Question Can't boot XMP Profile#1

[Kocejt]

Hello friends!
It's my first time here on the forum, so don't blame me if I make a mistake.

What exactly is my problem and why I came here?

My spec:
Maximus VII Ranger Bios v.(3503)
Cpu I7-4790k (4.7Ghz/1.32V)
CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken X72 RL-KRX72-01
Kingston HyperX Savage DDR3 2400MHz 4x 8GB (HX324C11SRK2/16)
Psu LC Power LC1200P V2.52 80 Plus Platinum
Gpu GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GAMING OC 12G (GV-N308TGAMING OC-12GD)

When I try to boot with all four rams installed in XMP profile #1 (2400mhz),
the computer does not boot. Run a few codes quickly on the board and reset again and again.

In XMP profile #2 (2133mhz) everything works perfectly, also XMP profile #1 BUT ONLY WITH ONE KIT OF MEMORY 2x8Gb,
it doesn't matter which channel they are in and which two are installed in the computer.

I also tried in the bios to manually adjust the latency as well as the voltage (up to 1.65v)
My CPU System Agent Voltage Offset/CPU Analog I/O Voltage Offset/CPU Digital I/O Voltage Offset MAX IS 0.999V
For all above Min:0.001V-Max:0.999V and I can't increase the voltage beyond that.
It turns red and says 0.999V even though I set it to 1.25V
Is the problem with the motherboard that limits it or can it be changed somehow in the bios?
What could I do to make all four sticks work in XMP 1 (2400mhz) or what should I change?

The cpu is currently running at 4.7Mhz flawlessly (1.320v) and does not crash on the stress test (max temp of 67c on AIDA64) .


Thanks in advance to everyone who is willing to help!!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

IIRC, the safe voltage for that processor was below 1.3v...I could be wrong since it was a long time back. if you can go to DDr3-2133MHz but not to DDR4-2400MHz then it's very likely the board, the BIOS and or the IMC. To also add, a loadout with 4 sticks of ram will add more stress to the memory controller when compared to 2 sticks of ram. To point out;

In XMP profile #2 (2133mhz) everything works perfectly, also XMP profile #1 BUT ONLY WITH ONE KIT OF MEMORY 2x8Gb,
it doesn't matter which channel they are in and which two are installed in the computer.

That would be an IMC(integrated memory controller) limitation.

Can you get to manually setting the frequency to 2400MHz, voltage to 1.65v with all timings set to auto/laxed timings?

 

[Darkbreeze]

3503 is a BETA version. That means it is not fully tested, not fully confirmed as stable and probably DOES have some issues and was only released to address some VERY specific problems on very specific hardware. I would recommend that you downgrade to version 3003 and see if you still have the same problem. If you do not, then the problem is likely something BIOS related, if you DO, even after doing a hard reset (Outlined below), then the problem is likely because you have two separate kits rather than one kit which all came together and I'll offer links to the explanation of THAT as well, below.

Section two, "Mixed memory", at the following 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

Also, this post, which directly addresses some additional concerns regarding mixed memory kits.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/amd-ram-compatibility.3210050/#post-19785792




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.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

IIRC, the safe voltage for that processor was below 1.3v...I could be wrong since it was a long time back. if you can go to DDr3-2133MHz but not to DDR4-2400MHz then it's very likely the board, the BIOS and or the IMC. To also add, a loadout with 4 sticks of ram will add more stress to the memory controller when compared to 2 sticks of ram. To point out;

That would be an IMC(integrated memory controller) limitation.

Can you get to manually setting the frequency to 2400MHz, voltage to 1.65v with all timings set to auto/laxed timings?

Default XMP voltage for that kit IS 1.65v.

https://www.kingston.com/datasheets/HX324C11SRk2_16.pdf

Max safe voltage for the 4790k is around 1.5v BUT, only for extreme overclocking situations AND not if you are going to run VERY demanding processes like Linpack. For the average system, you pretty much don't want to ever exceed 1.4v at the MOST, and 1.35v (Even if you need to bump voltage for memory issues) should be the maximum for any not-overclocked system. Honestly, a mild overclock of about 200mhz and a 1.35v core voltage, assuming you have good enough cooling to do so, should be all it takes to overcome memory issues IF they are related to the IMC.

