# ASUS M5A97 evo 8gb (3.42 usable)



## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

Good day All

Urgent solution needed. 

I have an small issue, tried to find the solution to problem on the web, but no luck.

I bought a new pc this weekend but on win 7 ultimate 64 bit it only show 8gb (3.42 usable), not sure what the issue can be, is it the board or mem or CPU, not really sure as i tried almost everything. Yes the msconfig max mem is unticked. The config is as follow. AMD phenom 2 1090T 3.2 Ghz 6 core, Asus M5A97 evo, crossair DDR 3 1333 mhz 8 Gb set (2x4gb) and a ATI 6850 1GB DDR 5 256 bit card. The bios on ASUS only showed 4gb, after an bois version update it stated to show 8gb mem, but still windows show 8gb (3.42 usable). Bios also shows the other 4gb is hardware reserved. Can anybody please help me get a solution to the problem, Not sure if it is a windows setting, bios, motherboard, cpu or if it is not the right mem. As the Asus M5A97 evo does support 32 gb mem and crossair DDR 3 1333 mhz. Tired all solutions I know. O yes the mem is in the 2 blue mem slots, tried other combinations too.

Thanks so much


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## crazyeyesreaper (Sep 26, 2011)

rams probably in the wrong slots.

install ram in the proper slots furthest from the cpu check the motherboard manual.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Mem*



crazyeyesreaper said:


> rams probably in the wrong slots.
> 
> install ram in the proper slots furthest from the cpu check the motherboard manual.



Hi thanks for the fast reply, as stated in the post I tried all possible combinations for the mem. but had no luck, as per MB manual U are suppose to use the 2 blue slots but no luck, CPUID shows single channel and not duel channel for all possible combinations.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Sep 26, 2011)

then i suggest you start digging around in the bios,

as single channel says theres something seriously fucked in the bios


you need to shut off the psu flip the switch off, unplug it,  pull the cmos battery and jump the cmos pins to fully clear the bios back to defaults, then re hook everything back up and then manually set up the ram in the bios etc.


everything you need should be found here: 
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A97_EVO/6.html


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Lol*



crazyeyesreaper said:


> then i suggest you start digging around in the bios,
> 
> as single channel says theres something seriously fucked in the bios
> 
> ...



Lol, thanks will have a check in that post and let U know, thanks hey


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Quick Q*

Can any one confirm that the mem and cpu and board combination is correct ? In theory the conbination should work and give me +- 8gb usable in windows and that the mem, cpu or motherboard is compatible with all. As per my knowledge it should all be fine. Hope it make sense, thanks


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

single channel?
check your ram, does it have same spec?
what about try resetting bios, or load the default bios setting?


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Ram*



micropage7 said:


> single channel?
> check your ram, does it have same spec?
> what about try resetting bios, or load the default bios setting?



Hi, no matter how I fit the mem, it still show single channel in CPUID, it is a 8gb crosair set 2x4GB came as a set, it show 8gb in the bios, brand new board and update bios, before the update it only showed 4gb mem single channel


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## netieb (Sep 26, 2011)

32bit??


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

netieb said:


> 32bit??



It is win 7 64bit, see all info in 1st post, thanks hey


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## NdMk2o1o (Sep 26, 2011)

Have you enabled memory remapping?


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## de.das.dude (Sep 26, 2011)

AMD has some issues with RAM

try what i did for my DDR2 1066
use the slot on the extreme left and the one on the extreme right.

if this doesnt do the trick, then take each stick and place it individually and boot up. check if it shows 4GB after booting on both.


And i hope you are not using the IGP.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



NdMk2o1o said:


> Have you enabled memory remapping?



In the BIOS it has an option memory hole remapping, that is enabled by default


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## JrRacinFan (Sep 26, 2011)

Give it a fresh Windows installation if you haven't done so yet.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Sure*



de.das.dude said:


> AMD has some issues with RAM
> 
> try what i did for my DDR2 1066
> use the slot on the extreme left and the one on the extreme right.
> ...



Hi not sure what U mean by IGP, I will also give above a shot, thanks


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



JrRacinFan said:


> Give it a fresh Windows installation if you haven't done so yet.



Sorry, have done that, didn't work at all, thanks


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## de.das.dude (Sep 26, 2011)

i meant the Inbuilt Graphics Processor. do you use onboard for video?


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Nope*



de.das.dude said:


> i meant the Inbuilt Graphics Processor. do you use onboard for video?



