Motherboard Ram socket fault

Soldato
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10 Apr 2015
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I have a Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI LGA 1151 Intel Z390 DDR4 Mini-ITX. board it was my brothers, the pc kept crashing, he tried to do a fresh install of windows 11 and each time it crashes with "windows installation failed". I now have the board. ive removed everything execept 1 m.2 and still the same. ive removed 1 ram module and windows install goes through fine. I replaced both ram modules with known working pair and Pc crashes. tried re-intstall and does the same windows installation failed. ive blown some compressed air in the sockets, anything else i can try or have missed, (ive removing xmp in bios as well with ram running at default speed)
 
Take the cpu out and look for bent pins.

That era of intel CPU it was also possible to over tighten CPU coolers and warp the board slightly that would give similar faults as not all pins make good contact with the CPU.

So if there are no obvious bent pins, when you put the cooler back on just do it finger tight to start with and see if there is any improvement.
 
Take the cpu out and look for bent pins.

That era of intel CPU it was also possible to over tighten CPU coolers and warp the board slightly that would give similar faults as not all pins make good contact with the CPU.

So if there are no obvious bent pins, when you put the cooler back on just do it finger tight to start with and see if there is any improvement.
semi related but glad i saw this post/comment as im currently in the middle of sorting out a 9th gen intel setup for a friend and a z390 aorus master is the next step in the build [currently using a z390 gaming x which is technically mine and on loan until i can get him the aorus master]
but yes this is interesting and usfull information il make sure its mentioned when i hand him the new motherboard. probably wont come across this issue but its still worth us keeping it in mind when we do get to it.
 
Sounds like a frustrating issue—I've dealt with similar RAM headaches on Z390 boards before. Since it works with one stick but crashes with two (even known good ones), it could be a faulty DIMM slot, bent pins in the CPU socket affecting the memory channel, or a BIOS glitch.
Try this: Test each slot individually with a single stick (swap sticks too to rule out RAM). If one slot consistently fails, that's your culprit. Also, reseat the CPU and inspect the socket pins carefully under good light—use a magnifying glass if needed. Update to the latest BIOS from Gigabyte's site (F10 or newer for your Z390-I), as older versions had stability bugs.
If that doesn't fix it, might need RMA, but these steps often pinpoint the problem. Let us know how it goes!
 
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