Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P de-activates 2 DIMM slots

[makdaddy626]

New Build with GA-P55-UDP4P motherboard BIOS v. F3
CPU: i7 860
RAM: 8 GB (4x2GB) Cosair DDR3 1600
GPU: EVGA GTX 275
PSU: Corsair HX750
Sys Drive: OCZ Vertex 120 GB
Storage: 2 Cav Black 1000 GB drives

On first boot BIOS reports 8 GB or RAM, after re-boot, BIOS reports 8 installed but lists DIMM slots 3 and 4 as deactivated???

On first boot, Win7 64bit shows 8 GB or RAM, after re-boot shows 8GB of RAM w/4GB usable.

Complete shut-down and re-start doesn't restore the DIMMs but shutting down for a period of time (hours?) will result in the initial boot using all 4 DIMMS.

Any thoughts? Anyone ever seen something like this before?

 

[Fatbird]

interesting... my friend has a similar build, could you share some photos about the DIMM 3 & 4 deactivated???
maybe i could borrow my friends PC for some testing~~~

 

[makdaddy626]

Pic

Not a pic of my BIOS but one from the web for reference...

In my BIOS (at work can't grab a real one right now) under the section for DIMMs it reads 2048 under each number (1 - 4), but next to "Enabled Slot" it only lists 2048 for slots 1 and 2, Total Memory Size (MB) shows 4096.

This is all after a re-boot. The initial boot after being off for some time will list 2048 for each of the 4 slots in both locations and 8GB as the total.

 

[RussianSensation]

It may be that current BIOS revision on some Gigabyte boards is causing your issue. According to specifications, the board actually supports:

DDR3 2200
DDR3 1333
DDR3 1066
DDR3 800 MHz memory modules.

...DDR3 1600/1800/1866/2000 mysteriously missing...

My "best" guess at this time would be that due to the early BIOS, your board may not show all of the available RAM if you're using memory with speeds higher than DDR3-1333 under Windows 7 64-bit.

Try lowering your ram speed to 1066 or 1333 and see if this solves your issue (at least until new BIOS update fixes this).

As a sidenote, I am seeing all over the net issues with P55 boards related to memory. I personally even experienced them myself. I am returning my MSI P55-CD53 board which flat out BSODes all day at 1333 and 1600 mhz when using DDR3 Gold Low Voltage @ rated 8-8-8-24 1.65V. I am not sure if these memory issues are inherent in the P55 chipset, which is officially only rated at DDR3-1333, and flat out refuses 4 banks of DDR3-1600 ram, or if it is a Gigabyte specific issue, or an early BIOS issue.

 

[Fatbird]

Mak:
I got my friend's PC for a test just now, it seems everything works fine there. Although my friend's PC has used up G.Skill DIMMs.
You said DIMM #3 & #4 are missing with capacity info inside MIT status, will it be a hardware failure? CPU and memory? Possible to change or re-installing it?
BTW, have you tried to add some volts to your DDR3? Suspect you are running it with 1600MHz.

Rus:
It's quite interesting that DDR3 1600/1800/1866/2000 missing on the web page, however, i think it means all these speeds are supported.
Since max speed DDR3 2200 is supported, how come the lower level such as DDR3 1600/1800/1866/2000 aren't?
It just like we said the system supports up to 16GB of system memory, and don't write out the details (2, 4, 6, 8GB, etc.)

 

[makdaddy626]

Thanks for the responses...

Have already tried running the RAM at both 1066 and 1333 as well as playing with the voltage (tried manually setting to 1.5, 1.65, and setting to "Auto").

Gigabyte responded to e-mail and suggested similar ideas and also released a new beta BIOS for the board, official changes were to support better overclocking. Flashed to new BIOS (F4p) and guess what....

Same thing, ALMOST... now, first cold boot sees 8 GB, after reboot back to 4, only now, it's DIMMs 1 and 2 that are disabled and 3 and 4 remain active.

 

[RussianSensation]

Fatbird, I am suspecting you are right. It makes logical sense to assume that if DDR3-2200+ is supported, then surely DDR3-1600 should not be a problem.

Mak have you considered contacting Gigabyte support team?

 

[Fatbird]

Rus:
Thanx~~

Mak:
Have contacted Gigabyte support? Wondering have you changed any thing in BIOS, could you share your BIOS settings? Each item you have changed from its original state. I may implement these settings on my friend's system.

 

[AstroGuardian]

Clear the CMOS. Try everything all over again.
Try running with 2x2GB and see whether it shows 4gm or 2 gb

 

[makdaddy626]

Yes I have contacted Gigabyte support... "Gigabyte responded to e-mail and suggested similar ideas and also released a new beta BIOS for the board, official changes were to support better overclocking. Flashed to new BIOS (F4p) and guess what....

Same thing, ALMOST... now, first cold boot sees 8 GB, after reboot back to 4, only now, it's DIMMs 1 and 2 that are disabled and 3 and 4 remain active."

Heard back again from them yesterday suggesting it was a faulty board, so... took it all apart, boxed it back up, and headed to Microcenter for an exchange, back home, put it all back together and... same thing. Re-flashed BIOS to latest beta (F4p) and... same thing as before. At this point I'm thinking perhaps an incompatibility with this RAM and MB that probably could be fixed with a BIOS update.

