GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI problems

[pt49]

Motherboard will only boot correctly with a single stick of RAM.

If I add a 2nd or more sticks I get about 14 short beeps on POST. I've tried with ECC and non ECC RAM, with both Xeon E5-2687W and i7 3690X CPU's.

I have purchased another identical motherboard and have the same problem

I've updated the BIOS to F3 using Q-Flash and loaded "Optimized Defaults" after the BIOS update.

GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI REV-1
Xeon E5-2687W
HD7970 HIS
Intel 120GB 520 series SSD
Seasonic X-660 gold PSU
4 x 8GB 1600 DDR3 ECC RAM
H80 cooler
W7 64 bit ultimate  

[pt49]

I should add that I'm having problems setting up a RAID array also.  Using 2 identical SSD's.

The SSD's are in Sata3 ports 0 & 1, and I have a 1TB HD  and optical in ports 4 & 5 (Sata2)

[Fatman]

How are you trying to set up your raid?

Are the voltages set right for the ram in Bios?

[pt49]

I have not changed voltages and I have gave up on setting up RAID until I can get RAM to work

Why would that be necessary?

[Fatman]

Is the memory 1.5v ?

Maybe you need to bump up the VTT a notch or two. That is a lot af memory on the IMC.

Are you setting the Intel Sata Controller Mode to Raid?

[pt49]

This is supposed to be a great motherboard for a workstation or even for an overclocking madman gamer as I understand, however I'm not overclocking... I'm trying to build a workstation capable of working 24/7 at near capacity if necessary (heavy number crunching) hence the Xeon CPU.

I have never built my own system before, so I'm running into all sorts of problems I've never encountered before.

As I said I'm not trying to set up RAID until I can get the RAM working... so I've set the controller back to AHCI mode.

System boots fine with just 1 RAM module but won't boot with 2. I sent the ECC RAM back because I could only get the system to boot with 1 module out of the 4. Still waiting for result of Kingston testing.

I bought 2 cheap modules of KVR ram 2x4GB (KVR1333D3N9K2/8G) while waiting for return of the ECC modules and this system will only boot on 1 stick, not 2. Either module will work, but not 2 together.

So after what you've said I tend to think maybe it is settings that need to be adjusted.

The ECC Ram is KVR16E11K4/32

[Fatman]

So with the two modules, what slots are you putting them into?

Are you putting them into slot No 1 and the second into slot No 2?

[pt49]

yes

[Fatman]

Ok try slot labled No 1 and slot No 3 for both of them.

Then try slot 2 and 4 then slot 3 and 4 then slot 1 and 4 for both of them.

Trying to figure if you have a dodgy ram slot.....

[pt49]

CRAP... that works. So there's a misprint in the Users Manual?

Manual CLEARLY says... installing Dual Channel mode, for OPTIMUM performance, use DDR3_1 and DDR3_2

[Fatman]

Ok so that works yeh?


So you all good now?

[pt49]

OK... 2 slot is dead.
2/4 dead
4 alone ok
1/2 dead
1 alone ok
2 alone dead
1/3 ok
1/4 ok

[Fatman]

Then I would RMA the board!

[pt49]

So now I gotta pull the system down and try the other 2 boards... whats the odds Gigabyte would sell 3 boards with the same DIMM slot dead?

Could this explain why I could not set up the RAID array?

[Fatman]

Try setting up the raid now with two working slots and see if you can do it and post back.