EVGA x79 FTW - RAM issue

Nickson · 14 Jun 2013 at 19:25

Evening guys,

Just finished putting together my x79 build.

Populated all the RAM slots on my EVGA x79 FTW board with 16gb of Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz 16GB and it didn't boot. Wouldn't even post.

Remove the stick of RAM from the slot furthest from the CPU on the right hand side of the board and the PC boots.

Tried booting from every slot on the board with a single stick and it works bar the slot outlined above.

Even tried with a set of Corsair Dominator dimms with no luck.

Put a single stick in another slot and check it boots. I then put a stick in the potentially faulty slot and the machine doesn't boot.

Any ideas guys?

Pretty gutted as it has taken a while to get this lot together.

CPU is a 3930k if that helps.

Cheers

stulid · 14 Jun 2013 at 19:51

Any bent socket pins?

Nickson · 14 Jun 2013 at 19:52

Not that I can see! Everything looks to be normal.

stulid · 14 Jun 2013 at 19:58

Nickson said:
Not that I can see! Everything looks to be normal.

Have you over tightened the heatsink thus slightly bending the board which could cause connection problems for the ram slot or again the CPU?

pgi947 · 14 Jun 2013 at 20:48

Be sure to try updating the bios, its well known that EVGA have struggled with X79 in the bios dept.

clone · 15 Jun 2013 at 10:16

Sounds like a dead stick of ram do memtest I had this with a new set of ram I got from the shop.

Nickson · 15 Jun 2013 at 10:28

stulid said:
Have you over tightened the heatsink thus slightly bending the board which could cause connection problems for the ram slot or again the CPU?

It's on water with a EK Supreme HF block. Doesn't do up massively tight so I wouldn't think so! Thanks for the reply.

pgi947 said:
Be sure to try updating the bios, its well known that EVGA have struggled with X79 in the bios dept.

This was the next port of call. It isn't running the latest BIOS so hopefully this helps!

clone said:
Sounds like a dead stick of ram do memtest I had this with a new set of ram I got from the shop.

I've tried with 2 different sets of RAM. One set I know is a 100% working as I've been using it for the past 3 years in my x58 build.

clone · 15 Jun 2013 at 10:41

Whats the post code nick? also don't put the 47 bios on its a pile of crap stick with the 45.

Nickson · 15 Jun 2013 at 10:53

clone said:
Whats the post code nick? also don't put the 47 bios on its a pile of crap stick with the 45.

Is that the code that appears on the little LCD screen on the bottom left of the board?

Will let you know. Bear with me.

Also, I will leave the BIOS update for now!

clone · 15 Jun 2013 at 10:57

Yes the lcd screen whats the code?

Nickson · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:53

clone said:
Yes the lcd screen whats the code?

Error code is 67.

clone · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:05

That's cpu or ram problem have you takin the cpu out to check for bent pins,you done a memtest yet?

Nickson · 16 Jun 2013 at 22:13

clone said:
That's cpu or ram problem have you takin the cpu out to check for bent pins,you done a memtest yet?

I checked for bent pins before installing the CPU, everything looked absolutely fine!

The Dominator memory I have tried is all good.
Memtested for over 10 hours without an error, on top of that, I have been using it for the last 3 years in my x58 build without a single problem. Still the machine won't boot when the suspect slot is populated.

Very strange!

Nickson · 17 Jun 2013 at 08:12

Updated the bios to 47 and it doesn't make a single dot of difference.

clone · 17 Jun 2013 at 12:06

Take of the cpu waterblock and the cpu you may have bent one of the pins when you put it on,also is the cpu new or secondhand.

Nickson · 17 Jun 2013 at 13:55

clone said:
Take of the cpu waterblock and the cpu you may have bent one of the pins when you put it on,also is the cpu new or secondhand.

I will remove the waterblock when I get home.

Socket looked fine beforehand so I wouldn't imagine anything was bent during the fitting of the CPU, I will be taking a look though.

CPU was from the MM.

Cheers for the help so far!

clone · 17 Jun 2013 at 14:41

Like stulid said sometimes the waterblock mountings can be to tight and need slacked off a bit,did you have to put a backplate on the cpu block ? also you checked theres nothing in the case shorting on the back of the board.
Im glad to help out nick if your still stuck send it to me and I can test it as ive still got my old 3820 cpu.

Forgot to say there are switches to Disable all the DIMMs on the board maybe you have knocked it to off for that slot?

Nickson · 17 Jun 2013 at 14:49

clone said:
Like stulid said sometimes the waterblock mountings can be to tight and need slacked off a bit,did you have to put a backplate on the cpu block ? also you checked theres nothing in the case shorting on the back of the board.
Im glad to help out nick if your still stuck send it to me and I can test it as ive still got my old 3820 cpu.

That's cool, will give it a go later on!

It didn't need a back plate, the mountings screwed straight into the 2011 socket.

I've checked for a short and cannot see anything.

Will remove the board, check for anything that looks out of place, reseat and retry.

Thanks Joe, hope it doesn't come to that but nice to know the option is there

clone · 17 Jun 2013 at 15:00

Just trying to help out mate

you do know there are 3 bios on the board maybe try number 2 don't forget the DIMMs switches.

Nickson · 17 Jun 2013 at 15:40

clone said:
Just trying to help out mate you do know there are 3 bios on the board maybe try number 2 don't forget the DIMMs switches.

Yep! I've tried all of them. Goes to boot into Windows but hangs. I thought AHCI settings to begin with but all of them are AHCI enabled so I gave up.

Checked the DIMM switches and all of them are in the ON position.

Strangely though, with the suspect slot populated, and the switch for that slot in the OFF position. It still doesn't post!