Ugh memory problems...need some advice...
So as I was working away tonight I looked over at the task manager and noticed it said I only had 6 gigs or ram?! I was like wtf I have 8!??! I did yesterday?! So I rebooted checked the bios... 6 gigs of ram it said?! I opened up the case and reseated the ram... still the bios and windows reported 6 gigs... Then I took out all the dimms and left one in the slot #1... system would not post...just error beeps... Ok I said its either this dimm or this slot... moved the dimm to slot #2... system booted fine... So it must be the slot I say... put the other 2 dimms back in... system wont post?!!? Clear the CMOS... system posts... put all 4 dimms back in hoping clearing the CMOS fixed it... Nope..bios and Windows only see 6gigs of RAM...
Mainboard has 4 dimm slots supporting 32gb of ram its a Tyan S5392... well now apparently I only have three working slots...
So I have to return the mainboard?! NO I cant!! This is the second one I have gotten...had to RMA this first one cause it was DOA from Newegg...Now its under manufacturer warranty and judging by the shitty support on Tyan's site I bet it wont be a quick process...Then I can't work and it'll be a big mess reconfiguring everything when I eventually get it back :(
It was working great all this time I really dont want to take it apart and do everything over... I want to keep working...which I CAN do albeit with 2 gigs less RAM... which I need for this workstation/render server machine....
SO my options are...
Return the mainboard.... and work on my old PC until I get the replacement... but who knows what other costs there will be for that...
or
Buy one 4gb module ($140.00) and replace one of the three 2 gb modules with it...giving me 8 gb again... Will this work? I have never mixed brands of Ram before?! The specs are exactly the same voltage etc... but its a different brand... could use some advice/experience here meh friends...
or
Buy two 4gb modules and use those... ($300.000 w/tax)
Ahhh now I remember the living hardware/software nightmares I had while making WATS...night and mornings spent scouring message boards for help... fingers cut up from sharp heatsinks... they're cut up now and its 6:25am...Brought to you by professional weirdo M dot Strange.