Bootup problem: Triple channel memory modules in dual channel mobos?

Hello all,

I've been getting bsods on my new rig and it's been locking up at the windows vista welcome screen. I reset the bios settings to factory default (back to ide hdd configuration instead of ahci is the only change) and removed all but one stick of ram to get it running again.

My question is this: I noticed the bsod would state that it was dumping physical memory before the screen was gone and it rebooted. Is it because I've been using triple channel memory modules in a motherboard that's configured for dual channel?

My recent rig:
CPU - Intel Core i7 860 2.8Ghz
Motherboard - Gigabyte P55M - UMD (Socket 1156)
RAM - OCZ Gold Series PC3 12800 DDR3 Triple Channel @ 3 x 2GB PN: OCZ3G1600LV6GK
Videocard - EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX260 896MB
HDD - 7200 Seagate 1TB SATA HDD
PSU - LSP Ultra 650ATX Power Supply
Case - Coolermaster Storm Scout ATX case.
Optical LG DVD Player/Writer SATA Drive

History
This rig's been a rough road. I had to RMA the videocard back to newegg because it was defective (garbled display). It was working great the past two weeks until the symptoms popped up these last two days. It started from playing Batman Arkham Asylum (the steam download PC version that comes with the purchase of the videocard), there would be random game crashes with error messages of missing files from the program folder. I thought it might have been a corrupted download or steam error. But then the PC crashed for the first time with the bsod while playing another game (Turbine's Dungeon and Dragons Online Unlimited).

It's been working for the past hour so far, but I haven't run any applications/games on it yet. I actually have to go to class. So I'll leave it on for now.

Anyway, any help would be awesome! Thanks much.

There's no way to run triple channel memories in dual channel mobos! How did you get them to fit in the first place

I meant how could he fit 6 sticks? If not then the title doesn't add anything....

The OP never said anything about 6 sticks of RAM. He said he used a 3x2GB kit. You have to ensure in the motherboard owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots. You also need to manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the recommended specs and run Memtest86+ overnight to test for RAM errors like Hunter315 said. Using that kit is less than ideal since it runs in single channel mode.

Sorry about the confusing title. And I'm a bit of a newbie with pc building. I realized the p55 mobo was dual channel but assumed that it would just operate in dual and single channel modes with the ram fine. The sticks advertised as working well with the new i7 intel chips and I read that the new intel cores and windows vista 64-bit handled triple channeling well.

And to be redundant about being a newbie, how do I manually set the ram timing and voltage? And how does memtest work?

And the g.skill ripjaws look nice. I'll see if I can RMA the sticks (I don't know if I still have the packaging).

Not all ram has an XMP profile. I'm pretty sure the OCZ Gold RAM doesn't. There will be a section in your motherboard owners manual on how to set the RAM settings in the BIOS. Most Gigabyte motherboards require you to press Ctrl + F1 when you enter the BIOS to unlock some of the options.

No.. As far as i can say i don't think it can make any type of physical damage for the Main-board, CPU or any other component.. The Ripjaws are very good Rams according to reviews and users recommendations.. And i believe it has the XMP profile so don't worry about going to the same process again