Question Issues with DRAM light on ROG STRIX B450F GAMING and R5 3600x

[Tom Danvers]

Around two weeks ago, I decided it was time to build a new PC. After looking around a bit, I decided on these specs:

• Ryzen 5 3600x
• ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING Motherboard
• Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro dual-channel 16gb DDR4 3200MHz
• MSI RTX 2060 GAMING Z.

This is my second PC build. My previous build was an FX8320 on a 970A-G43 motherboard (+ GTX 960) and went pretty smoothly.

However, after putting together the components on the PC, it wouldn't post (no picture on screen, keyboard not working/lighting up) and I could see the yellow DRAM error on the motherboard.

At this point, I spent the day troubleshooting and wondering what I should do. It was here where I discovered the label on my motherboard box saying "compaitable with Ryzen 2000 CPUs", implying that the board had not yet been updated by the manufacturer.

So, I decided that I had two options to fix the machine:

• Spend another £80 on RAM which might not work.
• Contact ASUS/AMD about the issue and get my hands on a boot kit to update the BIOS.

So, I decided to go with the latter, and spoke to ASUS representatives for hours and hours, eventually getting confirmation that they could not replace my board and so I'd need to request the boot kit from AMD. During this time I also requested a QVL memory list for my motherboard for Zen 2/Ryzen 3000 processors, however it seems one is not yet available.

Yesterday, the boot kit arrived (Athlon 200GE) and I installed it on the motherboard. The CPU has integrated graphics and AM4 motherboards have HDMI ports so I didn't bother installing the GPU. After powering on the system again (and clearing the CMOS!) I was still getting the DRAM error!

At this point I was absolutely convinced it was time to give some new RAM a go, so I ordered some more RAM which is quoted on the QVL lists for:

• My motherboard (Ryzen 1st gen)
• My motherboard (Ryzen 2nd gen)
• The motherboard model below mine (ASUS PRIME b450f PLUS) (Ryzen 3rd gen) since there is not yet a QVL list available for ryzen 3rd gen for my motherboard.

In the post today I'm getting the "HyperX HX432C16PB3K2/16 Predator DDR4 16 GB (Kit 2 x 8 GB), 3200 MHz CL16" (quote from Amazon)

before anyone replies with these answers I've tried already, I've:

• Used RAM slots A2/B2
• Cleared the CMOS
• Reseated the RAM
• Tried two different power supplies (EVGA 500W from old PC and new Corsair cx550)
• Tried individual stick of RAM in each slot

So at the moment I'm waiting on my delivery for another kit of RAM, and am hoping/praying it will boot.

• Later today I'll install the new RAM onto the motherboard with the Athlon 200GE processor, let's see if it posts...
• If it doesn't, it may be worth a try swapping the Athlon for my r5 3600x just to make sure the Athlon processor isn't being awkward.

So yeah, feels great when you are sent a boot kit... And then can't even boot with the boot kit. This is quite a lengthy post/question, and if you can't tell already I'm running out of ideas (and money!) so any help would be massively appreciated

Cheers ~ Tom

 

[AdrianJ]

Same problem here i just bought
*Asus TUF gaming x570-Plus
*Ryzen 3600x
*Corsair vengeance LPX 3600MHz 2x8Gb
CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18

Orange LED-DRAM error stays on when booting, fans turn on, diplay and keyboard does not.

I have no idea what to do
I kinda want to send all those parts back?

Maby you have an idea what i can do?

 

[LukossiPL]

Hi, I had problem with orange LED yesterday, gave my desctop on service and BIOS was not supporting Ryzen 3 gen CPU. They had to instal 2600 then update BIOS so it's hard to do it yourself.

 

[ngts91]

Hi, almost half a year later, and I am having almost, if not THE exact same issue. I have Asus Rog Strix B450-F gaming motherboard, with the DRAM LED lighting. I managed to boot it after trying many of the steps you describe. When the PC booted, it only detected one of my 2 ram sticks (Corsair 8GB - 3000MHz vengance - which I also tried to reseat etc). Then I decided updating my bios might help. When I updated it (successfully according to the bios messege I got, just before everything went dark), it all stopped working. No connection to keyboard (tried all USB ports). Reset CMOS both by jumper and removing battery (no luck).

So basically the same issue as you.... If you see this, please let me know what you ended up doing? Did you just replace the whole thing? Or how did things turn out?

 

[Tom Danvers]

Hi, almost half a year later, and I am having almost, if not THE exact same issue. I have Asus Rog Strix B450-F gaming motherboard, with the DRAM LED lighting. I managed to boot it after trying many of the steps you describe. When the PC booted, it only detected one of my 2 ram sticks (Corsair 8GB - 3000MHz vengance - which I also tried to reseat etc). Then I decided updating my bios might help. When I updated it (successfully according to the bios messege I got, just before everything went dark), it all stopped working. No connection to keyboard (tried all USB ports). Reset CMOS both by jumper and removing battery (no luck).

So basically the same issue as you.... If you see this, please let me know what you ended up doing? Did you just replace the whole thing? Or how did things turn out?

After spending literally weeks researching the solutions, including using another RAM kit and using AMDs boot kit they sent me, I decided to go with a new board that I knew would be 100% supported. Took the system to pieces and packaged the ASUS board as I received it from Amazon and shipped it back - I got a full refund. I then bought an MSI x570 Gaming Edge motherboard, that I knew already had the correct bios version and also had bios flashback in case shit hit the fan once again. System booted straight away!

Quick note - for some reason I have not yet investigated, about a week after I built the system the motherboard RGB LEDs and LED headers stopped working. No clue why, but keep in mind, as it might be worth going for another board if you value that sort of thing.