Question PC turns itself off and on again during boot after changing the RAM ?

[Cigdan]

Hello, I swapped out all 4 sticks of ram with new ones and now my pc turns itself off and on again during the boot process.

When connecting it to a monitor, it just shows a blackscreen and I cannot even go into bios.
I tried putting in the old sticks, but the same thing happens.

I tried putting only one stick in at a time.
I also cleared the cmos, by doing these steps:

1. Disconnect all power
2. Take out cmos battery
3. Press the power button for 60 seconds
4. Jump the CLR-CMOS pins

But nothing seems to work.

Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Motherboard: ASRock X570M Pro4 AMD AM4
GPU: Nvidia Quadro P2000
PSU: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 650 W

Old Ram: 2x Unknown 16gb 2666mhz Unbuffered ecc, 2x Kingston KSM26ED8/16HD
New Ram: 4x Kingston KSM26ED8/32MF.

Is there anything else that could be the problem?

 

[Darkbreeze]

How many times did you allow it to turn itself on and off and on? You do understand that memory training can in some cases take as many as six or seven restarts before it finds a configuration that it likes, on modern hardware, right?

 

[Cigdan]

How many times did you allow it to turn itself on and off and on? You do understand that memory training can in some cases take as many as six or seven restarts before it finds a configuration that it likes, on modern hardware, right?

I let it do its thing for about 15-30 minutes and it restarts multiple times per minute.

 

[geofelt]

The motherboard does not like the ram stick you are trying to install and is trying to find a setting that will work.
You should want a dual channel kit for better performance.
Check the motherboard support for compatible ram using a 5700X(vermeer) processor.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570M Pro4/#MemoryVM

 

[Cigdan]

The motherboard does not like the ram stick you are trying to install and is trying to find a setting that will work.
You should want a dual channel kit for better performance.
Check the motherboard support for compatible ram using a 5700X(vermeer) processor.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570M Pro4/#MemoryVM

The old ram used to work though, but now it doesn't anymore.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, if a memory kit that DID work, does NOT now, and other kits ALSO do not, then either the CPU has been removed and somehow some pins were bent, OR the board has failed in some other way. There really can't be much of any other reasons.

 

[geofelt]

The old ram used to work though, but now it doesn't anymore.

What has changed?
It seems unlikely that several independent sticks that worked, now do not.
Parts are not designed for many insertion/removals.
Possibly you have damaged the ram sockets during this process.

You may have previously lucked into a bios setting that made them work, but in the process of clearing cmos
that set of settings were lost.

Try just one stick at a time, in the slot that your motherboard manual says to use with just one stick.
If none of your ram sticks work there, then try the process with another slot.

 

[Cigdan]

Just to be sure.
In case the board is actually broken in some way and i'd have to replace it.
The RAM QVL list says the KSM26ED8/32ME RAM is compatible, but the RAM I have is KSM26ED8/32MF.

Does this change anything in terms or compatibility or should that work as well?
The old RAM I have is also not specifically mentioned, so i'm unsure.

 

[Ralston18]

One more thing to check via the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual:

Some motherboards require that the first physically installed RAM be placed in a specific slot.

Typically DIMM_A2 and noted in bold font.

However, that requirement may not be clearly presented or noticeable. (Look for tiny "1st", "2nd" notations in diagrams.)

And, as a second thing, carefully read and check the related BIOS settings.

 

[geofelt]

Just to be sure.
In case the board is actually broken in some way and i'd have to replace it.
The RAM QVL list says the KSM26ED8/32ME RAM is compatible, but the RAM I have is KSM26ED8/32MF.

Does this change anything in terms or compatibility or should that work as well?
The old RAM I have is also not specifically mentioned, so i'm unsure.

Here is a link to the Kingston memory part number decoder:
https://www.kingston.com/en/memory/memory-part-number-decoder

The ram would appear to be Kingston server premier ddr4.
They differ in the last letter.
The M on the supported list specifies Micron.
Your ram is F which is not specified and could be important.
Ryzen processors are very tightly tied to ram for functionality and performance so anything unusual may be a problem.

 

[Darkbreeze]

However the fact that RAM that DID work in this machine and now doesn't, pretty much makes any speculation about the model of RAM a moot point. New RAM not being compatible or "liked" by the motherboard should have no impact on memory that used to work in there not working anymore.

Try this. Do it EXACTLY as outlined. Do not skip or change ANY steps from how it is outlined below. Install the new memory and then do a hard reset.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

 

[Cigdan]

However the fact that RAM that DID work in this machine and now doesn't, pretty much makes any speculation about the model of RAM a moot point. New RAM not being compatible or "liked" by the motherboard should have no impact on memory that used to work in there not working anymore.

Try this. Do it EXACTLY as outlined. Do not skip or change ANY steps from how it is outlined below. Install the new memory and then do a hard reset.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

I followed the steps up to the part, were I start the PC, but it didn't work. One screen turned on, displayed "No Signal" and then turned off again. My other Monitor didn't even turn on in the first place. It's important to note that my GPU only has DisplayPort and my CPU doesn't have integrated graphics, so I couldn't test it with HDMI.
But thanks for the detailed instructions.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do you have access to another graphics card? Are you certain the monitor's own settings are set to DP and couldn't possibly have been accidentally changed? I mean, I think I'd try another graphics card first but have you tried it with only a single stick of memory in the A2 slot?

 

[Cigdan]

Do you have access to another graphics card? Are you certain the monitor's own settings are set to DP and couldn't possibly have been accidentally changed? I mean, I think I'd try another graphics card first but have you tried it with only a single stick of memory in the A2 slot?

I don't have a spare GPU to use right now, but I did try a few other things.

I only used the a2 slot, but the same thing happened. I also took out the CPU cooler and CPU and I didn't see any visible damage or bent pins and nothing changed after I put it back in.

Edit: I ordered a mainboard speaker. Maybe that will give me more information.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes. Knowing whether it's throwing error codes and what they are is really helpful. Let me know.

 

[Cigdan]

Yes. Knowing whether it's throwing error codes and what they are is really helpful. Let me know.

I got around to trying it and it had 3 short beeps.
According to this FAQ from 2002, it means "Main memory read / write test error".
I would assume this means, that there is something wrong/broken with the Motherboard.
I'll bring it to a PC Repair Shop and see if they can do something.

Thanks for the help so far!