Question Problems with DDR Memory in Z390 Pro4 Board

[RobEvans]

My son has 4x4MB Corsair Vengeance LPX in an AS Rock Z390 Pro 4 motherboard. In trying to boot up another machine, he temporarily took out two of the sticks. In returning the two sticks to the Z390 Pro 4 board, it wouldn't boot. None of the pins appear to be bent and I'm fairly certain the cards have been removed and replaced properly (he's very careful). However, it's feasible that the two pairs of 4MB sticks may have been mixed up in the process and reinstalled in the wrong slots (one pair is V3.22, the other V5.22).

In thinking one of the sticks may be faulty, we've bought a new pair of 2x8MB Vengeance Pro. I've installed these in slots 2 and 4 of the board as per the manual and, whilst the cards themselves light up, the machine isn't booting. It also isn't booting with any combination of the older 4MB cards.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm a novice with PCs so any simple advice would be gratefully received.

 

[egda23]

My son has 4x4MB Corsair Vengeance LPX in an AS Rock Z390 Pro 4 motherboard. In trying to boot up another machine, he temporarily took out two of the sticks. In returning the two sticks to the Z390 Pro 4 board, it wouldn't boot. None of the pins appear to be bent and I'm fairly certain the cards have been removed and replaced properly (he's very careful). However, it's feasible that the two pairs of 4MB sticks may have been mixed up in the process and reinstalled in the wrong slots (one pair is V3.22, the other V5.22).

In thinking one of the sticks may be faulty, we've bought a new pair of 2x8MB Vengeance Pro. I've installed these in slots 2 and 4 of the board as per the manual and, whilst the cards themselves light up, the machine isn't booting. It also isn't booting with any combination of the older 4MB cards.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm a novice with PCs so any simple advice would be gratefully received.

I would start by doing a clear CMOS by doing as per page 19 of the manual
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/Z390 Pro4.pdf

Or by simply removing the CMOS battery on the motherboard for a few minutes after disconnecting from wall outlet and pushing for 30 sec on the Reset button

 

[RobEvans]

Thanks a lot for this. I can't remove the CMOS battery easily without removing the graphics card. I can however see the CMOS Jumper set up. The cap is currently set over pins 1 and 2 (as per the manual). I don't quite follow the instructions though. Do I literally power down, remove the cap from pins 1 and 2, put it over pins 2 and 3 for 5 seconds (whilst powered-down), and then return the cap to pins 1 and 2 before powering back up? Thanks in advance.

 

[egda23]

Thanks a lot for this. I can't remove the CMOS battery easily without removing the graphics card. I can however see the CMOS Jumper set up. The cap is currently set over pins 1 and 2 (as per the manual). I don't quite follow the instructions though. Do I literally power down, remove the cap from pins 1 and 2, put it over pins 2 and 3 for 5 seconds (whilst powered-down), and then return the cap to pins 1 and 2 before powering back up? Thanks in advance.

yes excatly and don' forget to unplug the power cord from the power supply (the wall)

 

[RobEvans]

The Jumper reset has made no difference so I've now removed the graphics card to get to the CMOS battery. Before I remove this, what "reset" button do you mean to push for 30 seconds? Just the main power button on the PC itself?

 

[egda23]

The Jumper reset has made no difference so I've now removed the graphics card to get to the CMOS battery. Before I remove this, what "reset" button do you mean to push for 30 seconds? Just the main power button on the PC itself?

Yes the power button on the PC

 

[RobEvans]

No luck with either of these steps, unfortunately. The machine is powering up (fans running, lights on graphics card and memory cards) but no signal feeding through to the monitor. Any other ideas?

 

[RobEvans]

Also, I'm now pretty sure that the problem has come from the original 4MB cards being mixed up - they were taken out of slots B1 and B2 and possibly replaced back in the slots the other way around. As noted in my original post, they aren't identical - exactly the same model but bought at different times (V3.22 and V5.22).

 

[egda23]

No luck with either of these steps, unfortunately. The machine is powering up (fans running, lights on graphics card and memory cards) but no signal feeding through to the monitor. Any other ideas?
[

Also, I'm now pretty sure that the problem has come from the original 4MB cards being mixed up - they were taken out of slots B1 and B2 and possibly replaced back in the slots the other way around. As noted in my original post, they aren't identical - exactly the same model but bought at different times (V3.22 and V5.22).

Also, I'm now pretty sure that the problem has come from the original 4MB cards being mixed up - they were taken out of slots B1 and B2 and possibly replaced back in the slots the other way around. As noted in my original post, they aren't identical - exactly the same model but bought at different times (V3.22 and V5.22).

Use only ONE RAM stick. Put it in A2.
By the way, is the monitor correctly connected to the GPU and switched on ? (I know supid question).
Checked that no cable was disconnected ?

 

[RobEvans]

Still not working unfortunately. Tried both with a 4MB and 8MB memory stick. Monitor is connected correctly.

 

[egda23]

Still not working unfortunately. Tried both with a 4MB and 8MB memory stick. Monitor is connected correctly.

And you never see anything on the monitor ? Even not the bios logo when you switch on ?
Maybe try another monitor

 

[Third-Eye]

How long did you leave the cmos battery out? It should be at least 5 minutes, sometimes it only needs to be 3 minutes and sometimes 10 minutes.

 

[RobEvans]

I left the battery out for exactly 5 mins. I'll try with a different monitor shortly and then try leaving the battery out again for longer. Thanks for all the advice - will report back shortly.

 

[RobEvans]

So this time, I left the battery out for 15 mins and swapped monitors. Pressed the reset button down for 30 seconds but still no result. As an aside, when depressing the reset button and holding, the machine only powers up for a few seconds before powering down. I'm not sure if this is of any relevance.

Any further ideas?

PS: The cards are of course 4GB / 8GB not 4MB / 8MB as I've been referring to throughout this post.

 

[egda23]

So this time, I left the battery out for 15 mins and swapped monitors. Pressed the reset button down for 30 seconds but still no result. As an aside, when depressing the reset button and holding, the machine only powers up for a few seconds before powering down. I'm not sure if this is of any relevance.

Any further ideas?

PS: The cards are of course 4GB / 8GB not 4MB / 8MB as I've been referring to throughout this post.

Ok, lets look from another angle. We have been fixated on the RAM but could be something else.
What CPU and graphic card do you have ? If it is a CPU with the name not ending with the letter F, it has an iGPU (a graphic card included in the CPU).
In that case take out the graphic card and connect the monitor to one of the connectors on the motherboard.
Put only one RAM stick . Try to boot

 

[RobEvans]

I tried this and it still hasn't worked (for info, graphics card is Geforce GTX1060 and CPU is I5-9600K).

I gave up trying to diagnose myself today and have taken the machine to a technician. He believes there's a fault with the motherboard and is now replacing it. He claims to have seen similar, strange issues with AS Rock boards before. I'll return the board under the warranty (less than 8 months old) but we're going to install a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite instead. Thanks for all of the help - much appreciated.

 

[RobEvans]

As an aside, there's no damage to any of the memory slots and all of the chips are still working fine. Just seems like it didn't like the changes we made and has decided to fault out.

 

[egda23]

As an aside, there's no damage to any of the memory slots and all of the chips are still working fine. Just seems like it didn't like the changes we made and has decided to fault out.

ok thanks