 

[Kocejt]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

IIRC, the safe voltage for that processor was below 1.3v...I could be wrong since it was a long time back. if you can go to DDr3-2133MHz but not to DDR4-2400MHz then it's very likely the board, the BIOS and or the IMC. To also add, a loadout with 4 sticks of ram will add more stress to the memory controller when compared to 2 sticks of ram. To point out;

That would be an IMC(integrated memory controller) limitation.

Can you get to manually setting the frequency to 2400MHz, voltage to 1.65v with all timings set to auto/laxed timings?

The cpu also works at a voltage below 1.3V, but it happens (not constantly) that I get a blue screen/stopcode.
Actually, I don't have a problem with the processor, but only with the ram memories.

I also tried NO XMP profile, manual setting as recommended in the datasheets for the specified memory and also all the same.
For a few seconds the board drills a few codes and boot loop.

3503 is a BETA version. That means it is not fully tested, not fully confirmed as stable and probably DOES have some issues and was only released to address some VERY specific problems on very specific hardware. I would recommend that you downgrade to version 3003 and see if you still have the same problem. If you do not, then the problem is likely something BIOS related, if you DO, even after doing a hard reset (Outlined below), then the problem is likely because you have two separate kits rather than one kit which all came together and I'll offer links to the explanation of THAT as well, below.

Section two, "Mixed memory", at the following 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

Also, this post, which directly addresses some additional concerns regarding mixed memory kits.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/amd-ram-compatibility.3210050/#post-19785792




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.

I currently don't have another RAM memory at 2400Mhz, but I will definitely try bios downgrade, so I'll report back if I've solved the problem.!

 

[Darkbreeze]

I currently don't have another RAM memory at 2400Mhz

Not sure where this came from, but it's not relevant to anything that I have suggested.

 

[Kocejt]

Default XMP voltage for that kit IS 1.65v.

https://www.kingston.com/datasheets/HX324C11SRk2_16.pdf

Max safe voltage for the 4790k is around 1.5v BUT, only for extreme overclocking situations AND not if you are going to run VERY demanding processes like Linpack. For the average system, you pretty much don't want to ever exceed 1.4v at the MOST, and 1.35v (Even if you need to bump voltage for memory issues) should be the maximum for any not-overclocked system. Honestly, a mild overclock of about 200mhz and a 1.35v core voltage, assuming you have good enough cooling to do so, should be all it takes to overcome memory issues IF they are related to the IMC.

If I understand correctly it is better to have a set of 4 sticks as opposed to two sets of two sticks each. As I could understand in the link you posted above.
That's why I mentioned that I'd like to try a set of four sticks (4x8gb) to make sure it's the problem.

I also found the instructions of the manufacturer of the mentioned motherboard, where I am not sure that I found that my ram memory can work in dual channel at all.
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...RANGER/E9798_maximus_vii_ranger_ug_v2_WEB.pdf
(Page 1-12)

 

[Darkbreeze]

ALL DDR3 DRAM and DDR4 DRAM can work in dual channel. It's a function of the motherboard and the memory controller, not the memory really.

There is no such thing as "dual channel" memory. Memory is just memory. Dual channel operation is a feature of the architecture, as is quad channel, octa channel, etc.

Pretty much all consumer and workstation chipsets support dual channel operation. Z97 boards certainly do. Kingston/Hyper X are pretty well known for using whatever they have on hand when it comes to the composition of a given memory module at the time of any given production run. I've had AND used Hyper X kits in the past, especially on older platforms like the 3rd and 4th Gen Intel and AMD AM3+ platforms with fair success but I've equally had problems, and seen others with them, on just as many platforms, so I try to avoid them these days if possible.

I'd recommend you try first bumping the DRAM voltage up a bit. Use the smallest increments the board will allow you to increase the DRAM voltage by, saving settings and exiting the BIOS between attempts. If it won't stabilize by the time you get to 1.7v then the problem is likely not, or not JUST, the DRAM voltage. You may need to apply a small overclock to the CPU in addition to the increase in DRAM voltage to get it to run at 2400mhz.

Alternatively the MOST common memory speed that was used for these older DDR3 platforms was 1600mhz with occasional 1866-2133mhz kits. If it will run fine at the XMP profile configuration #2 at 2133mhz you might just be better off taking that and living with it. Running four DIMMs at 2400mhz on that platform might be too much to ask without some moderate tweaking.