ThinkStation S20 Memory issues.

[farmall77]

I'm ashamed to admit I only recently decided to face this problem, but now that I'm trying to fix it it's getting really annoying. Hopefully the brain trust here will have some answers.

System is a ThinkStation S20 4157, O/S is Windows 7 64 PRO, loaded from the recovery media from my T520.

System setup #1 was six (6) sticks of identical 2GB PC3-10600E. System only recognized 4GB as available. Listed the remainder as hardware reserved. SYSconfig -> advanced -> Max memory is unchecked.

System setup #2 is six 4GB sticks, otherwise identical and Samsung/Lenovo branded. These six are not mixed in any way. System can use 7.99GB of 24.

Updated to the latest BIOS, no change. Bios video is set to PCI, not onboard. I can't find anything else to change.

I can't see any reason for 16GB of ram to be hardware reserved. Not running anything exotic beyond a basic Nvidia video card. It sees all the ram sticks as healthy and usable, just taken for other purposes.

Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

[micrex22]

What CPU is it running? Xeon or lower-end?

It may need the xeon option to run past 8 GB for some unforetold reason.

[farmall77]

What CPU is it running? Xeon or lower-end?

It may need the xeon option to run past 8 GB for some unforetold reason.

Xeon W3550 Quad Core 3.06 Ghz

[micrex22]

Xeon W3550 Quad Core 3.06 Ghz

What memory mode is the BIOS set to, independent mode?
If it's set to spare channel mode or memory mirroring mode (if these options exist), you'll be unable to utilize the full range.

Also did you try setting the BIOS back to factory defaults?