Question XMP cause boot failure

[xiude]

I'm having an issue using XMP with 32GB RAM. I bought an extra 8GBx2 in December 2023. At first it was working fine until recently my system and my games started freezing/crashing. I thought it was my OS and then did a clean OS install, now using xmp caused boot failure. Xmp was working fine with 16GB RAM 8x2 sticks. I do not know how to tune memory so any advice would be appreciated.
NOTE: I did a memtest and found no RAM issues and latest Bios installed.

Core i5-10400F
Antec VP500 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Antec A400 CPU Cooler
ASUS Rog Strix Z490-H Gaming Intel ATX Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600MHz 32GB (8GBx4)
GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 Card
256GB NVME M.2 PCIe Internal Solid State Drive
1TB NVME M.2 PCIe Internal Solid State Drive

 

[jordanbuilds1]

prob need to lower the frequency. this vid should help:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-MLhGMtheM

 

[Satan-IR]

On a somehow differet note can you post a link to the exact model of the PSU you have or take a clear photo from it's labe, upload to imgur.com and post link here? If it is from the series I think, it is a very low quality PSU. I would change that ASAP before it fails and ruins other components with it.

If system worked 'fine' before with all the RAM freezes/crashes might be something else too. Like PSU acting up or high temps. Have you moitored CPU + GPU temps while gaming? Are temps within the 'normal' range? Does it not POST or not boot with XMP enablded?

Mixing RAM is always a gamble. Sometimes works, sometimes causes many issue from crashes and BSODs and such. Sometimes outright refuses to work like in your case refusues to POST/boot.

Have you tried reseting the CMOS with all sticks installed? With all sticks plugged in and BIOS reset it might POST.

Have you tried without the XMP? Does it POST and boot then? With all sticks or with either 2x8GB?

What are the exact model numbers of both kits? Are they identical? What about revision numbers?

You might be able to tweak some settings manually to make them work but after that you might have issues too with applications and games.

I personally would get rid of both packs and get a 2x16GB if I absolutely needed the 32GB. Then get a kit/pack that comes together. That way it would work dual-channel and won't put extra pressure on memory controller with 4 modules. Also check your board RAM QVL on Asus website and preferrably get RAM that's listed there.

Generally for 32GB of RAM it's better to have 2x16GB instead of 4x8GB. Less stress on the memory controller to hande 2 sticks instead of 4.

 

[jordanbuilds1]

On a somehow differet note can you post a link to the exact model of the PSU you have or take a clear photo from it's labe, upload to imgur.com and post link here? If it is from the series I think, it is a very low quality PSU. I would change that ASAP before it fails and ruins other components with it.

If system worked 'fine' before with all the RAM freezes/crashes might be something else too. Like PSU acting up or high temps. Have you moitored CPU + GPU temps while gaming? Are temps within the 'normal' range? Does it not POST or not boot with XMP enablded?

Mixing RAM is always a gamble. Sometimes works, sometimes causes many issue from crashes and BSODs and such. Sometimes outright refuses to work like in your case refusues to POST/boot.

Have you tried reseting the CMOS with all sticks installed? With all sticks plugged in and BIOS reset it might POST.

Have you tried without the XMP? Does it POST and boot then? With all sticks or with either 2x8GB?

What are the exact model numbers of both kits? Are they identical? What about revision numbers?

You might be able to tweak some settings manually to make them work but after that you might have issues too with applications and games.

I personally would get rid of both packs and get a 2x16GB if I absolutely needed the 32GB. Then get a kit/pack that comes together. That way it would work dual-channel and won't put extra pressure on memory controller with 4 modules. Also check your board RAM QVL on Asus website and preferrably get RAM that's listed there.

Generally for 32GB of RAM it's better to have 2x16GB instead of 4x8GB. Less stress on the memory controller to hande 2 sticks instead of 4.

could also be a dead ram moduel. do you see a red light on the motherboard when turning on?

 

[xiude]

On a somehow differet note can you post a link to the exact model of the PSU you have or take a clear photo from it's labe, upload to imgur.com and post link here? If it is from the series I think, it is a very low quality PSU. I would change that ASAP before it fails and ruins other components with it.

If system worked 'fine' before with all the RAM freezes/crashes might be something else too. Like PSU acting up or high temps. Have you moitored CPU + GPU temps while gaming? Are temps within the 'normal' range? Does it not POST or not boot with XMP enablded?

Mixing RAM is always a gamble. Sometimes works, sometimes causes many issue from crashes and BSODs and such. Sometimes outright refuses to work like in your case refusues to POST/boot.

Have you tried reseting the CMOS with all sticks installed? With all sticks plugged in and BIOS reset it might POST.

Have you tried without the XMP? Does it POST and boot then? With all sticks or with either 2x8GB?

What are the exact model numbers of both kits? Are they identical? What about revision numbers?

You might be able to tweak some settings manually to make them work but after that you might have issues too with applications and games.

I personally would get rid of both packs and get a 2x16GB if I absolutely needed the 32GB. Then get a kit/pack that comes together. That way it would work dual-channel and won't put extra pressure on memory controller with 4 modules. Also check your board RAM QVL on Asus website and preferrably get RAM that's listed there.

Generally for 32GB of RAM it's better to have 2x16GB instead of 4x8GB. Less stress on the memory controller to hande 2 sticks instead of 4.

RAM kits are both identical it is using Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600MHz 8GBx2 and so are the numbers however the manufacturers are different one being Samsung and the other is Nanya Technology, I checked using CPUZ. The pc does post without XMP and runs completely fine with no issues however with XMP enable it does not post and posts in safe mode saying system instability from previous settings. This is with all sticks of RAM.

I don't know why but it used to post fine with XMP till my system started freezing and crashing and when I did a clean OS install it does not post at all with XMP.

This afternoon I manually set the frequency to 3200 and touched nothing else, so far good however I haven't run any games or apps that uses a lot of memory. With the XMP profile it sets the frequency to 3600 and voltage to 1.3 and it tweaks 4 other RAM settings which I have no knowledge of and that's when the pc does not post.

I've tried resetting CMOS with all sticks installed and still the same issue when I enable XMP.

Power Supply Image:

https://imgur.com/a/FWCdu9c

View: https://imgur.com/a/FWCdu9c

 

[jordanbuilds1]

RAM kits are both identical it is using Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600MHz 8GBx2 and so are the numbers however the manufacturers are different one being Samsung and the other is Nanya Technology, I checked using CPUZ. The pc does post without XMP and runs completely fine with no issues however with XMP enable it does not post and posts in safe mode saying system instability from previous settings. This is with all sticks of RAM.

I don't know why but it used to post fine with XMP till my system started freezing and crashing and when I did a clean OS install it does not post at all with XMP.

This afternoon I manually set the frequency to 3200 and touched nothing else, so far good however I haven't run any games or apps that uses a lot of memory. With the XMP profile it sets the frequency to 3600 and voltage to 1.3 and it tweaks 4 other RAM settings which I have no knowledge of and that's when the pc does not post.

I've tried resetting CMOS with all sticks installed and still the same issue when I enable XMP.

Power Supply Image:

https://imgur.com/a/FWCdu9c

View: https://imgur.com/a/FWCdu9c

again just to make sure, do you see a red dram light on your mobo

 

[Satan-IR]

RAM kits are both identical it is using Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600MHz 8GBx2 and so are the numbers however the manufacturers are different one being Samsung and the other is Nanya Technology, I checked using CPUZ. The pc does post without XMP and runs completely fine with no issues however with XMP enable it does not post and posts in safe mode saying system instability from previous settings. This is with all sticks of RAM.

Well that's the point. Even if the chips come from the same manufacturer a special model that's made within a few days differ as they're from different parts of the material those chips are cut and binned from. Not even the RAM chip made by same manufacturer 2 weeks apart are guaranteed to work together. That's why they come in kits/packs. They test and make sure they work together. These sticks you have are quite different in terms of chip fabircation, although the stickers/labels say they're the same.

I think you have to consider other issues like PSU acting up, storage issues, drivers because you say the freezes/crashes started a while after you used all 4x8GB with XMP enabled.

You didn't say if you have monitored temps at idle and under load (gaming).

No problems without XMP enabled means the modules and the slots are most probably OK. The board and CPU can't handle 4 sticks with different chips at higher clocks. Which is not strange or unexpected given you're mixing RAM.

I'm not sure you can manually tweak them and force them to work if they don't work at XMP (JEDEC) profiles together. Maybe somebody with more experience on this can help.

Again I would get a 2x16GB kit that came as a kit/pack. Or keep using the 32GB without XMP at 3200Mhz.

And unless I'm mistaken that PSU is bad news. How old is it? You don't have a very demanding power hungry CPU + GPU but that is a low quality PSU and I would avoid that. I'd suggest you replace that with a good quality unit ASAP.

I would also check SMART health status of storage drives. You can use CrystalDiskInfo or HDSentinel or HDTune. I'm guessing you have OS on one and games on another? Those freezes/crashes can also be caused by storage issues.

 

[xiude]

again just to make sure, do you see a red dram light on your mobo

No red light.

 

[thestryker]

On dual channel systems running 4 sticks at higher speeds is a gamble. Sometimes you might be fine, but others you might not there's no way to predict it until you test it. Chances are pretty high that this is your issue.

 

[jordanbuilds1]

No red light.

prob a psu issue then.

 

[Dragos Manea]

when you are mixing sets of ram it is VERY VERY important to keep the sets bought together (the 2 sticks from one set) on the same channel, and the other set to put in on the remaining channel ( for example the 2 sticks from set 1 on channel A and the second 2 sticks set on channel B)