Problem with F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL on Asus M4A87TD EVO

[nimraynn]

Hi there,

My machine spec is:

Asus M4A87TD EVO
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL memory
Asus GeForce EN210 graphics (512MB)

When I first tried to boot the Windows installer DVD, it hung at the "Starting Windows" screen. After googling, I found a thread somewhere and the person had a very similar setup. He said if he took the second stick of RAM out of the machine, then installed Windows, it'd work fine... then once complete, re-install the second stick of RAM and it'd pick it up and all would be fine...

So I did this, and it worked... until I'd done two or three reboots. After this, it'd get further than the "Starting Windows" screen, but would hang when the cursor came up. No login screen.

If I rebooted and took a stick out, it would be OK... So I ran Memtest on the suspected faulty stick and it was fine. Swapped them round, ran the test again, still came out fine. Put them both in, ran the rest in again, fine. Swapped them around a few times to try every possible combination and each time the tests came out fine.

Booted into Windows and again, it was running OK, but I noticed that my download speed was limited to roughly 15kb/s on any website, while my laptop could get 2.0mb/s on the same files... Moved the PC to get better wireless signal, so now in a different room... Booted up, and it locked up after about 5 minutes.

Took a stick of RAM out, booted up OK, download speed now strangely restored to 2.0mb/s, but after 15 minutes, it locked up again!

Swapped for the other stick, same thing.

I've read the sticky and tried all kinds of combinations and the longest it's worked for is about 18 minutes.

If I'm honest, I don't understand any of the settings on the Ai Tweaker tab in the BIOS. I've never had a motherboard with settings like this before and never messed around with overclocking or anything...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[nimraynn]

Just a little up date. I've been switching the sticks around each time it crashes to see if I can find a decent setup... and I've just had the sticks in what CPU-Z reports as 1 and 3... They're the two slots nearest the CPU on the motherboard...

It has lasted 58 minutes in this setup and it has just locked on me again. I've left it say for 4 minutes so far and absolutely nothing has happened. You cannot move the cursor, it's just died...

I will get some screenshots of the CPU-Z output as soon as I reboot, but I'm gonna leave it a few more minutes to see if anything at all happens...

[G.SKILL]

Hi
We are sorry to hear you are having issues. As with all performance memory, manual settings are required. In addition, four modules are being used, so it is even more critical. The AMD CPU can only support ONE DIMM PER CHANNEL, so manual settings are needed to force it to be stable. Here is our guide:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=7688

If you do not configure it accordingly, the memory will not operate at maximum performance. Once you input the proper settings, your computer will be fast and stable.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try the slots furthest away from the CPU.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[nimraynn]

Thank you for your reply.

I'm still a bit unsure about what I need to do, as I really don't understand what the settings are and what they do.

I've read the sticky, but it doesn't match up to what my BIOS shows... Are you able to tell me what settings I need to change? I have the following available, and I've stated what is their most stable setting so far...

OC Tuner Utility
Ai Overclock Tuner [D.O.C.P]
DRAM O.C Profile [DDR3-1600MHz]
Profile Info: 1600MHz-9-9-9-24
CPU Ratio [Auto]
AMD Turbo CORE technology [Auto]
CPU Bus Frequency [200]
DRAM Frequency [1600MHz]
CPU/NB Frequency [Auto]
HT Link Speed [Auto]

CPU & NB Voltage Mode [Offset]
CPU Offset Voltage 1.404 [Auto]
CPU/NB Offset Voltage 1.175 [Auto]
DRAM Voltage [Auto]
HT Voltage [Auto]
NB Voltage [Auto]

CPU Load-Line Calibration [Auto]
CPU/NB Load-Line Calibration [Auto]
CPU Spread Spectrum [Auto]
PCIE Spread Spectrum [Auto]

I then have a "DRAM Timing Configuration Screen" with the following:

DRAM CAS# Latency 9 [9 CLK]
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay 9 [9 CLK]
DRAM RAS# PRE Time 9 [9 CLK]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time 24 [24 CLK]
DRAM Row Cycle Time 6 [Auto]
DRAM WRITE Recovery Time 12 [Auto]
DRAM RAS# to RAS# Delay 5 [Auto]

