GSKILL F3-2400C9Q-16gig+Asus Maximus VI Extreme+Intel 4770K NO Stability on BOOT

[Avalon]

The ASUS board (latest bios/no bent pins in the socket) boots with a variety of Q-codes. Sometimes I get a "55" stating there is no ram (4x4 sticks) installed. If I press the "Mem-ok" button it will "99", see all 16gigs and let me in the bios. The settings the "Mem-ok" found that were stable (for the bios at least) are 1600/11-11-11-28-2. The default voltage is set at 1.6697. I was successful at changing the timings to 9-11-11-31-2 but nothing seems to work between 1600-2400 (didn't test them all). I did try the voltage setting at 1.65 too. Even with the "stable" settings "Mem-ok" finds it still causes the PC to boot over and over. I have a Cooler Master V8-GTS installed so 3 of 4 memory slots are hard to reach and I cannot remove most of the ram. I did reseat (from the top) best I could and it did boot to the bios but it still doesn't hold. I don't believe there is a ram contact issue based on the weight of the cooler; looks even. So, I am ready to tear down the MB, install the stock cooler and go stick by stick. But, if the community has any suggestions (XMP?) I would appreciate it.

[Tradesman]

Do you have the latest BIOS, if not upgrade, then enable XMP and select profile 1

[Avalon]

Yes, the latest bios is in place. I will try the XMP. Strange thing on the last "Mem-ok" test I ran. It remembered I left it at "2400" with all the manual timings I put in. Seems it fails no matter what I set it too. If the XMP doesn't work I will tear it down tomorrow.

[Avalon]

No luck on XMP profile #1. It turns on for 6 seconds, runs a bunch of Q-codes then off; then repeats that cycle over and over. If you think of anything else let me know. I won't do a tear down until tomorrow after work. I have some trusty Ripjaws DDR3-1600 on standby too, lol.

[Avalon]

Tore it all down to the socket and double checked everything. It booted right up with one stick. I added in the 2nd stick then the last 2 with no problems. Then I bumped it to its 2400/9-11-11-31-2 stock speed; still ok. The one big thing in the re-build was I left the Cooler Master V8-GTS off. Its using the stock cooler now. I may send the V8 back, even though its cool looking, it actually really crowds PCI-E slot A1 where it can't be used (Cooler Master confirmed). Noctura or Liquid cooled may work better for me. So, I don't know what really happened. Maybe reseating everything could have done it or maybe the V8 was warping the board slightly causing a connectivity issue.

[Tradesman]

Possible, haven't had any problems like that with my V8, but who knows