GA-P55A-UD3R - 4 DIMMS INSTALLED, WONT BOOT

[spor]

Heya,

I recently purchased another 2x2gb dimms to fill my empty slots for a total of 8gb of memory. Is there a copnfiguration setting im missing? If i even put one of the chips in the system (6gb), my monitor will not display anything; it wont even post. It currently has 4gb installed in dual channel configuration and works fine.

The RAM is OCZ platinum model OCZ3P1333LV4GK, running at 1066mhz.

My bios is running fail safe defaults, no overclocking or changes whatsoever. I am running version F13 of the bios.

I have mixed the chips up, changed slots, done everything to ascertain that there isnt a problematic dimm.

If someone could lend a hand i would be forever greatful.

Regards, Scott.

[spor]

i see my ram is not on the compatibility list. what am i supposed to do now?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

When purchasing memory you should always check that it is comatible with your motherboard first. In your case you should also have made sure it was the same as the already installed modules you have.

Memory comes in matched kits and should be kept as such when installing.

It doesn't matter in particular if it doesn't appear on Gigabyte's QVL as they don't test more than a percentage of the memory available but it should be warranted by the memory manufacturer as compatible with your board.

Right what to do about your memory you have?

What RAM did you have installed to begin with ?

[spor]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

When purchasing memory you should always check that it is comatible with your motherboard first.

Heya and thankyou

Ive built my last 4 computers and never thought to check if the RAM i was buying was compatible with my motherboard. Guess i just got lucky! Will always do it in the future after this incident

In your case you should also have made sure it was the same as the already installed modules you have.

Memory comes in matched kits and should be kept as such when installing.

It doesn't matter in particular if it doesn't appear on Gigabyte's QVL as they don't test more than a percentage of the memory available but it should be warranted by the memory manufacturer as compatible with your board.

Right what to do about your memory you have?

What RAM did you have installed to begin with ?

Yes im aware mixing RAM can lead to problems which is why i bought the exact same type.

I have kept my memory in their matched kits and installed them as such. I experimented with different configurations as i was desperate.

All of my memory is of the same type. It is all OCZ3P1333LV4G 2GB DIMMS.

[Peteruk]

Try setting the voltage to 1.65V and timings to  8-8-8-24 

[spor]

Try setting the voltage to 1.65V and timings to  8-8-8-24  

Thanks for your reply.

Ive read of changing the timings on another forum also. How is it possible to set the timings of the ram if my machine will not POST? I cannot even access the bios, my screen shows nothing on power up.

[Dark Mantis]

OK then I think we need to start going back to basics and see if we can get anything out of this machine at all.

The next thing is to remove the motherboard form the case and test it on the workbench.

Make sure that you observe anti-static precautions.

Lay some cardboard or use the motherboard box that is non-conductive on the worktop and remove the motherboard/CPU/heatsink/fan/buzzer/one stick of memory and PSU from the case and put it on the cardboard.

Add the keyboard and now I know you haven't got any graphics but try and boot.

The system should try and then fail emitting a series of beeps. Please post what sounds it makes.

A list of your hardware might be helpful too.

[spor]

The machine runs great and will boot into windows fine with 2x2GB DIMMS but it wont even POST the moment i put the additional two DIMMS in. It is 100% stable with 4GB installed.

I have spent the last hour playing with the voltages of the RAM, putting it at 1.66 and also upping my QPI voltage to 1.21. I have changed the timings, dropped multiplier down, done all this with both fail safe and optimised defaults and experimented with voltages slightly above spec for my ram and above 1.2 for my QPI.

My hardware:
Intel i3-550
OCZ Platinum OCZ3P1333LV4GK
Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB Super Overclock Edition
Antec Truepower Trio 550w
GA-P55A-UD3R Rev 2.0

[Dark Mantis]

I am not a fan of OCZ memory especially recently as the quality control seems to have dropped.

Have you tested each of the modules singularly in slot 1 with Memtest for at least 10 loops each ?

If not we cannot be sure that the RAM is ok.

If your memory is specced to run at 1.65v set it to 1.68-1.7v as you are filling all the slots.

Your QPI/Vtt might need to go as high as 1.4v

[spor]

Yeh im not a fan of OCZ memory anymore either!

I have not run memtest on my memory as yet, i will try upping my QPI/Vtt and RAM voltages first and get back to you.

Appreciate your help thus far mate.

[spor]

Upped my QPI/Vtt as high as 1.41 and my memory to 1.7 and tried several settings slightly lower but all to no avail

Any other ideas?

I will try testing individual DIMMS with memtest tomorrow.

This is really irritating

[Dark Mantis]

No I think the Memtest is really the next thing as we need to be sure we haven't got a faulty module or two.

I just find it unusual that it won't even boot with all four slots filled.

[Searcher1]

Quick summary as read it and a question.

You started with a (matched) pair of RAM which works 100% fine and then added the second pair and with the added set it fails to POST / boot.

OK, have you tried the empirical test of simply swapping over the RAM pairs i.e. take out the first set and insert the second set in the the same slots ~ does it work??? 

Now granted the MEMtest makes sense but if the second set fails in the method above that surely "tells" that pair has a fault but if AOK then the inference is a motherboard (RAM controller???) hardware issue or BIOS related but based on your postings you have tried every possible settings possible.

Best of luck with sorting OK

[Peteruk]

Try setting the voltage to 1.65V and timings to  8-8-8-24  

Thanks for your reply.

Ive read of changing the timings on another forum also. How is it possible to set the timings of the ram if my machine will not POST? I cannot even access the bios, my screen shows nothing on power up.

The idea is to set it in BIOS with half the ram in that boots then add in the rest, which will (if done right) use the settings you set for the other half the ram so it sets it for all of the ram.

[spor]

Quick summary as read it and a question.

You started with a (matched) pair of RAM which works 100% fine and then added the second pair and with the added set it fails to POST / boot.

Yes this is correct.

OK, have you tried the empirical test of simply swapping over the RAM pairs i.e. take out the first set and insert the second set in the the same slots ~ does it work??? 

Now granted the MEMtest makes sense but if the second set fails in the method above that surely "tells" that pair has a fault but if AOK then the inference is a motherboard (RAM controller???) hardware issue or BIOS related but based on your postings you have tried every possible settings possible.

Best of luck with sorting OK

Yes i have tried swapping the pairs out and it will boot fine with either pair, the only issue is when i add additional modules, either one or two.

Thanks for your input