system crashing with 6GB RAM, fine with 4GB

[tcourchaine]

intel i7 920
6GB RAM
windows 7 home premium 64 bit
MSI x58 platinum motherboard
nvidia GTX 260 graphics
750w power supply



got my system being fixed by a professional, but we're stuck right now trying to find a solution to my problem. The system is fine with 4GB in any slot, but when the third stick is put in, the system crashes.

 

[Maguscreed]

I would check for bios updates for the motherboard, and if possible try another stick of ram for the third slot.
It may have simply been a bad ram stick... it happens.

 

[tcourchaine]

I'll go into some more detail of my troubles, this should help in the solution.

system was built out of Fry's Electronics 2 years ago. From the moment that I took it home I was having this problem. I thought it might be a faulty RAM stick at the time, so I had them replaced, but to no avail. The soluton if I remember was to reformat. Everything was fine for 2 years.

last month I opened up the system and cleaned the dust out of the inside. I removed the RAM and the CPU fan. Hooked everything back up and the system starts crashing and rebooting like crazy, and there's the problem again. It would crash while it's booting up, while it's sitting at the desk top, while I'm on the internet, any time it wanted to crash, it would do so. Not only that, but my BIOS and graphics drivers were suddenly out of date for some reason. I keep my drivers up to date, so this was weird to me.
I've got my system with a pro right now, and we're stuck at finding a real solution.

I'll forward the ideas that you guys come up with to my guy, thanks ahead for your assistance.

 

[tcourchaine]

I would check for bios updates for the motherboard, and if possible try another stick of ram for the third slot.
It may have simply been a bad ram stick... it happens.

I replaced the RAM 2 years ago when I thought that was the problem, but it wasn't.


I just can't imagine why I would be getting these crashes right out of the box, and then 2 years later just for simply cleaning the dust out of the case. What confuses me more is why my BIOS and graphics drivers reverted to their previous, if not default versions.

 

[tcourchaine]

ok here's where I'm at now. the RAM is fine. Every stick has been tried in every slot. The only time I have a problem is when there's a 3rd stick in there, regardless of which of the 3 sticks it is. The BIOS and graphics drivers are up to date.


Are we talking about just a faulty RAM slot? I am currently in possession of a Newegg.com - ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

which I'm told is completely compatible. I don't see why I shouldn't just swap them out.


Another problem that has surfaced is that the guy apparently did a clean install of windows 7, using my upgrade copy, so now I have to wipe the freaking OS, and reinstall vista+7. what the f'ing hell, people. I just want to play warcraft and be left alone.

 

[tcourchaine]

Here are the known facts. I'm looking for an answer based off of this information.

so let's go over the facts:

1) it's not the RAM sticks.
2) it's not the CPU, the CPU has been fine the past 2 years, since I last had this problem. Also the problem doesn't surface when the system is running on 2GB and 4GB. If it was the CPU, it would be having these problems regardless of the amount of RAM.
3) it works fine on 4GB RAM, crashes with 6GB
4) the drivers are up to date, so that's not the issue.
5) all hardware is compatible and functional.
6) my temps are fine
7) this is the second time I've experienced this problem. Once when it was brand new, and now one month ago when I dusted out the inside with an air hose. I removed the RAM sticks at one point during the cleaning process.

If it was a faulty RAM slot, then why was it running fine on 6GB this whole time, except when the system was new, and now during the current malfunction?


If i had to take an amateur guess, I'd say some random setting was ****ed up somewhere, because faulty RAM slots, or bent CPU pins don't just break and fix themselves. If they were broken two years ago, they'd have acted up every day since then, they haven't.

So let's say for a second that it's not a faulty RAM slot. Then what do we look at next?

 

[maxseven]

If it was a faulty RAM slot, then why was it running fine on 6GB this whole time, except when the system was new, and now during the current malfunction?

Not what you want to hear, but I can only guess that when you cleaned the inside, which you said included pulling the RAM, that you introduced a static arcy-sparky. Where I live we have had zero humidity (well, very dry & hot indeed) and static is everywhere.