Nope, this board doesn't have an onboard vga, only 2xpci-e slots and one of them have the fx card in ATI 1GB DDR 5 256 bit 6850


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

have you tried each ram slot?
does every slot read the ram right?
maybe its coz the slot that cant recognize ram :shadedshu


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



micropage7 said:


> have you tried each ram slot?
> does every slot read the ram right?
> maybe its coz the slot that cant recognize ram :shadedshu



Tried diff setups, didn't try each chip on it's own, will also give that a try , only tried slot blue\blue and black\black and black\blue and blue black, as for duel channel on the asus board it is recommended slot blue\blue. Thanks


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

not man, i mean you plug 1 ram in slot 1 then check it thru bios
if it read right change it plug out from slot 1 and plug in to slot 2 and check it again


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Sure*



micropage7 said:


> not man, i mean you plug 1 ram in slot 1 then check it thru bios
> if it read right change it plug out from slot 1 and plug in to slot 2 and check it again



Hi sure I did understand what U meant, haven't tried it that way, will deff do it, just gave U the setups I tried, thanks


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

panamaswat said:


> windows show 8gb (3.42 usable). Bios also shows the other 4gb is hardware reserved


3,42 gig + 4 gig = 7,42 gig
it must be wrong 
what about the bios update


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## de.das.dude (Sep 26, 2011)

panamaswat said:


> Tried diff setups, didn't try each chip on it's own, will also give that a try , only tried slot blue\blue and black\black and black\blue and blue black, as for duel channel on the asus board it is recommended slot blue\blue. Thanks



dual channel on BLUE BLUE?? hmmm...
are you sure? mine has each channel colored differently.
so mines BLUE-BLACK for dual channel.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Mem*



micropage7 said:


> 3,42 gig + 4 gig = 7,42 gig
> it must be wrong



Well, in windows it shows 8GB (3.42 usable) in the BIOS it shows 8GB but also shows that a whole 4gb is hardware reserved. so that is why windows pickup the 8GB but only use a 4GB (3.42 GB usable) meaning that the other 4gb (3.42gb usable is hardware reserved) but why I ask.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



de.das.dude said:


> dual channel on BLUE BLUE?? hmmm...
> are you sure? mine has each channel colored differently.
> so mines BLUE-BLACK for dual channel.



Well in the manual it shows that U must use it that way, but I tried the diff slots as well, still show single channel


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

so you have double trouble
1. the ram that read single channel
2. why the rig cant take the 8 gig
btw do you have other memory to check or try check the ram on  other rig


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## JrRacinFan (Sep 26, 2011)

Try reseating both ram and cpu.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



micropage7 said:


> so you have double trouble
> 1. the ram that read single channel
> 2. why the rig cant take the 8 gig
> btw do you have other memory to check or try check the ram on  other rig



Correct and no sorry no other DDR 3 chips to test


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

it should run well if you put >4 gig ram
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A97_EVO/8.html





what about this




have you tried?


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Sure*



JrRacinFan said:


> Try reseating both ram and cpu.



Sure will also give that a try


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Mem*



micropage7 said:


> it should run well if you put >4 gig ram
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A97_EVO/8.html
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A97_EVO/images/cpuz_mem_stock.jpg



Yes maybe it will but, it is a 8gb set 2x4gb, would like to use it like that if possible, thanks


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## JrRacinFan (Sep 26, 2011)

panamaswat said:


> Sure will also give that a try



Forgot to mention, when pulling the cpu, check for any bent pins.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Sure*



JrRacinFan said:


> Forgot to mention, when pulling the cpu, check for any bent pins.



Sure will check for bent pins too


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## Jegergrim (Sep 26, 2011)

Have you tried reformatting windows 64 bit? You can even test it off with a trial version with another copy


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Thanks*

Thanks for all the options and info, I will give this a try tonight and let U guys know about 10pm tonight SA time, thanks  much appreciated


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Sure*



Jegergrim said:


> Have you tried reformatting windows 64 bit? You can even test it off with a trial version with another copy



Hi yes, I did try a format, had not luck, thanks


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

does it affect?


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*



micropage7 said:


> does it affect?
> http://www.asus.com/websites/global/images/icons/mb_color/memok.gif



Not sure, will have to check when I get home, still at work till 5pm SA time, thanks, will let U guys know what worked and what not, thanks


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## Jegergrim (Sep 26, 2011)

panamaswat said:


> Hi yes, I did try a format, had not luck, thanks



Unless latest Bios update fixes your problem, I think you're pretty much out of options by this time, RMA?
Also on a sidenote, have you checked if CPUID is showing you the correct result, perhaps a little bug, try other programs aswell


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## micropage7 (Sep 26, 2011)

try to plug 6 gig ram on that
does it stay 4 gig system reserved?


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## JrRacinFan (Sep 26, 2011)

micropage7 said:


> try to plug 6 gig ram on that
> does it stay 4 gig system reserved?



2x4GB kit.


