Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 issues

[sadamhu]

Hi there, I bought this board in Dec 2012. everything seemed fine until problems started with recognizing ram, hard drives, and sound output.

I can't tell if its my ram thats giving me grief because I tested it as per instructions given to me by G.Skill. I found that the 3rd stick was faulty. Now today just before I go to send it off, I decided to do one more test. And the ram seems completely fine! I don't want to send it off and waste time just to find out it was the motherboard.

Why would my hdds not show up? If I reboot, then they show up, but not everytime. This happens regardless of HDD!

This really makes me second guess the ram and point the finger at the motherboard. What test can i do on the motherboard?

My specs:
Corsair GS800 psu
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
AMD FX8350 8 Core 4.0ghz
RipJaws Z 32GB 1866 F3-14900CL10Q-32GBZL
Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 2GB
Kingston V200 128GB SSD
Antec Kuhler 620 liquid cpu cooler system

 

[raja@asus]

HDDs don't show if the DRAM is very unstable on these AMD platforms. It's a situation I've encountered before, and it caught me out when a user first reported his HDD not being visible to the Windows installer.

You may need to adjust some of the memory timings and related voltages to get that kit fully stable. I can probably help you out a bit on that side. You can save screenshots of your UEFI settings for memory and voltages to a flash formatted USB drive and upload them here if possible, I'll suggest some changes that may help.

-Raja

 

[sadamhu]

Wow, thank you so much for your quick response. I did email Asus and it took days to finally get a response that basically said "Send the board to where you bought it"

I'm not really in the position of where I can just send things back. Firstly I can't really afford it. Second I live in New Zealand and things like motherboards can take a long time to send. I'm not even totally sure that it is really the board that is defective, it could be the ram.

So based on these restrictions, I did what I thought was thorough research into a computer build that would be worth it. A lot of the build was from watching recommendations and reviews on the newegg channel on youtube. The board was alongside one of the best AMD chips. The ram was featured in many of their builds and reviews. I chose the ram based on the maximum allowance of the mobo, 1866. When installing it, the computer saw it only as 1333, no biggy. just had to make changes to the profiles

The only difference I believe is that intel boards have X.M.P and AMD have D.O.C.P, So I assumed I'd choose D.O.C.P and then choose profile #0 (both profiles to choose from seemed to be the same settings)

See attachment:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8247/8571776234_476df56041_k.jpg

Everything was running fine for a few months. And then out of nowhere, I had alsorts of issues! Ram was showing up as 8, 16, 24 or 28? Hard drives were not showing up, Blue screens, corrupt windows installs, NO POST!

G.Skill who replied first to my complaints, suggested to test the ram sticks one by one, in slot 1. Then use a known working ram module in all 4 slots. I thought I found the defective module. But just before sending it, I decided to do one last test. Now the computer is functioning correctly, with all 32gb! Nothing has been changed in the settings. No blue screens, No crashes! Could it be that I was just not reseatting the ram modules correctly? 16 times? lol! I dont know. It had me sick for a week trying to figure this all out.

This really makes me wonder about the ram and mobo.

 

[raja@asus]

Chances are there is some instability on the memory side. It does not always manifest, but when it does you get those symptoms. That's why I suggested you might need to make some timing adjustments...

 

[sadamhu]

So far everything is working how it supposed to, same settings. I wonder for how long? I guess I'll see.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, should I have ECC = Disabled?

 

[sadamhu]

Ah here we go, getting a tonne of random resets now. So I guess after talking to you, its not really the motherboard thats doing all of this, its the ram. If the ram is unstable, then thats the cause of the HDs not showing up correctly. I guess I'm going to have to send the ram off and be without a computer for a few weeks lol! Thank you so much for your help on this. I really appreciate it.

 

[raja@asus]

Hmm well, its a combination of both. You really need to make those timing and voltage changes I think. ECC should not be operational if the DIMMs don't support it, but, you can disable if you wish. As for the timings, add +1 to ALL of the primary timings and add +2 to the read to read and write to write timings in the DRAM timing page. Also, increase CPU/NB voltage by about 0.05V over stock (be sure to set 0.05V over and NOT 0.5V hehe).

-Raja

 

[sadamhu]

lol, I just packaged up the ram ready to be sent. But I'll open it up and try out those settings tomorrow morning.

So just to be sure, they are set to this:

DRAM Voltage old = 1.5v New = 1.55v <--- is this what you mean by CPU/NB Voltage?

DRAM CAS# Latency Old = 10 New = 11
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay Old = 11 New = 12
DRAM RAS# PRE Time Old = 10 New = 11
DRAM RAS# ACT Time Old = 30 New = 31

DRAM WRITE to WRITE Timing Old = Auto New = 6
DRAM READ to READ Timing Old = Auto New = 6

ECC Mode Old = Enabled New = Disabled

I haven't really ever had to tweak settings like this before, can you confirm all of this for me please?
Thank you Raja I will try this once confirmed.

