MSI MPG B550I Memory Quirk

Amayacitta · 9 Sep 2024 at 22:17

hey guys,

Has anyone got any advice for me, struggling to work out what to do next aside from replacing the motherboard - which is a little extreme.

My MSI MPG B550I slot 1 - closest to the CPU works fine, I have 2 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB DDR4 3600MHz which both work independently in slot 1. If I place either module in slot 2 then the EZ diag light comes on solid on CPU and goes no further, as soon as I remove the RAM from slot 2, everything works fine (writing this from the computer that has the issue with 1 x 16Gb RAM).

Tried cleaning contacts, upgrading BIOS to the latest, am a little lost as to why this suddenly happened. All I did was replace the fan on my CPU heatsink for a better one and this happens

for a laugh I re-connected the old fan, just in-case but no joy.

No issues I can find other than a dodgy slot, any ideas beyond replacement board?

Tetras · 10 Sep 2024 at 17:03

Amayacitta said:
All I did was replace the fan on my CPU heatsink for a better one and this happens for a laugh I re-connected the old fan, just in-case but no joy.

Dodgy mounting with the heatsink (e.g. too little pressure, too much pressure, or uneven pressure) can cause problems with detecting one channel.

Dg834man · 10 Sep 2024 at 19:07

You could try removing the heatsink release the retaining clip wiggle the CPU in the socket put it back together likely a pin isn't making good or any contact with the socket, always found am4 a bit janky socket.

freddie64 · 10 Sep 2024 at 19:23

Amayacitta said:
All I did was replace the fan on my CPU heatsink for a better one

What cooler are you using and is there any movement at all, can you turn the heatsink slightly?

Dg834man said:
You could try removing the heatsink release the retaining clip wiggle the CPU in the socket put it back together likely a pin isn't making good or any contact with the socket, always found am4 a bit janky socket.

Was thinking the same.

If you do remove the heatsink, run the PC for a bit to warm it up and twist the heatsink before lifting out.
This should make sure you do not drag the CPU out at the same time.

Amayacitta · 10 Sep 2024 at 21:03

Well it seems that me putting the fan on, wobbled the CPU socket enough for one of the memory lanes to disconnect - which is unexpected. I took the opportunity to take the motherboard out, take cooler off, remove/replace CPU, re-paste and rebuild. Now all is working fine. Seems that some of the pins (they are not bent at all) were possibly not making contact with the socket properly.

Cheers guys! I now have 2 lanes and 32Gb again!