Was encoding some video last night and had hardware monitor up at the same time, first boot, 8 GB or RAM, re-boot, back to 4, in hardware monitor it showed the "missing" 4GB of RAM as "reserved by the hardware or BIOS". Interesting...

Fatbird... I get this issue with pretty much all BIOS settings including fail safe defaults. Is your friends system running 8 GB or RAM?

AstroGuradian, good suggestion, haven't tried it with just 2 sticks to see if the same issue occurs, have just assumed it was a problem with all 4 slots filled. Will try this tonight.

Thanks All!

 

[PCTC2]

Also, try bumping up the unCore and DRAM voltages a little bit. unCore maybe +1 of the voltage increments, and DRAM up to 1.65v.

 

[Interitus]

I've heard a lot of people complaining about this exact issue. It's really putting me off of P55 for the time being. Wish I could help, I've looked at a few rigs already that do this and can't find a solution either.

FWIW, it's not just Gigabyte boards, I've seen and heard of it happening on Asus and MSI boards as well. Don't have an EVGA to play with so I can't comment there, but it looks to be a chipset issue or a BIOS problem shared by multiple manufacturers.

 

[fleflikr]

my asus p55 pro only supports one stick of ddr3 1600 per channel per the manual

 

[RussianSensation]

fleflikr, what happens when you overclock the ram? Do you get a blue screen of death at DDR3-1600 even if you increase the voltage to 1.65V?

Have you tried enabling X.M.P Memory Profiles in the BIOS?

I find this very strange. It seems your board is specified to with:

4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory:
http://usa.asus.com/product.as...iJq95KbCQNm&templete=2

 

[fleflikr]

sorry, i have all the hardware but haven't had the time to assemble. i was just sitting here reading the mb manual and happened to remember this thread.
asus p7p55d pro manual quote (due to intel spec definition, X.M.P. DIMMs and DDR3-1600 are supported for one DIMM per channel only.)

 

[Interitus]

Hmm. Does the Intel spec support 4 DIMMS XMP with DDR3-1333? I was considering doing that anyways since 1333 has better timings at the lower voltages (I run as cool and quiet as possible without underclocking)

 

[fleflikr]

yes

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: fleflikr
my asus p55 pro only supports one stick of ddr3 1600 per channel per the manual

What?

So DDR3-1600 + 8GB (4*2GB) is a no go on the P7P55D? Or P55 in general?

 

[VirtualLarry]

That makes a lot of sense, perhaps the BIOS is disabling those DIMM slots because of the Intel specs, if it only supports a single DIMM per channel at 1600 speeds.

That's kind of a bummer if true, for both the users and memory mfgs. They like to push DDR3-1600 as a kind of high-performance memory. It would be interesting if any company QVLs a 4x2GB DDDR3-1600 kit for P55 mobos.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Jumpem

What?

So DDR3-1600 + 8GB (4*2GB) is a no go on the P7P55D? Or P55 in general?

I will test this theory over the weekend once my Gigabyte UD3R arrives. I have OCZ 4GB DDR3-1600 1.65V and GSkill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3-1600 1.65V. Although my OCZ craps out on the MSI P55-CD53 (likely mobo related).

 

[Xed]

Running 8 gigs fine @2000mhz on my evga p55 ftw. I would assume this is a board issue not p55 in general.

 

[lopri]

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere Gary mentioned that he's running 8GB of DDR3-1600 (or higher) on P55. Officially, it's very likely the supported memory speed steps down as extra channels are filled, which is not really an issue but rather a norm. (Same is true for X58 or 790FX)

 

[JohnDoe2]

Now you tell me ;-).

I just ordered an MSI P55-CD53, but have not ordered the memory as yet.

I planned to get 4 gig of DDR3-1600 , so presumably I would not have the problems mentioned here (if I understand the issue)

However , if I decide to buy another 4 gig down the road, it might be a problem. So would I be better off getting DDR3-1333 (seems harder to get in pairs), which would play nicer filling all 4 slots?

RussianSensation, I haven't found any other complaints on the net about the P55-CD53, did you speak to MSI about it?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: JohnDoe2
Now you tell me ;-).

RussianSensation, I haven't found any other complaints on the net about the P55-CD53, did you speak to MSI about it?

I saw quite a few online. Even Newegg has bad reviews for this board. I am not sure if this is a problem with early batch of their boards or an early BIOS problem that will be updated down the line past v1.2. Perhaps it was an incomptability issue with the particular ram I had.

I ended up returning the board to the store where I bought it from (30 day replacement warranty). I got the Gigabyte UD3R instead. Good luck with your board

 

[makdaddy626]

Ok guys... problem solved!

I saw several similar threads around the web and noticed that while many different MB makes and models were affected, a lot were running the same 8 GB 1600 DDR3 package from Corsair I was... returned the memory for a set of 1600 DDR3 Gold Dimms from OCZ and POOF - problem gone.

FYI, memory did not error out using Memtest... no crashes... just this odd problem that was fixed by changing the RAM.