My system only see 8Gb instead of 12Gb memory, can you help me please?
Help me please! I have a MSI H55M-P31 motherboard with an i7 870 @ 2.93 GHz processor. Both of them supports memory up to 16Gb. I have installed 2x4Gb and 2x2Gb. My system only see 8Gb total, the 2x4Gb.
My output for "sudo dmidecode -t 16":
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.6 present.
Handle 0x002A, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array Location: System Board Or Motherboard Use: System Memory Error Correction Type: None Maximum Capacity: 8 GB Error Information Handle: Not Provided Number Of Devices: 4My output for "sudo lshw -class memory":
*-firmware description: BIOS vendor: American Megatrends Inc. physical id: 0 version: V1.3 date: 12/21/2009 size: 64KiB capacity: 2MiB capabilities: isa pci pnp upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification *-cache:0 description: L1 cache physical id: 5 slot: L1-Cache size: 256KiB capacity: 256KiB capabilities: internal write-through instruction configuration: level=1 *-cache:1 description: L2 cache physical id: 6 slot: L2-Cache size: 1MiB capacity: 1MiB capabilities: internal write-through unified configuration: level=2 *-cache:2 description: L3 cache physical id: 7 slot: L3-Cache size: 8MiB capacity: 8MiB capabilities: internal write-back unified configuration: level=3 *-memory description: System Memory physical id: 2a slot: System board or motherboard size: 12GiB *-bank:0 description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous product: ModulePartNumber00 vendor: Manufacturer00 physical id: 0 serial: SerNum00 slot: DIMM1 size: 4GiB width: 64 bits *-bank:1 description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous product: ModulePartNumber01 vendor: Manufacturer01 physical id: 1 serial: SerNum01 slot: DIMM2 size: 4GiB width: 64 bits *-bank:2 description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous product: ModulePartNumber02 vendor: Manufacturer02 physical id: 2 serial: SerNum02 slot: DIMM3 size: 2GiB width: 64 bits *-bank:3 description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous product: ModulePartNumber03 vendor: Manufacturer03 physical id: 3 serial: SerNum03 slot: DIMM4 size: 2GiB width: 64 bitsHow could I get to use all 12Gb? Is there a way to remap my memory? Any help is much appreciated!
101 Answer
You have one (or more) of these five issues...
- Your BIOS is too old
- You have incorrect spec DIMM sticks
- You have the memory DIMMS installed into the incorrect slots
- You may need to have similar DIMMS in all four slots
- You have a defective motherboard
BIOS
MSI H55M-P31
You have BIOS version: V1.3, dated: 12/21/2009. BIOS version 1.A is available here.
Note: Confirm that I have the correct web page for your motherboard.
Note: Have good backups before updating the BIOS.
See and for help.
Memory
Here is a page from the motherboard User Manual:
Your 4G DIMMS should be installed into slots DIMM1 and DIMM3.
Your 2G DImms should be installed into slots DIMM2 and DIMM4.
If that doesn't solve your problem, you'll have to get 4G DIMMS similar to the DIMMS installed in DIMM1 and DIMM3, and replace the 2G DIMMS. See the note below...
Update #1:
Have done items #1 and #3/4 and the problem persists. Suggest contacting MSI Support.
Update #2:
Install 4x4G RAM DIMMs, then,
Go to and download/run their free memtest to test your memory. Get at least one complete pass of all the 4/4 tests to confirm good memory. This may take many hours to complete.
