Question Asus TUF Z790's A1-A2 DIMM Slots Not Working After Installing 4070ti

[Jalapeno06]

Hello there!
After 6 years with Ram nightmare with MSI-Ryzen 1. Gen, I built a new PC with Asus-Intel 13. Gen. But i ended up to with the same nightmare

So i built this 15 days ago without 4070 ti. Everything worked fine. My double dual channnel 2x16gb Vengeance LPX Rams were at 3600Mhz with XMP profile. No errors, fast boot. But when i got my new 4070ti. I plugged it in and pushed the power button. Fans went turbo, it showed short red CPU Led then long orange DRAM Led, frequently repeating it without post.

I just installed a new GPU

I tried with one stick on every slot. Every single stick works perfect on B1 and B2 but if i put anything to A1-A2, it never post. I can't use dual channel but i can enable XMP to 3600 for these two single channel sticks on B1-B2.

What i've tried;

- Updated Bios to 0810
- Tested with old GPU
- Tested with old working 4x8gb 3200mhz ram sticks (Same result)
- Removed battery to clear Cmos
- Reseated GPU
- Changed all power cables with new ones
- Reseated CPU and Cooler
- Tried with loose and tight mounting for cooler
- Tested just with onboard GPU
- Tested 4070ti on another Ryzen system
- Tried ram training, adding sticks one by one

Nothing worked.

Other than this problem;

- I'm experiencing severe audio popping on my Anker Soundcore Q35 bluetooth headset. I'm using Mobo's bluetooth to connect, it worked fine before. Now it's another nightmare. It works fine on my phone.
- Only when i'm working on Premiere Pro, i'm seeing some artifact on videos and sometimes screen goes black for a milisecond like it refreshes itself. Not experiencing this in games.

I work on computer all the time, this is where i earn my money. I have to fix it

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

Here is my full build:

CPU: Intel 13600K
Cooler: IDCooling SE-225-XT (2 Fan Tower)
MOBO: TUF Z790-P Wifi D4
GPU: Zotac RTX 4070ti Trinity
Ram: 2 x 16Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600Mhz (x2, 64gb)
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W 80+ Gold

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your PREVIOUS problems are most likely (If you had the same memory THEN that you are using NOW, and even if you don't it would be a VERY good idea to read the information at the links below because buying memory that doesn't ALL come in a single kit is very much a common problem) because you have TWO memory kits, not one, and because Ryzen platforms distinctly do not like to play nice with Vengeance memory kits. It does NOT matter if they are the same model, they are NOT the same in about 99% of cases. Please read the information at both of the following links.

Section two, titled "Mixed memory (Or the odd man out)" in the guide at the first link and the entirety of the information in the post at the second link.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

AMD Ram compatibility

Good Day all. Here are the parts i will be ordering soon: Asus rog strix B350-F AMD Ryzen3 1200 4Core 3.1Ghz CPU + Wraith Cooler Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 04GB GDDR5 Antec True Power Classic 550W Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 DRAM DIMM 3000MHz - Intel 600p 128GB 80mm...

forums.tomshardware.com

However, since you are NOW having trouble with even using just a SINGLE DIMM, but only in the A2 or B2 slots, then I'd suggest the problem is almost certainly related to the CPU or CPU cooler. I'd just be sure there are no bent pins on the motherboard by pulling the CPU cooler and CPU and using a magnifying glass or reading glasses and very carefully making sure there is not even ONE single pin slightly out of place. It's very much possible for the addition of the graphics card to cause this on a system bus that is otherwise working as the graphics card has access to the system memory through the PCIe bus. So it could be the graphics card, the PCIe slot the graphics card is installed in (damage to pins in slot or debris in slot or not fully seated) or something to do with the CPU/Motherboard pins.

What happened when you tried the old graphics card?

The fact that everything works in the A2 and B2 slots without the 4070 ti installed, and works in the A1 and B1 slots WITH it installed but not in the A2 and B2 slots, suggests very highly to me some dysfunction of the graphics card or motherboard/bent pins, but might also be related to the CPU cooler if there is any kind of interference between it and the graphics card or if the cooler is not fully and equally tight all the way around. Certainly there are other possibilities but I'd look at those first. Would be really good to know if you still have this problem using the old graphics card as well?

 

[Jalapeno06]

I think you misread two things;
I don't have AMD now i have Intel 13600K. And failing slots are A1 and A2. First 2 slots from left.

As i told, i tried with old gpu, no result. But i'll try again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You're right, I did misread, however, makes no difference because what you are trying to do is COMPLETELY wrong anyhow. You do NOT put memory in A1-A2 or B1-B2. That's totally NOT the way you populate ANY system with memory.

THIS, is the ONLY way you populate ANY consumer motherboard with four DIMM slots, with memory. Ever. On ANY motherboard. For two DIMMs it is ALWAYS A2 and B2, AND, you should make ABSOLUTELY certain that the two DIMMs you put in those two slots are the EXACT SAME DIMMS that came together in a kit. Especially if you are using more than two DIMMs and utilizing all four DIMM slots. Two DIMMs from one kit should go in A2 and B2 and two DIMMs from another kit should go in A1 and B1, IF you have two different kits. No, it won't deliver any guarantees that the two different kits, regardless of whether they are the same kit model or not, will play nice together BUT it WILL increase the probability of it. Using a kit where ALL of the memory came together in ONE kit, is the ONLY way to ensure any kind of guarantee so long as other factors such as verifying that kit is even compatible with that board by checking the memory manufacturer's compatibility list or the motherboard QVL list has been met.

