MSI Z77A-GD55 Second DIMM slot malfunction

[Samarthaa]

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I am using MSI Z77A-GD55 from couple of months and now i don' think it is normal any more. The problem is whenever i put any memory module on the 2nd memory DIMM slot, the system no longer boot at all. So far i have tried different RAM sticks from different manufacturer and some of them are different in speed and specs.

The issue is when i put any memory module on the 2nd DIMM slot system just goes into boot process and keeps on restarting continuously. The same issue is on 4th dimm slot also. Right now only 1st and 3rd dimm slots are working normal. I didn't tweak with any memory settings yet and didn't try increasing the voltage of those slots. Is there any solution

[Mycenaen]

I think before doing any thing else, you should try updating your BIOS. As far as i know MSI released a newest version of BIOS April 13, for Z77A-GD55 model motherboards. According to the change log the latest BIOS has fixes for memory compatibility issues. If you have MSI Live update, you should use it to update the BIOS directly without much of effort and additional tools. Try this and let me know the results.

[Lyandon]

Originally Posted by Samarthaa

I am using MSI Z77A-GD55 from couple of months and now i don' think it is normal any more. The problem is whenever i put any memory module on the 2nd memory DIMM slot, the system no longer boot at all. So far i have tried different RAM sticks from different manufacturer and some of them are different in speed and specs.

The issue is when i put any memory module on the 2nd DIMM slot system just goes into boot process and keeps on restarting continuously. The same issue is on 4th dimm slot also. Right now only 1st and 3rd dimm slots are working normal. I didn't tweak with any memory settings yet and didn't try increasing the voltage of those slots. Is there any solution

Did you tried clearing out your CMOS? If not, do it and see the results. I would also recommend you to use only one memory module at first DIMM slot and make sure that XMP remains disable at this moment.

Also can you tell me what is your default SPD memory ? i guess the defaults for this memory is ddr3-1866 CL9-10-9-28 AT 1.50V. Anyways, technically your ram modules are compatible but the question is still could it be incompatible due to slightest change in series and other memory specs. Did you try those modules in pair like same color sockets? What about the other RAMs except those 4 you already have?

[Zia 7]

I have seen many users with similar kind of problem like you but with different motherboard brand and RAM sticks. Anyways, as a little troubleshoot, you should try the following:

• First of all try to raise the VDimm to 1.65V. If the memory can get little more power, it may work well and solves the issue in 99% of the cases
• Check all slots memory timing, voltage and speed. If it is overclocked, change it to default. If not, you could try overclocking it slightly.
• Try the dual channel mode.

I even doubt about your processor. The fact is memorycontroller mainly depends on the CPU. It cannot take more than what its memorycontroller capable to take. The CPU cannot take more load rather than the specified amount. If the CPU’s memorycontroller capacity is 8GB and you have installed the over 8GB RAM, the system could become unstable.

[Paisley007]

Are you sure that all the 4 memory sticks are the same? I don’t think so. But still you can validate them by using two pairs at once. Try only one pair at a time on the motherboard. Try different kind of configuration on slot like single stick, a pair, 2 sticks and finally all 4 sticks. If your motherboard works with dual channel mode, you can use the different pairs using 4 sticks just to check the compatibility thing. Otherwise you can borrow a different motherboard from your friend or someone else to combine all sticks in different config and try to get them working properly. Somewhere I have read that a few RAM controllers get the timings of the RAM which you have first installed or present in first slot and use the same timings to support the other RAM. So it is always recommended to use the best RAM in first slot. If the other RAM sticks do not support the same timings, you should manually need to change it in BIOS.

[Carley]

There are several things which you might need to do in order to check that if it is a hardware related problem or BIOS.

• Check for the real memory voltage values. You can make use of the voltage meter in order to find the voltage pads on the motherboard. Using that verify the input voltages for DIMM and DIMM_1. If you don’t know how to use volt meter and if you don’t have one, you can check the voltages in BIOS under Hardware Health Configuration.
• Set the memory voltages correctly in BIOS under Voltage Configuration. Check the CPU0 values and 1 DIMM voltages, also at the same time check other voltages.
• Make sure that the system is properly recognizing the installed hardware properly. Once the system properly boots, go through the system management bus (SMBUS). You can easily check in Windows by running HWMONITOR and saving the “Monitoring data”. This file contains all the information about what is the status of the motherboard when the OS boots. The list contains various chips on the motherboard and enumerates along with configuration parameters and values.

[O'Brian]

Did you try the memtest while installing one module at a time? It looks like your system is suffering from the stability related issues. To troubleshoot this, check the memory timings in the BIOS, Set it by SPD for automatic timing settings. If that does not change anything, try memory timing manually as told on the memory specification otherwise you can contact the manufacturer.