Asus P7P55D-E Pro MB and G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM Problems

[sonavor]

I am having a strange problem with a new system I built using an Asus P7P55D-E Pro motherboard and G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM RAM. I have four G.Skill memory sticks for a total of 8 GB of RAM.

The processor is an Intel i5-661 (dual-core). The OS is Windows 7 - 64bit.

The problem I am having is that when I start the computer up in the morning (cold) I started getting a Windows blue screen of death (BSOD) prior to the login screen. As a result, I have to use my system repair disk to fix the problem. The BSOD event does not create any Windows DMP error file.

After a bunch of debugging I discovered that the problem only happens when the computer starts up "cold". Note that when the PC does start and I can login to Windows 7 I have never had a BSOD or memory failure.

Using memtest86(+) I ran a memory test (1st six tests) when my computer started up cold.
On test five I saw that the memory had failures. Additional failures happened on test six.

I tried to trouble-shoot the specific memory module(s) by rotating positions but the failures went away.

When the computer was left off for several hours and I ran memtest86(+) again - I got errors on test five and six.

It appears that I was getting errors on all four memory slots.

I doubt if all four memory modules would be bad so I am thinking that it is either a memory configuration problem or the motherboard is bad.

It is tricky though because I never have any errors once the PC starts up into Windows 7. I have run the PC for two days before shutting down and never have an error. So the problem is just on a cold start up.

I am letting the motherboard automatically configure the RAM settings. In fact, this Asus motherboard has a button on the MB that does a RAM test and configuration so I ran that on board test after installing the RAM modules.

Does this sound like a bad motherboard? Or is it just a configuration problem?
Should I try to manually configure the RAM instead of using the motherboard "auto" settings?

[OlivierMDVY]

I have this kind of problem on my P7P55D-E Pro mobo and G.Skill 10666 CL7 ECO memory... After searching on internet it seems that lot of people has this issue...

[sonavor]

Trouble-shooting steps

How much RAM do you have installed? I built a previous Windows 7 - 64bit machine with the same Asus MB plus the same G.Skill RAM. I only put 2 x 2GB of G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM RAM in that one. It has never had a problem.

On the Asus MB with G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM RAM I am having this problem, I have 4 x 2GB of the RAM.

I talked to an Asus technician today. Since the problem only occurs on a cold start he is having me monitor the system voltage from the bios screen when it starts up. That is to eliminate a possible power supply problem. After leaving the PC off for three hours I ran that check and the voltages were fine.

Another thing the Asus technician asked me to try was to check the G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM voltage specs and seeing if I could bump my DRAM voltage in the MB bios up. It looks like my RAM should be able to handle 1.6v without any danger. The DRAM setting in my bios was "Auto" - and measuring around 1.54v. So I changed that bios setting from "Auto" to 1.6v and I am trying that out.

[GSKILL TECH]

Send the memory in for new replacements and the new set should work much better. To configure the memory, simply enable the XMP Profile under "Ai Overclock Tuner". This feature is specifically created for G.Skill modules.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[sonavor]

Will exchange RAM

I am going to send my RAM in for an exchange.

After leaving the PC off overnight I ran the memtest86 first thing this morning (with DRAM voltage at 1.6v). I got the same memtest86 failures on Test 5 (Block Move, 80 moves).

On reboot and retest of memtest86 all tests passed (I stopped running memtest86 on test 7). I was then able to login to Windows 7 without any problem (no blue screen).

The memtest86 Test 5 failure listed four memory locations where the test failed:
109, 2127, 4198 and 6474. I am not sure what memory slots those correspond to.
On my motherboard I have four G.Skill 2 GB memory sticks in the four Asus motherboard slots. But I don't for sure if the addresses listed are on each memory stick.

When the memory test runs it displays that it runs the tests in these range steps:
127 - 2048
2048 - 3064
4096 - 6144
6144 - 8192
8192 - 9216

The memtest86 test ranges don't appear to be a one-to-on correspondence with the memory slot. Memtest86 displays there are four memory slots filled (with 2 GB in each slot). But it doesn't look like it runs the tests slot by slot.

[sonavor]

Found the faulty RAM

I finally found the bad actors. I ran the memory tests (memtest86+) with just two of the RAM sticks in slots 2 and 4 of the MB. Starting with the two RAM sticks that were already in those slots I ran the tests after the PC had been off for several hours. The RAM test failed as before - on Test 5 - Block Move, 80 Moves.

The next step was to use the other pair of G.Skill RAM in the same two slots. I powered down, switched the RAM out in slots 2 and 4. When I ran memtest86+ this time I didn't not get any errors. I let the memory test continue until Test 7.

To make sure the second RAM test wasn't due to a motherboard problem (especially since the system was warmed up now), I shut down the PC for several hours. It was night so I waited until the next morning to re-run the test. When I ran the "good" RAM pair the next morning all tests passed.

The final step was to swap back the RAM pair that failed and run the memory test with that set. That memory failed again on Test 5.

I was happy with that result because it meant the problem wasn't with the motherboard (I didn't want to take everything apart for a new one). It also means I can still use my PC since I have a good pair of RAM to keep running on while I get the bad set replaced.