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Hi*

Hi Guys

Okay tried everything U guys suggested, here is the result, each chip in all the slots shows 4gb in windows but togther in all combinations these 2 chips shows 8gb but only 3.42 usable in windows, still no luck, what do U guys suggest now?


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## crazyeyesreaper (Sep 26, 2011)

you sure your running 64bit OS lol thats about all i can think of


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## panamaswat (Sep 26, 2011)

*Ha ha*



crazyeyesreaper said:


> you sure your running 64bit OS lol thats about all i can think of



LOL, Yes 10000% sure, I think I will take it to a friend that works at a pc store so that we can just test diff mem and mem setups, if I find a solution, I will post it here for other that might run into the same issue, thanks hey


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## amebasguitar (Oct 8, 2011)

hi
has been a while since i started reading techpowerup, now i decided to register

i have the same problem described in this thread and also a similar Build

Asus M5A97 Evo
AMD Phenom II x6 1090T 
Corsair Vengeance 2x2 GB PC12800 9 9 9 24 2T
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
Zalman Lean Green 600w
XFX GTX260

so i managed to properly run my RAM sticks at it's default speed of 1600mhz 9 9 9 24 2T to compare with de other system ( just referential CPU speeds).
Yesterday i made run in Dual Channel but it only recognize 1,96 usable

i said ok no problem may be it is working right, but it wasn't.
Now i'm at 1600 mhz 9 9 9 24 2T but single channel, it didn't want to run again dual channeled ?
tried every Slot too and every configuration posible.


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## JrRacinFan (Oct 8, 2011)

Reseat both sticks, making sure they are in the blue slots, and clear cmos.


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## amebasguitar (Oct 8, 2011)

i'll let you know
thanks


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## amebasguitar (Oct 9, 2011)

it didn't work


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## amebasguitar (Oct 10, 2011)

To clarify

I already formated my sistem to win 7 sp1 x64
Y tried every solution you said in this thread
It still not working in dual channel

PD: my uefi bios doesn't show anything like 2048mb hardware reserved 

Sl2


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## Inceptor (Oct 10, 2011)

Two boards with the same problem... hummm.
Contact Asus.


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## Lipey (Dec 17, 2011)

My friend removed the insulator between cooler (Thermaltake) backplate and motherboard, and got the same problem because of electrical short. We returned insulator back to the place and solve the problem.


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## de.das.dude (Dec 17, 2011)

ASUS is going down. i hate asus now.


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## stasziak (Jan 17, 2012)

I had a similar problem with my M5A97 EVO, when I added two more 4 gig memory sticks (Kingston HyperBlu KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX, I know, optimist) to my motherboard.  The first pair had been in slots A2 and B2 per the manual, so I put the second set in A1 and B1.  It recognized the 16g, but only 7.something were available. I did have some problems making sure the sticks were properly seated (sometimes hard to tell), but only a little over 7g were identified as active.  Nearly 8g was "reserved for hardware".  What I finally did was swapped the sticks on A2 and B1.  That seemed to do the trick.  But it could have just been properly seating the memory.  Anyway, I now have 14g active.  I can live with that.


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## BLACK-WOLF (Jan 18, 2012)

Run Msconfig then go under the "boot" tab. 
1. click "advanced options" button 
2. uncheck "Maximum memory" 
3. reboot


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## stasziak (Jan 18, 2012)

Actually, I tried Msconfig first.  Advanced options under boot showed that the memory option was not checked, so of course I checked it, and selected 16g.  For good measure (since the CPU is a Phenom II x4) I checked the box for cpu's and selected four.
I rebooted.  No change in the amount of available memory.  So I ran msconfig again, went to boot, selected advanced options.  If memory serves me correctly, it was already (again) unchecked.   I rebooted, and when it came back up, no change.

I had read that some people have success with taking the cpu out and putting it back.  But simply switching the memory modules as I described earlier, and taking care to make sure that they were all fully seated in their slots, did the trick.

Oh, I have bios version 7.05 on my M5A97 EVO, for what that's worth.


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## BLACK-WOLF (Jan 18, 2012)

had read that some people have success with taking the cpu out and putting it back.  But simply switching the memory modules as I described earlier, and taking care to make sure that they were all fully seated in their slots, did the trick.

Oh, I have bios version 7.05 on my M5A97 EVO, for what that's worth.[/QUOTE]

I have 8.013 and have had no problems with 8GB. Try flashing the bios before you reseat the CPU. It's easy and you can do it from windows. Just check your boot order after flashing.


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## stasziak (Jan 18, 2012)

I'm all set after re-seating the memory sticks, so I don't need to try the cpu trick.  But I will consider upgrading the bios.  Thanks!


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