Brand new build!

[bobsmith1492]

I just did my first major build since 3 years ago with the following:

Core i5
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P
OCZ Gold 1333MHz 2GBx4
Corsair 450W PSU
I re-used my 4850 video card from before.

I installed drivers, got Vista Business 64 installed and patched up, and started playing Supreme Commander. Everything was smooth and crisp with no signs of problems.

Then, it restarted. After it restarted, I started running Prime95 on 4 cores (blend). Per Core Temp, the proc didn't go over 50C. But, then Prime locked up, the computer started acting weird, and then it restarted again.

Ok, so I thought my ram voltage was too low. It's rated 1333MHz at 1.65V but I was running it at the SPD defaults, 1066MHz and 1.5V. I bumped the voltage up to 1.6 and tried Prime again. Again, it restarted within a minute or two.

I bumped up the voltage again, to 1.66V as it restarted. I ran Prime on the CPU-intensive setting to try to determine if the RAM was the problem. It ran for quite a while with no problems. However, my USB wireless adapter wasn't working. I tried to open the network connections page but it wouldn't open. So, I figured something was still messed up and tried to restart. Vista wouldn't get past the "Shutting down" screen.

Vista would not boot up now. It would get past the yellow progress bars then go black. After a couple of resets, I tried to do a Windows repair with the install DVD. The install DVD would do the same thing.

Then I noticed on a reboot that the amount of RAM had decreased from 8GB to 4GB! Ok, so it has to be the RAM, right? I removed the RAM from the channel 2 slots and restarted. Now, it wouldn't post but emitted a series of short beeps which the motherboard manual claims means "Power error." I tried removing all but one RAM stick but it keeps doing the same thing.


What could have happened? The "Power error" beep makes me wonder if the supply or the motherboard croaked when I started heavily loading the system with SupCom and then with Prime. How can I know which one it is, though? I don't want to return them one at a time and wait days in between...

Is there anything else I might look for or be able to check?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

When you removed ram, did you make sure the remaining ram was in the correct slots for that configuration as per the manual?

 

[bobsmith1492]

It was in the 1st (closest) and 3rd slots, two of the same color. I just checked and those are actually not the recommended slots (it says to use the two further away). That shouldn't damage anything, though, right?

 

[TedSheckler]

I believe the order is white than blue. Read the manual and follow instructions, the gigabyte's are picky about the ram, hopefully yours is compatible. A good way to check would be installing properly.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
It was in the 1st (closest) and 3rd slots, two of the same color. I just checked and those are actually not the recommended slots (it says to use the two further away). That shouldn't damage anything, though, right?

If socket 1156 is like 1366, then you won't have damaged anything. These CPUs require RAM to be populated in a certain way.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Ok, yeah it's running again with one RAM chip in the second slot. Picky thing.

Now, why was I getting all these failures before? I'm running Prime now with a single 2GB stick... after that, I guess I'll just add in another and prime again, then do the other two one at a time? Which is more likely, a bad RAM stick or just insufficient voltage or timings?

Also, have I read correctly that an i5 should not go beyond 1.65V for the RAM? These sticks are rated 1.65 at full 1333 speed (my motherboard will only do 1.64 or 1.66...) but the SPD in CPU-Z shows 1.5V at up to 609MHz (1218DDR). Who do I believe? The manufacturer's site isn't very helpful.

 

[Athadeus]

You can probably run all the sticks at 1.5V at those low frequencies. Have you used MemTest86 to test the RAM first? I'd say testing memory should generally come first, as it is more error prone, then once that is stable you can use Prime95 for processor stability testing.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I did some more testing; I ran Prime95 for ~30min with each stick individually and in pairs. Everything worked fine. I also tried Prime and SupCom together (super slow with only 2GB ram but with 4GB it works fine). There were no problems.

When I put in all 4 sticks together again, I fired up Prime and a game of SupCom. It ran fine for perhaps 10 minutes then restarted. Then it restarted after rebooting to the Windows login screen.

What is wrong with using 4 sticks of RAM? It should be able to handle 4 sticks.

Ok, here are the possibilities I can come up with:
1. One or two sticks are bad
2. The timing settings are bad for 4 sticks as opposed to 2 sticks
3. The extra power draw causes instability
4. Something is overheating

1. As I said, I tested individually without any signs of problems.
2. Timings are pretty slack, not to mention the low clock rate. There are a lot of extra settings in BIOS but it's all at default/SPD.
3. There's no way the system can draw >400W so it should be fine.
4. I can see this one; the RAM gets pretty warm, and with 4 in there they are all stacked in tightly. Still, room temp is low (63F) and the case side is off.

Has anyone found solutions to problems with an i5 fully populated with RAM?

Thanks!

 

[TedSheckler]

Have you checked the compatibility yet?

 

[bobsmith1492]

Originally posted by: TedSheckler
Have you checked the compatibility yet?

The RAM you mean?

Per OCZ's website, it is i5 compatible. Gigabyte's site lists multiple similar models from OCZ but not this particular one.

Anyway, it just restarted again with only the 2 sticks of RAM in after a long session of SupCom on a huge map, so I'm back to square one. I'm going to pick up a new PSU from Best Buy to see if perhaps this one is overheating and overloading.

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492

Originally posted by: TedSheckler
Have you checked the compatibility yet?

The RAM you mean?

Per OCZ's website, it is i5 compatible. Gigabyte's site lists multiple similar models from OCZ but not this particular one.

Anyway, it just restarted again with only the 2 sticks of RAM in after a long session of SupCom on a huge map, so I'm back to square one. I'm going to pick up a new PSU from Best Buy to see if perhaps this one is overheating and overloading.

This is the relevant phrase.

 

[TedSheckler]

Everyone who's reported the same problems as yours have been because of incompatible ram. Save yourself the trouble trying to jig it to work and go for the recommended ram, even if it's a little older. I did to save myself the hassle and the worry, it's really your only option, which blows.

 

[bobsmith1492]

It seems to be the RAM. Memtest is spewing out errors. The only RAM I can find at Newegg that is on the list is in 3-packs; I don't want 3, I want 2 or 4...
http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Fi...memory_ga-p55-ud4p.pdf

 

[TedSheckler]

Yeah, you need the 2 and 4 for the i5, since the 3 and 6 aren't available.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Well, new RAM is on the way from Geil. Their website lists my MB so it should work... here's hoping!

 

[bobsmith1492]

Final update: everything is up and running smoothly now, very smoothly. Turbo seems to put me up at 3.3GHz most of the time.

Moral of the story: even though the RAM controller is on the i5 processor, don't trust RAM that says it is "i5 compatible." Check the motherboard compatibility list!!