Have I killed 32 Gb of RAM?

[BachOn]

__________________
I bought a new P8Z77-V PRO motherboard. Put in my old Corsair Vengeance RAM (4x4 = 16 Gig). After attempting to boot, a motherboard light came on indicating that the board did not recognize the RAM. I tried the button on the board that attempts auto-configure on the timing. No luck. So, no posting happened. I replaced the motherboard with a P8P67 rev. 3.1. Again inserted the same RAM. It also did not recognize the RAM. (The speaker gives the beep code for no RAM on both boards.)

All of this was done to replace a P8P67 Rev 3.0 motherboard with damaged CPU pins. The Corsair ran like a champ on this board.

I've now tried two different processors (I5 2500K and I7 2700K). Changed out the power supply. Tried just two RAM sticks. Tried different slots. I cannot get the P8P67 3.1 or the P8Z77-V Pro to recfognize any of the RAM. So I never get to the point where I can get into the "BIOS". And yes. I cut the power, removed the battery and replaced three minutes later. Nada.

Since this time, I bought G. Skill F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL and tried it in both motherboards. Same results.

I've now ordered new G. Skills RAM listed in the manual as approved by Asus for the P8Z77-V PRO. I hope I can get this to work on the Z77 board.

But I'm really now focused on the old RAM to use for the P8P67 R3.1.

Could the higher voltage of the Z77 board have burned up the other RAM? The Corsair is 1.5 volt RAM. The older G. Skills is listed for 1.5-1.6 volts. The G.Skills RAM had a sticker on the package that said it was rated for Z77 motherboards.

I absolutely hate thinking that I may have hosed 32 Gigabytes of RAM. Any ideas?

Bach On

 

[Janus67]

There shouldn't have been any higher voltage on the Z77 board than the P67 board. I'm not sure what the issue could be as it should be working in that board. I guess you can check the QVL list for that motherboard to check for 'guaranteed compatibility' but generally those aren't kept that up-to-date or encompass everything.

I'm interested to see what happens with your new ram sticks that you bought.


A quick note with regard to memory errors on the Z77 boards, at least with my Maximus V Gene I got error 55 on my debug code which meant it either couldn't find memory or the memory couldn't run at the speed it was asked to (while trying to test out my 2600k on the board). I've used two 3770ks in it and I never received an error.

 

[BachOn]

I got that new Asus approved RAM. Put them in and got the very same results. My board has an LED that comes on when the RAM isn't recognized. I've tried the AutoConfigure button on the board. It tries three or four times, but never is able to get things to work right. This board doesn't have a digital debug code readout. The speaker gives me the signal for memory errors. It's the same results I got with all the other sets of RAM I've tried. I'm totally stumped!

The first set of G. Skill RipJaws memory was: F-3-17000CL11D-8GBXL. This is DDR3-2133the timing rated as 11-11-11-30. It is listed as 1.5-1.6 volts. This was four 4Gb sticks. Tried all four, and just two. Nothing. The sticker says it is compatible with Z77.

The new RAM is G. Skill RipJawsZ F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH. This is also DDR3-2133 with the timing rated as 9-11-10-28-2N. 1.65 Volts. As before, 4 4Gb sticks. (This is one of the kinds of RAM specifically listed in the motherboard manual as "Approved". BTW the sticker says it is compatible with Z77. And the interior card says it is the "Ultimate Quad Channel Memory for Intel X79 Systems."

Janus, am I understanding that you had a similar problem with your I7 2600 with your Asus Z77 board? I think you said you got a 55 error on the digital readout. But you put 3770s in the same board and the same RAM worked fine. Is that what you're saying?

I thought these boards were compatible with both the SANDY BRIDGE AND IVY BRIDGE Processors. I've tried an I5 2500K and an I7 2700K. NADA!!! I've never had this kind of issue crop up before. And I know I've put together 8-10 computers over the years. And I did trouble-shooting for the school system I worked for on hundreds of machines.

Anybody got any other ideas?

BO

 

[ptmcafee]

Try leaving one ram module installed that you prefer to use and reset the cmos.

 

[BachOn]

FYI: the signature file is for my old system. This is the Asus P8Z77-V PRO motherboard. I currently have an Intel Core I7 2700K processor in there. The power supply is 950 watts. I've tried different video cards. The current one is the MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

I have one 500 Gb Western Digital SATA3 hard drive and an Asus SATA DVD Recorder in the box.

I cannot get to the BIOS to adjust anything. And I never get any connection between the computer and the monitor.

Bach On

 

[BachOn]

Tried each of the sticks one at a time. Same results. Tried both sets of the G. Skills.
Beats anything I've seen. And yes. I reset the CMOS.

Bach On

 

[Richierichdolla]

Could be the MB's . You never know

 

[ptmcafee]

Could be the MB's . You never know

That's what I would suspect, considering the bios won't adjust anything, clearing the cmos doesn't help, processor exchanged and psu exchanged. My $.02 worth.

 

[Ivy]

The RAM? nope, thats the MB. G.Skill works 100%, no question, that stuff is hand tested. RMA the MB.

I even can get 8 GB DIMM to work on the most freaked out MB of the planet... that stuff is almost bulletproof. Any kind of RAM issue is usualy a MB issue.

 

[Bobnova]

Had I not personally had a stick of g.skill ram die on me, and four other sticks absolutely refuse to run at spec speeds in a motherboard I had (while fine in other boards with the same chips), I would agree with you.



Is the ram failing to post even with a freshly cleared CMOS?

 

[BachOn]

I really appreciate the input, folks.

I've tried the RAM on three different motherboards. Two of them were Asus P8Z77 models (both came from Amazon). Another was an Asus P8P67 Rev. 3.1. And I switched to a brand new Power Supply. I've tried two different CPUs (an I5 2500K, and an I7 2700K). And I even tried two different video cards.

I can believe a stick or two could be bad - no matter the quality of the RAM. But this covers three sets of RAM over three different motherboards and two different CPUs and two different PSUs and two different GPUs. I'm running out of variables.

I've never had anything like this happen before. I just ordered a brand new Ivy Bridge CPU. I was going to wait until the overclocking was better on these, but I'm DOA now. If this doesn't do it, I'm gonna buy an Abacus or an Etch-a-sketch.

Bach On

 

[ptmcafee]

I really appreciate the input, folks.

I've tried the RAM on three different motherboards. Two of them were Asus P8Z77 models (both came from Amazon). Another was an Asus P8P67 Rev. 3.1. And I switched to a brand new Power Supply. I've tried two different CPUs (an I5 2500K, and an I7 2700K). And I even tried two different video cards.

I can believe a stick or two could be bad - no matter the quality of the RAM. But this covers three sets of RAM over three different motherboards and two different CPUs and two different PSUs and two different GPUs. I'm running out of variables.

I've never had anything like this happen before. I just ordered a brand new Ivy Bridge CPU. I was going to wait until the overclocking was better on these, but I'm DOA now. If this doesn't do it, I'm gonna buy an Abacus or an Etch-a-sketch.

Bach On

Holy smokes! That's a lot of components! Are you saying you can't get it to post after all that? Bad ground someplace? Like a power supply cable, maybe? Wall socket? Defective switch in the case? Do you own a DVOM? Time to do some testing at the 24 pin connector and elsewhere.

 

[Nightman28]

Originally Posted by BachOn
I really appreciate the input, folks.

I've tried the RAM on three different motherboards. Two of them were Asus P8Z77 models (both came from Amazon). Another was an Asus P8P67 Rev. 3.1. And I switched to a brand new Power Supply. I've tried two different CPUs (an I5 2500K, and an I7 2700K). And I even tried two different video cards.

I can believe a stick or two could be bad - no matter the quality of the RAM. But this covers three sets of RAM over three different motherboards and two different CPUs and two different PSUs and two different GPUs. I'm running out of variables.

I've never had anything like this happen before. I just ordered a brand new Ivy Bridge CPU. I was going to wait until the overclocking was better on these, but I'm DOA now. If this doesn't do it, I'm gonna buy an Abacus or an Etch-a-sketch.

Bach On

With all that there almost is no variables left. Now what I don't see that you may have tried is remove it all from the case, now connect only the minimum, like keyboard, mouse cpu and cooling, and 1 stick of ram and see what happens. Not sure where to go from there you basically have 2 systems that are not functioning.......... <scratches head>

 

[Bobnova]

Do you have any cheap DDR3 you can test with? There really isn't much left!

Are you testing with the motherboard installed in a case?

 

[Ivy]

Its possible that a failure in power supply destroyed both boards. I see no other answer to so much troubles without any real variables left. That several stick of RAMs (even different manufacturer) are "bad" is not mathematically possible, its easyer to win the lottery.

 

[Neuromancer]

With so many variables changing hands I am agreeing with a faulty PSU killing hardware before you managed to flip everything else out.

HOWEVER

Unplug everything.

Setup mobo, cpu, RAM and PSU outside the case. find the power switch pins on the front panel header and trip it with a conductive piece of metal. (computer screw drivers wont work as they have a nonconductive coating on the tip...)

