I'm in the process of building an office PC for my in-laws. This should have been a piece of cake, but of course when building a PC for others Moore's law applies...
Here is the parts list:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
ASRock B75M-DGS LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Rosewill REDBONE Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Intel Core i3-3225 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I33225
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV38G160C9K
So I put everything together last week, fired it up, and the PC was stuck in an infinite reboot loop. It would boot up, all lights/fans would go on, then it would shut down, then start up again a second later. Rinse and repeat. It never got to POST, beeped, or displayed anything onscreen.
After doing some troubleshooting, it seemed like a motherboard issue, so I RMA'd it. The new one arrived today and after installing it, the same issue occurred.
I can safely rule out the Mobo as being the culprit. Here is the next set of steps I performed:
1. Disconnect everything except mobo, cpu, psu, and ram.
2. Turned on - reboot loop.
3. Tried every combination of RAM placement with both sticks, then with one stick at a time. Reboot loop every time.
4. Tried it with no RAM installed - NO reboot loop! Followed by mobo beeping because no RAM was present, but still, no reboot loop.
5. Took a stick of RAM from my PC and tried it. NO reboot loop! And got to BIOS. (My RAM = G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL)
6. At this point I assumed I (somehow) got two bad sticks of Patriot RAM. But, to be on the safe side...
7. Took both sticks of the "bad" Patriot RAM and put it in my PC. PC booted up without a problem and showed 8GB of RAM in the BIOS.
8. So the diagnosis at this point is that the new PC will boot up fine with my Gskill RAM, but not the Patriot RAM. Yet my PC will boot up fine with either.
9. I then went to Patriot's website and used the Memory Configurator and didn't see the ASrock mobo on the compatible list for this RAM.
The only conclusion I can come up with is that the RAM is incompatible with the MOBO? This seems very odd, as both the Gskill and the Patriot RAM are DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24.
Other than returning the Patriot RAM and ordering some Gskill, I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions? I really find it hard to believe this RAM/Mobo combo doesn't work.
Thanks in advance.
Here is the parts list:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
ASRock B75M-DGS LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Rosewill REDBONE Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Intel Core i3-3225 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I33225
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV38G160C9K
So I put everything together last week, fired it up, and the PC was stuck in an infinite reboot loop. It would boot up, all lights/fans would go on, then it would shut down, then start up again a second later. Rinse and repeat. It never got to POST, beeped, or displayed anything onscreen.
After doing some troubleshooting, it seemed like a motherboard issue, so I RMA'd it. The new one arrived today and after installing it, the same issue occurred.
I can safely rule out the Mobo as being the culprit. Here is the next set of steps I performed:
1. Disconnect everything except mobo, cpu, psu, and ram.
2. Turned on - reboot loop.
3. Tried every combination of RAM placement with both sticks, then with one stick at a time. Reboot loop every time.
4. Tried it with no RAM installed - NO reboot loop! Followed by mobo beeping because no RAM was present, but still, no reboot loop.
5. Took a stick of RAM from my PC and tried it. NO reboot loop! And got to BIOS. (My RAM = G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL)
6. At this point I assumed I (somehow) got two bad sticks of Patriot RAM. But, to be on the safe side...
7. Took both sticks of the "bad" Patriot RAM and put it in my PC. PC booted up without a problem and showed 8GB of RAM in the BIOS.
8. So the diagnosis at this point is that the new PC will boot up fine with my Gskill RAM, but not the Patriot RAM. Yet my PC will boot up fine with either.
9. I then went to Patriot's website and used the Memory Configurator and didn't see the ASrock mobo on the compatible list for this RAM.
The only conclusion I can come up with is that the RAM is incompatible with the MOBO? This seems very odd, as both the Gskill and the Patriot RAM are DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24.
Other than returning the Patriot RAM and ordering some Gskill, I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions? I really find it hard to believe this RAM/Mobo combo doesn't work.
Thanks in advance.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram