GA-MA790X-UD3P F7a failing 8 GB RAM

[autotech]

Honestly sounds like a memory controller problem that most quad cores had. I did'nt read where you mentioned what cpu you had but by the specs of the ram being 1066 i'd guess its a quad.  Dealt with that problem myself and after i got it working it lasted a whole 4 days and i never got it working again so that was that.

Now the 6 core handles 8 gigs of ram just great and i've not had a problem with it at all.

Also as it works fine with 4 gigs of ram id say it was a ram problem or a cpu problem and not motherboard related at all. I myself would go to manufactures  forum and try my luck there. Memory controller is part of an amd cpu. There is no memory controller on an amd motherboard for an amd chip at all.

[Glaucous]

I've got AMD Phenom 2 x4 940. I guess I'll try my luck at the AMD forums as well. Good to know that someone else had somewhat the same problem, since it was actually working for a while.

Edit: I've found a setup which works at the moment. Here's the short thread from AMD forum: http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=259&threadid=136098&enterthread=y

Edit: I went back to F1, which didn't help at all at first. Then I tried different combinations of the memory sticks.

Slots:
1 - non-dominator
2 - none
3 - dominator
4 - none
did not work

1 - non-dominator
2 - dominator
3 - none
3 - none
worked

1 - non-dominator
2 - non-dominator
3 - dominator
4 - dominator/none
did not work

But at last this combination so far works,
1 - non-dominator
2 - dominator
3 - non-dominator
4 - dominator

It'll probably not stay stable, at least that's what I think, but so far it's looking good.

[Dark Mantis]

It is always a bit hit and miss when using unmatched memory but at least you seem to be getting somewhere. It was good that autotech pointed you in the right direction.

[autotech]

Glad you are finding the way. I had to get the x6 and the 890fx-udh5 to run 8 gigs with any sucess.  It hasnt been so long ago that i have forgotten the fraustration and the countless days in trying to get it to work. To this day i still have 4 gigs of 1066 in my closet as i gave the other 4 to my daughter with the quad core when i upgraded.

[Glaucous]

Heh, well, now it's not working anymore. I never tried turning off and on the computer yesterday after the "fix", just restarts. Because now when I turned on the computer, I can't use 8 GB anymore (I'm using 6 GB atm without dual channel).

So I'm stuck once again, might be time to give up soon?

[Dark Mantis]

Have you tried posting in the AMD forum? If so have you had any pointers there?

[Glaucous]

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=259&threadid=136098&enterthread=y

Yes I posted at the AMD forums, and he says it's probably a BIOS issue.

Edit: After rearranging the sticks the way they were the very first time, it's working again. I've tried restarting, turning off and on, everything. But I guess this setup won't last forever either, I'll probably be back with another error.

[Dark Mantis]

I have just read through the entire thread again and it is rather complex. I did notice that you haven't cleared your CMOS before loading the BIOS setup defaults. So that might be worth a try. The other thing is to run memtest86 on the memory and check that all the modules function properly. Run it on them one at a time for at least half a dozen loops.

[Glaucous]

Got a BSOD and now I can't boot again.

But isn't clearing CMOS the same as "Load optimized defaults"?

Otherwise I just do:
Load Optimized -> Reboot -> Flash -> Reboot -> Load optimized
Should I replace Load Optimized with CLR_CMOS?

[Dark Mantis]

No, the CMOS stores a list of your hardware that is installed so if you change anything of importance you need to update the CMOS. Loading the BIOS defaults just tells the BIOS how to behave with the hardware it finds.

[Glaucous]

So it would actually make sense to CLR_CMOS if I add new RAM modules?
Anyhow, I'll try flashing it that way you said.

[Dark Mantis]

To clear the CMOS you need to unplug the computer. Remove the CMOS battery(CR2032 silver disk)  and then change the jumper over on the block usually marked CLR_CMOS or CRTC etc. Leave it like this for a couple of minutes at least (officially it is ten seconds but I don't find that is long enough). Put the jumper back in it's default position and then replace the motherboard battery. The CMOS is now wiped. Now you can boot up into the bIOS and load the setup defaults, save and exit.

[Glaucous]

Oh I see, I usually just put a screwdriver between the pins and it resets (at least the BIOS settings). Anyhow that's what I did just now, and flashed to F6, and it booted up nicely. I'm going to let memtest run for a while on all of them, to see if there's any error using them, if there's a problem I'll run memtest individually. Or try clearing CMOS your way.

I guess putting a screwdriver between the pins just resets BIOS settings and not CMOS?

[Dark Mantis]

And if you are unlucky like my son, when he tried to do it that way he blew up his motherboard

[Glaucous]

As long as you unplug that shouldn't happen, right?
By the way, for how long do you think I should run memtest? I know some people run it for like 12 hours.