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New build hangs/resets when I run memtest.

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Mountain Man

New Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Hi.

I'm new to the board and fairly new to building PCs (this is my second build). I'm putting together a system using the following:

Biostar TH67B Motherboard (mfr page, Newegg page)
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
2 sets of PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Antec Three Hundred case.

I can get into bios and monitor temps, etc, but when I run memtest 4.0 it starts the test and then instantly restarts. There is another test on the same memtest boot CD (3.5 I think) and when I try that it locks up on the test screen before the test starts. I can boot into Ubuntu from a usb stick but I get a warning that Xorg crashed.

I've tried pulling all of the ram out but one stick, and tried putting that in both slots A2 and B2. I tried the same with another stick just in case I had a bad one.

The ram isn't on the biostar approved list for the motherboard, although the basic specs should be right (I've double checked a few times but I guess I could have missed something). I'm guessing the most likely issue is the ram and the motherboard aren't playing well. I see from the biostar page that the G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL dual channel kit is supported. My next move is to return the PNY ram and buy one set of the G Skill. If that works, I can then buy another set to fill the motherboard up with 16GB. If this doesn't fix the issue, then I'm thinking I should return the motherboard before I lose my 30 day window with newegg and try something else. Am I on the right track? Is there something I'm missing?

One question I have is the Antec case doesn't have pre drilled holes for all of the holes in the motherboard. Two of the holes near the ram are open. The case says it supports Micro ATX boards, which is what I'm using. Is there a problem if the case doesn't support all of the holes in the motherboard?
 
What are the current DRAM frequency, timings, and DRAM voltage set to at the default 100 BCLK? Rated timings are 9-9-9-24-1T (CAS# Latency (tCL), Row Precharge Time (tRP), RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD), RAS# Active Time (tRAS), and DRAM Command Rate) at 1.5V and DDR3-1333 (DDR3 DRAM Multiplier set to 13.33). And w/ 8GB of RAM installed you may need to bump VccIO voltage to ~1.12-1.15V.
 
Last edited:
Thanks redduc900! I have to admit I've never played with this stuff before. The bios has always picked this up automatically. I hope you don't mind if I report back what the motherboard states verbatim. Here is what I found in the bios:

From the PC Health Status screen in the bios:
CPU Vcore: 1.164 V
DRAM Voltage 1.584 V
Vcc SA 0.936 V
IGD Voltage 0.468 V
Vcc IO 1.068 V

From the O.N.E screen (for overclocking, I haven't changed any settings here yet)

I notice at the top of this screen it says "Notice: BIOS setting causes system boot fail. Please load default or set again properly".

Skipping down to the memory settings:
====Manual Memory System====
DDR3 DRAM Multiplier: Auto (other options are 10.67 and 13.33)
DRAM Timing Control: By SPD (other option is manual)
Module Spec Timing (using underscore for space): 9_9_9_24_10_107_5_4_5_20
DRAM Command Rate: Auto (other options are 1T and 2T)
CAS# Latency (tCL): 9
Row Precharge Time (tRP): 9
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 9
RAS# Active Time (tRAS): 24
Write Recovery Time (tWR): 10
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC): 107
Write to Read Delay (tWTR): 5
Active to Active Delay (tRRD): 4
Read CAS# Precharege (tRTP): 5
Four Active Window Delay (tFAW): 20

Here is what it shows a bit further down in the section ====Manual Voltage System====
DRAM Voltage: [Auto]
VCC SA: [Auto]
VCC IO: [Auto]
CPU PL: [Auto]
PCH Voltage: [Auto]

Farther down it lets me pull the settings for each individual DRAM slot. The only one with ram in it right now is A2, and it reads as follows:
DRAM Speed: 1333
DRAM Voltage 1.50v
DRAM tCL 10
DRAM tRCD 9
DRAM tRP 9
DRAM tRAS 24
DRAM tRFC 107
DRAM tWR 10
DRAM tWTR 5
DRAM tRRD 4
DRAM tRTP 5
DRAM tFAW 20

I'm not sure why the hardware monitor shows the voltage at 1.584V. When I look at the DRAM Voltage dropdown it says the default is 1.600, so maybe it is using that. I also note that tCL is listed as 10 but you wrote the spec was 9. Based on what you wrote, I'm thinking I need to:

1) Set DDR3 DRAM Multiplier to 13.33
2) Set DRAM Timing Control to Manual. (since tCL is already set to 9 in the field below it should use this)
3) Set DRAM Command Rate to 1T
4) Set DRAM Voltage to 1.5V
 
I made the changes 1-4 I mentioned in my last post. Once I did that the notice at the top of the O.N.E. screen changed from the boot fail message I referenced above to "Notice: Please clear CMOS if system no display after overclocking". I'll take that as a positive sign! Still, memtest gives the same results.

DRAM Voltage in the PC Health Status screen now shows 1.464. I'm assuming the slight difference from the set value of 1.5 is normal. Please let me know if not.

Looking at the screen which tells me the values for the specific ram slot, I noticed it still had a value of 10 for tCL. I tried setting this as the tCL value to use, but this didn't give me better results so I turned it back to 9. I also tried upping the VccIO voltage trying all values between 1.12 and 1.15 (1.12, 1.125, 1.37, and 1.150). None of these passed memtest either.

Is there anything else I should look at/tweak? Thanks!
 
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