So to begin with, you are trying the wrong slots. Figure out which DIMMs came from the same kit, for each kit, by looking at the label on each stick and finding the production id. Two of them should have an ID that matches, while the other two should also match each other but not the other kit. Put two that came in the same kit, and were therefore TESTED to be compatible with each other at the factory before they were boxed together and shipped out, in the A2 and B2 slots and test to see if the system will post. If it will, or if it won't, power off and do the same thing with the other two DIMMs. If both kits work, then go ahead and put the other kit in the A1 and B1 slots and test to see if the system will POST again with four DIMMs installed. If it will, great, go into the BIOS and enable your XMP profile and test to see if it will still POST.

If it will not, you may need to bump your DRAM voltage up a small amount or configure other changes such as a small CPU overclock, or changes to the System agent or IMC voltages which are known as VCCSA and VCCIO in order to get a four DIMM configuration to work if both kits worked in the A2 and B2 slots when only two DIMMs were installed. It's also possible that the two kits may simply never play nice together, and that happens more than you would think even with identical but separately purchased kits.



As far as trying with the old graphics card, yes, you said you tried it, but you said you tried a LOT of things and you did NOT indicate if ANY of those things resulted in the exact same behavior or something different. You just said "nothing worked" which is not much to go on.

So, since you say changing graphics cards did not work, start with making sure you have populated the CORRECT slots, first, before worrying about other troubleshooting efforts, AND perhaps since you have updated the BIOS at some point it would ALSO be a good idea to fully populate all DIMM slots and then do a HARD RESET of the BIOS, since sometimes some CMOS settings get "stuck" and need the FULL hard reset procedure in order to allow the reconfiguration of the hardware tables. Or even do it with just two DIMMs in the A2 and B2 slots, which are always the second and fourth slots to the right of the CPU socket, if it doesn't want to POST even with only two DIMMs (That have been VERIFIED to be from the same kit) installed.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the BIOS to fully reset and force recreation of the hardware tables.

 

[Jalapeno06]

Thanks for the long reply but i already know that i should always start with A2-B2 set up and i always use these sticks with their matched pairs. In my case A2-B2 system DOESNT WORK because A1-A2 slots are gone.

The problem is A1-A2 is NOT WORKING at all. So when i use single stick on A2, it doesnt post. If i put the same stick to B2, it works fine. If i put other stick from that kit to A2, this time it doesn't post.

ONLY working order is 2 sticks from different or same kit on B1-B2. Also as i said, it posts with one ram on B2 too.

For Bios reset, i couldn't count how many times i did that in last 10 days, this is also on my original post

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, it worked fine in those slots before you put a new graphics card in, but now, even if you have NO graphics card installed and are using the integrated graphics, those slots won't work, yes?

You either have bent pins in the motherboard socket, a bad CPU or a bad motherboard. There is nothing else that can cause one or two DIMM slots to not work regardless of what memory you install, other than those three things unless the CPU cooler is badly mounted and you said you already tried to address that so unfortunately I think you had to have zapped something while installing your graphics card OR there was already a manufacturing defect that was right on the fuzzy gray edge of "ain't right" and the new hardware or the installation process moved that past the edge.

There is literally no other possible cause of one or two DIMM slots not working other than those conditions.

 

[Jalapeno06]

Yes exactly like that.

If i bent the pins, what do you suggest?

I was thinking getting a cheap 12th gen intel CPU to see what is faulty, mobo or cpu.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's probably about the best idea however I'd FIRST just pull the cooler and CPU and take a LOOK. Maybe nothing IS bent. No way to know without looking and IF there ARE bent pins, a different CPU does no good since Intel uses LGA socket and the pins are on the motherboard. In that case buying a CPU is a waste of time and money.

If you have a magnifying glass or high powered reading glasses or can get some, those are usually very helpful in identifying a bent pin or pins since they can be really hard to see sometimes. It doesn't take much for a pin to cause problems if it's borked in ANY way.

 

[Jalapeno06]

Okay Darkbreeze, so i bought anti static tweezers, brushes. I'm gonna get that contact frame too (Not Thermal Grizzly, i'll go with Thermalright)
I'll post the result.

Thanks for all those replies

 

[Jalapeno06]

Thermalright's contact frame didn't work

 

[Darkbreeze]

Maybe, just maybe, it's the user? IDK. At this point, not sure WHAT to tell you to be honest.

 

[Drowsypack]

Hi, Sounds like I am having the same issue. Built my PC end of March 2023 with 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700K , NH-D15 CPU Cooler, Tuf Gaming Z790-Plus Wifi, 2 x16 Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 memory, with a GTX1080 (due to the 4070 TI being out of stock). Yesterday, I installed the 4070 TI and now A2 no longer is seen. The DDR5 memory in slot A2 lights up with the "default"RGB lighting and B2 runs perfectly. Want I have tested to date: Bios has been updated to 1002, tried to tweak the memory voltage to get the board to see A2, ensured that the 4070Ti is properly powered with 2 cable and even swapped the DDR5 memory from A2 into B2 all with no resolution to my issue. I plan to put the 1080 back in later this week to test. Just wanted to chime in since it is interesting two people are seeing the same issue with A2 when adding the 4070Ti to a new build.