[SOLVED] No post after attempting a memory "OC"

[Polikka]

Hey guys!

I'm hoping to shed some light on what's going on with my pc.

A little backstory:

A couple months ago I added 2x8gb ram sticks to my system, to go with the existing 2x8 I had going. They are the same model. The system wouldn't post initially, but after turning down the frequency to 3000mhz from 3200mhz, it booted up and have been using it happily ever since. Until yesterday, that is. I wanted to see if I could push the ram back to the specified speed of 3200mhz with a little more voltage, from the stock 1.35v to 1.37v which I have now read to be "probably safe". I left the system idling and headed to work, to see if there is any obvious stability issues, what could go wrong I figured?

Quite a bit apparently!

13 hours later I'm home from work, and find my pc in a blue screen. I don't recall exactly what it was about but I do remember it saying a critical component, I believe a driver in system32 was missing. I didn't think much of it and rebooted my system. No post. I re-seated all the ram (I believe this had nothing to do with anything) and cleared cmos and boot it up. All is well and I turn up my ram to 3000mhz, with xmp on. Boots right up. I apply my usual cpu overclock and have no issues, and proceed to play games for a good few hours. I figure everything's good and I must have had something off in the bios.

This morning I go to boot the system and to my surprise it does not post. I clear the cmos and it boots right up.



So to clarify, no post unless at 2133mhz ram speed, except sometimes apparently. I have ran the system at 3000mhz for months. I believe all the settings I changed to run it at 3000mhz before is the xmp profile and then ram speed but I could be wrong.

Is it possible I fried something in the mobo or ram? This is so hard to investigate since it sometimes works and sometimes not.

The ram I'm using is 2 kits of 2x8gb corsair vengeance pro rgb, 3200mhz 1.35v cl16

Motherboard is a asrock phantom gaming 4 b550

When I get no post, both the dram and cpu leds are on constantly.

Thank you for any help you might have.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Take one set of DIMMs out, presumably from the A1 and B1 slots which should be two DIMMs that came together if the kits were populated in the board properly. Run just the original memory, set the XMP profile and see if you have problems.

If yes, or if no, try the other set in the same slots, A2 and B2, which again should be matched DIMMs that came in one of the sets.

If you can get each set to work at the XMP profile settings but not both sets together, then it is likely that the sets are not compatible and if you want to run 32GB you might be wise to simply get a 2 x16GB kit and sell the two 2 x8GB kits you have currently.

Please read section two, titled "The odd man out (Or 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

 

[Polikka]

Take one set of DIMMs out, presumably from the A1 and B1 slots which should be two DIMMs that came together if the kits were populated in the board properly. Run just the original memory, set the XMP profile and see if you have problems.

If yes, or if no, try the other set in the same slots, A2 and B2, which again should be matched DIMMs that came in one of the sets.

If you can get each set to work at the XMP profile settings but not both sets together, then it is likely that the sets are not compatible and if you want to run 32GB you might be wise to simply get a 2 x16GB kit and sell the two 2 x8GB kits you have currently.

Please read section two, titled "The odd man out (Or 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

That still wouldn't explain it having worked before for months, or the the fact that it does sometimes work at 3000mhz, right? I do realize now that I have probably mixed up the sets as I reseated the ram so I'm going to have to see if I can figure out which set is which as I can definitely see that causing issues.. However I do know that initially they were seated as the proper sets, in the proper slots. Thanks!

 

[--SID--]

What's the version number of each kit?

 

[Polikka]

What's the version number of each kit?

Hi thanks for the reply!

I will check the versions to hopefully identify the kits when I get home later today and check back with results.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That still wouldn't explain it having worked before for months, or the the fact that it does sometimes work at 3000mhz, right? I do realize now that I have probably mixed up the sets as I reseated the ram so I'm going to have to see if I can figure out which set is which as I can definitely see that causing issues.. However I do know that initially they were seated as the proper sets, in the proper slots. Thanks!

The thing is, they DIDN'T. You said yourself you couldn't get them to work at the advertised speed which is a #1 indicator that there is a compatibility issue with other installed memory or with the motherboard itself. There are lots of kits that can be made to work together if you are willing to tweak the voltage, make changes to the timings or lower the memory frequency/speed. But other things can affect those as well. Changes to Windows drivers, BIOS version, other installed hardware, CPU frequency and voltages, etc. can all have an effect on memory stability and functionality.

Besides which, DIMMs, although rarely, CAN develop problems ("Go bad") despite the fact that it doesn't happen A LOT, it does happen.

I can't say either of those things are the problem you are having, but I can say that it is very likely that with a single kit of matched DIMMs that is either validated as compatible with your motherboard by the manufacturer or the motherboard manufacturer on their QVL list, you wouldn't be having these issues unless it's a problem with something else like the board or the CPU which seems unlikely in this case.

Figuring out which DIMMs came together and pairing them in the proper slots will go a long way towards helping to get them to work right if nothing is wrong with any of them which is why I say figure out which go together, test them in their original pairs in the A2 and B2 slots to see if there are any problems using them at the advertised XMP profile configuration when only two DIMMs are installed and we can go from there trying to get all four to work or moving on to an understanding that they are not going to work together at their advertised speed and voltage.

