Question Unable to run Dual Channel Ram. Post capable only in Single Channel

[Reason25]

Hello everyone, Long time lurker, first-time poster.

I have been trying to troubleshoot a problem of mine for quite some time now. A friend of mine who builds PCs has attempted to help me but, now we are both at a loss.

We have come to the conclusion to try a new Motherboard or I will require a new CPU due to possible damage. Here is the story. Originally my pc worked without an issue for about 2 years. One day my PC had a hard crash and the PC would not post or respond. I took it to the local PC shop and they came to conclude that my at the time RAM managed to damage the motherboard and with my old functioning ram provided the system worked with a new motherboard. With one catch, The system only operates in Single channel ram format. If it is not in a Single channel the PC will not post. and is stuck with the DRAM light on.

2 years have passed roughly since then. The other day I was playing a game and suffered a hard crash. Upon shutting down the PC. The same issue occurred. My Dram light was on. I wanted to attempt to fix this issue and learn how to troubleshoot my own pc etc. My friend walked me through installing a new copy of the same motherboard as I had previously. we inspected the CPU and couldn't see any damage to the pins. and thus we thought perhaps we had a bad motherboard. Well with the new Motherboard installed the same issue persists. I have also purchased new ram and this did not change anything.

What we have done:

1. Booted on each individual ram stick in the far right slot of the board
2. Reset CMOS
3. Reset CPU multiple times
4. swapped motherboards (same model)
5. ensured DIMM slots were not off in BIOS
6. Purchased new ram and repeated testing

Now we have two options left to determine the culprit, those being a damaged cpu thus causing these issues or it's this particular motherboard. At this point, it is important to say the computer functions normally and well even in this single-channel format, and currently, I have no issues in this single-channel ram format. I know I am losing some performance, but I am also unsure if it is practical to change my cpu to another ryzen cpu. Will the performance gained be worth the money spend in regard to the functionality in single channel.

Here are my system specs if anyone is interested.

Power: Corsair RM 750
CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU : Nvidia MSI OC VENTUS Geforce RTX 2080 Super
Motherboard: Asus Tuf gaming x570 plus wifi
AIO: Corsair H60
Ram: Corsair Vengence RGB PRO
Storage: M.2 NVME 2.0 1TB SSD , 1 TB harddrive ( Barracuda)
OS: Windows 10 Home

Replacement parts I am considering

Motherboard:
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus ATX MB Socket AM4 M.2
CPU:
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6x 3.9 ghz 19mg AM4

I am not sure if this is of any use but I ran a UserBenchmark and here are my results:

UserBenchmarks: Game 116%, Desk 96%, Work 130%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - 92.6%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080S (Super) - 126.7%
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB - 302.8%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2018) - 95.1%
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB - 53.5%
MBD: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI)

Please let me know if there is any information I can provide additionally. Any help/ recommendations is greatly appreciated!

I hope you all have a fantastic new year!

Sincerely,
Reason

 

[Bob.B]

Hello everyone, Long time lurker, first-time poster.

I have been trying to troubleshoot a problem of mine for quite some time now. A friend of mine who builds PCs has attempted to help me but, now we are both at a loss.

We have come to the conclusion to try a new Motherboard or I will require a new CPU due to possible damage. Here is the story. Originally my pc worked without an issue for about 2 years. One day my PC had a hard crash and the PC would not post or respond. I took it to the local PC shop and they came to conclude that my at the time RAM managed to damage the motherboard and with my old functioning ram provided the system worked with a new motherboard. With one catch, The system only operates in Single channel ram format. If it is not in a Single channel the PC will not post. and is stuck with the DRAM light on.

2 years have passed roughly since then. The other day I was playing a game and suffered a hard crash. Upon shutting down the PC. The same issue occurred. My Dram light was on. I wanted to attempt to fix this issue and learn how to troubleshoot my own pc etc. My friend walked me through installing a new copy of the same motherboard as I had previously. we inspected the CPU and couldn't see any damage to the pins. and thus we thought perhaps we had a bad motherboard. Well with the new Motherboard installed the same issue persists. I have also purchased new ram and this did not change anything.

What we have done:

1. Booted on each individual ram stick in the far right slot of the board
2. Reset CMOS
3. Reset CPU multiple times
4. swapped motherboards (same model)
5. ensured DIMM slots were not off in BIOS
6. Purchased new ram and repeated testing

Now we have two options left to determine the culprit, those being a damaged cpu thus causing these issues or it's this particular motherboard. At this point, it is important to say the computer functions normally and well even in this single-channel format, and currently, I have no issues in this single-channel ram format. I know I am losing some performance, but I am also unsure if it is practical to change my cpu to another ryzen cpu. Will the performance gained be worth the money spend in regard to the functionality in single channel.

Here are my system specs if anyone is interested.

Power: Corsair RM 750
CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU : Nvidia MSI OC VENTUS Geforce RTX 2080 Super
Motherboard: Asus Tuf gaming x570 plus wifi
AIO: Corsair H60
Ram: Corsair Vengence RGB PRO
Storage: M.2 NVME 2.0 1TB SSD , 1 TB harddrive ( Barracuda)
OS: Windows 10 Home

Replacement parts I am considering

Motherboard:
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus ATX MB Socket AM4 M.2
CPU:
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6x 3.9 ghz 19mg AM4

I am not sure if this is of any use but I ran a UserBenchmark and here are my results:

UserBenchmarks: Game 116%, Desk 96%, Work 130%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - 92.6%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080S (Super) - 126.7%
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB - 302.8%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2018) - 95.1%
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB - 53.5%
MBD: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI)

Please let me know if there is any information I can provide additionally. Any help/ recommendations is greatly appreciated!

