Asus M5A97 Issue

Hey all,

I recently upgraded my system to a M5A97 motherboard (not evo), 2x4 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 ram (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B), and a Phenom II 965T BE processor. The PC boots up to the windows logo and then immediately BSOD and reboots.

Is this an issue of memory compatibility (as the memory is not on the vendor list for this board), an issue with the bios (flashed it to version 1208 after not working) or something else?

I've returned the mobo and got another, tested multiple am3 cpu's, and several different hard drives to try to diagnose the problem. The power supply (ATX 650 Corsair) is fairly new and was working perfectly fine the day of the hardware update.

I also tried downgrading the memory speed in the bios to 1333mhz and using the MemOK! button to force compatibility with the memory but nothing worked.

At this point I'm assuming it's a memory compatibility issue and plan on returning the memory to newegg on Monday and picking something that is on the Qualified Vendors List. I just wanted to ask the knowledgeable people of this forum what they thought. =]

Thanks!

One last question: If it is not on the QVL is it guaranteed NOT to work? Or do you sometimes just luck out? I usually just make sure the mobo supports the version of ddr that I purchase and the clock speed. Maybe I learned the hard way to check the QVL in the future.