WTF Reserved Hardware?? got pics.

I've been using this machine since 2009 and this has never occurred.

My machine only uses 4gb of ram now. I cannot open my two main programs as I once could and my system not lag. Programs are Photoshop and Autodesk Maya.

The picture enclosed shows that HALF of my RAM started being "Hardware Reseved" <on the left two> but Windows shows me having a full 8gb. With only 4.00 gb usable. WTF is this? Is this some sort of virus or something? Do I need to reinstall my Windows?

 

Have a read through this

If you have two memory modules installed try running them one at a time.

 

I've had windows 7 installed on this system since the Retail version came out. Which was what... 2 years ago?

It just now did this. So if this had have happened on a fresh install of Win7, that article would be relevant yes? But i've had this install for... over a year.

The system is totally OEM from Dell except windows 7. Ram was installed by Dell. No hardware has been changed or added.

The system has been running nominally until the other day the Hard Drive started reading and writing like crazy. I restarted it and immediately noticed poorer system performance.

 

I remember reading this thread http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=238210&highlight=memory+reserved that had the same problem but I see the only solution mentioned was a BIOS update. I'm not sure if this makes sense in your situation but adding that it may be something outside Windows that is causing it.

You might look for a BIOS update or perhaps set your BIOS to defaults using the jumper or removing the battery and power for a minute or two. See if there is any change when rebooting Windows.

 

Dell just flashed my BIOS. still to no prevail. same. reseated all RAM. etc.. blah blah


After a thorough diagnosis over the phone and whatever it's called when they connect into your computer and do whatever they do, they don't know.

Luckily. I still have gold level warranty on this sucker. Dell is over-nighting a new motherboard Monday and a Dell tech to come replace it Tuesday.

After a thorough diagnosis they dont know what the issue is.

Whatever it is.. it's bunk. the machine is in a climate controlled environment and is 100% dust/debris free.


thanks for your input. but im just going with a bad a motherboard and moving on. hate computers.

 

Hmm, interesting. Have you checked your RAM yet? Any warnings in Device Manager? Have you checked your HDD integrity yet? A thrashing drive means lost sectors to me or worse. How about checking msconfig/ boot/ advanced options and are the # of procs and max RAM unchecked? (Shot in the dark on this one) as nothing should be able to change it.:confused

 

Hmm, interesting. Have you checked your RAM yet? Any warnings in Device Manager? Have you checked your HDD integrity yet? A thrashing drive means lost sectors to me or worse. How about checking msconfig/ boot/ advanced options and are the # of procs and max RAM unchecked? (Shot in the dark on this one) as nothing should be able to change it.

Yes, checked it physically, reseated it. ran system diagnostics from BIOS. it only scans 4gb of 8gb. the 4gb comes out fine.

checked msconfig. yes unchecked.

had multiple techs checking and nothing worked.. same on a fresh install from a extra small drive i have.

it's a conspiracy.

 

Sounds like either a faulty ram module or ram slot on the MB. Although this would usually cause BSODs

 

Dell is replacing the MoBo.

Will update later and let u know if it's the motherboard or RAM. cuz they are only bringing a new MoBo.

 

Dell has replaced the Motherboard and ALL 8x 1gb sticks of ram.

Still 8gb installed. 4gb Usable.

in BIOS it STILL only shows 4gb installed ram with all 8 DIMM slots full.

Before I replaced this ram I wiped my HDD and reinstalled windows 7 and updated the motherboard BIOS.

The only piece of hardware in this machine is a nvidia quadro 4600 with 768mb of ram.

:banghead

WTF could the issue be here. Dell is trying to resolve it. But this is seriously crippling my workflow

 

Out of curiosity more than a fix what is the DELL model and/or motherboard model? I'm wondering if others are having the same problem with that board.

 

Dell tT7400.

Xeon 8xcore 3.0 ghz
8x 1gb 6400 ecc
nvidia quadro 4600 768mb RAM.

No other hardware is installed on the board. Do not know the model of the board.

Do not have another video card to check if the VC has been corrupted or hijacked to request all but 4gb of ram.

Any suggestions?

