Ok, here is my template.  D.Burnette figured out my problem and was able to resolve the missing ram issue.  Chaning MCH Strap from Auto to Dram Ratio, it fixed it.

Mother Board ( EVGA X58 FTW3 )
Drivers (  )
Bios ( 71 ) 
 CPU ( I7 930 DO )
CPU Cooler ( Heat Killer 3.0 )
Memory ( Mushkin Redline 998691 7 6 7 18 1T )
PSU ( Antec 1200 )
GPU ( Evga 280 GTX )
Drivers ( 257.21 ) 
Operating System ( Windows 7 64 Pro )
Frequency Control
CPU Clock Ratio ( 21X )
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ( 200 )
MCH Strap ( Dram Ratio )
CPU Uncore Frequency (Mhz) ( 3205mhz { 16X } )
CPU Clock Skew ( 0 ps )
Spread Spectrum ( Disabled )
PCIE Frequency (Mhz) ( 100 )   
Memory Feature        
Memory Speed ( Standard )
Memory Control Setting ( Enabled )
Memory Frequency ( 1067Mhz / 2:8 )
Channel Interleave Setting ( 6 Way )
Rank Interleave Setting ( 4 Way )
Memory Low Gap ( Auto )
tCL Setting ( 7 )
tRCD Setting ( 6 )
tRP Setting ( 7 )
tRAS Setting ( 18 )
tRFC Setting ( 72 )
Command Rate ( 1t )
Voltage Control
EVGA VDroop Control ( Without VDroop )
CPU VCore ( 1.30 )
CPU VTT Voltage ( +200 )
CPU PLL VCore ( 1.50 )  
DIMM Voltage ( 1.65 )
DIMM DQ Vref ( +0mV )
QPI PLL VCore ( 1.275 ) 
IOH VCore ( Auto )  
IOH/ICH I/O Voltage ( Auto )
ICH VCore ( 1.25 )
PWM Frequency ( 1067 )
CPU Feature
Intel SpeedStep ( Disabled )
Turbo Mode Function ( Enabled )
CxE Function ( Disabled )
Execute Disable Bit ( Disabled )
Virtualization Technology ( Disabled )
Intel HT Technology ( Disabled )
Active Processor Cores ( All )
QPI Control Settings ( Enabled )
QPI Link Fast Mode ( Enabled )
QPI Frequency Selection ( 4.800 GT/s )
OC Recovery ( Enabled )
Turbo Performance ( Disabled ) 
PnP/PCI     PCI Express
Maximum Payload Size ( 128 )
 
Power Management Setup
ACPI Suspend Type ( S1 & S3 )   
HPET Support ( Enabled )     
HPET Mode ( 64-bit ) 

Try tRFC auto (I think it should be lower for your RAM)
Also you might need more VTT

I reverted back to the J bios anjd all is well with the 6gb, will try the 12 later with those higher vtt and qpi voltage settings to see if I can run those stable. 

here is a nifty little bit from microsoft on the matter of memory reserved for hardware.  Might help but there seems to be alot of cross talk....they say its to be expected from win7 at one spot and then other spots say to tinker with the bios.  Seems they are just as confused.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610

I did go back to those bios before you sent that reply, and I have not tried the 12gigs yet. But 6 gigs is fine and dandy, and it reports all 6 gigs

Bah! I'm running into this same issue. Just put my machine together. I plugged in 16 GB of OCZ RAM (4x sticks). Only 7.99 GB was usable. It was rather upsetting that I'm only getting 50% of what I should be getting. So I found all these solutions others had implemented. Well, here's what I did:

1: msconfig -> boot tab -> advanced -> maximum memory was unchecked. One down. 

2: Played with RAM: discovered I could start up the system with one CPU in the 3-slot, if I added one more in slots 2, 4, 6 it would not start. If I had one in slot 1 or 5, it would say '8 GB installed 3.99 available'. So I installed in slots 1-5-3, and I got 12 GB installed, 7.99 available. I then went ahead and went back to my original config for 4 (slots 2-1-3-4) and got 16 GB installed, 7.99 GB. I'll leave the RAM alone for now. Two down. 

