GA-990FXA-UD3 problem with 8GB Mushkin RAM kit

[BayernTFC]

I bought a GA-990FXA-UD3 motherboard on Dec. 22, 2011 and it has been working fine with my 4GB G.Skill RAM kit. I recently purchased an 8GB Mushkin Blackline RAM kit as an upgrade, and that's when the problems started to arise.

SYSTEM:
----------
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640
Motherboard: GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 1.1) F6f
RAM: Mushkin Blackline 996995 PC3-12800 8GB (2 x 4GB)
          G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon 5830
PSU: Corsair HX520W
OS:  Windows 7 Professional SP1


The problem is that when I install both sticks of Mushkin RAM, Windows 7 freezes randomly after a short period of time requiring a system reset. My system is fine with the G.Skill RAM kit installed, when only1 stick of Mushkin RAM is installed, or when 1 stick of Mushkin RAM and 1 stick of G.Skill RAM is installed together. All RAM sticks have been tested on my GA-990FXA-UD3 separately in each DIMM without issue.  All RAM sticks pass memtest 86+ and Prime95 individually and even when all four are installed together.  However, any combination of RAM installed that includes 2 sticks of Mushkin RAM leads to Windows freezing.  I never get a BSOD and event viewer doesn't provide any useful information (only that a critical error has taken place because I have been required to do a hard reset). The Mushkin RAM kit can be underclocked down to 800 MHz and the problem doesn't go away. Raising RAM voltage to 1.65V or increasing CPU NB VID only delays the length of time before Windows eventually freezes.  With both sticks of Mushkin RAM installed, safe mode freezes before I can reach the desktop screen and Windows installation freezes during file extraction ( no further than 76% extracted).

My Mushkin Blackline 996995 kit has been tested working with no problems on a system using a GA-MA790GPT-UD3H motherboard.  I borrowed a Corsair TX750 PSU and replaced my HX520 PSU with it, but that didn't resolve the issue.  Flashing my GA-990FXA-UD3 BIOS back to F5 doesn't change anything. Whether the Mushkin RAM kit is operating in single channel or dual channel mode, the freezing in Windows still persists.  Disabling startup programs using msconfig doesn't alleviate the problem either.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[autotech]

check in bios to see if you are running it at ganged which is default alot of the time if you are change it to unganged make sure to set timings manually and make sure it is on the approved vendor list for that motherboard.

[BayernTFC]

check in bios to see if you are running it at ganged which is default alot of the time if you are change it to unganged make sure to set timings manually and make sure it is on the approved vendor list for that motherboard.

RAM is running in unganged mode. I tried changing it to ganged mode once to see if it would perhaps solve the issue, but the freezing continued in ganged mode too.  RAM timings are set manually and not on AUTO.

Both G.Skill and Mushkin are in the QVL for the GA-990FX-UD3 at DDR3 1600.  The exact model numbers for my kits aren't listed though.

Mushkin is not listed in the QVL for the GA-MA790GPT-UD3H and both my Blackline 996995 kit and a Silverline 997002 kit work with that motherboard no problem.  My G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL kit and a Corsair Vengeance CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9 also work in the Ga-MA790GPT-UD3H board without issue as well.  None of those exact model numbers are in the QVL either.

[autotech]

At this point we are just trying to discount what we can. Sure sounds like a bios setting or a hardware conflict. I know that both kits work on the other motherboard but just curious here have you memtested them on the one that is having problems. Different manufactuers have different tolerances for ram than others.

So 1 by one discount something are they freshly formatted drives?

[BayernTFC]

UPDATE: I have discovered where the problem was occurring.  I have been using an adaptec 29160N SCSI controller card with a Seagate Cheetah 15k rpm ST373454LW as my boot drive.  There appears to be a conflict when the 29160N controller is installed on the GA-990FXA-UD3 and 8GB or more of RAM is being used. I replaced the 29160N SCSI controller and Seagate Cheetah HDD with a 36GB Western Digital Raptor and then Windows installed without a hitch with the Mushkin RAM kit in use.  I've since been running tests within Windows while all 12GB of RAM is installed in the GA-990FXA-UD3, and there hasn't been any problems.

Unlike the GA-MA790GPT-UD3H, the GA-990FXA-UD3 cannot handle both 29160N SCSI controller and the onboard RAID controller working simultaneously due to a lack of shadow memory capacity. Perhaps the problem I have been experiencing is a PCI bus limitation or conflict at board level?  Maybe it's the controller card that has some type of limitation?  The 29160N is older equipment so I suppose it could be a driver issue?

In any event, It would appear that I have a good excuse to upgrade my boot drive to a SSD now.

[BayernTFC]

At this point we are just trying to discount what we can. Sure sounds like a bios setting or a hardware conflict. I know that both kits work on the other motherboard but just curious here have you memtested them on the one that is having problems. Different manufactuers have different tolerances for ram than others.

So 1 by one discount something are they freshly formatted drives?

Yeah, I understand.  Computer equipment certainly can be finicky at times and isolating the problem is paramount.  I have a lot of experience with system building, testing and repairs, and posting on this forum was a last resort. I had already tested each part to make sure there wasn't a hardware failure. Part of the reason why this issue was so perplexing is because all my parts operate fine in other systems.  I was hoping that someone here might have had a similar experience or could point to something I may not have tried or thought about.  Normally, Windows freezing without BSODs or error reports is a sign that it's not faulty hardware.  Another reason why the problem was so difficult to diagnose was because the RAM was passing memtest 86+ in each DIMM slot of the GA-990FXA-UD3 individually and they also passed memtest when all 4 sticks were installed on the GA-990FXA-UD3 at the same time too.  Because I was usually able to get to the Windows desktop before freezing occurred, I was able to test the RAM using the Windows RAM diagnostics and Prime 95 as well.  Usually the freezing would occur after I opened a second or third program, when I attempted to open Firefox, or when multiple tabs were opened within Firefox. It was also very odd that I could get to the desktop in normal mode before freezing occurred, but not in safe mode.  The boot drive had no issues with the G.Skill RAM kit or the RAM combinations described previously. The drive had been used in other systems without issue either.  I had performed scans and disk checks on the drive.  It continues to be clean without any bad sectors.  I had reformatted and re-installed Windows several times while trying to diagnose the problem.  Windows would freeze during installation when both Mushkin RAM sticks were installed every time.  Even when underclocked.  Windows would install fine with either Miushkin stick on its own.  Windows installation was no problem on that drive with the G.Skill kit or even when 1 Mushkin stick was mixed with 1 G.Skill stick.  It was really weird and quite frustrating.   

[autotech]

has been a few years ago but i used vista 64 bit and trying to install it on a friday off it to 23 reformatts and almost a full 3 days to figure out what was doing it.

took computer apart and stripped to bare minimun then after loading windows i would add 1 thing at a time it would run fine then during updating or a program install it would crash drove me nuts. Hardware conflicts are at least easy to diag just take out 1 thing at each try till it works. Very glad you got it sorted i come on here and post for different ideas and sometimes dont get the answer i want but after tinkering with what they told me id get it to work. I just have to talk outloaud sometimes to see it clearly or in here you could say type to others...

[BayernTFC]

UPDATE2: I just thought that I would let everyone know that my system has been running completely stable with all 12GB of RAM installed for an entire week since I replaced the 29160N controller and Seagate Cheetah with the 36GB WD Raptor.

I'd like to thank autotech for his responses and his attempts to help.  K+

[autotech]

You are more than welcome i al extremely glad that you got it all sorted.