 

WOW!:eek Maybe that board doesn't like having 8 sticks of RAM. Obviously a higher end machine. Maybe your video card is somehow the culprit, that's the only common denominator left besides your Windows install.

EDIT: I agree with sachs, more data please but if they can't figure it out soon I'd demand a new PC, especially with the bucks that you're paying for that warranty!

EDIT #2: Oops, I'm too slow.

 

Machine is capable of handling up to 192? gb of RAM i believe. more than i'll ever own that's for sure.

I do not know what else to do or ask for to be replaced.

They have already told me after the motherboard was replaced that the system was running nominal because windows detects 8gb of RAM but only uses 4gb and that no error code comes up with a memory test.

they requested I run a memory diagnostic, but it scans 3322mb of RAM then 768mb which totals to 4gb. not 8gb.

I had to argue with them that the mobo BIOS only shows 4gb installed and that BIOS trumps windows
I'm stressed.. frustrated.. and to the point of almost hopeless as they screwed up my RAM replacement the first time by sending me 7gb of ram and a Xeon processor thats useless to me.. which is said they have to have 2 levels of permission to be done <sending a processor replacement> and I have work to do that requires having more than 8gb ram of I can get by with 8gb and 4gb is just chopping my balls off.

 

The machine had worked flawlessly for the last 3 years. full 8gb and everything. I know because I have a pic somewhere of me maxxing out all 8gb of RAM and 100% all 8 cores in task manager from when I had to render some complicated scenes

the beginning of this month it crashed/died/rebooted. whatever u wanna call it.. no BSOD just rebooted and alerted me with a configuration change of memory. since then.. nothing but 4gb of ram available.. and only 4gb of RAM in BIOS is installed.. but shows all 8gb dimm slots filled with a 1gb ram.

totally unfrickingbeliable man..

 

Seems like you have a fight on your hands. Workstation class machine too. Can you post your serial number please, to find out what your board is? Someone else might have an idea as I've never had such a machine, but hardware is hardware and general diagnostic principals still apply. Nothing left to look at except your vid card. I'm not familiar with Xeons. Good luck!

 

update*


Problem resolved.

It was the RAM.

Apparently if one stick of RAM goes down in the memory bank then the rest aren't detected which is why only 4gb of RAM were showing. On the motherboard it's section off. DIMM 1-4 are is one memory bank/channel and dimm5-8 is the second.

One stick in the second died which shut down the entire bank, maybe as to protect the rest? Im not sure.. just being optimistic they thought of that..

One of the sticks of ram warrantied to me were also defective which coincidentally was also replaced into the second memory bank.

So I mixed and matched from my old ram to the "new" RAM and found all good working RAM.

I once again have 8gb RAM being fully utilized by my system.

Just bummed now I have a refurb motherboard which in turn makes me HAVE to renew my warranty which ends soon because the refurb motherboard is only warrantied under the remaining warranty.

thanks for your input and thoughts on the matter.

 

,,,and the Dell techs don't know this?:confused What a coincidence though eh?

 

And what is more worrying is that Google told me that it was a faulty RAM module as linked in me first post? Even if you dont know your own product any competent tech should have enough nouse to use all resources at their disposal to figure it out. Im really supprised because Dell Support is typically pretty good.

Glad you got it sorted!

 

Maybe jw and you should become Dell techs eh Tueur? Really, what are the odds that the tech gets a second set of supposedly good 8 sticks and manages to duplicate the same issue? Something's not right. I have to give it up for jw and you for solving this!:clap

 

Nothing to do with me. All JW and Google! Career in IT ahead I feel!

 

Hey folks.

Update again.

Issue was resolved, with the RAM issue. However, now my HDD's were not recognizing after extensive problem solving of them not showing up even in BIOS and questioning why the tech who came out and replaced the motherboard did not set them back up once he finished the replacement. And also calling them out on the replacement RAM which were NOT the same as they had promised and tried to convince me otherwise (latency were not the same. One was sent with a slower latency which renders the rest to slow to the slowest one)

I had a total of 4

C: (500gb)
F: (500gb of storage)
G: (1tb raid 1 stripped) 2x 1tb HDD's


Only the C: drive registers now. The others show up and go offline when accessed when they were working before the mobo replacement.

