Weird Memtest86 results

[eli_singer]

I got BSOD's on WIN 10 a lot. It mostly referred to dpc_watchdog_violation but had a few others.
After trying everything drivers-wise, and even re-installing Win 10 to no avail, i tested with Memtest86.

I'm on an MSI X99A Raider Motherboard with 4 sticks of Corsair Vengeance LPX each of 16GB, Total of 64GB of RAM.

Sticks are in slots 1,3,5,7 for quad channel.

First i tested with all 4 sticks.
Within minutes i got hundreds of errors. After a few passes it went to more than 20,000 errors.

Second test i removed one stick from slot 5.
This time i only got 22 errors after around 8 passes.

Third test i removed another stick from slot 7.
This turned to to come out clean. it ran for almost 12 Passes.
So i concluded that the sticks that were in slots 1&3 are ok and the problem is in the sticks that were in slots 5 or 7, or in slots 5 or 7 themselves.

So i ran a 4th test, this time with only the stick that was in slot 5, and i put it back in slot 5 assuming i would get errors.
I got no errors.

Ran a 5th test with only the stick that was in slot 7, put it back in slot 7, again, no errors.

That was really bizarre.

I put back all 4 sticks in the slots they were to begin with, and again, i got hundreds of errors within minutes.

So now I'm puzzled.

Here's a quick rundown of the tests i ran. The stick number is referring to the slot it was put in to.

Sticks 1&3- no errors
Stick 5- no errors
Stick 7- no errors
Sticks 1&3&7- 22 errors
Sticks 1&3&5&7- more than 20,000 errors

What do i make of this?
on their own it looks like the sticks are ok, but putting them together shows up errors.

Would love to get some insight on the matter...

Thanks,

Eli

 

[kanewolf]

Were all 4 of your RAM sticks purchased as a set? If not then you have incompatibilities between similar sets of RAM. Vendors sell matched sets of 4 DIMMs to prevent this problem.

 

[eli_singer]

It was purchased together yes.

 

[caqde]

Well things to try. Updating your BIOS to the latest if it isn't already. P.5 according to MSI's webpage (Each bios lists memory compatibility which might help this issue) make sure to only use 2 sticks when doing this based on your tests. Another option although not ideal would be to try down-clocking the memory or loosening the timings when all the sticks are in the system to see if that reduces the errors.

 

[kanewolf]

If it was purchased as a 4 DIMM matched set, then I would recommend that you contact Corsair and get a replacement set.

 

[eli_singer]

Well things to try. Updating your BIOS to the latest if it isn't already. P.5 according to MSI's webpage (Each bios lists memory compatibility which might help this issue) make sure to only use 2 sticks when doing this based on your tests. Another option although not ideal would be to try down-clocking the memory or loosening the timings when all the sticks are in the system to see if that reduces the errors.

I have the latest BIOS.
I just want to know where is the problem l, if it is with the sticks ir the MB so i know which manufacture to send for RMA, will how does underclocking helps with that?

 

[eli_singer]

If it was purchased as a 4 DIMM matched set, then I would recommend that you contact Corsair and get a replacement set.

How do i know it's the sticks and not the MB?
and how can i isolate which stick?

Eli

 

[kanewolf]

If it was purchased as a 4 DIMM matched set, then I would recommend that you contact Corsair and get a replacement set.

How do i know it's the sticks and not the MB?
and how can i isolate which stick?

Eli

It doesn't matter which stick. Since you purchased them as a set they have to be returned for replacement as a set.

 

[eli_singer]

Well, i ran another test, this time with sticks 5&7.
12 Passes, i got 1 error in test 7.
I don't know what to make of this.
Currently running memtest on sticks 3&5&7

Eli

 

[eli_singer]

Well, things got worse.
I just got my new sticks from the RMA.
Ran memtest, and still got errors!
It's not 20000 errors like i got before, only 2 errors for now (it's still running), but this makes me think the worst- that something is wrong with the motherboard...

So i'm back to square 1, how do i go from here?

Eli