Z390 Aorus Ultra - RAM issue's

[nathan.kestier]

Hi guys,

i have updated my system with a new motherboard, CPU, GPU and Ram.

• 
  Motherboard: Z390 Aorus Ultra
  CPU: i7-9700K
  GPU: Gefore GTX 1080 Ti
  Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws SDRAM-DDR4-3200 2x8GB (2 slots)

Now when installing everything i had alot of issue's when using the 'correct' ram slots on the motherboard.

There are 4 slots, called A1 / A2 / B1 / B2.
The manual says: Use A2 & B2 is you are only using 2 slots.
So the ram can work in dual mode instead of single mode.

Tried it with the following problems:

• 
  PC goes in boot loop
  PC doesnt boot
  If it does boot it crashes when reaching windows
  BSOD with KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED (not driver related, pure ram issue)

So instead of using A2 & B2 im using B1 & B2 atm. But sadly enough the ram runs in single channel. I did a BIOS flash to update from F3 to F5.
Went perfectly and on the first boot going into bios mode i got the message that i'm using the wrong slots (what is correct ofc).

I was glad to receive this message hoping they fixed the problems with a BIOS flash. But sadly it didnt, same results when using the correct slots again.

Now i'm turing towards the almighty internet hoping to find someone to help me out. I don't know what I can do next to fix the problem (not really want to buy 4 slots of ram to fix the issue).

Thanks in advance,
Nathan.

 

[popatim]

Enable xmp in the bios and check that the ram's voltage sets to 1.35

 

[nathan.kestier]

Enable xmp in the bios and check that the ram's voltage sets to 1.35

Hey Popatim,

thanks for answering! Sadly enough, that is already the case. XMP is active and the voltage is set to 1.35.

https://imgur.com/a/pcK4RDf

Anything else I could do to fix the problem?

[UPDATE]

I installed Gigabyte's App Center to run EasyTune.
This program shows me the "XMP Setup Profile" as "Disable".
When I put it "Profile 1" I need to reboot my PC but after reboot it shows as "Disable" again. When I check the BIOS its on "Profile 1".

https://imgur.com/a/6HDsWLa

Could this be the issue? If yes, how do I fix it?

 

[eyeon]

I just got this same motherboard yesterday and I will also be using 2 x 8GB. Can't test it yet because I am waiting on some other parts, but the manual says you can use A1 and B1 OR A2 and B2. What happens when you use A1 and B1? I checked pcpartpicker to see if anyone has this board yet and is only using 2 sticks of RAM. One guy is and he has the ram in A1 and B1. Let me know, I should have mine up and running in a few days hopefully I don't run into the same issue.

 

[popatim]

Enable xmp in the bios and check that the ram's voltage sets to 1.35

Hey Popatim,

thanks for answering! Sadly enough, that is already the case. XMP is active and the voltage is set to 1.35.

https://imgur.com/a/pcK4RDf

Anything else I could do to fix the problem?

[UPDATE]

I installed Gigabyte's App Center to run EasyTune.
This program shows me the "XMP Setup Profile" as "Disable".
When I put it "Profile 1" I need to reboot my PC but after reboot it shows as "Disable" again. When I check the BIOS its on "Profile 1".

https://imgur.com/a/6HDsWLa

Could this be the issue? If yes, how do I fix it?

Sorry I didn't catch that the first time, but your motherboad does not support that CPU.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-ULTRA-rev-10#support-cpu

 

[nathan.kestier]

Enable xmp in the bios and check that the ram's voltage sets to 1.35

Hey Popatim,

thanks for answering! Sadly enough, that is already the case. XMP is active and the voltage is set to 1.35.

https://imgur.com/a/pcK4RDf

Anything else I could do to fix the problem?

[UPDATE]

I installed Gigabyte's App Center to run EasyTune.
This program shows me the "XMP Setup Profile" as "Disable".
When I put it "Profile 1" I need to reboot my PC but after reboot it shows as "Disable" again. When I check the BIOS its on "Profile 1".

https://imgur.com/a/6HDsWLa

Could this be the issue? If yes, how do I fix it?

