Speccy sees RAM not shown in BIOS

Speccy
1

Hi. I have just installed an extra 8GB DIMM doubling my system capacity. First I didn’t install the extra DIMM securely and it was not seen by either Speccy or the system. I then swapped the new DIMM for the existing DIMM, and the system started up properly and both Speecy and BIOS reported 8 GB ram.

I then added my original DIMM into the spare second slot and powered up. Speccy sees the DIMM and reports 16 GB RAM and displays the serial numbers of each DIMM, but the BIOS and Windows 11 only report 8GB ram - presumably the new chip now in first position.

I’ve checked the motherboard specs, but that says total memory should be automatically detected. The motherboard is a Gigabyte H310M H (U3E1).

Can anyone hazard a guess what the problem might be. Thanks for any help you can give

An update: After messing around with BIOS settings etc, I reseated both chips and still the same result. Then I swapped the chips over, and voila, now the BIOS and Windows and Speccy all see the 16 GB.

A bit baffling, but since it is now working, I am happy!! :grinning_face:

2

Good that you worked it out and Windows now sees all the RAM.

Just for info, issues like that are why the general recommendation is that when you are upgrading RAM, by fitting more than one chip, you buy new chips and totally replace the old chip(s).

(It’s also recommended that you don’t mix different capacity RAM chips).

When you buy 2 or more new RAM chips at the same time they come as “matched pairs” that have been tested to work together - and so you avoid any compatibility issues.

Of course you then have the question of what to do with the old chip(s).
(Usually you end up keeping them ‘just in case’ you may want to put them in sonething else).

3

Thanks for the reply. I was just trying to upgrade on the cheap and bought a 2nd hand preloved chip off eBay. The chip was exactly the same as the installed one.

I appreciate the advice and won’t do this again, but it still leaves standing the issue of why the chip showed up on Speccy, but not on the BIOS.