 

[raja@asus]

Hi,

All else is correct apart from this:

DRAM Voltage old = 1.5v New = 1.55v <--- is this what you mean by CPU/NB Voltage?

I mean CPU/NB voltage, it should be there. DRAM voltage is not CPU/NB voltage...

 

[sadamhu]

do you mean cpu/nb offset voltage? thats only thing i can see by referring to the screen shot i took of the settings.

 

[raja@asus]

Yes it will be that, it may have a manual mode so you can set it to be "static". Otherwise just apply a positive offset of 0.05V.

-Raja

 

[sadamhu]

i couldn't sleep so i gave it a go.

lol it keeps crashing before i can make changes. sometimes the keyboard doesn't get detected either.

i had to put in only 16gb just so that i could post. made the adjustment, and then placed all 32gb in there. when i finally booted, i got a blue screen after 1 minute of windows loading.

also

every time i do this i have to change my boot order. annoying...

do you have skype? search for SadamHu or adhamkohlea@yahoo.co.nz i am there now waiting.

 

[raja@asus]

Can't talk on Skype to ya sorry. Hmm, sounds odd. Can you borrow some differernt memory from anyone to test? Hard to say where the issue lies like this.

 

[sadamhu]

no, i have thought about taking it to a shop in town but they will charge me heaps i think. the computer is running now, i don't know for how long though.

 

[sadamhu]

I don't want to test anymore, its making me feel extremely stressed. I think what I want to do is just send the mobo back to Asus, and have the ram set back to G.Skill. I don't think there is anything else I can really do. Since I live in New Zealand, whats the best method to set up an RMA? So that I can send it directly to Asus?

 

[raja@asus]

I don't know what the procedures are for RMA in NZ, it vaires from region to region. I work in marketing for the North Americas. I suggest you contact ASUS Support for your region and ask them what the procedure is. Some regions require the board to go back to the retailer, while others don't. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

-Raja

 

[sadamhu]

thank you so much for your help Raja, I really appreciate all of your input! I took the computer to the local shop and they charge $50 just for taking it from me and then $25 per hour just to test. forget that! so i have packed everything ready to go. Thanks again Raja!

 

[sadamhu]

Hey Raja!

I know whats wrong!

I think I have worked out why the computer is crashing. The ram is not meant for this motherboard at all. I decided to look through the manual of the motherboard and saw that the memory model numbers didn't match, like I thought they did.

The ram I bought is model number:
F3-14900CL10Q

I was supposed to get:
F3-19200CL10Q

I have the red kit

Now, What I dont understand is, Why is this (blue) ram rated at 2400? I thought the 990fx couldn't handle more that 1866? So why is this kit supported and not the other? I thought you chose ram based on speed?

Or am I completely incorrect?

If I have bought the wrong ram, then I should have a fine working motherboard, and ram?

Could you confirm for me that this is what is causing my problems?

Thank you!

 

[raja@asus]

Anything over ddr3-1600 on these platforms is considered overclocking. Anything shown in the QVLs was found to work after making changes to voltages and bus speeds. Not all CPU memory controllers can get speeds over DDR3-1866 stable, but some can. It comes down to luck of the draw and knowing how to tune voltages and memory timings. If your CPU is struggling with a DDR3-1866 kit, then I would avoid getting a DDR3-2400 one.

Explaining all of this gets complex. The issue is that you're running 32GB, and it will take some work to get it stable. I would not opt for anything faster than you have there now, as you'll likely need to put in more work than you want to.

-Raja

 

[sadamhu]

I have just purchased this ram kit. it will be here in 2 weeks. it was within the 1866mhz range this board is capable of, and the maximum memory it can take too. i don't understand why the manual says thatyou can install 8 dimms? theres only 4 slots! this manual is poorly written.

 

[sadamhu]

also my cpu is an amd fx8350, i thought that was built for this?

 

[raja@asus]

The CPU and board can do it BUT different memory module ICs and variance in the abilities of the memory controller on the CPUs mean you may need to make manual adjustments to get the kit stable. Generally, full bank operation has stipulations of CAS and frequency.

 

[sadamhu]

I think the Ram is no good. I have recieved some Cosair Vengeance Ram. I stuffed up by ordering the incorrect set. But it turns out that I am able to run it at the correct rate. So I'm a happy chap. I haven't had a crash since! Now I just need to send the G.Skill Ripjaws back, and hopefully it is broken and I get a refund. Thank you so much for you time Raja, I really appreciate it.

 

[raja@asus]

No probs. Glad it's working