Sorry I didn't catch that the first time, but your motherboad does not support that CPU.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-ULTRA-rev-10#support-cpu

Hey Popatim,

I made a mistake in my original post it seems like ... I have a i7 9700K (not a 7700).
Sorry for the wrong information.

https://imgur.com/Hhyaw0B

 

[nathan.kestier]

I just got this same motherboard yesterday and I will also be using 2 x 8GB. Can't test it yet because I am waiting on some other parts, but the manual says you can use A1 and B1 OR A2 and B2. What happens when you use A1 and B1? I checked pcpartpicker to see if anyone has this board yet and is only using 2 sticks of RAM. One guy is and he has the ram in A1 and B1. Let me know, I should have mine up and running in a few days hopefully I don't run into the same issue.

Hey Eyeon,

thanks for answering!

I tried the A1/B1 combination when I installed everything (when I had troubles with A2/B2) but it was the same result then.
However, since my last try I pushed some updates through, mostly updating the BIOS to F5.

At this moment, I'm occupying slot A1/B1 and its working (in dual channel)!
No crashes, no boot lockups or any other problems. I put it through a benchtest to be sure and no problems there aswell.

https://imgur.com/J0zrxX1

The only "problem" i have now is, the bench test show my RAM preforming 'badly' ...
It says: ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled. (it is)

https://imgur.com/qh2MymI

EasyTune still says "XMP Setup Profile" is disabled, but everytime I go into BIOS mode on startup its active there.

I can do anything else to improve this?

 

[nathan.kestier]

UPDATE:

A1/B1 is having the same problems like A2/B2 (back to B1/B2).
It runs stable in windows, but once I start gaming BSOD everywhere.

So still not fixed sadly enough!

I hope this information can help to find a solution:

https://imgur.com/ylgiwZ6
https://imgur.com/K4jSzax
https://imgur.com/7608PWg

The program says the RAM Voltage is 1.20V, would this be the issue since it should be 1.35V?

More BIOS screens: https://imgur.com/a/afo2GaZ

The Profile 1 that should be running put 1.35V but once in windows the program CPU-Z says different?
Also when Profile 1 is disabled it says 1.20V (what CPU-Z is telling me now) ...

Is there some faulty firmware shit going on so my motherboard isnt loading "Profile 1" and just disables it on boot?

 

[yiyi_cl]

Hello Nathan,
I have the same Motherboard/CPU and had the same problems, the most frequent in loading windows screen.
I installed Windows 10 the first time with all the available updates and after testing all possible configurations, updated the BIOS to F5, testing with the integrated GPU, etc.
I decided to reinstall windows without updates (or just some)
Now im using A1 / B1 in profile 1 (2933+1.35v) without problems, I've tried with some games and work ok.

Regards.

https://imgur.com/zUExJDP
https://imgur.com/cix1kdm

 

[nathan.kestier]

Hello Nathan,
I have the same Motherboard/CPU and had the same problems, the most frequent in loading windows screen.
I installed Windows 10 the first time with all the available updates and after testing all possible configurations, updated the BIOS to F5, testing with the integrated GPU, etc.
I decided to reinstall windows without updates (or just some)
Now im using A1 / B1 in profile 1 (2933+1.35v) without problems, I've tried with some games and work ok.

Regards.

https://imgur.com/zUExJDP
https://imgur.com/cix1kdm

Hi Yiyi_cl,

thanks for answering!

So you think Windows is to blame? I am planning to do a full Windows reset in a couple of weeks (during holidays).
What kind of updates do you skip then? Because if it would be caused by an update i'd like to find out.

Did you change anything in your BIOS to help with the issue?

 

[yiyi_cl]

I downloaded and install a copy of windows 10 with this features and dont installed none updates
I just update the BIOS and change XMP to profile 1


* Windows 10 Pro X64 Redstone 3 en-US March 2018
* Version 1709 Build 16299.251

[ RELEASE INFO ]

* File: W10X64.1709.ENU.MAR2018.iso
* Size: 4,61GB
* Format: Bootable ISO

* SOURCE:
* 16299.15.170928-1534.RS3_RELEASE_CLIENTCONSUMER_OEMRET_X64FRE_EN-US

* CRC32: 7bdda4f0
* MD5 : 138062c79390bac3b675b250fde2abbb
* SHA-1: 342979c328bd22eadabf14a8c17aacba141e5f37

[ CONTENTS ]

* Integrated / Pre-installed:

* Flash Player Security Update:
* KB4074595
* Servicing Stack Update:
* KB4090914
* Cumulative Update:
* KB4090913

 

[eyeon]

Nathan did you get it working? I booted my system up for the first time and it seems to be working fine right out of the box. I haven't even updated my bios yet I just changed it to Profile 1 and it seems good.

https://imgur.com/a/4nFxmjj
https://imgur.com/a/B6KRmsb
https://imgur.com/a/k42Zf8W

RAM is in A1 and B1. Hesitant to update my bios now after reading this though lol

Edit: Oh I just checked there is a new F6 bios update now.

