Running into problems with Civ on Windows 8

[billby]

I'm running a preview of Windows 8 in a desktop PC with 8GB of Ram (only 4GB is usable, but that's another support issue entirely ).

About a dozen tiles on the screen are blacked out.

I've changed the video settings so everything is the minimum possible and I'm still seeing the black tiles.

What's going on? Is it fixable?

 

[MadDjinn]

a few issues arise:

a preview build of Win 8 might not actually support everything it should - Ie, it's not done yet.

Civ 5 was built before Win 8, so there may need to be a future patch to support it.

 

[billby]

Turns out the answer was much simpler and very easy to fix. Windows 8 installed the wrong drivers for my graphics card.

 

[callan]

I would like to know why your Windows 8 can only access 4GB of RAM.....

 

[billby]

Me too. I've tried getting support from the motherboard company - it appears to be a motherboard or BIOS issue - with no luck.

 

[timtofly]

Do all 8 gigs show up in the bios settings upon startup? If four are greyed out, your motherboard may be defective.

 

[billby]

Do all 8 gigs show up in the bios settings upon startup? If four are greyed out, your motherboard may be defective.

It doesn't quite work like that. I can't see the individual slots from the BIOS. The BIOS tells me there is 4,056 MB available. Asus support is useless.

Windows says: 8.00 GB 3.97GB available.

 

[callan]

What model is your Motherboard? CPU-Z is an excellent tool for checking if you're not 100% sure.

 

[billby]

Asustek P7H55-M. Bios is bang up to date.

I used CPU-Z to troubleshoot this earlier, that program finds 8GB although curiously it says the memory clock speed is 669MHz, when it's specified for much higher speeds.

 

[callan]

CPU-Z gives the internal clock speed and not the data rate. 669 would indicate PC3-10600 memory with a data rate of ~1.333GHz. Is that right? Also, have you tried resetting your BIOS settings to factory default?

 

[billby]

CPU-Z gives the internal clock speed and not the data rate. 669 would indicate PC3-10600 memory with a data rate of ~1.333GHz. Is that right? Also, have you tried resetting your BIOS settings to factory default?

Yes. Thanks for helping. I was talking to a local geek who tells me this is a common problem that may mean buying a new motherboard.

 

[callan]

Yeah, that guy may be right. The problem with trying to diagnose from a distance is that your MB has all these additional "features" to do with variable clockspeeds etc, any one of which could be causing the problem. And as you say, ASUS support aren't exactly existant so no help there

The more I think about the issue though the more it seems to me that your BIOS is using an artifical memory divider/mapper as some sort of backwards compatiblity measure and is deliberately preventing the whole 8GB from being addressed. Are you certain no 32Bit compatibility options (for example) are enabled *anywhere* in BIOS settings?

edit: Also, before I decided to junk the board entirely I'd do a hard reset of the CMOS by unplugging the computer and locating the Jumper group on the board most likely marked CLRTC. It'll be near the CMOS battery. Then simply move the Jumper from Pin 1 & 2 to Pin 2 & 3, wait a few seconds and then move it back. Make sure to ground yourself on a metallic surface before coming close to touching the board, of course.

 

[billby]

I've been through all the BIOS options a few times, there doesn't appear to be any legacy 32-bit stuff, but, frankly, a lot of that overclocking stuff is just goobledegook to me.

Will try another hard reset of the CMOS later today when I've finished working. I did this some time back, but not since updating the BIOS. Will the reset undo the BIOS update or is that firmware stored elsewhere?

 

[callan]

Firmware is stored on a separate ROM chip, it won't be effected at all.