Afternoon, All,
Some of you may recall my adventures with an AIO cooler which gave my primary computer an internal shower!
After drying and cleaning and drying and cleaning....(and replacing the case!)...it appeared that the only damage was the loss of my Win10 System SSD.
After moving all parts into the new Fractal Design case and replacing the hosed SSD, the system ran flawlessly for at least 3 months in its new role as my media/file server.
Until yesterday, that is. I had planned on doing preventative maintenance and had shut down cold the night before. When I had dusted and closed up the case I rebooted.....OH NO! the dreaded boot loop. This one while failing POST!
The System:
CPU: I5-4670k stock clock
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H
Memory: AData XPG AX3u 2400 W*E11 DGV (a 16 GB kit 2x8GB)
PS: Corsair AX750
System Storage: 256 GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD
File and Media Storage: 5 x 3TB Seagate Spinning Platters of Rust
GPU: On board Intel
Of course since I did not pass post I also had no video. I noticed in other posts that bad memory frequently led exactly this kind of behavior.
I opened the case and wiggled one of the memory sticks....and viola! successful boot.
So I rebooted....back to the failed POST and boot loop.....Hmmmm….says I (well actually words not suited to a family website!)
So, pulled and reinstalled the memory stick I had wiggled....no joy. But wiggling the memory brought 10 seconds of rapid beeping and the reboot loop. I thought about the problem....well as much thinking as one can do while cursing, anyway.
I decided that I had one of three things wrong:
A bad CPU (memory controller is on the CPU)
or, bad memory,
or, bad MB (memory slot connector)
OOPS....forgot to mention....only three of the Memory slots are available because the slot nearest the CPU is covered by the Cryorig Cooler I chose to replace that leaking Seiden POS.
To isolate the problem, I removed both memory sticks. Then I installed one stick in Memory Channel B, Slot 1 (the unblocked slot closest to the CPU. No POST and Boot Loop.
I removed the memory stick and installed it in Memory Channel A, Slot 1. Good POST and good Boot!
I removed the stick and reinstalled in Memory Channel A, Slot 2. Good results again.
I now knew that the memory stick under test was good! I then repeated the same tests with the second memory stick and got exactly the same results!
SO: I now know both memory sticks are good.
Now, how to determine if it is a motherboard connector or the CPU memory controller.
I called Gigabyte technical support and asked if they had any suggestions. I expected to be trapped in a phone tree for hours, but I was pleasantly surprised to get through to a technician within 2 minutes! (YAY, Gigabyte!)
The tech told me that if it were the CPU AT Least 2 slots would be bad (one memory channel), but both channels almost always fail together.....so expect it to be the connector on the MB.
So...what do I do now? Z97 MBs have gotten expensive and difficult to find. So I would rather not go that route.
At this point I have one 8GB stick in channel B and the computer seems to operated no differently from who it operated with both sticks working.
Your opinions and suggestions please:
Remember this is a file/media server serving no more than four simultaneous streams.
Should I just put that second stick in my parts bin and operate on 8GB...or should I install it in the second working memory slot even though it is a different memory channel.....or should I bite the bullet and put a new board into my server?
For my purposes I suspect that 8 GBs of single channel memory will be perfectly sufficient.
What to you think? And what do you recommend that I do?
Thanks in advance,
Larry
Some of you may recall my adventures with an AIO cooler which gave my primary computer an internal shower!
After drying and cleaning and drying and cleaning....(and replacing the case!)...it appeared that the only damage was the loss of my Win10 System SSD.
After moving all parts into the new Fractal Design case and replacing the hosed SSD, the system ran flawlessly for at least 3 months in its new role as my media/file server.
Until yesterday, that is. I had planned on doing preventative maintenance and had shut down cold the night before. When I had dusted and closed up the case I rebooted.....OH NO! the dreaded boot loop. This one while failing POST!
The System:
CPU: I5-4670k stock clock
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H
Memory: AData XPG AX3u 2400 W*E11 DGV (a 16 GB kit 2x8GB)
PS: Corsair AX750
System Storage: 256 GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD
File and Media Storage: 5 x 3TB Seagate Spinning Platters of Rust
GPU: On board Intel
Of course since I did not pass post I also had no video. I noticed in other posts that bad memory frequently led exactly this kind of behavior.
I opened the case and wiggled one of the memory sticks....and viola! successful boot.
So I rebooted....back to the failed POST and boot loop.....Hmmmm….says I (well actually words not suited to a family website!)
So, pulled and reinstalled the memory stick I had wiggled....no joy. But wiggling the memory brought 10 seconds of rapid beeping and the reboot loop. I thought about the problem....well as much thinking as one can do while cursing, anyway.
I decided that I had one of three things wrong:
A bad CPU (memory controller is on the CPU)
or, bad memory,
or, bad MB (memory slot connector)
OOPS....forgot to mention....only three of the Memory slots are available because the slot nearest the CPU is covered by the Cryorig Cooler I chose to replace that leaking Seiden POS.
To isolate the problem, I removed both memory sticks. Then I installed one stick in Memory Channel B, Slot 1 (the unblocked slot closest to the CPU. No POST and Boot Loop.
I removed the memory stick and installed it in Memory Channel A, Slot 1. Good POST and good Boot!
I removed the stick and reinstalled in Memory Channel A, Slot 2. Good results again.
I now knew that the memory stick under test was good! I then repeated the same tests with the second memory stick and got exactly the same results!
SO: I now know both memory sticks are good.
Now, how to determine if it is a motherboard connector or the CPU memory controller.
I called Gigabyte technical support and asked if they had any suggestions. I expected to be trapped in a phone tree for hours, but I was pleasantly surprised to get through to a technician within 2 minutes! (YAY, Gigabyte!)
The tech told me that if it were the CPU AT Least 2 slots would be bad (one memory channel), but both channels almost always fail together.....so expect it to be the connector on the MB.
So...what do I do now? Z97 MBs have gotten expensive and difficult to find. So I would rather not go that route.
At this point I have one 8GB stick in channel B and the computer seems to operated no differently from who it operated with both sticks working.
Your opinions and suggestions please:
Remember this is a file/media server serving no more than four simultaneous streams.
Should I just put that second stick in my parts bin and operate on 8GB...or should I install it in the second working memory slot even though it is a different memory channel.....or should I bite the bullet and put a new board into my server?
For my purposes I suspect that 8 GBs of single channel memory will be perfectly sufficient.
What to you think? And what do you recommend that I do?
Thanks in advance,
Larry
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram