Hi guys, I'm still fairly new to custom PC setups and I've been having major issues with random reboots after installing a new 8gb DDR4 DIMM on top of my current setup to dual channel mode. Single channel mode works flawlessly with either stick.
I've currently got 8gb RAM installed into slot 1 and the 2nd stick I just bought is exactly the same make, model and size as the current stick. The system recognises both sticks and will boot and let me do what I normally do but then will randomly will shut down and restart, no BSOD or any other warnings. At 1st I thought I may have kicked a wire loose or something but it became a recurring theme, sometimes letting me use the computer for more than half an hour before reboot and sometimes instantly upon logging in. The rig isn't overheating at all and all fans are functional with no dust or other gunk clogging anything up. This build is still fairly new at 6 months old and I've wiped away any little dust buildup on the vents and inside a few times in this period.
System specs:
Intel i5 6400 2.7 GHz
Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2H rev. 1.0 (Only has 2 DIMM slots, can support up to 32GB DDR4)
BIOS version F20 (most recent)
Crucial 8GB DDR4-2133 UDIMM (CT8G4DFD8213) <-- new stick exactly the same
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
256GB Kingston SSD + 2TB Seagate HDD
CIT Active85 550w PSU
Windows 10 64bit
I've been reading many posts about bad RAM and dual channel RAM crashes specifically, but none of whats worked for others have worked for me so far. I've tried both sticks individually in slot 1, then slot 2 and both work normally when individually installed in either slot. I've ran memtest on both sticks individually, both with and without gfx card and both have passed 10+ times collectively when I've ran the tests in different conditions. I've also tried Prime95 stress test after reading another post, but when tested individually it comes up with no errors. I've tried pairing original stick in slot 1 and new stick in slot 2 and then the other way around, both configs giving random reboots. When booting into memtest and doing the test in dual channel mode, it always crashes at 99% with 0 errors before it can come up with a pass.
Stress testing with Prime95 seems like the quickest way to cause a reboot in dual channel mode, but so does just having a browse on chrome with 6+ tabs oddly enough. Playing Fallout 4 on ultra for 20 mins or running heaven benchmark till completion on extreme didn't upset the rig in dual channel, but basic tasks like web browsing or opening a powerpoint do. I've tried resetting CMOS within BIOS (reset to optimised defaults) and resetting it manually by popping out the battery for a few mins and then starting over but I get the same result.
The only thing I've not been successful on is playing with voltage in BIOS as every time I go under DRAM voltage control, I can only increase it by 0.05 increments (so from 1.2v default to 1.250v) after others had success putting it up by 0.005, but even then setting it at a higher value and then saving it and booting still only sends 1.2v to each slot according to both BIOS (after re-entering it after reboot) and CPU-Z. Another thing I've not tried are XMP profiles as I can't find this anywhere in the BIOS? There's no mention of it anywhere in the manual and apparently it doesn't support it according 1 user review of the mobo on scan computers. There's also been mention of manually setting the timings, but non of that makes sense to me at this point and I'm afraid I'll cause some irreversible damage if I start playing with settings I have no familiarity with
I did ring the vendor I purchased it from and they said to send it back for testing in case it is a defective stick, but I'm worried they'll say there's nothing wrong with it as it does work individually in either of the 2 slots.
Hopefully you're still with me here after reading this wall of text lol and fingers crossed someone can shed some light on what may be going wrong! Thanks in advance!
Edit: overstated CPU GHz
I've currently got 8gb RAM installed into slot 1 and the 2nd stick I just bought is exactly the same make, model and size as the current stick. The system recognises both sticks and will boot and let me do what I normally do but then will randomly will shut down and restart, no BSOD or any other warnings. At 1st I thought I may have kicked a wire loose or something but it became a recurring theme, sometimes letting me use the computer for more than half an hour before reboot and sometimes instantly upon logging in. The rig isn't overheating at all and all fans are functional with no dust or other gunk clogging anything up. This build is still fairly new at 6 months old and I've wiped away any little dust buildup on the vents and inside a few times in this period.
System specs:
Intel i5 6400 2.7 GHz
Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2H rev. 1.0 (Only has 2 DIMM slots, can support up to 32GB DDR4)
BIOS version F20 (most recent)
Crucial 8GB DDR4-2133 UDIMM (CT8G4DFD8213) <-- new stick exactly the same
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
256GB Kingston SSD + 2TB Seagate HDD
CIT Active85 550w PSU
Windows 10 64bit
I've been reading many posts about bad RAM and dual channel RAM crashes specifically, but none of whats worked for others have worked for me so far. I've tried both sticks individually in slot 1, then slot 2 and both work normally when individually installed in either slot. I've ran memtest on both sticks individually, both with and without gfx card and both have passed 10+ times collectively when I've ran the tests in different conditions. I've also tried Prime95 stress test after reading another post, but when tested individually it comes up with no errors. I've tried pairing original stick in slot 1 and new stick in slot 2 and then the other way around, both configs giving random reboots. When booting into memtest and doing the test in dual channel mode, it always crashes at 99% with 0 errors before it can come up with a pass.
Stress testing with Prime95 seems like the quickest way to cause a reboot in dual channel mode, but so does just having a browse on chrome with 6+ tabs oddly enough. Playing Fallout 4 on ultra for 20 mins or running heaven benchmark till completion on extreme didn't upset the rig in dual channel, but basic tasks like web browsing or opening a powerpoint do. I've tried resetting CMOS within BIOS (reset to optimised defaults) and resetting it manually by popping out the battery for a few mins and then starting over but I get the same result.
The only thing I've not been successful on is playing with voltage in BIOS as every time I go under DRAM voltage control, I can only increase it by 0.05 increments (so from 1.2v default to 1.250v) after others had success putting it up by 0.005, but even then setting it at a higher value and then saving it and booting still only sends 1.2v to each slot according to both BIOS (after re-entering it after reboot) and CPU-Z. Another thing I've not tried are XMP profiles as I can't find this anywhere in the BIOS? There's no mention of it anywhere in the manual and apparently it doesn't support it according 1 user review of the mobo on scan computers. There's also been mention of manually setting the timings, but non of that makes sense to me at this point and I'm afraid I'll cause some irreversible damage if I start playing with settings I have no familiarity with
I did ring the vendor I purchased it from and they said to send it back for testing in case it is a defective stick, but I'm worried they'll say there's nothing wrong with it as it does work individually in either of the 2 slots.
Hopefully you're still with me here after reading this wall of text lol and fingers crossed someone can shed some light on what may be going wrong! Thanks in advance!
Edit: overstated CPU GHz