 

[Polikka]

The thing is, they DIDN'T. You said yourself you couldn't get them to work at the advertised speed which is a #1 indicator that there is a compatibility issue with other installed memory or with the motherboard itself. There are lots of kits that can be made to work together if you are willing to tweak the voltage, make changes to the timings or lower the memory frequency/speed. But other things can affect those as well. Changes to Windows drivers, BIOS version, other installed hardware, CPU frequency and voltages, etc. can all have an effect on memory stability and functionality.

Besides which, DIMMs, although rarely, CAN develop problems ("Go bad") despite the fact that it doesn't happen A LOT, it does happen.

I can't say either of those things are the problem you are having, but I can say that it is very likely that with a single kit of matched DIMMs that is either validated as compatible with your motherboard by the manufacturer or the motherboard manufacturer on their QVL list, you wouldn't be having these issues unless it's a problem with something else like the board or the CPU which seems unlikely in this case.

Figuring out which DIMMs came together and pairing them in the proper slots will go a long way towards helping to get them to work right if nothing is wrong with any of them which is why I say figure out which go together, test them in their original pairs in the A2 and B2 slots to see if there are any problems using them at the advertised XMP profile configuration when only two DIMMs are installed and we can go from there trying to get all four to work or moving on to an understanding that they are not going to work together at their advertised speed and voltage.

Hey, thanks for continuing to help!

I have identified the kits via the version numbers and tested them separately.

My older kit (bought in late 2020), in the correct RAM slots fails to work at all when using the XMP profile, and after a few seconds the PC shuts off and tries to boot again and continues this loop.

The newer kit which is just 2 months old doesn't do this, but doesn't work with the XMP profile either and instead just keeps me in a black screen with the DRAM and CPU led's shining.
I tested both of the kits with no other modifications in the BIOS.

On one occasion the system actually wouldn't post with the RAM at the default 2133Mhz, and with my normal cpu "overclock" (Ryzen 5 3600x, 4,2Ghz @1.25v) I have been using for 2 years, so there is that to suspect as well? Currently I'm typing this with all 4 sticks of RAM at 3000Mhz, and cpu on the default auto mode..

I think it's worth noting I can usually get by with the XMP settings with either pair of sticks straight out of bios and the system will work fine, and after one or two reboots I will have to clear cmos to get it to work again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the model of these memory kits?

And just for the record, I'll tell you right upfront that most Ryzen platforms do not like almost all Corsair Vengeance memory kits. I've seen them work but I've seen a lot more cases where they simply would not regardless of motherboard model or memory kit model.

 

[Polikka]

Additionally the system is now running through 10+ reboots with the RAM at 3200Mhz, and the CPU on default settings.. It's possible I did actually apply my cpu overclocks while testing the ram sets but I don't see why I would've done that. Awful short term memory I'm afraid 😅

Edit: That was short lived as I just had a bluescreen! Turned it down to 3000Mhz.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, so those sticks show up as compatible with the motherboard on the Corsair memory finder validation tool, but I stand by the fact that most Ryzen platforms either flat out refuse to work with Corsair Vengeance memory or they work, but they have extreme difficulty working at XMP settings without making manual adjustments to DRAM voltage, SOC voltage, and in some cases other memory configuration settings like gear mode and secondary timings.

In truth you're not losing much running them at 3000mhz vs 3200mhz, but my recommendation would still be to maybe look at getting a set of 2 x16GB 3600mhz G.Skill sticks. And make sure they are validated for your motherboard by checking the G.Skill memory configurator at the following link before you do, if you do:

https://www.gskill.com/configurator

You will want to stick to Ripjaws, Trident Z or Trident Z Neos for Ryzen platforms. The Neos are Ryzen specific but other models have been validated for those platforms as well now that the memory compatibility has come far from where it was on first and second generation Ryzen, and to some degree, third generation. Still isn't perfect but much better than before, and regardless, even Intel sometimes has compatibility issues with certain kits so always better to make sure it's validated even though you can still have problems with validated kits as well sometimes. Much LESS likely though.

Otherwise, I'd say you can continue to play with, perhaps take a look at the Ryzen calculator, or simply live with them at 3000mhz.

 

[Polikka]

Thanks for all the help!

I've been looking to upgrade my CPU and with it the mobo, and after this probably the RAM too.. So for now I will just live with it at 3000Mhz, or whatever I can get it to stay at really.
Do those ram recommendations hold up for higher end 5000 series as well? Thanks again!

 

[Darkbreeze]

I don't think I'd be looking at 5000 series when the 7000 series are about to be released and will offer significant improvements in single and multi threaded performance, DDR5, newer connectivity options, PCIe 5.0, additional PCIe lanes, etc.

September 27th is when the new Gen is expected to release and Intel is releasing a new Gen around the same time as well but it's existing 12th Gen products are very good performers as well. If buying into a new platform I'd wait for these to release and then give it about a month for any pains due to teething to ease up.

But yes, I highly recommend G.Skill Ripjaws and Trident Z products for use with Ryzen platforms whether DDR4 or DDR5. G.Skill makes a high quality product with very broad support across the industry. Corsair has good memory products too, but it's higher end products are much more expensive.