Half of the RAM not showing up

Hardware Motherboards
1

Hi there,

I recently tried to upgrade my server, but frustratingly it does not show any of the new RAM.

I run Proxmox PVE as host on

AMD Ryzen 3 1200
ASRock Rack X470D4U
Kingston Server Premier DIMM 16GB x 4

So I have been running with 2x16Gb for a while and decided to get another pair of the same 2x16Gb.
(I am not allowed to include links so its a KSM32ES8/16ME )

The new ones do show up in the BIOS, but not in proxmox.
On Proxmox:

# free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           31Gi        29Gi       1.3Gi        76Mi       201Mi       1.1Gi
Swap:            0B          0B          0B

In the BIOS they show up as 4x 16Gb with 2133Mhz, which should be fine according to wikichip-> Ryzen 3 1200

I tried reseating them and I also booted (also debian based) sparky linux to rule out proxmox.
I also tried setting them manually in the bios to 2030Mhz, because there was no 2033Mhz option. After that it showed 15 on Dr. Debug so I reverted.
I also tried upgrading from the BIOS version P3.50, but after the machine was not even posting (!?), so I reverted as well.

The RAM is a small pain in the butt to remove due to the low profile of the CPU cooler (the server is in the living room and has to be “small”) and the RAM slots being so close to the CPU.

So I really wanted to get some tips how to troubleshoot this, because I am kind of loosing hope and also do not want to randomly switch around the RAM modules, not having a plan how to proceed. :smiley:

Any help would be appreciated. :slight_smile:

2

According to ASRock that CPU isn’t supported. Obviously it’s booting and working but memory controller might not be fully compatible with 1st Gen Ryzen.

https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X470D4U#CPU

2 Likes
3

Oh wow, I would have never thought about that. Thank you!

I did not even know that this could be an issue. How likely do think that solves the problem?
Because then I’d have to bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer processor.

4

With the memory being visible in BIOS but not by the OS, I would almost certainly say it’s the problem. This is also why it wouldn’t post when you upgraded your BIOS past v3.50.

If you want to be absolutely sure it’s not the OS you can use a USB bootable memory testing tool such as MemTest86. It will give you detailed information on each DIMM detected.

Edit: You don’t need to run the memory tests, just look at the System Information section. If it only detects 2 DIMMS then it’s time for a newer CPU (which you really need one anyways).

1 Like
5

Okay thank you very much.

Which System Information section do you mean? The one of MemTest86?

6

Yes

Yes

7

Alright, I’ll prepare a USB stick to boot memtest86 and report back!

8

That Ryzen 3 likely be weak point, for the pkg [My 1600 didn’t play nice past 32GB]
Perhaps look into cpu support list for the mainboard [between money/power budget]

9

The test has not finished yet, but of 32G does look like its only detecting 2 DIMMS:
image

@Four0Four:
So you would say it is very likely to be the non-supported CPU?
Then I guess I’ll have to order a 3600 or 5600 or similar. :frowning:

@GoldenAngel1997:
Yeah, this is what Four0Four has suggested. For me the 1600 was plenty for now, but that could change in the future. What was your workload on it?

1 Like
10

Update:

Okay this is getting even more frustrating:

I took my Ryzen 3700X from my mainmachine and put it into the server. Now the server is not posting/showing anything on hdmi GPU nor the IPMI GPU.

I upgraded to BIOS version 4.2, did not make difference.
I reset the CMOS battery, also nothing.
Then I downgraded back to 3.5, still nothing.

I am running out of ideas here. Is switching to the other ryzen the correct move and I am missing something?
Why would the 1200 boot and not the 3700X?

Any help is appreciated. :slight_smile:

11

What code are you getting on the debug LED?

12

No code.

edit:
In the meantime I upgraded again to 4.20.
Weirdly the IPMI still show it as 3.50. But I remember of my old upgrading to 4.20 back then (where it was also not posting) that IPMI showed 4.20 as BIOS version.
I’ll go back again.

Maybe I should start unplugging DIMMs?

13

Bizarre. Double check your 12v power cable is connected. Unplug all your SATAs, PCIe Cards, and go down to a single DIMM in slot A1. Not sure what else to suggest after that. Could it be a bad board :man_shrugging:

14

Thank you for the answer. I’ll do that.

Should I downgrade the BIOS before that?

15

Either revision should work with the 3700x

16

I’ll try with 4.20 then, even if IPMI shows me 3.50.

I’ll report back, thank you so much for the help.

17

No PCI cards, only one DIMM in A1.

Debug LEDs flashed through some numbers and stopped at 64.

Which would be a Chipset init error (ASRock > FAQ) and I should clear CMOS.
I’ll do exactly that then.

edit:
It showing the BIOS menu!! (Even without CMOS reset)
I guess 64 might mean something different.

18

Alrigth, so its posting.

Should I start adding the DIMMs back in?

19

Yup. Just go about adding them back methodically. If it stops working you’ll want to try and determine if it’s a bad DIMM or an issue with the board itself (a particular slot?). Supported slot populations are 1 (A1), 2 (A1 and B1), or 4.

20

Alright, I already started that.
I have two pairs (labelled them) called pair 1 (old) and 2 (new).

Pair 1 and pair 2 is posting on A1 and B1.
Both pairs on one configuration also works. But this one is switched to the first config when the problems appeared. Out of curiosity I’ll switch them, but I am sure it all works now?
I wonder what the problem was. Maybe a loose connection?