RAM issue?

dandos23 · 2025-01-30T21:48:44+0000

Hi everyone, I recently upgraded my old system to something a bit quicker after getting advice on here about what to get. Everything has been working fine for about a month, so I know it was all working together.
Yesterday, I did a windows update which required a restart. Since then the PC wont post or even make it past the DRAM check. I removed everything from the motherboard that wasn't required to get to the BIOS and it still did nothing. As a last resort I removed all but one stick of RAM and it worked, I got to the BIOS. Everything in there looked fine and only has the standard settings with nothing overclocked.
To cut a long story short, it will now only post if I have nothing in slots A1 and B1. I checked all 4 sticks of RAM and they all work fine so I don't think the issue is there. After a bit more searching it seems that I have bought some RAM that is not on the compatibility list for the motherboard. That said, it was all working fine for about a month. Could this be a compatibility issue or something else?

Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-4800040 6000MHz Dual Channel (I have two sets of this to give me 128GB)
Asus TUF GAMING X870-PLUS WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X Sixteen Core 5.70GHz (Socket AM5) Processor

Any help will be greatly appreciated as I don't really want to spend more money on RAM unless I really need to (although I might be cheaper to replace the motherboard lol)

Tetras · 2025-01-30T22:31:19+0000

If you lose one channel it can sometimes be a cooler mount issue, though it doesn't sound you moved the PC so I wouldn't expect anything to have shifted.

What speed does running 4 sticks of 32GB get you? It must be pretty darn slow. It can be tricky to get that much memory to work, did you try a full CMOS clear? Though, keep in mind that doing this can potentially impact your TPM and may break Windows Hello and/or disk encryption.

Rob_B · 2025-01-30T22:37:30+0000

check for bent pins in the socket too if you dare.

dandos23 · 2025-01-30T23:00:59+0000

Tetras said:
If you lose one channel it can sometimes be a cooler mount issue, though it doesn't sound you moved the PC so I wouldn't expect anything to have shifted.

What speed does running 4 sticks of 32GB get you? It must be pretty darn slow. It can be tricky to get that much memory to work, did you try a full CMOS clear? Though, keep in mind that doing this can potentially impact your TPM and may break Windows Hello and/or disk encryption.

Compared to the old system it was quite a bit faster lol. I didn't actually look at the speed it was running at as it was working fine. I have done the CMOS clear and had to deal with the disk encryption after. When it stopped working, nothing had moved, so I don't feel it could be the CPU cooler (I could have course be wrong though). The way this started, after an update, makes me think that it might be a software/compatibility issue.

Rob_B said:
check for bent pins in the socket too if you dare.

I have looked and cant see any bent pins, my eyes are not what they used to be though. Although, it started after a windows update, I don't think that there will be any bent pins as it was all working before the update.

Tetras · 2025-01-30T23:06:42+0000

dandos23 said:
The way this started, after an update, makes me think that it might be a software/compatibility issue.

I have heard of large memory sizes blocking Windows from booting after an upgrade to the PC, but I wouldn't expect it to stop your PC from posting altogether. You're aware that DDR5 posting can take a VERY long time, right (especially on first boot)?

Windows technically has the capability to deliver BIOS and CPU microcode updates via Windows update, but I think this is normally done sparingly, however your usage is an "edge case" on AM5, that might be insufficiently tested and if an update was pushed out that way, you could have lost optimisations that previously helped your config to work.

dandos23 · 2025-01-30T23:29:09+0000

I had heard that it can take a while to boot, but I am unaware of just how long. So, I have all 4 sticks in and have turned the pc on. I will see if it has posted by the time I get up tomorrow lol.

Tetras · 2025-01-30T23:37:23+0000

dandos23 said:
I had heard that it can take a while to boot, but I am unaware of just how long. So, I have all 4 sticks in and have turned the pc on. I will see if it has posted by the time I get up tomorrow lol.

I think about 10 minutes is normally the max, but I've heard of 20 minutes or more in rare cases