Continuous rebooting - Please help!

Benh89 · 21 Sep 2011 at 03:33

Morning,

I don't normally stay up this late unless I've got a problem with my computer... oh wait, I do.

I'll try to keep this short, but here goes.

This evening I finished putting together a computer for my Dad. System is as follows: i5 2500K, Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P, 16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 1.5V, EVGA GTX 460 SC, 64GB Crucial M4 SSD, 2 Samsung F3 1TB HDD's, Samsung optical drive, Silverstone ST60-FP modular power supply, Corsair 650D.

The problem I am currently experiencing is continuous rebooting. Press on button > everything fires up for 2-3 seconds > reboot ...

Everything worked fine the first few times I booted up. Then I changed the memory speed in the bios using the XMP. When I rebooted the system a message appeared saying there had been a boot error due to overclocking of system components. Reset all the bios settings and all was well. Then I updated the bios to the latest version, F5. That went smoothly. Thought I'd try the XMP again with the new bios, but now the system continually reboots. Cleared CMOS, but no improvement.

I tested the system with each memory module in each of the four dimm slots and one stick kept crashing the system. I'm hoping this is the extent of the problem and that there isn't something else

Only problem now is that I'll probably have to rma all four sticks of ram as they were purchased as a set.

Does anyone know of other hardware faults associated with these symptoms? I'm hoping the stick was dodgy from the start. Do you think the motherboard could have damaged it when I applied the XMP?

Thanks in advance,

Ben.

Admiral Huddy · 21 Sep 2011 at 08:14

You've done the correct thing by trying the elimination process and yes, it does appear that you have a faulty memory module. To verify this download Memtest86+ and create a bootable CD.

Insert the suspected faulty memory on it's own. Don't worry about dual channel for the purpose of testing.

Run Memtest86+. If it reports an error then it's looking increasingly so.

Try another RAM module on it's own just to verify it isn't the memory controller,

Benh89 · 21 Sep 2011 at 12:42

I've tested each memory module individually in each slot on the motherboard and the system only seems to have problems with one of the sticks. The slots on the motherboard appear to be working. I tried the XMP with two of the sticks installed and it booted. I won't be able to run Memtest on the module that appears to be faulty as the system only stays on for 2-3 seconds (doesn't even reach bios). Shall I test the other three ram sticks?

Cheers,

Ben.

Linkex · 21 Sep 2011 at 13:19

Sounds like you have identified the faulty stick - I would run memtest on all 3 of the others at once, just to check there are no other problems with them, and RMA the faulty stick

Benh89 · 21 Sep 2011 at 13:26

Just about finished running memtest on the first of the three sticks and the memory is running at odd speeds and timings. The speed is 1298MHz and the timings are 6-6-6-20. Is this because the XMP is disabled and it's running at standard JEDEC speeds and timings? Does ram ever run at exactly the speeds advertised, or is it normal to be a few MHz out?

Benh89 · 21 Sep 2011 at 13:37

Just removed the single stick and replaced with the remaining two "good" sticks. Memtest now says the speed is 1291MHz and the timings are 9-9-9-24. Will the motherboard automatically lower the timings if only one stick of memory is installed? Another oddity now: when I rebooted from Memtest, the computer rebooted once and then a few seconds later it rebooted again. I think I remember reading about some 1155 boards taking two attempts to boot. Hopefully there isn't another underlying fault.

Benh89 · 21 Sep 2011 at 18:05

RAM has now been RMA'd. Wish I'd bought two 8GB sets instead of one 16GB set because I've had to send all the modules back. Had the components since last Friday and I've only seen the bloody bios screen (better than a blank one I suppose :rolleyes:

). On this topic, it's a bit cheap that Gigabyte's Click Bios is actually just some software you run within Windows. Next time it'll be Asus, MSI or Asrock - they just seem to go that extra mile.