M4A78T-E + AMD Phenom II X4 925 + F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK - No boot at all

[dclaw]

Hi,

I bought the following to upgrade my computer towards the beginning of January:

Asus M4A78T-E

AMD Phenom II X4 925

2x GSKILL F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK

The first motherboard I received did not work, (the battery tray was broken, resulting in CMOS settings being reset every boot)

BUT I could use all of these components at one without issue, without changing ram timings or anything. It just auto detected stuff and just worked.

I then RMA'd the motherboard, but continued having strange issues even when it was running (I had to use it for a week waiting for the new MB to come) and finally did some memory testing. Turns out one of the sticks in my 2 sets of ram was bad.

I then RMA'd that ram as well, and put it all together when the new ram came.

When the new ram came, I put all 4 sticks in the machine and tried to boot it. But nothing happened. The fans spun up, but no sounds from the computer speaker, and the dvd drive just spins up, spins down, blinks, and repeats forever.

If I remove a single stick, it does the same thing, if I remove 1 whole set (2 sticks) then the system boots.

I have read the post here about AMD Phenom cpus: http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=2977 but changing the speed to 1066mhz changes nothing. The system will simply not boot.

I have also tried each matching set individually, and each individual stick one at a time in all 4 slots and it boots fine every time. This is regardless of the automatic or manual settings, at 1066 or 1333.

Also, on another note, until the 2nd to most recent version of the BIOS for the M4A78T-E, you could change the ram timings, but at this point, it is no longer available, it only allows you to change the frequency. I would downgrade to an older BIOS version, but being able to set the RAM timings before made no difference with the same hardware.

I guess at this point I am wondering 3 things:

1. Should I RMA the processor (which has obviously worked with all 4 sticks before with no issue other than a single bad stick of ram)

2. Should I RMA the motherboard or RAM again, which have already been replaced once?

3. Suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike

[Tradesman]

Have you tried them at 800, which is (I believe the boards default)...also have you run memtest on each stick individually to see if you have a bad stick.

[dclaw]

Hi Tradesman,

Yes, actually I have also tried at 800mhz, still to no avail.

I have individually tested each stick of one kit, but I have not individually tested the other kit yet. Though, I am using it without issue at this time.

I will remove one stick and test the other tomorrow, and vice versa in the evening and let you know.

Thanks,
Mike

[Tradesman]

Sounds good, I'll be looking for it, I hop in and out when I get a chance during the day, but normally have this board up on a system most evenings

[dclaw]

Ok, sorry this took longer than expected, but instead of just checking the 2 sticks as originally planned, I did 5 passes of each of my 4 sticks of ram alone on the machine over the last couple days.

I found 0 errors whatsoever.

Now as stated previously, the BIOS I am running, ASUS bios 2503 for the M4A78T-E no longer allows modification of ram timings, so it only goes off what is set by the SPD.

According to the bios, the timings it is using are: 8-8-8-20-4-27-8-4 and 7-2-4-4-4-110-110

This does not seem to change if I try running it at 1333, 1066, or 800mhz. And again, all 4 sticks will not work at any speed. It simply will not post.

Do you think it's in my best interest to downgrade to the last version of the BIOS where I can change the timings, or should these work? I don't necessarily care about overclocking, but it would be nice to get it running at 1333mhz like it's supposed to. Though, at this point, I just want to have a working 8G of ram, as this is my work computer and have to do lots of virtualization and such with this machine.

Any further advice on what to do would be most helpful. I'm probably already past the window where newegg will give me a trouble free RMA of even half of this ram. So I want to make sure I can get this running ASAP, I

Thanks,
Mike

[GSKILL TECH]

Well, it's quite odd that the new BIOS does not allow timing changes... but it will be necessary since the timings detected can not operate 8GB.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[dclaw]

Ok, well what timings should I set when I put the old bios back on?

-Mike

[GSKILL TECH]

8-8-8-21-4-27-8-4 and 7-2-4-4-4-195-195

Sounds like the CPU may be limited, so try increasing the HT Voltage to 1.30V and NB Voltage 1.20V

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[dclaw]

And that's at 1333mhz or 1066mhz? Or does it matter?

Thanks,
Mike

[dclaw]

Ok...

I downgraded the BIOS to version 2303 so that I could change the timings.

I set everything as you asked, except for the following:

I could not set the last 2 values to 195 as the only options higher than 110 are 160/300

I tried 160, but it did not work.

Also, NB voltage is minimum 1.3v, so was unable to set 1.2v

What else should I try?

Thanks,
Mike

[GSKILL TECH]

Post up screen shots of your BIOS so I can see what you may have set incorrectly.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[dclaw]

Here's the photos you requested:









Thanks,
Mike

[dclaw]

Hi,

I'm assuming the techs are off for the weekend? Does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks!

[dclaw]

Anybody?

-Mike

[dclaw]

Hey, I need some help on this. Is someone going to step up, or should I just return this ram? At this point it's probably already too late.

What's the deal?