Question RAM module crashes on specific apps, the other one of the same model works fine.

Sep 16, 2022
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0
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Hi, I've been having irregular problems with crashes, slowdowns, and occasional BSODs and CTDs, for over 3 years since I built my current pc. And because they didn't seem to have any pattern, I always suspected software issues rather than hardware, and it took me a long time to discover that they only happen with one of the two ram sticks. (should've tested that earlier, I know...)

SPECS:

(All default settings, memory at XMP)
Gigabyte B450 Aorus M
ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D41 8GB DDR4 3000MHz x 2 (individual sticks that came separately)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Gigabyte NVIDIA 1660Ti OC
Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Western Digital Blue 7200RPM 1TB
Thermaltake TP GRAND RGB 650W Gold 80+

The story is that I've ran countless tests, updated stuff, and more over the years, to try to figure out why certain games would crash a lot, but many others (the majority in fact) would be fine. Now I've forgotten lot's of what I did ofc, but every diagnostic I did came out fine. Problem was always in games, photoshop, 3D benchmarks, and maybe 1 or 2 other apps I don't remember.

What happens is that the apps will start and sometimes even run for 3 or 4 hours, but then crash, and only a full pc restart would "refresh" that a bit until it crashes again. However, many times it did not work and things would crash a lot after restart anyway, so if it really made a difference it was erratic. The crashes create reports of varied driver crashes, often video ones, and errors coming up from game engines often mention "device removed", "memory exceptions."

Eventually, I discovered that they only happen with one stick (tried it on default and XMP only), and nearly every game or benchmark that crashes uses OpenGL or DirectX12. AFAIK no DirectX11 or older game has crashed on me enough to be the same issue, but some DX12 or OGL apps have ran well without issues so its not a 100% trigger.

Some examples: Control crashes in DX12, not in DX11, Cyberpunk, Warzone 2100 crashes on OGL not on DX or Vulkan, Doom and Doom Eternal, Photoshop CC2019
Unigine Heaven, Superposition, Furmark, all crash on OGL. GFXBench however, runs all tests fine on all APIs except for the OGL offscreen tests, which all crash and could never finish.

So, what I want to know is what does everyone think my case might be about: faulty stick, or different stability threshold than for the other module? or maybe it is actually a software problem, or another part is the issue?
If there could be a simple fix like a tweak in the bios that'd be great, since going through the warranty process is more work and I'm scared they might not be able to reproduce the issue or won't care because of how specific it seems to be.

Thanks a lot, sorry for all the text.
 
Hi, I've been having irregular problems with crashes, slowdowns, and occasional BSODs and CTDs, for over 3 years since I built my current pc. And because they didn't seem to have any pattern, I always suspected software issues rather than hardware, and it took me a long time to discover that they only happen with one of the two ram sticks. (should've tested that earlier, I know...)

SPECS:

(All default settings, memory at XMP)
Gigabyte B450 Aorus M
ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D41 8GB DDR4 3000MHz x 2 (individual sticks that came separately)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Gigabyte NVIDIA 1660Ti OC
Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Western Digital Blue 7200RPM 1TB
Thermaltake TP GRAND RGB 650W Gold 80+

The story is that I've ran countless tests, updated stuff, and more over the years, to try to figure out why certain games would crash a lot, but many others (the majority in fact) would be fine. Now I've forgotten lot's of what I did ofc, but every diagnostic I did came out fine. Problem was always in games, photoshop, 3D benchmarks, and maybe 1 or 2 other apps I don't remember.

What happens is that the apps will start and sometimes even run for 3 or 4 hours, but then crash, and only a full pc restart would "refresh" that a bit until it crashes again. However, many times it did not work and things would crash a lot after restart anyway, so if it really made a difference it was erratic. The crashes create reports of varied driver crashes, often video ones, and errors coming up from game engines often mention "device removed", "memory exceptions."

Eventually, I discovered that they only happen with one stick (tried it on default and XMP only), and nearly every game or benchmark that crashes uses OpenGL or DirectX12. AFAIK no DirectX11 or older game has crashed on me enough to be the same issue, but some DX12 or OGL apps have ran well without issues so its not a 100% trigger.

Some examples: Control crashes in DX12, not in DX11, Cyberpunk, Warzone 2100 crashes on OGL not on DX or Vulkan, Doom and Doom Eternal, Photoshop CC2019
Unigine Heaven, Superposition, Furmark, all crash on OGL. GFXBench however, runs all tests fine on all APIs except for the OGL offscreen tests, which all crash and could never finish.