 

[nathan.kestier]

Nathan did you get it working? I booted my system up for the first time and it seems to be working fine right out of the box. I haven't even updated my bios yet I just changed it to Profile 1 and it seems good.

https://imgur.com/a/4nFxmjj
https://imgur.com/a/B6KRmsb
https://imgur.com/a/k42Zf8W

RAM is in A1 and B1. Hesitant to update my bios now after reading this though lol

Edit: Oh I just checked there is a new F6 bios update now.

Hey Eyeon,

nope, still not working for me sadly enough.
I will be doing a clean Windows install very soon tho, hoping that will fix the issue.

I will be trying the new BIOS update aswell, got nothing to lose now.
I'll give an update on that ASAP.

 

[nathan.kestier]

I downloaded and install a copy of windows 10 with this features and dont installed none updates
I just update the BIOS and change XMP to profile 1


* Windows 10 Pro X64 Redstone 3 en-US March 2018
* Version 1709 Build 16299.251

[ RELEASE INFO ]

* File: W10X64.1709.ENU.MAR2018.iso
* Size: 4,61GB
* Format: Bootable ISO

* SOURCE:
* 16299.15.170928-1534.RS3_RELEASE_CLIENTCONSUMER_OEMRET_X64FRE_EN-US

* CRC32: 7bdda4f0
* MD5 : 138062c79390bac3b675b250fde2abbb
* SHA-1: 342979c328bd22eadabf14a8c17aacba141e5f37

[ CONTENTS ]

* Integrated / Pre-installed:

* Flash Player Security Update:
* KB4074595
* Servicing Stack Update:
* KB4090914
* Cumulative Update:
* KB4090913

Hey Yiyi_cl,

thanks for the extra information! Got any link I can download this exact version?

 

[nathan.kestier]

UPDATE:

Firmware F6.
RAM is in slot A2 & B2, want to try this first since BIOS is referring to those slots.

> No boot loops
> No crashes
> No crash on benchmark

So far so good, i will be testing gaming this evening tho. So i'll give an update on that aswell.
Benchmark on RAM seems alot better now (see screenshots).

After BIOS update to F6 on first boot it said i needed to switch to other RAM slots.
So I did and on that boot I went into BIOS mode and it said XMP was disabled.
Normally I switch BIOS mode to standard, but maybe this is where things go wrong ... I got a feeling even tho it said it was in XMP mode, somehow it wasn't.

https://imgur.com/5aVK9Za
https://imgur.com/AHowE7S
https://imgur.com/NrTRAnP
https://imgur.com/f2HEaBa
https://imgur.com/cvpNh5O

 

[nathan.kestier]

UPDATE:

Played for hours on end without an issue ... i stop playing and BSOD twice, boot lockup/boot loop.
Its freaking strange! I think I need to get a fresh install on windows and try this all again.

BSOD: VIDEO SCHEDULARE INTERNAL ERROR
BSOD: KERNEL SECURITY CEHCK FAILURE

After using B1/B2 slots, everything runs normal again.
Between BSOD's i receive multiple errors about not finding Windows to boot.

I'm not gonne wait any longer and going to start a fresh install this week.
Keeping you all updated, pray for me .

 

[nathan.kestier]

UPDATE:

New fresh install, same issue's ... !
Motherboard in F3, XMP active, slots A1/B1, BSOD during gaming.

Help ... please ... what can i do?

 

[nathan.kestier]

I contacted Gigabyte aswell for support, this is their answer:

Dear Psyy,

Thank you for emailing GIGABYTE.
We are delighted with your interest in our products.

Would you please try reinstall the CPU and RAM newly again, and make sure there are not any lose connect.
Specially make sure there are not any pin bent or dirty in the CPU socket, and then make a full reset about the system. and test again.

> Switch off power supply and wait 30 s
> Remove CMOS battery.
> Shortcircuit the contacts in the battery holder for about 2s.
> Remove shortcircuit.
> Reinstall CMOS battery.
> Now shortcircuit Clear CMOS jumper for 10 s.
> Remove shortcircuit.
> Turn on the PSU switch.
> Start system and immediately boot into the bios setup.
> Load Optimized Defaults. Check Time and date. Check SATA Mode setting. If you did set SATA Mode to RAID Mode before you did Clear CMOS, please set SATA Mode back to RAID. Finish bios setup with Save & Exit.



