Motherboard won't run with 8 Memory sticks

[Official_flaiR]

Hello everyone,

I am having issues with my motherboard. It is the Intel DX79TO. I recently purchased more RAM for my system to give it a boost in speed. The motherboard has 8 total DIMM slots and 4 are currently in use. The manual says that if I am using 4 sticks or less, I should insert them into the blue slots. However, doing so has never worked and only gives me an error message that the system had no memory to boot with. The 4 current sticks are in DIMM slots 1, 5, 2, and 6 while 8, 4, 7, and 3 are empty. Slots 1 and 5 are channel A, 2 and 6 are channel B, 8 and 4 are channel D, and 7 and 3 are channel C. Whenever I insert RAM into channel's D and C, the computer never boots. I have tried 3 different types of RAM and even mixed them together in channel's A and B, but whenever there is RAM in channel's D and C, the computer refuses to boot until they are removed. The computer will boot for a few seconds, then shut down. After 3 restarts, it starts doing 3, 1 second beeps which means that it could't find any memory to boot with. After clearing channel's D and C, the computer will boot as long as there is RAM in channel's A or B regardless of size and amount. All sticks run at 1.5V and 1333MHz and can be mixed freely with no issues when inserted in channel's A and B. Until I can resolve this issue, my computer remains stuck at a dual-channel RAM configuration.

I have tried resetting the BIOS (jumper and CMOS battery) and booting with RAM only in channel's D and C, but until there is no RAM in those 2 channel's, it will not boot.

Here is a link to the motherboards manual (PDF).
The pages for RAM are 15 and 40.
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/motherboards/desktop/dx79to/dx79to_productguide01_english.pdf

My setup:
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Motherboard: Intel DX79TO (LGA 2011 - x79)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K - 3.2GHz
Graphics Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Armor
RAM: ADATA 4x4 - 16GB's (1333 mhz)
Power Supply: Cougar CMX 1000W
Case: DIYPC Skyline (Green)
Storage (OS): SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB
Storage (Games): 2x WD Blue 1TB HDD (7200 RPM)

If anyone has dealt with an issue like this before and has a fix, please inform me so I can resolve my problem!

Thank you,
flaiR

 

[geofelt]

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.
What to do??

Mu first suggestion is to increase the ram voltage a bit before installing the additional ram.
Sometimes that works.

Other than that, buy a single kit of the capacity you need.
Check the motherboard qvl list or the ram vendors app that lists supported ram kits for your motherboard.

One extra thought.
Sometimes a motherboard gets a bios update that addresses ram compatibility. Check that out.

 

[Official_flaiR]

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.
What to do??

Mu first suggestion is to increase the ram voltage a bit before installing the additional ram.
Sometimes that works.

Other than that, buy a single kit of the capacity you need.
Check the motherboard qvl list or the ram vendors app that lists supported ram kits for your motherboard.

One extra thought.
Sometimes a motherboard gets a bios update that addresses ram compatibility. Check that out.

My motherboard BIOS is on the most recent version and I have always been able to mix RAM from different companies. I have put 3 different brands in the 4 working slots before (2 sticks of ADATA, 1 stick of HyperX, and 1 stick of Samsung) and they all work fine together. They all run at the same voltages and clock speeds without any modifications to the BIOS (they run at 1333MHz - 1.5V by default). The only problem is when I put RAM in the other 4 slots. Even if it is all the same brand, that side of the motherboard refuses to accept anything. It doesn't matter if the working side has memory in it or not, if there is even 1 stick on that side of the motherboard, it just beeps and won't boot.

 

[geofelt]

Consider the possibility that your cpu is defective or that some of the motherboard pins have been damaged.

 

[Official_flaiR]

Consider the possibility that your cpu is defective or that some of the motherboard pins have been damaged.

The motherboard pin damage is possible, but I am not sure where the damage could be. I should mention that I used to have 6 total sticks in the motherboard before, but after taking the sticks out just once, it never accepted anything on the right side ever again. The CPU is in perfect condition and has never overheated. If there was motherboard damage like a broken trace, is it fixable or do I need a whole new motherboard? I've seen people fix traces before, but I do not currently own the correct tools to fix one.

 

[geofelt]

It is very easy to damage pins in the motherboard socket.
What a particular pin controls is unknown to me.
It is also possible to have a partially defective processor that will not handle some channels properly.
It is difficult to suspect the processor since they are so reliable and the problem is more likely to come from a different source like the motherboard. It happened to me once, fortunately the processor was still under warranty and was replaced by intel.

It might cost you some $50 to have a motherboard socket replaced if that is the problem.

If you have sufficient ram for your needs with the 4 working channels, perhaps it is best to leave it be.
Faster ram is not usually a big performance boost for aps.