3: I tried reseating my CPU. That took some time and sweating over it considering I purchased the i7-980x. So: I didn't see any pins bent, then again I'm a newb at looking at the pins so either they were all bent, or none were. They all looked curved in one direction at the tips. Have any pics of what they should look like? I put the CPU back in and put it all back together. Still 16 GB installed, 7.99 GB usable. Three down.

4: I tried flashing the BIOS. I followed the instructions at the following post: http://forums.evga.comarchive/tm.asp?m=671353 utilizing the E76073.bin file. After completing that action I was hoping I'd get somewhere....NOPE! 

So, if anyone could help I would appreciate it greatly. I'm operating with the 760 version of the x58 SLI board, an intel i7-980x, OCZ 4GB x4 sticks of 1333MHz, 64-bit 7 Professional. What am I doing wrong? Any help would be appreciated greatly. Thanks!

Kendragon

Hallow, what do you think could be causing the issue? Being a bios issue for sure, we know that now. So whats your take?

I've seen several reasons for the lost RAM issue. Some are CPU socket, a few were RAM socket, some are bad RAM, and many seem to be BIOS issues.

Within the BIOS issues, there has been more than one prob. Sometimes setting "MCH strap" to "DRAM ratio" fixed it, sometimes other RAM timing or speed issues fixed, and other times the BIOS version fixed. When I changed "MCH strap" to "DRAM ratio" with SZ2Z, I noticed some of those those default "auto" RAM timings reduced. I wonder if some of these default RAM timings, the obscure ones, have changed between BIOS 44 and the current set. It would take some research by some ppls willing to flash BIOS multiple times to find out.


The thing is, it's all really a moot point for those of us who are running 920s, 930s, and 975s; bc there is no reason for us to update BIOS, and the versions this year have been known not to clock as well as the last quarter 2009 BIOSes. So for those ppls, when they are having troubles with RAM, we first suggest they try MCH Strap (after checking the rest of the settings), then try reseating RAM, then revert BIOS. I'ts one of the easiest fixes, so I suggest it third. I also wonder how many ppls that tried the reseat RAM with end-to-end sliding motion just never had the RAM all the way in in the first place. Then, if all that don't work, we try tackling the harder fixes, and more complex troubleshooting.

Now for those with higher-end CPUs, not including the older EE such as the 975, they can't revert to BIOS previous to 4x. We just have to do the best we can with those. So the question this brings up in my mind is: Is the research I mentioned two paragraphs ago worth the effort? Even if we discovered a commonality to many problems, such as timing differences, would it do any good to point it out? I suppose it wouldn't hurt, but I personally am not going to spend a lot of my time researching it. And it seems like it is the job of EVGA to tweak their BIOSes, I'm willing to let them do it. I figure sooner of later they will fix the low-end CPU BIOS snafus, unless they consider the mobos to become obsolete soon. And then if they do so what? Ppls still have that revert work-around. 

It might be helpful to check the stickies. BIOS 73 is out and they've added a new setting called "tRL". Apparently, setting this to "+2" may solve the problem of RAM disappearing when you OC (as per the bios help tip). Might be worth giving it a shot...

i just pulled mine apart for the second time to inspect the pins.  I bought a huge light up magnifying glass and low and behold...i found a single bent pin.  damn things are so small i could barely even see it even with a 10x magnifyer.  Took an exacto knife and spent and hour trying to keep my hands steady enough not to ruin the socket and luckily was able to bend it back.  No idea how it bent in the first place but that turns out to be the problem.  Poped it all back together and whala....fixed. 
  Perhaps some of you need a well lit magnification to assist in identifying bent pins?  crazy tiny pins.

Long live the ZIF socket.

 

fanf074

Hello Evrybody,

I have the same problem ,but only on the first boot of the day .
I have 6 Gb of GSKILL Trident Pc 16000(9/9/9/24,1t@1.65Volts) and when i boot for the first time  ( when my mobo is cold i think)the bios and the OS only see 4 Gb of ram usable . In windows 7 64 ,the system show the 6GB but only 4 Gb are usable .In the bios i saw only 4Gb of Ram installed .So I stop my Computer completely (Not a reboot!) and i restart it and now the bios show me 6Gb of ram installed and windows too !!!