So, what I want to know is what does everyone think my case might be about: faulty stick, or different stability threshold than for the other module? or maybe it is actually a software problem, or another part is the issue?
If there could be a simple fix like a tweak in the bios that'd be great, since going through the warranty process is more work and I'm scared they might not be able to reproduce the issue or won't care because of how specific it seems to be.

Thanks a lot, sorry for all the text.
First check for BIOS updates, in a no small number of cases there were updates to BIOS and AGESA code to fix memory problems.
I would also check each module and together with out of windows environment
and within
 
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Sep 16, 2022
3
0
10
First check for BIOS updates, in a no small number of cases there were updates to BIOS and AGESA code to fix memory problems.
I would also check each module and together with out of windows environment
and within

Alright thank you.

I've updated the BIOS over the years and the problem didn't change, and another thing to note is my RAM doesn't appear in the updated support manual for the MB nor in the AMD page for my CPU. I suppose this is a bad sign but the other stick works so idk.

Do you have a recommendation of how to update BIOS the best way, if there is one? I do it outside windows ofc but which versions are preferable for stability and such?

Here are the current ones: https://www.gigabyte.com/ar/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-M-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

As for memtest, I ran 86 at least 2 times before, one with both sticks in, and the last just the "bad" one, everything went ok, no errors. Other tests I've ran included OCCT for like 4 hours with both sticks, and "memtest" the one that requires you to open multiple windows.

I will try memtest64 since I never used it before and report back.
 
Alright thank you.

I've updated the BIOS over the years and the problem didn't change, and another thing to note is my RAM doesn't appear in the updated support manual for the MB nor in the AMD page for my CPU. I suppose this is a bad sign but the other stick works so idk.

Do you have a recommendation of how to update BIOS the best way, if there is one? I do it outside windows ofc but which versions are preferable for stability and such?

Here are the current ones: https://www.gigabyte.com/ar/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-M-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

As for memtest, I ran 86 at least 2 times before, one with both sticks in, and the last just the "bad" one, everything went ok, no errors. Other tests I've ran included OCCT for like 4 hours with both sticks, and "memtest" the one that requires you to open multiple windows.

I will try memtest64 since I never used it before and report back.
Only last one, F86d has AGESA 1007 so I would recommend that one.
If your present BIOS is earlier than F60 read words in Red, For BIOS update, best to do it from BIOS itself using Q-flash, just follow instructions from the manual
also suggest you update chipset drivers
https://www.amd.com/en/support
right before.
 
Do you have a recommendation of how to update BIOS the best way, if there is one? I do it outside windows ofc but which versions are preferable for stability and such?
I would go for latest one
Save BIOS settings.
Put BIOS file in a USB stick formatted to Fat32
Reset CMOS while all power off
Put USB stick in USB2 slot at back.
Start PC, it will ask you to enter it and navigate to BIOS update.
Point it to BIOS file in USB and when it checks it agree to update. It shouldn't last longer than few minutes but make sure it''s not interrupted during that time. No kiddies or dogs/cats running around.
After it's finished you can restore saved settings.
 
Sep 16, 2022
3
0
10
First check for BIOS updates, in a no small number of cases there were updates to BIOS and AGESA code to fix memory problems.
I would also check each module and together with out of windows environment
and within

Hi Mike.

I tried memtest64 and ran it for like 2 hours just on the bad module, it functioned and didn't give any errors, but all screens in my pc went black, unless I'd close and open them again, except for the desktop environment itself. I don't think this was weird, since maybe their ram got used by the test, but I don't actually know if it means anything.

As for the BIOS, I updated it to that last version, everything went ok, and ram still crashes while testing it at default non xmp settings.

UPDATE: So I tried both of my sticks in a friend's pc, and both of them worked properly at least for the little time I had to try them. It has to be the interaction of that specific module with my system what triggers the issue.

One thing I noticed though, was that the memory had different timings by default. I suppose this is normal for a different board and cpu, but it makes me wonder if I can tweak something to make it stable on my computer. The main timings were all the same except cas, which was 19 instead of 20, and command rate at 2 instead of 1 as it is on my pc.

Would it make a difference to try matching it?

What about ways to increase stability, could increasing ram voltage, a slight cpu overclock, or changing timings help?
 
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