GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

[fresh22]

Hey Everyone!

Great resource here - thanks to those that contribute.

I am hoping I can get a little help here - I cannot get my system to boot with the full 8gb of memory installed. Specifications as follows:

GA-P35-DS4 (rev. 2.0)
Intel E8400 @ 3.0 GHz
4x 2gb Corsair Dominator PC2-8500C5 Memory
EVGA 8800GTS 640MB Video Card

I had 8gb running for awhile - but then it BSOD and shut off. I booted it back up and it got stuck in a short "fan spin up, shut off, reboot" sequence that would go until I shut off power.

To get it out of that loop I have to reset the bios and install just a couple sticks of memory and it runs fine.

After browsing the forum here I see that I am not the only one having issues with 8gb of memory - so my question is this;

What is a good starting point (BIOS settings) in my case to get myself up and running with 8gb of memory?

I have not full tested each module individually with memtest yet, but I am confident they are all good. I'll work on that while I await a reply.

Thanks.

Luke

[godto]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

i was using it and have no problem ...

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-ep45-ud3p-8-gig-corsair-dominator-4x2gig-8500c5df-28410/

read it may help you little

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Reading now - thanks.

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Well it appears I was wrong about not having any bad memory. I've been running MemTest86 2.10 for awhile with different combos and definitely have some problems somewhere. Doesn't seem very consistent so far though. One stick of ram wouldn't boot, so I reset the machine and it got to the memtest and has been running without errors so far. Hrmmm ... will keep testing.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Performance enhance set to standard and ram voltage set manually? Test one stick at a time first to be sure all are working 100%. Test each stick in the same slot as well so you are sure the test is the same for each stick

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Yes I had set "Performance Enhance" to "Standard" and had worked with both auto and manual settings for voltage and timings and wasn't able to get anywhere in either case. So now I have reset the BIOS, flashed to F14c (latest version), ran the "Load Fail-Safe Settings" and have begun the process of testing each memory module.

Do you suggest testing the modules at their rated settings or on the motherboards auto settings?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

I suggest you load Optimized defaults NOT Fail Safe, then set your ram voltage to spec and save/apply/reboot and test the ram's rated specs.

Then test each stick on by one in slot one with manually set Main timings, Memory multiplier to = Stock Ram speed, Manually set Ram voltage to spec, and Performance enhance on standard

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Let me ask you another question while I got ya;

I tested all 4 modules in slot one and all passed fine except for the last one, which I couldn't even get to boot. The machine just simply hung without post and without beeps. So I shut it down, pulled the memory out, marked it on my sheet as 'no boot' under 'slot 1', then moved on to test all the memory in slot 2. So I installed the first module in slot 2 and booted up, it got to memtest, but memtest just hung up (with just memtest86 in the top corner). I figured it is probably something "left over" from the previous module problems, so I rebooted, but it did it again. So, I rebooted 1 more time (figuring the same thing) and now its running memtest just fine.

Is it possible for a memory problem to reside after a module has been pulled for a reboot or two like this or might I have an issue with my mobo?

Thanks for your time.

Luke

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Okay - I'll stop the tests I'm running now and go with your suggestions for the remainder of the slots.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

No, no problems would be left behind from a pulled module

Sounds like you have one bad stick to me. You really only need to test one "Known Good" stick in each slot if you wanted to test for bad slots, not each stick

But again, from your comment about your initial test sounds like that last stick is bad

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

I agree - it sounds like simply one bad stick - except at one point running memtest with 2 sticks (two that I thought I had "known" were good) in I had got some errors. At that point is when I started to test all the modules in slot 1, but came up with no errors except for the last module which would not boot. So to figure out what is going on I thought I would run all the modules through all the slots and record the data. That should give me a fairly good idea of what is going on.

[fresh22]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

No, no problems would be left behind from a pulled module

I am going to have to disagree here!

I am consistently seeing issues with modules that appear to be perfectly fine when testing them immediately after the system hangs with the one bad module. Example:

Stick 1, 2, 3: Good
Stick 4: Bad

Full power down & BIOS reset - Stick 1 in Slot 1 - MemTest86 runs fine

then

Power down and insert Stick 4 in Slot 1 and cannot boot. System hangs and tries to reboot a couple of times (my guess is that it is attempting some different memory settings, then eventually gives up).

Power down, install Stick 1 in Slot 1 and power on.

It will almost consistently either freeze at the BIOS screen, or when MemTest just starts up (so I can see the MemTest title at the top of the screen).

So then I do a full power down, BIOS reset, and load up MemTest and it runs fine again.

Does this make any sense?

Seems strange, but also not just a coincidence - I can reproduce this consistently.

Luke

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 (rev 2) & 8gb Corsair Memory - Having Issues.

Well when you switch from that bad stick to the good stick, after the triple reboot cycle the board likely has changed your setting again back to defaults is why it seems to leave a "leftover" feeling of bad things. That would be your performance enhance may have been changed again and static Tread, and likely voltages as well.