GA-X58A-OC: unstable

[DDIT]

Hi,

After years of flawless operation, my PC is suddenly unstable and rebooting randomly. It happens in the OS (Windows 7), during POST or just browsing around the BIOS menus.

No beeps are reported. I suspected this was a heat issue, so checked the CPU temp in the BIOS, which reported over 100c.

Having googled the issue, there were lots of suggestions the PSU might be faulty, so I replaced this, the temps went back down to normal levels and the system ran faultlessly, used daily for about 2 weeks. Now I find the same problem has recurred. CPU temps back up to over 100c.

I then noticed the Corsair H60 water cooler was making a bit of noise so swapped that out for a new one. Temps, however, remained the same and the system was still unstable.

I am now suspicious of the RAM. I have always had 5 sticks occupying the 6 slots and this has been fine for years.

Slots 1, 3 & 5 - 4GB DDR3, 1600Mhz, 1.5v
Slots 2 & 4 - 8GB DDR3, 1600Mhz, 1.65v

I removed the 8GB modules from slots 2 & 4, leaving the other RAM in place, but swapping the sticks around. In the BIOS it reports slots 1, 3 & 5 being occupied and showing the correct capacity, but shows Total Memory Size as 8GB, whereas it should be 12GB. See attached.

If I take out the RAM from slot 5, leaving it in dual-channel mode (slots 1 & 3) it reports 4GB, whereas it should be 8GB.

If I put all the RAM in, as it was for years, the BIOS reports total of 12GB (Windows reports the same), but the system should have 28GB in total (4+4+4+8+8).

I have downgraded the BIOS to F3. Reset to the CMOS multiple times. Reset the BIOS to fail-safe defaults. Reset the BIOS to optimised defaults. Nothing changes.

Also, when booting up, the PC will get to 'Detecting DRAM size...' then reboot. It does this 3 times, then boots to Windows on the 4th. This behaviour is consistent.

Is it my RAM? or the MOBO? Or something else?

I have an Intel i7 970, which I would like to keep, so if I need to buy a new MOBO I guess my options are eBay?

Thanks in advance.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
Your board supports dual or 3 channel memory modes. 2, 3, 4 or 6 modules, not 5.  Your CPU supports DDR3 800/1066.

You appear to be running 1333Mhz.  If you had it working for years, great.  Why did it stop working?  Did you make changes?  I would have done more troubleshooting instead of downgrading the BIOS. 

If you want to take the time to memtest the RAM, this might help you determine if its a fault.  The board is 8 yrs old.  You CPU is 7yrs.  Both basically EoL. 

eBay would be your option for replacement (memory or board)if you feel investing in 7 yr old tech is a good value proposition. 

 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
Your board supports dual or 3 channel memory modes. 2, 3, 4 or 6 modules, not 5.  Your CPU supports DDR3 800/1066.

You appear to be running 1333Mhz.  If you had it working for years, great.  Why did it stop working?  Did you make changes?  I would have done more troubleshooting instead of downgrading the BIOS. 

If you want to take the time to memtest the RAM, this might help you determine if its a fault.  The board is 8 yrs old.  Your CPU is 7yrs.  Both basically EoL. 

eBay would be your option for replacement (memory or board) if you feel investing in 7 yr old tech is a good value proposition.

[DDIT]

Greetings,
Your board supports dual or 3 channel memory modes. 2, 3, 4 or 6 modules, not 5.  Your CPU supports DDR3 800/1066.

Thanks for the reply. This PC is used in an office, the responsibility of which I inherited a few years ago. It's been in use since new and only now causing an issue. When I opened it up, I too was surprised to see 5 memory modules.

You appear to be running 1333Mhz.  If you had it working for years, great.  Why did it stop working?  Did you make changes?  I would have done more troubleshooting instead of downgrading the BIOS. 

Thanks for pointing this out. When I press F7 to load the fail-safe defaults, it sets this to 1333Mhz. I have now manually set this to 1066Mhz. However, despite only having 3 RAM modules in (each 4GB) the total RAM is still reported as 8GB.

If you want to take the time to memtest the RAM, this might help you determine if its a fault.  The board is 8 yrs old.  Your CPU is 7yrs.  Both basically EoL. 

eBay would be your option for replacement (memory or board) if you feel investing in 7 yr old tech is a good value proposition.

Yes, I appreciate this. Thanks.

[shadowsports]

Be sure you are following recommend installation for the RAM configuration.  Populating the wrong slots also causes detection issues.   I would test the RAM, and/or then conclude the MCH in the northbridge was faulty.  Working previously and now it doesn't.  You aren't getting correct memory size detection in BIOS, so the RAM or memory controller would appear to be faulty.