Why cant my 1 day old cpu be stable at 1600mhz ram?

[sobamonster42]

Hi 2 days ago i purchased a new parts for my comp listed below:

i5 3550
8gb corsair vengeance 1600mhz cl9
msi z77ma-g45
seasonic 650w
asus gtx560 ti 1gb top

but i also reused some older parts:
lg dvd writer
corsair force 3 120gb ssd
2 x hitachi 500gb

i reformated my ssd and installed a clean windows 7.

however immediately the comp began showing signs of instability. it kept crashing at random times while running windows 7. i went into the bios and found that my 1600mhz ram was running at 1333mhz. note that both my mobo and ram support 1600mhz WITHOUT overclocking so i was expecting 1600mhz out of the box.

when i bumped the speed up to 1600mhz the comp kept crashing before i can even reach the login page. i tried increasing the voltage from 1.5v to 1.65v and then to 1.8v. it improved stability and i was able to boot into windows but within 5 min the comp still crashed. enabling XMP profile did not help either

it was only when i reduce the frequency to 1066mhz did the comp show signs of stability. i left my comp on and went to sleep thinking the problem was solved. next morning i found that my comp had bluescreen-ed during the night and the problem still exists.

the weird part is that i built almost an exact copy of this pc for my friend a week b4 i bought it myself and he had no complaints or issues with stability. he was using a msi gtx560ti whereas mine was asus. he had a seasonic 620w whereas mine was 650w.

can anyone help me please?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Sounds like it might be a bad stick of ram.
Try one stick at a time to see if it fixes your problem
Download Memtest and put on to a bootable cd or memory stick.
Also anything over 1.5v for memory voids your CPU warranty and can kill it.

 

[nikorr]

Can u try another RAM?

 

[nikorr]

Is it installed @ dimm2 and dimm4 ?

 

[boju]

Try clearing cmos. Either using the jumper described in your manual or remove cmos battery out for 30 seconds. Using the jumper with the battery in may give better results.

 

[nikorr]

Can u reset the BIOS?
Reset the CMOS memory the right way as is described in the motherboard manual using the clear CMOS link with the power cord unplugged.
How To Clear CMOS @ http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm
[flash=480,270]http://www.youtube.com/v/rdHH9KrceR0?version=3&feature=player_detailpage[/flash]

 

[sobamonster42]

i dont hv other ddr3 ram, only the 2 vengeance

i ran the windows 7 memtest and it showed no faults. hvnt tried running memtest tho. serious with the 1.5v? i thot its ok to change voltage for ram/cpu, overclockers do it. and frm wikipedia ddr3 are built to withstand up to 1.95v

"Try clearing cmos. Either using the jumper described in your manual or remove cmos battery out for 30 seconds. Using the jumper with the battery in may give better results."
sry i dont understand ur suggestion, where do i find the jumper?

Is it installed @ dimm2 and dimm4 ?

i think it might be, its the pair thats further frm the cpu.

 

[boju]

Your manual will or should give you the info you need on regards to cmos and where to install memory. The clip Nikorr posted is what i meant.

Otherwise if clearing cmos isn’t helping then said faulty memory might be causing unfortunate issues.

 

[sobamonster42]

Your manual will or should give you the info you need on regards to cmos and where to install memory. The clip Nikorr posted is what i meant.

Otherwise if clearing cmos isn’t helping then said faulty memory might be causing unfortunate issues.

i read the manual and found the jumper location. but i may nt hv the jumper piece cos it was fixed by someone else who did not pass me all the box contents. would the jumper normally be found in the motherboard box along with the sata cables etc or is it found on the motherboard (which the manual seems to suggest). if i do not hv the jumper, frm the video nikorr posted, it seems like removing the battery has the same effect?

im planning to get a 1 for 1 exchange on the ram.

 

[apache_lives]

MSI motherboard - expect issues.

 

[sobamonster42]

MSI motherboard - expect issues.

my first mobo was a msi. died after 1 year. rma it, now still running 6 years.

2nd mobo was a asus thinking its more reliable. died after 2 year. rma it, died again 2months after the 3rd year when the warranty expired.

now on my 3rd mobo decided to go back to msi. 1st day my comp run unstable. cant definitively identify the problem.

 

[boju]

Removing the battery might have the same effect. Sometimes the jumper needs the cmos battery to complete the reset circuit. If simply taking out cmos battery doesn’t fix the problem, put the cmos battery back and try substituting a jumper connection between the 2 pins with something conductive like a paper clip. Just need to have it there for a second.

Obviously don’t have the power cord plugged into the computer and careful not to short anything else around the jumper.

 

[smorizio]

before you rma the ram. have you instaleld the newest bios. there two bios that fix memory issues. the newest bios is 1.4 for that mb. I would flash the mb from a usb stick from the mb bios boot screen and see if that helps. I would also look on the mb and the ram vendor web page to see if your ram on the tested list.

 

[sobamonster42]

ok i'll attempt ur method

before you rma the ram. have you instaleld the newest bios. there two bios that fix memory issues. the newest bios is 1.4 for that mb. I would flash the mb from a usb stick from the mb bios boot screen and see if that helps. I would also look on the mb and the ram vendor web page to see if your ram on the tested list.

yes i updated the bios using the method u described. it did not help. the corsair vengeance 1600mhz is not on the list but the 1333mhz is. the list shows the gskill ripjaw 1600mhz as tested. shld i take the chance and get a replacement vengeance or (if the shop permits) swap for the gskill? which brand is better/more popular?

 

[boju]

You may have to clear the cmos again after a flash. just a thought

Had to follow this procedure with the p8p67 mobo after flashing the bios for it to recognise my 1600 ram.

I thought the z77 would have at least addressed these silly memory issues that plagued p8p67 chipset, unless either memory or mobo is faulty of course. [strike]Couldn’t be as simple as an incompatible problem as youve mentioned your ram has been tested. [/strike] <- sorry missread

Try a reset cmos, very least you'll know you’ve done all you can to troubleshoot before rma/swapping of memory before focussing on replacing the motherboard.

Good luck.

 

[sobamonster42]

You may have to clear the cmos again after a flash. just a thought

Had to follow this procedure with the p8p67 mobo after flashing the bios for it to recognise my 1600 ram.

I thought the z77 would have at least addressed these silly memory issues that plagued p8p67 chipset, unless either memory or mobo is faulty of course. Couldn’t be as simple as an incompatible problem as youve mentioned your ram has been tested.

Try a reset cmos, very least you'll know you’ve done all you can to troubleshoot before rma/swapping of memory before focussing on replacing the motherboard.

Good luck.

:/ i really hope its nt the mobo, a real hassle to take everything out. hope the memory swap works!

thx

 

[sam_fisher]

I have 1600MHz Vengeance memory and it didn't work for me when I first booted my computer. What I did though is enable XMP and set it to 1600MHz, then up the voltage from 1.5V to 1.51V. Have you tried increasing the voltage by only a very small increment, not to 8V like you said.

 

[sobamonster42]

I have 1600MHz Vengeance memory and it didn't work for me when I first booted my computer. What I did though is enable XMP and set it to 1600MHz, then up the voltage from 1.5V to 1.51V. Have you tried increasing the voltage by only a very small increment, not to 8V like you said.

what mobo r u using? im nt use if my bios allows me to increase it by such a small increment. its msi with the fancy gui that tries to make OC easy

 

[sobamonster42]

it appears i had a bad set of ram. i got a 1 for 1 return from the shop i bought them from and now my pc is working fine i would like to thank everyone for their responses!