Question POSTing with unlisted memory ?

penlord

Distinguished
Dec 14, 2011
10
0
18,510
Two PCs I own won't post.

I have two sticks of two styles of RAM:
TDKED48G3000HC15ABK (two sticks, 8 GB DDR4 3000 1.35V) Trying to POST with 1 inserted in DRAM slot 2 as per mobo instructions.
TLGD48G3000HC16CBK (two sticks, 8 GB DDR4 3000 1.35V) Trying to POST with 1 inserted in DRAM slot 2 as per mobo instructions.

I have two motherboards that won't POST with either stick:
MSI Z170A SLI https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI#support-mem-4
and X370 Gaming Plus https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/X370-GAMING-PLUS.html#support-mem-11

My RAM sticks don't show up here.

what do you think? Will this RAM ruin my motherboards if they don't work?
Should they work?


The specification page for the Z170A SLI states it accepts 3000s. As linked
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-SLI/Specification

The specification page for the X370 Gaming Plus does not state it accepts 3000s. (which is weird because in its list of compatible RAM on the page above for this mobo it has quite a sizeable list of RAM rated at 3000 speed)
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/X370-GAMING-PLUS/Specification

...A few details...
-. Both of them stay powered on with ANY of my 4 ram sticks in and just sit there without POST.

-. If I remove the stick, the Z170A SLI Ez Debug light with CPU, DRAM, VGA diagnostic stops and stays lit up while on DRAM after it passes over the CPU, and my diagnostic beep speaker beeps 3 times indicating a RAM problem. If I insert the RAM, it cycles between DRAM and CPU.

-. On these computers I have tried two separate confirmed working GPUs, two separate confirmed working PSUs, and there are no drives plugged up. I'm just trying to get a POST.

-. Both boards are on factory defaults.

Thank you so much for reading this.
 

penlord

Distinguished
Dec 14, 2011
10
0
18,510
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 ... in the X370 Gaming Plus.
Intel i5 6600k ... in the Z170A SLI.
I did not know that certain CPUs work with certain RAM, I will ask MSI on the phone. I've never heard of this.

Ah, MSI says that's just their list of stuff they've tested and they can't test all models of RAM and they are not slotted to work with particular CPUs. and he thinks it's definitely my RAM that's the problem even though it's improbable. So I'll just buy some RAM that works on both and go from there. I really hope it works. But if anyone else has heard of this problem then I'm all ears and I'll be watching the thread and leaving this open.
 
Last edited: