[SOLVED] 2nd Motherboard ram slot not working?

[Ahazuerus]

Hey guys, my second ram slot in my motherboard isn't working ( I think) because recently I bought an 8gb x2 AVEXIR 3200mhz DDR4 Ram kit and both rams are working fine when used in the first ram slot alone (one closest to the CPU). The second slot however, the computer won't boot if only the second ram slot is used with either of the sticks I bought. If I use both ram in both slots, the computer recognizes it as 16gb but after restarting, it reverts back to 8gb even though they're in dual channel.
I have to reset the motherboard to factory by resetting the CMOS so I can use the 16gb again but in every turn off and restart, it goes back to 8gb.

Whenever I put the clock speed of the ram from 2666 mhz to 3200mhz, it restarts and won't boot up when using both rams.
But no problem when only using a single stick in the first slot. I can turn it to 3200mhz just fine with 8gb.


Here are my PC specs:
Ryzen 5 1600
MSI B350 Gaming Pro
GTX 1070
480G Kingston SSD
PowerBox 500 Watts true rated ( I know this is a very weak and cheap PSU and I plan to replace it ASAP. Could this also be the problem why the ram is reverting back from 16gb to 8gb?)


Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance !

 

[Lutfij]

A bad PSU can be the bane of all healthy system's. Replace that now! In the interim period, you're going to have to make sure you're on the latest BISO version but please keep in mind if the PSU croaks while you're updating the BIOS(if an update is pending) then you're going to end up with a bricked board(and more headaches).

You're also underpowered in terms of wattage. You should buy a reliable PSU that can deliver at least 550W of power to the entire system.

 

[Ahazuerus]

A bad PSU can be the bane of all healthy system's. Replace that now! In the interim period, you're going to have to make sure you're on the latest BISO version but please keep in mind if the PSU croaks while you're updating the BIOS(if an update is pending) then you're going to end up with a bricked board(and more headaches).

You're also underpowered in terms of wattage. You should buy a reliable PSU that can deliver at least 550W of power to the entire system.

Understood I'll replace it right away, and I maybe I'll minimize the usage of my computer until I buy a good PSU. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[madmatt30]

Ram should be in slots 2 and 4 anyway

Meaning stick in the second slot from the cpu, miss a slot then another stick in the slot nearest the front of the board.

 

[Ahazuerus]

Ram should be in slots 2 and 4 anyway

Meaning stick in the second slot from the cpu, miss a slot then another stick in the slot nearest the front of the board.

So is it normal for the second slot not to work in some cases?

 

[madmatt30]

So is it normal for the second slot not to work in some cases?

No it isn't normal BUT ryzen gen 1 on b350 boards on release had a fair amount of issues/niggles regarding ram speeds and compatibility.

Is this the matx board with only 2 slots??

If so obviously you ARE putting it in the correct slots as you dont have any more.

Have you ever updated the bios and if so what revision is it running?

If you dont know, download cpu-z

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Run it and open the mainboard tab and it will tell you.

If its still running an old bios then I would strongly suggeat updating it.

 

[Ahazuerus]

Yes the B350 Gaming pro has only 2 ram slots. And I have updated the BIOS to the latest just now but something changed.

Now, I have different problem. It shows "Hardware reserve" on windows on the other 8GB . But the motherboard recognizes it as 16GB in the BIOS but is not using the other half.
I tried using XMP profile but it won't boot up.

Any other thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

 

[GrandSACHI]

This awfully sounds like a faulty motherboard.

 

[mamasan2000]

Did you push the RAM all the way in? You should hear a click. Really push on it.

 

[Ahazuerus]

This awfully sounds like a faulty motherboard.

I don't hope so 🙁 . MoBo are expensive but if that's the case then I guess buying a new board is my only choice.

 

[Ahazuerus]

Did you push the RAM all the way in? You should hear a click. Really push on it.

Yes , I heard it click and it was kinda satisfying. As far as I know it's well placed so yeah .

 

[GrandSACHI]

I don't hope so 🙁 . MoBo are expensive but if that's the case then I guess buying a new board is my only choice.

Yep. The worst thing is there is no way to test if a MoBo is bad... It's only once you ruled out everything else that you know that it's the culprit.

 

[Ahazuerus]

I managed to fix this by updating the BIOS to the latest version and is now working 16gb dual Channel. If anyone encounters the same problem, updating the BIOS is reliable fix.
Cheers.

 

[Ahazuerus]

I managed to fix this by updating the BIOS to the latest version and is now working 16gb dual Channel. If anyone encounters the same problem, updating the BIOS is reliable fix.
Cheers.