Having Ram and/or Mobo issues

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emorgan35

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Apr 10, 2013
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Here's some specs let me know if you need more
Mobo- Asus P8 Z68-M Pro
CPU- Intel i5 2390T
GPU- AMD Radeon HS 6750
RAM- 2x Samsung DDR3 4 GB PC3-10700
PSU- 600W

My problem is that the RAM is being finicky for lack of a better term. I noticed for some reason my computer had been running slower the last week or two. I looked at my computer info and saw it was only detecting 4 Gigs instead of 8 for some reason. I was just gonna reseat the RAM and see if that would work, but figured while I was in there I'd do some wire management and clean out the dust. Unfortunately this turned into my computer wouldn't boot. After a few days of frustration I got it up and running again and it seemed to just be a matter of how the RAM was seated in the DIMM slots. So the layout is DIMM_A1 DIMM_A2 are side by side (Black and blue colored respectively) and DIMM_B1 DIMM_B2 side by side (black and blue again). The manual suggests for best performance to put two sticks in Dimm_A2 and B2. I couldn't get this to work and only could get A1 and A2 working. This was after much fiddling around with the placement of the A2 slot, the A1 slot worked without a problem. Now the computer reads all 8 GB of RAM but is not slotted according to the manual. At some point I'd like to increase to 4x 4 GB so I would like to make sure the others work first.

So after all this my question is if anyone has some suggestions as to why this is happening? I still can't get B1 and B2 working (I admittedly haven't tried since getting the other two to work). I've read a few things such as possibly reseating the cpu, checking for bent pins in the cpu socket but I don't have any more thermal paste atm and just all around prefer not screwing with the cpu. Could it be a RAM issue or even the DIMM slots themselves?

Any suggestions you can provide me with please let me know!
 
Solution
inzone
There is a possibility that the ram slots on the motherboard can be defective as can any part that is attached to the MB. One thing you can do now is download and run memtest86, this will give you an indication of it being the ram that is defective if it fails the memtest86 program. If the ram passes the test then it could be the ram slots.
Another thing you can do is to do a bios update for the motherboard.

What is the history of your computer? Did you just build it or have you had it running for some time and this just started happening.
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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There is a possibility that the ram slots on the motherboard can be defective as can any part that is attached to the MB. One thing you can do now is download and run memtest86, this will give you an indication of it being the ram that is defective if it fails the memtest86 program. If the ram passes the test then it could be the ram slots.
Another thing you can do is to do a bios update for the motherboard.

What is the history of your computer? Did you just build it or have you had it running for some time and this just started happening.
 
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Solution
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emorgan35

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
6
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10,510


inzone- Ok I will run memtest and see what the results are. Not sure how to update the bios but I'm sure the instructions are in my manual or at least online, I will look into that. I bought it originally as an HP (don't remember what exactly the model was) about a year and a half ago. Been replacing all the parts as I go. The only original pieces at this point are the RAM, the CPU, and the HDD. The RAM has been working fine until idk a month at the most is when I noticed the computer slowing, and presumably when the RAM card stopped being used.

swifty_morgan- (nice name first of all ;) lol) Secondly I reset the cmos when it wasn't coming up that didn't seem to help things any. I will look into the other parts if memtest doesn't come back with anything useful.

Will keep updated what the results are.

 
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emorgan35

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Apr 10, 2013
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I'm not sure I'm attaching the image correctly, but here's what happened. Ran the Memtest86 (it was actually already installed, came up somehow once I set my computer to dual boot windows and linux Mint 14) and it was going fine until 43% through on the test for the first stick. It was test #7 [Random number sequence]. I got this error and it just kept going, I went out to dinner, came back and it was still going at over 10 million errors. At this point I rebooted the computer because I wasn't sure it was ever going to stop.

So does this mean I have RAM problems?

It was also saying my RAM was running at 668 MHz DDR3-1337. I saw the one post mentioned running at 1333, would this cause the error and/or issues I'm having? I've never messed with the settings for RAM my board has a "MemOK switch" that I pressed and seemed to have found the correct setting for my RAM. Or so I thought...

Lastly the test provided CAS: 9-9-9-24 This means nothing to me, not sure what it's for but thought I'd tell you in case you could not access the picture for some reason.


PS- I'm having trouble, it's saying I'm not a confirmed member so it won't let me post the link to the picture. If this is absolutely necessary I will work out the issue and try and get you the screen shot. (Yes I clicked the link to confirm my email, it might be because it hasn't updated yet?)

 
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emorgan35

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Apr 10, 2013
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Ok thank you both for your help. Will it be risky to keep running on this RAM until I can afford some new stuff?
 
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emorgan35

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Apr 10, 2013
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Sorry one last question about the RAM and I'll be set. Was looking at two different types

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231402

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148347

I noticed the G-Skill has lower CAS and runs at 10666 MHz rather than 10600. I am assuming that the minimal MHz change doesn't make much difference but wasn't sure about CAS, i don't know much about the timings of the memory. Do I need to replace it with one that has the same timing as my current RAM? Is the Crucial better than the G-Skill? I know a lot more friends that use Crucial, but the Gskill does quite a fine job making theirs aesthetically appealing with the heatsinks on it which probably their marketing team's goal lol.
 
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swifty_morgan

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Feb 10, 2006
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seems like lots of people still like that rip jaws stuff. Personally I never did. also, the tight timings don't mean anything anymore. a lot has changed.

here's a few but by no means am I telling you to buy any of this. what you posted should be okay.

kingston
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104255
g.skill
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231635
corsair
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233350

and an edit......... i don't care for crucial so much, and not for a while. don't know what their value ram is like.
 
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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With the motherboard that you have you can get 1600mhz, 1333mhz and 1066mhz ram and you should not have any issues with those ram types. You also have a decent cpu and with those two components I would get either 1333mhz or 1600mhz ram. I would also get two sticks of 4gb ea because for the most part your not going to use much more then 8gb for most things and unless your video rendering 3D , photo editing or video editing you can do with 8gb. Going with 16gb means that over half the ram will be sitting there not being used. I would consider these sets of ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145315

At this point with the ram failing the memtest you can't be sure of the ram being any good and starting to cause problems. It's also not a good idea to fill all the ram slots as you may have to raise the voltage a bit as Swifty_Morgan has stated and if your not sure how to go about doing that you can end up with more problems so populating two slots would be better. If there is a reason for needing 16gb of ram then you can get two sticks of 8gb ea.
 
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emorgan35

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
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10,510
Hey so I know this was a while ago but I thought I'd give an update in case someone else has an issue like this at some point. I got some new G Skill RAM and was having the same issue and my mem test still had the same error. I gave up on it for a while during school but just the other day had a random attempt to fix it again. After removing the CPU I found that there was a bent pin on the mobo. So carefully with a needle and magnifying glasses I was able to kind of prick it back to where it should be and now have a full 16 gb running with memory in all four slots!
 
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