I recently upgraded my system from 16GB to 32GB DDR4 RAM by adding two more sticks, making sure they're all the same brand and capacity. While the BIOS recognizes all 32GB, and Memtest86+ confirms they appear there, my system is only showing 16GB usable RAM. Here's a bit more context: I've left the BIOS settings mostly on defaults, and I've tried reseating the RAM sticks without any improvement. Initially, things worked fine, but I experienced crashes and stutters which led me to run Memtest. Although testing shows all sticks present, only 16GB seem functional based on the System Monitor. My system specs include: OS: Linux Mint 22.1, Ryzen 5 2600, ASRock B450 Pro4 motherboard, among others. Any suggestions on what could be wrong?
3 Answers
You might want to check the dmesg logs for any errors related to RAM. Run `sudo dmesg > dmesg.txt` and look for any lines mentioning RAM; it could give clues about what’s going wrong.
Have you tried using the new RAM sticks by themselves, without the old ones? Sometimes mixing different sticks can lead to compatibility issues. Just a thought!
Reinstalling your memory can sometimes help, as this issue often happens when the RAM isn't seated properly. Also, since you have dual-ranked modules, your Ryzen 5 2600 should support 2133MHz, but it might struggle with higher speeds if all slots are populated. Let me know if reseating them works!
I’ve reseated all the sticks and set the speed to 1866MHz as shown in the BIOS. I’ll see if the crashing continues, but it took a while for the issues to come back before.
Just a heads-up, I’ve had my share of crashing with similar setups, so I hope it stabilizes for you.
I’ve tested each one on its own, and they all work fine.