Question Faulty, but not broken, RAM slot on motherboard

[Gakko]

Greetings, I suspect one of the RAM slots in my motherboard is going or has gone bad. I'm posting this in the hopes of having another set of eyes on this, since I'm currently biased towards my motherboard. Here's the detailed events:

I have my motherboard since 2018 (Asus A320M-K), for its first year I only used a single 8GB stick on the A1 slot, but for more than 2 years I used both slots (total of 16GB, 2400mhz, HyperX) and I would get no issues. Happy budget gaming.

Around late 2021 I started getting random reboots (no error messages, it would be like electricity giving out and the computer would restart), usually playing games like Stellaris or RimWorld, but also while using my browser. At the time I believed it was either a general issue on my neighborhood's power distribution (I live in South America), corrupt OS or power issues since I still had an aging Corsair 430W CX 430.

In 2022, I upgraded from an A10-9700 to a Ryzen 5 1600X, from a GTX 750 Ti 2GB to a PowerColor RX 580 8GB, and from the CX430 to an EVGA 600W 80 Plus White. Ended up ruling out PSU when the random reboots continued, started suspecting RAM despite tests saying there were no issues.

• Removed the sticks, tried to clean them with a q-tip, obviously didn't solve it.
• Tried switching the sticks on their slots, didn't solved it either.
• Bought a M2 SSD and started with a clean OS, didn't solve it.
• Removed the RAM stick on the B1 slot, leaving only 1 stick of 8GB on A1. After weeks of no issues, the reboot happened. Didn't solve it.
• Switched the RAM stick on A1, suspecting one of the sticks being at fault. After weeks of no issues, the reboots happened. Didn't solve it.
• A friend suggested me to ditch the A1 channel completely, and use a stick only on B1. It's been 4 months with no issues whatsoever, so I guess the A1 channel/slot is the ultimate culprit?

What can I try before the obviously incoming "buy new motherboard" suggestion? I don't think I can afford a new motherboard and a new CPU at the same time (Gen1 Ryzens have no support on new MBs after all).

My specs are:
- CPU: Ryzen 5 1600X
- Motherboard: Asus PRIME A320M-K
- RAM: 16GB 2400MHz (8x2) DDR4 (HyperX) - (Currently, only 8GB 2400MHz DDR4 on B1)
- GPU: PowerColor RX 580 8GB (Good condition, bought brand-new in late 2022)
- OS Storage: Crucial P3 1TB M2 SSD
- Storage: (1) 2TB WD HDD, (2) Kingston 240GB SSDs
- Fans: 6 case fans (counting the 2 fans on my WC's radiator)
- Screens: (1) 1080p TV as second monitor and (1) 1080p, 144hz monitor
- PSU: EVGA 600W 80 Plus White

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

friend suggested me to ditch the A1 channel completely, and use a stick only on B1. It's been 4 months with no issues whatsoever, so I guess the A1 channel/slot is the ultimate culprit?

first, make sure you are on the motherboard's latest available BIOS.

if still nothing from A_1,
try a different packaged 2x kit of RAM(there is no guarantee that separate kits will work together and even if they may, performance can still be compromised).

if they work, then the board is fine.
if not, then your friend was correct in assuming the A_1 DIMM slot is faulty.

Motherboard: Asus PRIME A320M-K

this is an old board
and not the highest quality even when it was new.

i wouldn't be surprised at all to find it has begun to fail.

you could try finding a reliable used board to fit this old gen CPU.
but, you would much better off just saving up to upgrade to current gen of hardware.