GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

[nyhobo75]

OK, so I've been looking all over for help on this for weeks and hoping that someone here can help.

New build for an HTPC with the components listed in my sig. So far I would say that everything is working great with the exception of resuming from sleep state. It seems that whenever I install all 4 sticks of my matched 8GB kit into the MB that the system refuses to wake properly from S3. No BSOD, just lights on for 3 seconds followed by lights off and repeat (boot loop?). The sleep will resume just fine with any other configuration of RAM (2, 4 or 6GB installed). It doesn't matter which stick I remove or from which slot I remove it (slot 2 or 4 for the 3 stick configuration) it will resume from sleep just fine. Its just when I install the full kit.

Gigabyte support suggested I needed to RMA the board but from what I've read in other posts it might just be that I need to have the BIOS settings "just right" for filling all four slots- so I don't want to give up on the MB just yet. I've played around with suggestions from QPI/Vtt and CPU PLL voltage settings increases and manually entering the RAM timings with no change (other than sometimes having to reflash the BIOS back to the F7 version).

Hoping I can find a little more 'expert' help here.
Thanks.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

what amounts of qpi/vtt voltage did you try? set dram voltage and timings according to ram first

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

The first thing I did was enable XMS Profile1 and then set the ram timings manually per the ratings on the sticks for both channels (9-9-9-24-2T) and 1.66V (rating is 1.65V). All other timings left to Auto. No luck. BTW, Profile1 resets my BCLK to 160, but even reducing BCLK back to 133 (and upping my CPU multiplier back to 24x from 20x) doesn't help.

In combination with the above I've increased QPI to 1.35V- heard different things about the limits so I'm not sure if I need to go to 1.4V and even upped PCH voltage to 1.2. The final thing I tried was to disable all the CPU power saving features (C1E, etc.).

So right now I'm running with 6GB/8GB of my memory installed. I suppose its nice to have a spare, but I'd really like to have all my memory working.

Could this indeed be a bad board/CPU/chipset or perhaps an OS setting that needs to be tweaked instead of the BIOS? Just throwing it out there...

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

does it show the full amount of ram in the bios? for me with 6gb it shows 6144,for you it will be more

if not then test each stick one by one in the first white ram slot from cpu socket,if it boots into windows with every stick repeat the test for the next white ram slot

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

Don't have the exact number (I'm at the office presently), but with all four slots populated I get in the 8100's for RAM size. If I check the bios MIT settings it will show the same RAM size values in all four slots (though if I let it autodetect the timings it will give me something like 9-8-9-9-27-3T for the second channel).

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

its seeing all the ram then,i would disable xmp and set everything manually so it would be 1.66 dram voltage,manual timings-quick,then 9-9-9-24 command rate 1T,qpi/vtt voltage try with around 1.36-1.38v,set system performance enhance to standard,you can enable all power saving modes in the bios it should work without issue,it can only be a bios bug with that memory or a memory/voltage setting as it saves the sleep state to the memory and resumes from it

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

OK, so I started with optimized defaults loaded, set performance enhance standard, memory timings to quick with 9-9-9-24-1T on CH A only (channel B was not changeable- which is what I am assuming 'quick' is for). Set QPI/Vtt to 1.39 (1.38 not an option) and 1.66 DRAM voltage.

Still get the same result...

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

yh quick sets all three channels for you with one input,i dont think you should need that much qpi/vtt for 8gb so maybe its a bios issue? you could try emailing gigabyte directly and tell them whats happening and what voltages/bios settings youve tried and the exact make/model of mb and more importantly make/model of ram and they might send you a custom revised bios for you to try

not being able to adjust the uncore freq on that mb wont help as its locked out on that board i think,same for p55,but im guessing at bios as i had same thing for my board when it first came out but now it works fine with newer bios's

i cant think what else it could be and i wouldnt increase qpi/vtt any further

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

Well, I appreciate your input nonetheless.

I had already contacted Gigabyte prior (hoping they would send me a BIOS). If you missed it in my first post, after suggesting I downclock the memory to 1066 they then told me that the BIOS was PnP so I should just RMA the board. My opinion is that if it works correctly with 6GB (and all the slots on the MB seem functional and it works regardless of the DIMMS I use) it should work fine with 8GB. But if it is perhaps a memory controller issue on the MB or CPU then I don't know how to determine that?

Either way, Corsair has finally responded to my emails so I'll see if they have any additional ideas (they have initially replied that it might be a compatibility issue). Worse comes to worse, I am at least able to run at 6GB without issue, which is fine for my needs at the moment. It is just a little disappointing since the Corsair site says that the memory is compatible with the MB, which to me implies that it has been tested to work COMPLETELY (at least at non-OC conditions).

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

have you tried swapping the memory around just to make sure it isnt just one faulty stick? ran memtest to look for any errors? you could have a bad batch of ram being two sets of 4gb,they might not be perfectly matched as apposed to one 8gb kit

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

Yes, please try the memory in different configurations and one by one if you have not already.

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

I have installed each stick one at a time in the slot closest the CPU and booted each individually with no problem.

Since I'm using the only LCD TV in my home I don't have a lot of time to leave it idle to check memory. What would you suggest for testing/passes?

The ram kit came as a matched set, even all the s/n's on the chips were the same. I do remember at one point swapping slots 1 and 2 and getting the same results.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

I'd test each one at least 5 full passes with the latest memtest86+ 4.15b2

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/30530-latest-overclocking-programs-system-info-benchmarking-stability-tools.html

Also, go set your BIOS memory SPD Setting to Expert instead of Quick, then put in two sticks and see if you can see timings listed for each channel.

If you don't then you may have a problem such as bent CPU Socket pins, or not enough QPI/Vtt (With 4 modules).

You wont be able to test all 4 slots with only two modules, so it will be hard to test the other two slots without filling them all, but please check this as well with 4 modules installed.

[nyhobo75]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

OK, it will take me a while to do this. Does it matter if when I set to expert and see the timings if they are different for each channel (i.e. what should I be looking for here)? I may have not mentioned before here, but when I check out MIT and still have the timings to autodetect I get different readings on Ch A and B (e.g. 2T on Ch A and 3T on Ch B and/or an 8 instead of a 9 for one or two latencies.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-H55-USB Won't Resume S3 w/ 4 sticks

the different timings is what the mb chooses,you can set them manually if you want and voltages manually,it would be better than on auto timings