Well. Apparently once there are too many dispatches with a single machine it is their policy to replace the machine.

They claim to be sending me a T7500 <mine is a T7400> with equal or greater specs and will be emailing me at the latest Tuesday what the replacement machine will be.



This is where I will be asking for your tech knowledge. As I once was familiar with present hardware technology. Mainly Video Cards.

My current setup is:

2x X5482 3.2ghz 1600fsb 12m cache Harpertowns
1x Nvidia Quadro 4600 768mb RAM Dual DVI.
8x 1gb nanya 6400 ECC


The closet CPU to the ones I have in the current T7500 is the X5687 @3.6 ghz and I will be fine with that if that is what they give.

They say it will have 8gb of RAM. <lol all that match -.- >

BUT the video card. It works great for what I do. 3d modeling, rigging, and animation.

I use the Nvidia Control Panel and Manage 3D Settings.

I have my anisotropic filtering at 2x and I override my applications setting (Autodesk Maya Unlimited) of antialiasing to 4xMS

Which provides me with very clear and smooth graphics in my view port on the program witch NO artifacts, NO lag and NO whatever else NO can be said to. IOW it works perfectly for what I need and how I have it set up.


I ask, this card, when it came out was it a Entry, Mid Range or High End 3d graphics card? I doubt a high-end but am unsure of the entry or mid-range part.

I will update with the specs of the replacement machine they offer and I ask you guys to help me determine if it's as they say "equal or greater" as I have proved them wrong with their diagnosis on replacing the MoBo first as I told them it was RAM. Then I had to explain and give proof the RAM was not "exactly identical" as they claimed.. If they had replaced the RAM as I suggested the first time. This would've been settled 2 weeks ago and only would have cost them a few sticks of RAM and my machine would be working just as before.

I may appear to be anal. But dammit as augiedoggie said I do have a fight on my hands and I will not be screwed by another corporation trying to screw me over.

Also, as I've said it's been a while since Ive studied the technology in a while.

<dont quote me on the numbers but its the general example>
As I remember seeing one 3.2 ghz outperform a next generation processor of 3.0 ghz. Maybe you are familiar with what I am regarding. Also, for the Xeon processors, they have switched from FSB to QPI and I do NOT know what the hell that is and never heard of it until I started poking around on the newest processors..

anyways.. that's my update with this forsaken situation. Thanks for your support and input.






The best education, self education. But sometimes you need the power of others knowledge to make decisions

 

Follow up with a bit of being stoked as hell now. What a roller coaster this has been.

Summing up the Dell replacement specs:

Going from:
2x X5482 3.2ghz 1600fsb 12m cache Harpertowns
1x Nvidia Quadro 4600 768mb RAM Dual DVI.
8x 1gb nanya 6400 ECC

to the replacement:

2x X5687, 3.60GHz,12M L3, 6.4GT/s with HyperThreading
1x nVIDIA Quadro 5000 2.5gb VR 2xhdmi 1xDVI
6x 2gb DDR3 1333 ECC SDRAM

So no need to inquire if the replacement is up to par with the current machine being replaced because it's just obvious to me it is.


What's beautiful is... I had a less than a month before my warranty ran out and all I needed was... 1 RAM replacement :-D

 

NICE!!!roflmao What a bunch dweebs!:-D Congrats on your new machine!:wine They'll really get pissed when they figure it out! LOL

 

oh, well see, they replaced the Motherboard instead of the RAM which did not resolve the issue.

then they finally replaced the RAM <with random brands and latencies> which I @#$@#ed and griped about.

and the replacement motherboard, now has issues with detecting HDD's on all the SATA ports but 0 and if all HDDs are plugged in.. the machine simply won't boot.

And the tech who replaced my motherboard, also did not replace my drives and set them back up after he was done. he pretty much replaced the motherboard and bounced leaving me to do the rest.

so what I meant was, all in all, I just needed 1 stick of ram replaced from the beginning.


But yes. CHEERS! thx

 

Well, something went wrong between the stockroom and the refurbs, must be something wrong with their QA procedures.