Dual Channel Shows up as Single Channel

[stoutgamer79]

This has several parts so ill try and be concise with my information.


Recently built two PC's with an ASrock 970 EXTREME3 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280 Which is rated for 32GB of DDR3 RAM

Put AMD Entertainment Edition 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model Radeon RE1333 (AE316G1339U2K)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820103015
Which is Dual Channel memory. First I put one stick on each motherboard but only one would POST and the other would do nothing, swapped them and the one that didn't POST, POSTed.

My first question is this, can a dual channel pair be separated?

Then I decided to load both sticks onto one computer, and I put the sticks in slots A1 and B1 as the manual suggested. Something odd happened when I do this and I get this from both machines. The computer will boot up and in the BIOS show the two memory sticks for a total of 16gb but shows that it is in single channel mode. I have tried switching to the A2 and B2 slots in the motherboard and it wont boot at all, then if swap the sticks between the two slots it will boot, when i move them back to the a slots again it wont boot, then if i swap them between the slots it boots. All in all the memory behaves oddly and is not recognized as dual channel memory.

Any ideas on this?
Could one of the sticks be bad?
If its bad would it still be counted in the memory total?

Upon checking the memory support list on ASRocks webpage it shows the faster memory of the same type being tested but doesn't list this particular memory which is the AE316G1601U2K and i have AE316G1339U2K so its the same manufacturer except mine is 1333 instead of 1600.
Could my problem simply be that the memory I chose isn't compatible with the motherboard I have?

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, It might be a compatibility issue. I would return them and buy a different brand.
For example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198&Tpk=CML16GX3M4A1600C9B

 

[stoutgamer79]

Ok a bit of an update here, I found time to do some more trouble shooting.

Doing further testing, using memtest86, It would only see one stick of memory during the test not sure if i conducted the test correctly but it passed 3 times.

I pulled out both memory sticks again last night, I have one that I suspect to be bad marked with a piece of tape since they are both identicle. After unplugging the power cord and reinstalling Both memory sticks in A1 and A2 the computer passed POST and recognized both sticks but listed them as single channel, which is as it should be in that configuration. Also tried both sticks in B1 and B2 with a successful POST. I then took the suspected "good" stick and tried every slot, with successful POST's every time. So I am sure my MOBO is in good working order.

Next I tested the suspected "bad" stick and got 3 long tones from the header speaker and I got this on all 4 Slots.

I conclude that the kit has one stick - the one with the tape - was DOA from newegg. I ordered some of the same ram and it should arrive Wed night. I will post to check if that was the case. Many people on this forum are looking at the 970 EXTREME3 from ASRock and knowing that the AMD memory wont work is good information to have out there.

 

[stoutgamer79]

OK here is an update.

I got the new RAM in last night and it showed up dual channel right away.

So all along it was that one stick that was bad.