I have followed all the above steps, and somehow the XMP profile is not active (it never is on default i guess) but my RAM does run in dual mode.
Its in slots A2/B2 atm.

I will be testing more tomorrow (bench & gaming), more updates to come.

 

[carlotta.matt]

I contacted Gigabyte aswell for support, this is their answer:

Dear Psyy,

Thank you for emailing GIGABYTE.
We are delighted with your interest in our products.

Would you please try reinstall the CPU and RAM newly again, and make sure there are not any lose connect.
Specially make sure there are not any pin bent or dirty in the CPU socket, and then make a full reset about the system. and test again.

> Switch off power supply and wait 30 s
> Remove CMOS battery.
> Shortcircuit the contacts in the battery holder for about 2s.
> Remove shortcircuit.
> Reinstall CMOS battery.
> Now shortcircuit Clear CMOS jumper for 10 s.
> Remove shortcircuit.
> Turn on the PSU switch.
> Start system and immediately boot into the bios setup.
> Load Optimized Defaults. Check Time and date. Check SATA Mode setting. If you did set SATA Mode to RAID Mode before you did Clear CMOS, please set SATA Mode back to RAID. Finish bios setup with Save & Exit.



I have followed all the above steps, and somehow the XMP profile is not active (it never is on default i guess) but my RAM does run in dual mode.
Its in slots A2/B2 atm.

I will be testing more tomorrow (bench & gaming), more updates to come.

I have the exact same problem with my z390 Aorus Xtreme board. I bought some Corsair Dominator 4000mhz RAM and I can only get it to POST at 2933mhz @1.25v.

Doesn't matter where the RAM is seated (A1/B1 or A2/B2) and doesn't matter if I'm running at stock CPU frequency or an overclock.

 

[nathan.kestier]

All problems start when I activate XMP profile, if I dont touch that everything will run fine.
The RAM will run in dual mode but is only half as good in benchmarks due to XMP not beeing active.

I have not found a solution to this problem sadly enough ...
I will probebly get another 2x8 GB of RAM to fill all the slots and run XMP then. (I hope its not a waste of money)

 

[nathan.kestier]

Still no solution to my problem sadly enough.

The system was steady for a while when i had A2/B2 without XMP active. But then randomly it went downhill from there aswell.
BSOD, after that i changed it back to B1/B2 single mode and no problems at all ...

This is strange aswell tho, when i have B1/B2 my motherboard is in F6 firmware.
When i change the RAM to A2/B2 the firmware reverts back to F3.
When i change it back to B1/B2 its back to F6 ... is that shit normal?

Could my motherboard be the problem?
Could it be possible that my CPU can't handle 3200 Mhz RAM?

 

[eyeon]

Highly doubt it is the CPU, most likely RAM or mobo. Have you ran the RAM through memtest?

Do you have a friend with a pair of 3200 ram who will let you test it? You need to isolate which component is bad.

If all else fails you will have to RMA the RAM. See if the new RAM works fine. If not then it is the motherboard and you will need to RMA that.

Good luck.

Side note mine is working great. 9700k, Gigabyte Aorus Ultra, 16GB 3200Mhz. Ran multiple stress tests, benchmarks and gaming sessions. No issues. Even have the CPU overclocked at 5.1Ghz. This motherboard is great.

 

[nathan.kestier]

Hey Eyeon,

thanks for a reply!

Going back to the store tomorrow, gonne test Corsair 16 GB DDR4-2666 RAM in the store to see if it get the same issues.
If that is working fine, ill test some other 3200 Mhz and see from there.

More updates tomorrow

Cheers!

 

[nathan.kestier]

Hey Eyeon,

can you let me know what kind of RAM you are using?

 

[nathan.kestier]

Nathan did you get it working? I booted my system up for the first time and it seems to be working fine right out of the box. I haven't even updated my bios yet I just changed it to Profile 1 and it seems good.

https://imgur.com/a/4nFxmjj
https://imgur.com/a/B6KRmsb
https://imgur.com/a/k42Zf8W

RAM is in A1 and B1. Hesitant to update my bios now after reading this though lol

Edit: Oh I just checked there is a new F6 bios update now.

Did you activate XMP profile in the BIOS?