Motherboard refuses to run with more than one memory module.

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remononaz

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Nov 30, 2011
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I have an intel DZ68BC mb with an i7-3770 CPU. It was recently upgraded from an i5-2500K along with necessary bios upgrades. After running with the i7 for about a month the system failed to restart from sleep mode, even with a power cycle. After working with it for two evenings, I have discovered that it will only run if I take out one of the two 4gb memory modules that have been in the board for three years. Either of the two modules will operate in any of the four memory slots, but two modules will not work in either the blue or black pair.

I tested the memory, one at a time, with Memtest86 and found no errors. Has the mb just suddenly failed or is there another explanation of this behavior?
 
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remononaz

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Nov 30, 2011
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Not sure exactly what "If DRAM is 1600 or better, try enabling XMP and select profile 1, if that's already done try raising the DRAM voltage + 0.05, i.e. if sticks are 1.5 then try at 1.55" means, but I assume this is in the bios. I'll look it up first then take a look.

The memory is a matched pair if GSkill DDR-3- PC312800 4GB x 2. It has been in the system since new in late 2011. Within the last month I upgraded the CPU to a 3rd gen Core-i and that has created issues. I just went from bios 0039 0042 two days before this memory issue started. But, the memory issue did not start right after the bios upgrade; it started right in the middle of normal operation
 
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remononaz

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I found an article that explained the memory voltage - easy enough. I changed the profile to XMP-1600 and put in the second module of memory. I get the same results: starts, shows bios screen, waits, shuts down. Then I changed the voltage to 1.5500 as recommended and tried again (had to remove one stick of memory to do this). Put the memory back in and restarted. I got the same, no start, results. I took one module back out and restarted. I got a message that the memory had decreased, so apparently, the the bios does see the second module. The system booted normally with just the one stick in.

What's next? Thanks for your help so far. BTW, I need to go to work, so no further work on this until after 5:30EST.
 
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remononaz

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The memory is a matched pair of G.Skil Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL. I have found the timing and voltage specifications and will set these manually later today. Also, from the Intel support page, Intel is suggesting that I try rolling the bios back from 0042 to 0039.

As for the memory slot, currently, the single module is in slot Channel B - DIMM 2 (intel terms). This makes no difference. I have tested both memory modules in each of four slots and they all run fine. It is only when I populate the second channel that the system fails to start.

 
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remononaz

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I worked on this some more. I tried clearing the bios to no effect. I then tried downgrading the bios to bios 39, but the bios will not load. I am using the Intel recovery method but the thumb drive just flashes a pattern (1 long, three short, four short) and repeats. The bios load never starts.

The system still runs on one stick of memory OK. Sometime it will fail to start and moving the memory to a different slot gets it going again. Very odd.
 
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remononaz

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I got the bios rolled back to 0039 using the F7 method. This seems to have fixed the issue. The system is now up with 8GB showing in the bios and windows. It will still have the other issues with the Intel Management Engine and power controls that it had before, but it is running. What a pain!
 
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