New DDR4 RAM issues

[Alex_Baker]

Hey folks!

I am generally pretty decent with computers, but I recently ran into an issue while trying to upgrade the memory in my PC. I previously had 16GB of Ballistix 2666Mhz memory in 4 sticks of 4GB, so to upgrade I bought two 16GB sticks of Crucial 3200Mhz memory. After installing in the proper slots my computer did a couple of restarts as I would expect, but it would never post.

There are 4 debug LEDs on the board, when I turn the computer on the DRAM LED would be lit, and every two seconds or so it would switch to the CPU LED for half a second, then back to DRAM. This cycle would repeat several times before the computer would power cycle and start over again. I tried different modules in different slots, and several cmos clears with no success. At this point I have to assume that there is some sort of compatibility issue somewhere, but I don't know where I went wrong.

Computer hardware is as follows:
Gigabyte Aorus Z370 ultra gaming wifi
Intel i3 8350k  (I know, stupid)
NVME storage
Gigabyte nvidia GTX 1660

I attached pictures of the stickers on the ram, the grey stick is the Balistix that works, and the black one is the Crucial that does not.
 

[DavidAlfa]

Try only one at once. Clear CMOS with jumper/button/removing battery to clear any settings.
Ensure you have latest bios.

[Alex_Baker]

I didn't, I removed all of the Balistix and installed the two Crucial sticks in alternate slots(one per channel) as recommended by the MB manual.

[Alex_Baker]

Try only one at once. Clear CMOS with jumper/button/removing battery to clear any settings.
Ensure you have latest bios.

I did try one at a time after a cmos clear, but you bring up a point about bios version, I will investigate that. There were some crucial 16GB sticks in the supported ram list, but none that were 3200Mhz.

EDIT: I just found this line in the bios download page for my MB; "Support JEDEC DDR4 native 3200MHz memory", perhaps I should have updated my bios a long time ago.

[Alex_Baker]

I am starting to dislike this RAM...

I updated the bios, which was the easy part. After I did that it would post with one of the Crucial sticks, however it took a surprising amount of fiddling and the right combination of cmos clearing to get this thing to post with both sticks.

I tried to reapply my mild overclock to this cpu, I had been running this i3 at 4.7Ghz for that last several years with zero troubles, but since I updated the bios I lost my presets. If I touched anything in the bios related to CPU overclocking the system would not post until it automatically reset the bios, then it would post. This could be overclocking related instability but if anybody has any ideas as to why this ram might so finicky I would love to hear it.

[abeyer]

I tried to reapply my mild overclock to this cpu, I had been running this i3 at 4.7Ghz

Why are you overclocking an i3? Seems like an easy way to waste a huge amount of time on what could have just been a $50 investment in a faster processor to start with.

[Halcyon]

Can you supply the part numbers of your motherboard and the RAM you installed?

Could be any number of issues, but it sounds like something isn't compatible. Some boards might only support single-rank modules of a particular size (for example).

[Alex_Baker]

The motherboard is a Gigabyte Aorus ultra gaming wifi 1.0, I don't see any other stickers that would indicate a model number or something. The attached photo has the model number of the RAM, its the string starting with CP16.

Why are you overclocking an i3? Seems like an easy way to waste a huge amount of time on what could have just been a $50 investment in a faster processor to start with.

Because 16 year old me did not know what I was doing, now I am stuck in a position where upgrading just the CPU doesn't make a whole lot of sense with the GPU I have, and at this point I would rather wait a couple of years and just upgrade platforms/build a whole new PC, so for now I overclock this cpu.

Forgot to add photo, it is there now

[Alex_Baker]

Also new details, last night I successfully got 4.5GHz without trying very hard and played a few games, everything seemed stable.

This morning however, this machine would not boot into windows, it would go straight to the bios. Looking around the bios I realized that no storage devices were showing up anywhere. I ended up doing a clear cmos, which has fixed the issue, but this computer boot looped 7 or 8 times before finally booting into windows. There is definitely something not right.

