Installed GA-990XA-UD3 and 2 memory slots dont work

[alexl22]

      Ok, it was a noob move on my part, but I ordered this mobo and a case and threw parts from my previous build in to flesh it out, ie. HDD, Ram, CPU, GPU, making sure all were supported by the mobo. Im still somewhat of a novice when building computers. What I failed to note was my optical drive was IDE not sata and this mobo doesnt support it, I figured id just go pick up a sata one today after work and it wouldnt be a big deal.

Now i got everything working fine, except when I installed the 2x4gb ram in slots 1 and 3 i get 3 loong beeps that repeat, ok so i tried 2 and 4 with the same results. The I try just 1 stick in slot 4 (closest to the cpu) and it boots fine, then i put another stick in slot 3 and it works fine. I have 3x4gb sticks and all work if in slot 4 or 3 but not 2 or 1.

Now here is what has me thinking, since i didnt have a dvd drive i couldnt install the drivers from the disk that came with the mobo, also I couldnt do a repair or fresh install of Vista to get rid of my old motherboard drivers. My old motherboard only had 2 slots for memory and im wondering if this is what is causing the board not to recognise the other 2 slots.

Or is this board faulty and needs to be RMA'ed. Any help would be appreciated.

AMD Phenom II 965 3.4 ghz
2x 4gb G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1333 (thou i have another 4gb not in use atm)
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC
350 WD hard drive
650w psu

[Vezina]

So you say that memory is working only when installed in 2 of the slots ,3 and 4 ?

Keep in mind that those slots are connected to the CPU memory controller and the inability of 2 of them to take memory could mean that the CPU has an issue with one of the channels or some pins on it are bent or not in proper contact in the CPU socket. ,reseat CPU

Another problem could be a particularity of those 2 slots to not work at the SPD RAM default speeds.
Maybe if you manually set the RAM at a 1066Mhz speed while you use the memory in the working slots and then you move the memory to the "strange" ones will work.

Do not use 3 memory modules with an AMD CPU ,you will get less performance than using 2 ,as the memory controller will switch to single channel modus.

That CPU can take only 2 modules  X 1333 Mhz officially.

You will have to test the mobo with another CPU ,to make sure the motherboard is in culprit.

[alexl22]

I will check all those things when i get home from work. What do you mean "That CPU can take only 2 modules  X 1333 Mhz officially"? So i cant run 4x4gb 1333 2 sets in dual channel? Also as of now where the ram is im running in single channel as they only work in slots 4 and 2, slots are set up like this 4,2,3,1 (4 being closest to cpu) and the manual states to install in 1 and 2 which i did and got the beeps, also got the beeps trying 3 and 4. Only 4 and 2 work for me.

[alexl22]

I checked the cpu which did have a bent pin, carefully bent it back reseated the cpu and now all my slots work. Thank you for your help!

[Vezina]

I checked the cpu which did have a bent pin, carefully bent it back reseated the cpu and now all my slots work. Thank you for your help!

Glad you got it fixed

You can run in dual channel with 4 sticks at 1333 Mhz , but if they are double sided ones and all memory controllers banks are taken you may not have a proper experience stability wise so you may have the need to drop to 1066 Mhz when all slots are taken.

Also if the 4 modules are not factory paired the probability to have issues is even bigger.

AMD CPU memory controller is a little nasty in some memory combinations.

Run dual channel ,run matched pair of 2 to be on the safe side.

Enjoy your system.