DRAM READ To WRITE Delay 7 [Auto]
DRAM WRITE To READ Delay (DD) 2 [Auto]
DRAM WRITE To READ Delay (SD) 6 [Auto]
DRAM WRITE To WRITE Timing 4 [Auto]
DRAM READ To READ Timing 4 [Auto]
DRAM REF Cycle Time 160 [Auto]
DRAM Refresh Rate 7.8 [Auto]
DRAM Command Rate 2T [Auto]

I have absolutely no idea if this is correct, and I have absolutely no idea what any of this means. You mentioned things like tCL and tRCD in the guide you mentioned, and I have no idea what that is?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[nimraynn]

Try the slots furthest away from the CPU.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Sorry, it was posted while I was adding my last reply

I have tried it in all number of positions, including the two slots furthest away from the CPU, but it didn't make any difference. I find that so far, the most stable location are the two nearest the CPU...

[GSKILL TECH]

Timings are just fine.

OC Tuner Utility
Ai Overclock Tuner [Manual]
DRAM O.C Profile [DDR3-1600MHz]
Profile Info: 1600MHz-9-9-9-24
CPU Ratio [Auto]
AMD Turbo CORE technology [Auto]
CPU Bus Frequency [200]
DRAM Frequency [1600MHz]
CPU/NB Frequency [2400MHz]
HT Link Speed [Auto]

CPU & NB Voltage Mode [Offset]
CPU Offset Voltage 1.404 [Auto]
CPU/NB Offset Voltage 1.175 [1.20V]
DRAM Voltage [1.50V]
HT Voltage [Auto]
NB Voltage [Auto]

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[nimraynn]

Thank you for that. I will give that a go and report back

[nimraynn]

Hi,

Sorry to be such a pain

You mentioned that I should set the CPU/NB Offset Voltage to 1.20V, but the BIOS doesn't allow for this to be entered?

It states:

Min = 0.003125V
Max = 0.700000V
Standard = By CPU
Increment = 0.003125V

So when I manually enter 1.2, it comes up as 0.700000V

I have just noticed though if I set the voltage mode to Manual, it changes to CPU/NB Voltage, rather than Voltage Offset, and that appears to let me set 1.20. Is this correct?

[Tradesman]

Yes, try the 1.2 and see how that goes

[nimraynn]

Thank you for your help guys

I'm happy to report that it's been a good hour since I updated to the suggested settings, and so far (touch wood and all that superstition), the machine has stayed pretty stable... and I've been giving it a little bit to do, such as downloading a large file (3.9GB), chatting on Skype, listening to music in iTunes, browsing the Internet and copying files from a USB drive... So it's been busy, but it's not skipped a beat

Will carry on and see where we go Thanks again for your help

[GSKILL TECH]

You just need to know how to use the good memory.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[nimraynn]

Bad news!

It was running great last night, I thought we had finally solved the problems... It lasted around 4 hours with out skipping a beat before I left it for the night.

Came back this morning, and it was fine for a few more hours, but then it locked again! And now it won't last more than 15-20 minutes again before locking!

I have checked the BIOS and the settings are still the same, so nothing has reset...

Is there anything else I can check that may be causing this problem?

[nimraynn]

Good news!

I think I have now found the root cause of my problems After I posted, it crashed again, so I restarted and when I came back to it, the PC was off. Powered right down, even though I'd done a restart. So I booted it up, and carried on using it to see what was happening. It crashed again after 15 minutes, so I rebooted it again, checked the BIOS settings again, booted up and this time, while using it, the whole thing just went off. Power just dropped...

Took the Alpine 750W PSU out of the machine and fitted the EZCool 450W PSU out of my Dad's PC as a test.

Now I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but I had a whining noise coming from the machine and I couldn't work out what it was... thought it was one of the fans somewhere, but couldn't pin point it and this noise usually sounded solidly when the machine locked. With the 450W PSU installed, that noise is now gone and the machine seems generally more stable!

So I've RMA'd the PSU back to the retailer, and gone into town and bought a Corsair GS600 Gamer Series PSU. Twice the price of the Alpine 750W PSU, but I can already tell the build quality is much, much better, the machine seems very stable now so far, and the best of all... it has a blue light. Pretty light.

So after all the hassle of messing around with the RAM, it appears to be the PSU that was at fault!

Thank you again for all your help though

[GSKILL TECH]

Score! Glad to hear you were able to get that all sorted out.

Enjoy!

Thank you
GSKILL TECH