Hi everyone,
So I put a machine together for the first time a couple of weeks ago and things were running smoothly so I was a happy camper. Then, a couple of days ago I went to start up my computer and it would not POST. It would simply start up for a couple of seconds, then shut off, wait a few seconds and try all over again, and again, etc..
After troubleshooting I narrowed it down to something to do with the memory: Possibly a bad slot, maybe a bad stick, some kind of setting getting messed up in the Bios, or maybe the memory controller.
I came to this conclusion because I discovered the system will boot and run (albeit much slower) on a single stick of ram in either A2 or B2 (P8Z68-V Gen3 board), but as soon as both slots are populated, it won't POST as described above.
Here's what I've done:
-Reset all Bios settings to defaults in case a power surge thwarted my surge protector or something. I did this once with the jumper, and again by pulling the battery.
-Boot the system with either stick by itself (successful).
-Run Memtest86+ (4.2) on each stick individually. No errors. Two passes each. I've done this with each stick in slot A2 once, and B2 once.
-Plugged my two sticks into my room mate's PC and it boots up fine.
Here's the weird part: If I run memtest on either stick when they are in the A2 slot, the timings in memtest read as 9-9-9-24 which is what the RAM is advertised and listed as. If run the same test on either of them in the B2 slot, memtest shows me timings of 6-6-6-20.
In the bios, regardless of what slot either stick is in, I see 9-9-9-24.
My theory is that for some reason, the B2 slot is forcing whatever stick is in there to run at 6-6-6-20, so when I try to boot with both the A2 and B2 slot populated there is a difference in timings and it can't boot. Does this theory hold water? Or is that just a bug with memtest, displaying wrong information? If that's the case... well... I'm even more lost!
Does it sound like a bad board/memory slot? Is there a chance the memory controller (which I believe is on my CPU - i5 2500k - right?) is at fault? Any other testing suggestions?
Thanks in Advance!
-Andrew
Quick summary of the parts involved:
P8Z68-V/Gen 3
i5-2500k
Corsair Vengeance LP 1.5v DDR3
So I put a machine together for the first time a couple of weeks ago and things were running smoothly so I was a happy camper. Then, a couple of days ago I went to start up my computer and it would not POST. It would simply start up for a couple of seconds, then shut off, wait a few seconds and try all over again, and again, etc..
After troubleshooting I narrowed it down to something to do with the memory: Possibly a bad slot, maybe a bad stick, some kind of setting getting messed up in the Bios, or maybe the memory controller.
I came to this conclusion because I discovered the system will boot and run (albeit much slower) on a single stick of ram in either A2 or B2 (P8Z68-V Gen3 board), but as soon as both slots are populated, it won't POST as described above.
Here's what I've done:
-Reset all Bios settings to defaults in case a power surge thwarted my surge protector or something. I did this once with the jumper, and again by pulling the battery.
-Boot the system with either stick by itself (successful).
-Run Memtest86+ (4.2) on each stick individually. No errors. Two passes each. I've done this with each stick in slot A2 once, and B2 once.
-Plugged my two sticks into my room mate's PC and it boots up fine.
Here's the weird part: If I run memtest on either stick when they are in the A2 slot, the timings in memtest read as 9-9-9-24 which is what the RAM is advertised and listed as. If run the same test on either of them in the B2 slot, memtest shows me timings of 6-6-6-20.
In the bios, regardless of what slot either stick is in, I see 9-9-9-24.
My theory is that for some reason, the B2 slot is forcing whatever stick is in there to run at 6-6-6-20, so when I try to boot with both the A2 and B2 slot populated there is a difference in timings and it can't boot. Does this theory hold water? Or is that just a bug with memtest, displaying wrong information? If that's the case... well... I'm even more lost!
Does it sound like a bad board/memory slot? Is there a chance the memory controller (which I believe is on my CPU - i5 2500k - right?) is at fault? Any other testing suggestions?
Thanks in Advance!
-Andrew
Quick summary of the parts involved:
P8Z68-V/Gen 3
i5-2500k
Corsair Vengeance LP 1.5v DDR3