ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Problems

[joshbaird]

Hi,

Really hoping someone can give me a hand here. This is my second Z68 Extreme3 with the same exact problem.

Setup:

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Intel i2500k
4x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL7D-8GBRH

My problem is that the board will not POST with ANY memory sticks in the A1/A2 slots. The board will only post if I put RAM in the B1/B2 slots. I can successfully post with two 4GB sticks in each B1 and B2, although this is obviously single channel. The same two sticks in the A1/A2 slots result in a Dr. Debug "45" code. I have read that others had this problem with the board, so I RMA'd it. The new one does the exact same thing. While the machine would POST with single channel.. I found that it was somewhat unstable in Win7.. locking up, etc. Two of these memory modules are brand new and have never been used.

I have everything mounted properly in my Antec P183 V3, and have ensured that the screws aren't super tight so the board won't short. One thing that I did notice is that the screws that came with my case are a bit large, and are very close to touching some components on the board. For the fear of shorting the board out, I made sure that the screws were very lose.

Does anyone have any ideas what I can try? Could it just be that the memory is not compatible? If that were the case, would it even work in the B1/B2 slots?

Thanks.

 

[smorizio]

Hi josh and welcome to the boards. as you replaced the mb and still have the error. it can only be two issues now. the ram itself or the cpu. the memory controllers are now not on the mb but in the intel cpu. i have a set of gskills (16g) gbsr that does the same thing on my asus z77 saberthooth mb. I can run with two dimms in the mb but if i add a third it errors out. I would do a rma on the ram and try a brand that been tested on the mb qal list or the mb vendor tested the ram with the mb. if the error happens again..check for bent pins on the cpu/cpu slot or somthing shorting the back of the mb out. if not it could be a dead spot in the cpu.

 

[joshbaird]

Past the RMA period for the RAM .. However, I would think that because 2 sticks work in B1/B2, that the same sticks should work in A1/A2. This makes me think that the RAM is not the problem.

Has anyone had to RMA a CPU with Intel? Any idea how long it takes?