual
CAS# Latency (CL) 11 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 11 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 11 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 28 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 39 clocks
Physical Memory
Memory Usage 10 %
Total Physical 16 GB
Available Physical 14 GB
Total Virtual 16 GB
Available Virtual 14 GB
Motherboard
Manufacturer MSI
Model 990XA-GD55 (MS-7640) (CPU 1)
System Temperature 39 ?C
BIOS
Brand American Megatrends Inc.
Version V22.2
Date 12/19/2011
Voltage
+3.3V 3.280 V
CPU CORE 1.296 V
VIN2 2.960 V
VIN3 1.376 V
+5V 5.886 V
+12V 11.968 V
VIN6 2.480 V
VSB3V 3.200 V
CMOS BATTERY 3.216 V
Graphics
Monitor
Name Philips on AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
Current Resolution 1920x1080 pixels
Work Resolution 1920x1040 pixels
State enabled, primary
Monitor Width 1920
Monitor Height 1080
Monitor BPP 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Frequency 60 Hz
Device \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
Memory 4294966272 MB
Memory type 2
Driver version 8.950.0.0

MOBO: MSI 990XA-GD55 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

PSU: 700w cooler master

Could someone help me out here?

[Tradesman]

Not sure what mobo you have, but you updated the BIOS which is good, try raising the DRAM voltage + .05 and/or the MC (memory controller voltage) about + .03

[KeithGS]

Oops yeah sorry about that..
MSI 990XA-GD55 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

[Tradesman]

OK, your timings are loose, 11-11-11-28 and these are native 9-10-9-28, for best results wit an 8120 you can try keeping them at 1866 but maybe tighten up to 10-10-10-28, though with 16GB not sure if that will fly stable either, but it might. Best option may be to drop to 1600 and try the 16 at 8-9-8-28, the memory controller should be able to handle that and performance would be near same as 1866 native. Might take a look here:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/announcement.php?f=2

Leading up to and during the release of the FX series of CPUs, AMD was advertising them as 'Native' for running 1866, when in truth the can run UP TO 1866, and while some have gotten them to run 16GB at 1866, the percentage of those who haven't is far higher, they finally checnged their advertising to reflect the true specs from their own BIOS and Kernel Guide to reflect that they can run UP TO 1866 and that the true NATIVE DRAM spec is for 1333

[KeithGS]

I don't care about overclocking them, I just want them to be stable at 1600, so I set the DRAM Freq to 1333, and set dram volt to 1.6v, seems the RAM is now stable and not changing every time I login to windows, but I'm sure they are underclocked, however..strange thing is, cpu-z is saying that voltage is at 1.5 when I set it to 1.6? any opinion on how to make them stable at 1600?

[Tradesman]

Is it saying 1.5 in the Memory tab or the SPD tab, if in the SPD that's what it should show, it's reading the info from the sticks for how they are programmed, in the Memory tab it should show what they are running at