[Halcyon]

I haven't been able to conclusively confirm that the Crucial Pro DDR4 UDIMMs you have are compatible with the Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming board. Crucial's website say they are, but none of the "Pro" series RAM appears in Gigabyte's supported list for that board: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z370-AORUS-ULTRA-GAMING-WIFI-rev-10/support#support-doc

Have you tried just a single stick? Also try disabling the XMP profile in the BIOS first, then see if the Crucial sticks work.

It sounds like a compatibility issue, there is something about those modules that board (or your BIOS/UEFI configuration) doesn't like. That board supports non-ECC DIMMs in 1Rx8, 2Rx8 or 1Rx16 configurations, so it should be OK.

Just one thing to keep in mind: The Intel i3-8350K only supports memory up to 2400 MHz. It's not a problem, it's just anything faster will just run at that lower speed.

[Alex_Baker]

Just one thing to keep in mind: The Intel i3-8350K only supports memory up to 2400 MHz. It's not a problem, it's just anything faster will just run at that lower speed.

Windows and the bios report that the ram is running at 3200mhz as supported by the memory, does that mean that the memory controller of the cpu is overclocked that much? if so I imagine that could be a source of instability, though curiously once in windows everything seems perfectly happy.

I have tried one stick at a time, and disabling xmp. I updated the bios, which seemed to go ok, however it is possible that it introduced other issues, so I am not sure.

[Halcyon]

Just one thing to keep in mind: The Intel i3-8350K only supports memory up to 2400 MHz. It's not a problem, it's just anything faster will just run at that lower speed.

Windows and the bios report that the ram is running at 3200mhz as supported by the memory, does that mean that the memory controller of the cpu is overclocked that much? if so I imagine that could be a source of instability, though curiously once in windows everything seems perfectly happy.

I have tried one stick at a time, and disabling xmp. I updated the bios, which seemed to go ok, however it is possible that it introduced other issues, so I am not sure.

I'm not familiar with how Windows reports memory speed, whether it's the actual speed the memory is running at or whether that's just its rated speed. In either case, I would rely on what the BIOS/UEFI reports as the source of truth.

In my experience, use overclocking with caution, not only might it cause system instability and weird issues, but it can put additional strain on components and lead to premature failure. I personally prefer stability over speed and turn off any overclocking options, XMP, spread spectrum etc...

[Alex_Baker]

I am running everything at default settings except for fan tunings in the bios. The bios does report 3200MHz for memory speed.

The problems seem to appear from a cold start, restarts are just fine, so I will shut down and restart to see where things stand at the moment.

[Halcyon]

Hmm, sure there are no bulging or leaking capacitors on the board? Almost sounds like a power rail issue.

[Haenk]

CMOS battery being semi-flat?
That could cause strange issues all over the place.

[Alex_Baker]

Hmm, sure there are no bulging or leaking capacitors on the board? Almost sounds like a power rail issue.

I Hope not, this board is from 2018, I will check though...

CMOS battery being semi-flat?
That could cause strange issues all over the place.

I have not checked that.

On a different note, since December 4th everything has been completely fine, no startup issues or performance issues. I have not tried to overclock again and I don't think I will, I don't think that extra 500 or 700Mhz was actually doing anything anyways.

I will check a few other things, but I have not found any smoking gun yet, hopefully I do, I would like to learn something at least.

[Halcyon]

Hmm, sure there are no bulging or leaking capacitors on the board? Almost sounds like a power rail issue.

I Hope not, this board is from 2018, I will check though...

Just keep in mind not all failed caps bulge, but it's a telltale sign. Some can fail without any obvious signs. Age of components aren't an accurate measure either. Cheap components might not even last months.

If you suspect voltage rails, you might need a suitable tester to ensure what's coming from the power supply and motherboard are stable and within specifications under load.