Heri is my bios template

Mother Board ( EVGA X58 Classified E-760 )
Bios ( S61D )
CPU ( Ci7920DD0 ) 
CPU Cooler ( Noctua  )
Memory ( Gskill Trident Pc 16000@9/9/9/24,1T@1.65V )
PSU ( Coolermaster Real Power 1000 W)
GPU ( GTX295 )
Drivers ( 191.xx )
Operating System ( Windows 7 64 Ultimate )


Frequency Control
CPU Clock Ratio ( 21X )
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) (200)
MCH Strap ( auto )
CPU Uncore Frequency (Mhz) ( 4000Mhz { 20X } )
CPU Clock Skew ( 0 ps )
Spread Spectrum ( Disabled )
PCIE Frequency (Mhz) ( 100 )


Memory Feature        
Memory Speed ( Standart )
Memory Control Setting ( Enabled )
Memory Frequency ( 2000Mhz / 2:10 )
Channel Interleave Setting ( 6 Way )
Rank Interleave Setting ( 4 Way )
Memory Low Gap ( Auto )
tCL Setting ( 9 )
tRCD Setting ( 9 )
tRP Setting ( 9 )
tRAS Setting ( 24 )
tRFC Setting ( 74 )
Command Rate ( 1t )


Voltage Control
EVGA VDroop Control ( Without VDroop )
CPU VCore ( 1.350 )
CPU VTT Voltage ( +350 )
CPU PLL VCore ( Auto )
**IOH PLL VCore ( Auto ) 
DIMM Voltage ( 1.65 )
DIMM DQ Vref ( +0mV )
QPI PLL VCore ( Auto )
IOH VCore ( Auto )
IOH/ICH I/O Voltage ( Auto )
CPU Impedance (Auto )
*QPI Signal Compensation ( Auto )
ICH VCore ( Auto )



CPU Feature
Intel SpeedStep ( Disabled )
Turbo Mode Function ( Enabled )
CxE Function ( Disabled )
Execute Disable Bit ( Disabled )
Virtualization Technology ( Disabled )
Intel HT Technology ( Disabled )
Active Processor Cores ( All )
QPI Control Settings ( Enabled )
QPI Link Fast Mode ( Enabled )
QPI Frequency Selection ( 4800 GT/s )
OC Recorvery ( Enabled )

PnP/PCI     PCI Express
Maximum Payload Size ( 128 )

I have this same problem, tested ram and all was good. Did this at default settings, changing voltages, oc's...etc had no effect at all. Thought it was a bad mobo(758) so I rma'd and stepped up to the 760 and I still have the same exact problem. For me, a reboot does not fix the issue. I have to modify my bios in some way and then save and reboot and I then see all 6gb. I have resorted to using sleep(s3) instead of shutting down. Always wakes from sleep with all ram.

DBirmingham Can I ask you guys....even though its a pain in the you know what not showing up...even if you have 6 gigs installed and says 3.99 usable...does it really use all 6 gigs or  3.99.... I am getting a evga x58 sli board and hope not to have the same problem.

Ya, if Windows says 3.99, that's all you get.

But most people don't have a problem, anyway. Don't worry, be happy.

GaretJax84 Well, I've fully exhausted all possibilities....

Be sure to let us know how it works out. Lot of luck to you

Well, I RMA'd the board. Tested it and still received the same issue. Since there was a sale on the RAM, I decided to get two more (both single channel) RAM to see if it was the dual-channel RAM that was causing the issue. 

That's a big negatron. I put both single sticks in and it only read 4 GB. Sometimes I'm able to get it up to 16 GB readable, but then it reverts back to 8 GB after restarting a couple times. 

So, my next question is: Has anyone capped out the board to its maximum of 24 GB, and gotten it all to a usable status? If so, what RAM did you use?

Here's my specs:

EVGA x58 760 mobo
OCZ 4GB (x6) 1333mHz RAM
Intel Core i7 980x
Cooler Master v8 heatsink
64-bit Windows 7 Professional



Any help would be great. :)

Peace be upon you
an article for this problem

http://benchmarkreviews.c...mit=1&limitstart=2