I hope you all have a fantastic new year!

Sincerely,
Reason

Run ubm like this.

Reboot.
Wait a few mins.
Run ubm with the browser closed.
Post a LINK to the results page.

 

[Reason25]

Run ubm like this.

Reboot.
Wait a few mins.
Run ubm with the browser closed.
Post a LINK to the results page.

Hi Bob! Thank you so much for the response and interest! I really appreciate it!

Here is the outcome of the test you requested. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Thanks again!

Link ( Rebooted waited then ran):
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/57836138

Link (Shutdown, waited 4 minutes then ran on boot) :
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/57835992

 

[Bob.B]

Hi Bob! Thank you so much for the response and interest! I really appreciate it!

Here is the outcome of the test you requested. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Thanks again!

Link ( Rebooted waited then ran):
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/57836138

Link (Shutdown, waited 4 minutes then ran on boot) :
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/57835992

What slots do you have the ram in?

What bios level do you have?

 

[Reason25]

What slots do you have the ram in?

What bios level do you have?

Currently, the RAM is in the farthest two slots, I can run the PC with a single ram stick in the farthest right slot but outside of these two configurations, the PC does not boot successfully.

The BIOS version reads:
American Megathreads Inc 4403, 27.04.2022

Let me know what else I can do! I hope your day is well!

 

[Unolocogringo]

First question.
Is this a matched set from one package or 2 sticks from separate packages???
Mixing DDR4 is most likely to fail compared to DDR3, DDR2, DDR...etc.....

 

[Reason25]

First question.
Is this a matched set from one package or 2 sticks from separate packages???
Mixing DDR4 is most likely to fail compared to DDR3, DDR2, DDR...etc.....

Yes, the current Ram is from the same set and they were purchased as a set in one box. Sorry, I should have specified that earlier!
Thank you for your time and help!

 

[Bob.B]

Currently, the RAM is in the farthest two slots, I can run the PC with a single ram stick in the farthest right slot but outside of these two configurations, the PC does not boot successfully.

The BIOS version reads:
American Megathreads Inc 4403, 27.04.2022

Let me know what else I can do! I hope your day is well!

I think there is a newer bios might be worth a shot.

If you turn off xmp does the bootable ram slot configs change?

 

[Reason25]

I think there is a newer bios might be worth a shot.

If you turn off xmp does the bootable ram slot configs change?

Unfortunately, the bios update didn't make a different, neither did turning off my DOCP, I am unsure if that is the same thing as the XMP. If I am mistaken please let me know! Thank you again!

 

[Bob.B]

Unfortunately, the bios update didn't make a different, neither did turning off my DOCP, I am unsure if that is the same thing as the XMP. If I am mistaken please let me know! Thank you again!

Xmp/docp is the same thing.

With all the parts that have been swapped I don't know what's happening.

Just to get windows out of the mix put a copy of memtest86 on a flash stick.

Use memtest to see if anything changes.

 

[Reason25]

Xmp/docp is the same thing.

With all the parts that have been swapped I don't know what's happening.

Just to get windows out of the mix put a copy of memtest86 on a flash stick.

Use memtest to see if anything changes.

I haven't tried that before, is this the correct website?

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Thanks again for all the help! I will be out for a bit so I will report with the results as soon as possible!

I really appreciate it!

 

[kerberos_20]

test single stick in all slots, you have four of them, you may need to reset CMOS when switching ram from one slot to another as some ram trained settings might be different on different slot

to clear cmos: turn off pc, switch off power supply, pres power button few times to discharge any residual power left, then switch jumper/short with screwdriver clear cmos pins, if you used jumper, don forget to switch it back/remove it

so clear cmos, move ram module to a1 slot (3rd from cpu), turn on pc, can take few minutes to boot, after 5min waiting max,
turn it off
clear cmos, switch module to 2nd slot, power up, wait for up to 5min, once done power off, reset cmoss and try last first slot
ince done and all four slits tested with single stick, including reseting cmos +waiting for mem training
Which slots works and which do not work?

 

[Reason25]

test single stick in all slots, you have four of them, you may need to reset CMOS when switching ram from one slot to another as some ram trained settings might be different on different slot

to clear cmos: turn off pc, switch off power supply, pres power button few times to discharge any residual power left, then switch jumper/short with screwdriver clear cmos pins, if you used jumper, don forget to switch it back/remove it

so clear cmos, move ram module to a1 slot (3rd from cpu), turn on pc, can take few minutes to boot, after 5min waiting max,
turn it off
clear cmos, switch module to 2nd slot, power up, wait for up to 5min, once done power off, reset cmoss and try last first slot
ince done and all four slits tested with single stick, including reseting cmos +waiting for mem training
Which slots works and which do not work?

Thank you! I have done this with my initial pass of troubleshooting, I can do this again if you would like me to be certain! I remember I would only get a post if a stick was in the most far right slot initially, so it would not post if I had 1 stick in the center right slot or any others. I am at the moment stuck doing some work for University but, I will replicate this tomorrow if desired to!

Thank you so much for all the help and time! I didn't want to take an immense amount of time to respond, also I didn't want you to think I was ignoring your help, as I greatly appreciate all the advice and assistance!

Thank you again!

 

[Bob.B]

I haven't tried that before, is this the correct website?

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Thanks again for all the help! I will be out for a bit so I will report with the results as soon as possible!

I really appreciate it!

Yes.

 

[Reason25]

I wanted to give an update regarding this situation, I was able to get ahold of a Ryzen 5 5600G and swapped that into the socket and it worked. The issue has been resolved, so it seems there was a problem with my old processor! I wanted to thank you both for your time and help! I am sorry I was not able to get back to you sooner regarding this!

Thanks again and best wishes to you both!