Nail clippers, regular screw driver top of mini electronics screw driver, PCIE expansion plate, scissors, needle nose pliers... all work usually.

As suggested already use a single stick of RAM. You mentioned ASUS already, so try the memok button can take up to an hour, but it should work.

If not, boot with a single crap stick of DDR3, change BIOS settings to what your new stuff needs. Restart and power down.

Remove old ram and replace with 2 sticks of new ram. powerup and make sure you can post. if need to test further, USB booting works well. (screw CD/DVD launch stuff EWW how 20th century)

Then add the other 2 sticks and you should be good.

Note that after this if you ever have this trouble again the process might need repeating.

SPD gets updated for type. z77 uses a newer version of SPD table than p67 which is newer than p55. In every case, faster ram is supported at the lack of latencies. Might not even be something you can even set, so your SPD tables might not be loose enough to even handle 1333 ish.

changes in SPD are not talked about but have become yet another issue on intel platforms. Tweaking memory is an important part of any enthusiasts repitoire so we just accept "this ram is not compatible but we can make it work" in truth for the normal user, it is not that easy.

Newer platforms do mitigate less of difference between XMP and SPD though.. so in theory it is a good thing. Just in practice it has fallen down.

On more thing and not pertinent to any PC built in the last 5 years ish, "dual rank" or High density RAM became an issue back in early 2K. Memory density has not increased at all per se not as we think of it. a 4GB stick might have only 8 "4Gb" chips on it. In fact each one of those chips are actually multiple memory modules combined into a single IC. What it looks like to us is 1 chip, however what it looks like to a computer is 4 or more banks of memory depending on the die shrink and IC size. I am not adept in the specifics myself, but grok enough to know that is partially the reason for enhanced latencies and why they have not effected performance as much as we used to know. We have not advanced as much as people think in the computer field over the least few decades, we just good at parallelizing and making stuff smaller

 

[BachOn]

Neuromancer & Ivy - So, the suspicion is that a bad PSU may have damaged what - the motherboard? The CPU? Both? The RAM? All of the above? This is looking like a disaster of the highest order for my pocketbook? I doubt any of this would be covered under a warranty. This is beginning to sound like (a-hem) a real "Cluster-Fork"; if you know what I mean.

I'm certainly willing to try the steps you've suggested. But if the motherboard has already been damaged - then it seems doubtful any of this will be successful.

Concerning the MEMOK button. When I press the startup button, the RAM LED blinks a couple of times, then it stays ON. The speaker then begins to give the beep code for no RAM. I press and hold the MEMOK button for maybe 4 or 5 seconds. The RAM LED begins to blink. Then the board powers down. The board restarts - maybe two or three times with the MEMOK LED blinking. Then the LED goes back to a solid RED and the speaker restarts the beep code. This restarting process with the blinking LED doesn't take longer than about a minute. I've assumed the motherboard was done with the testing of the RAM because the beep code restarts and the LED goes back to solid instead of blinking. Have I been wrong? Should I allow it to try for up to an hour as you've suggested? I left it running for maybe 30 minutes once. But at no point did the RAM LED go out and the computer never established a picture on the monitor.

Three quick things: there is a RED LED near the CPU. It blinks a couple of times right after I power on the switch. Then it goes out. If it were to stay lit, the manual says it is an indication of a defective CPU (or maybe bent socket pins).

There is also a green LED on the motherboard that lights to indicate it is getting power. This only goes off if I turn off the master switch on the power supply. There is a different beep code for a lack of video card. It never gives me that beep pattern.

At no time has the graphic card established a connection to the monitor. The monitor stand-by light is yellow. When it gets a connection it is supposed to turn green. It never does.

Finally, I'm assuming that doing these steps outside the case is to make sure I haven't got something shorting against the metal bottom of the case. Is that right?

I do appreciate you guys going the extra mile with me on this. I'm not a very happy camper right now, but I'm certainly not blaming you guys.

A Sick at Heart Bach On

 

[hokiealumnus]

When you use MemOk, it's doing what it should do...when it starts blinking and then reboots, that is resetting your BIOS to safe RAM settings. That it's not getting PAST that point and allowing you to get into BIOS is worrisome. Does this occur with just one stick installed? If you can get it to POST with one stick, do what Neuro says and go into BIOS, set your RAM's settings with one stick, shut down, then restart with all four.

You're correct that doing these steps outside the case is to rule out any sort of metallic contact, which can screw everything up. It can be a pain to do that, but it's an important troubleshooting step; one that it doesn't appear has been tried yet.

 

[Janus67]

One more thing would be to check for bent pins/thermal paste/etc in the cpu socket as well.

I would recommend doing the out-of-case test also.