Could have killed something, or if you're lucky, might only have changed a setting i.e. a bit or a byte somewhere. You said i.e. your "BIOS and graphics drivers" became out-of-date. Not sure what that means (there are no "BIOS drivers" only chipset drivers) but if you have not done a CMOS reset of your BIOS settings that is certainly in order, and while you're at it double-check that your CR2032 battery is not dead.

I'm not familiar with triple-channel machines but the "add the third and it crashes" leads me to wonder if there's a BIOS setting re: the memory that's scrambled.

 

[tcourchaine]

If it was a faulty RAM slot, then why was it running fine on 6GB this whole time, except when the system was new, and now during the current malfunction?

Not what you want to hear, but I can only guess that when you cleaned the inside, which you said included pulling the RAM, that you introduced a static arcy-sparky. Where I live we have had zero humidity (well, very dry & hot indeed) and static is everywhere.

Could have killed something, or if you're lucky, might only have changed a setting i.e. a bit or a byte somewhere. You said i.e. your "BIOS and graphics drivers" became out-of-date. Not sure what that means (there are no "BIOS drivers" only chipset drivers) but if you have not done a CMOS reset of your BIOS settings that is certainly in order, and while you're at it double-check that your CR2032 battery is not dead.

I'm not familiar with triple-channel machines but the "add the third and it crashes" leads me to wonder if there's a BIOS setting re: the memory that's scrambled.

well there are different versions of a MB's BIOS that occasionally needed to be updated. What i meant is that my BIOS were suddenly not the current version. But I'm just a noob, maybe I'm not wording that correctly

edit: I would tend to think it wasn't the CMOS battery, because I was having this problem when the system was new. Then there was a period of 2 years where everything was fine, and now I'm having the problem again. Would the CMOS battery being dead freeze my computer? I'll look into that anyways.

 

[maxseven]

What i meant is that my BIOS were suddenly not the current version.

Omigosh, I don't even know how that could happen, unless there is a Recovery BIOS on the motherboard that it can revert too when things go haywire. Sorry I haven't DL'ed your motherboard manual about this, but you should look for anything re: "Factory defaults".

I would tend to think it wasn't the CMOS battery, because I was having this problem when the system was new. Then there was a period of 2 years where everything was fine, and now I'm having the problem again. Would the CMOS battery being dead freeze my computer? I'll look into that anyways.

You said the solution to these problems when new was to "re-format"; did you mean reformat the hard drive and reload the OS from scratch? Your problem feels like a hardware problem, and I'm not sure how reformatting would do the trick because AFAIK the drive electronics wouldn't be affected (improved) with a reformat. But this inspires me to ask if you have tried simply swapping-in a new hard drive as your boot drive?

And back to your BIOS, when you said it reverted to some older revision, what exactly did it revert to?

The battery thing may be off-base, but I mentioned it because if the battery is low (or defective) and you experience a power failure--poof your BIOS can get into an unknown state (the battery keeps your settings from changing thru a power-off condition). A fresh battery good from Day One would normally still be good after two years, maybe even if your PC had been unplugged from the wall for two years (!) but if it's not good then all you need is a power glitch and your BIOS would need to be reset again.

If your PC is is the hands of a pro repair guy, he should know all this already however.

 

[BugMeister]

- could you post up the serial numbers from each of the RAM sticks, please..

- have you tried a BIOS reset as suggested?
- you may need to install/re-install the latest BIOS update from ASUS after the reset..

- thanks..

 

[tcourchaine]

here's a question, if i replace the MB, problem solved?

 

[BugMeister]

- if it's still under warranty - contact the manufacturer and arrange to do an RTM..

- then cross your fingers and wait..

 

[tcourchaine]

switched out the MB, all is well so far.

 

[cutslet]

possible solution

I think ur Ram in bios is set to unganged, which means u push bios to use ur ram like a dual core works, 2sides simultaniously, and with 4gb its easy it sees 2 sticks of 2GB and will use it seperately but when u push 3 sticks in it i think u let it crash cuz bios cant split the 3rd stick and tries to see both sides as equally large?
i think if u put 8GB ram in for example it will work again perfectly... but for now easiest is to try put it in ganged mode?? just my idea..