RAM XMP profile going to BSOD

ninjag

ninjag

ninjag

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When I built my PC I never checked the compatibility list of RAM, so had to run it in slow mode as XMP-1 and XMP-2 would crash the computer within minutes.

So, I finally got around to ordering up some RAM that is supposedly compatible, but XMP-1 crashes it. So far it's been fine in slow mode. Frustrated to say the least. I'm not really sure what to do now, BIOS etc is all up-to-date, so could this be a processor issue?

  • This is the RAM I've just bought from here, x2 (so 32GB): Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18) (link)
  • Here is the compatibility table for my motherboard and processor, I search under the "Memory By RX-5xxx" tab and search for "CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18": https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-X570-TOMAHAWK-WIFI/support#mem

Here's my computer specs:

  • Processor: Ryzen 5 R5600X
  • Motherboard: MSI X570 Tomahawk WIFI
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18)
  • GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 FE
  • PSU: Corsair 750W I think it's an RM750, either that or it's an RX750

CPU temp when idle is around 37°C and can go up to about 73°C when gaming and the room is warm.
GPU temp when idle is around 43°C and goes up to about 65°C when gaming (running an undervolt OC).

Starting to wish I'd stuck with Intel, my previous build was rock solid for almost 10 years. Can any offer some advice or help please?
 
ninjag said:
Great, it just went to BSOD as I tried to shut down after posting this and I'm not even in XMP mode.
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There is a possibility that if you use XMP and the PC is not stable that it can cause data corruption, though I'd expect the OS/drivers to get corrupted by more than just a few minutes.
 
Tetras said:
There is a possibility that if you use XMP and the PC is not stable that it can cause data corruption, though I'd expect the OS/drivers to get corrupted by more than just a few minutes.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's making me wonder if something may have got corrupted from when I was trying to get XMP working with the previous RAM?

I'm going to check Windows update as well. Failing that, it'll be a fresh install of Windows, which will be a bit of a pain.

EDIT: Windows all up-to-date.

Just crashed again. Pulled the Event View log code and a Google search takes me to this, suggesting chipset drivers, although I'd updated those not so long ago as well, or maybe it was from the MSI site I did it from?

Anyway, going through it now, I'll be back after the next BSOD lol
 
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Well, things have gone from bad to worse. I'm now stuck in BSOD loops until it eventually gives me safe mode option.

This is what happened before and I had to reinstall Windows. Makes me think this is a Windows problem.

I can get into safe mode with networking, but not much left to do.

The following were fixed by SFC, but it hasn't sorted the problem.

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\\mscormmc.dll
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\\mscormmc.dll

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\BthA2dp.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\BthHfEnum.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\bthmodem.sys
 
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Try with just two sticks installed in the correct channels.

If you check the compatibility list, you will see that it has only been validated for 2 DIMM configuration, not 4 DIMM.
 
SonicSW20 said:
Try with just two sticks installed in the correct channels.

If you check the compatibility list, you will see that it has only been validated for 2 DIMM configuration, not 4 DIMM.
Click to expand...

You've got to be kidding me. What good is 2 sticks. Is that normal, or does this motherboard suck? I thought the compatibility was for XMP?

Might be moot anyway, can't even boot to bios now, it turns on with fans at full power but the power button light no longer illuminates.

Will try with less sticks.

Edit, it's loading with the two sticks in A2 and B2 but straight to a BSOD. Now looping BSOD.

Something that did happen in safe mode was when I tried to open HWinfo64 it immediately went to BSOD, so I'm going to uninstall it if I can get in.
 
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This is new, in the splash screen for MSI it's running a fix for (c: ) Stage 4: .....

(ffs, it was CHKDSK that I'd set to run many, many BSOD's ago lol)
 
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ninjag said:
You've got to be kidding me. What good is 2 sticks. Is that normal, or does this motherboard suck? I thought the compatibility was for XMP?

Might be moot anyway, can't even boot to bios now, it turns on with fans at full power but the power button light no longer illuminates.

Will try with less sticks.

Edit, it's loading with the two sticks in A2 and B2 but straight to a BSOD. Now looping BSOD.

Something that did happen in safe mode was when I tried to open HWinfo64 it immediately went to BSOD, so I'm going to uninstall it if I can get in.
Click to expand...

Its quite common, and as a general rule 4 DIMM configurations will have a lower stable maximum speed than a 2 DIMM configuration. Even being on the list doesn't 100% guarantee your specific system will be stable at those speeds.

Reset the BIOS (there will be a jumper or button on the board most likely, check the manual)
Make only necessary changes to ensure you can boot - legacy vs UEFI mode, secure boot etc.
Try with 2 sticks (make sure they're in the right slots as per the manual) without XMP and just check the system is stable in a "base" configuration.
If there are no issues, try enabling XMP again with the 2 sticks installed.
If it is not stable, then its likely your particular configuration just won't support that XMP profile with 4 DIMMs, most likely due to the processor (there is variance in the capabilities of the memory controller when overclocking).
Try stepping down the speed manually until it is stable. If 3200MHz is stable, you could try going back up to 3600MHz with a little more voltage, or start adjusting timings.

In this situation though if it was stable at 3200MHz, I'd leave it at that.

ninjag said:
This is new, in the splash screen for MSI it's running a fix for (c: ) Stage 4: .....

(ffs, it was CHKDSK that I'd set to run many, many BSOD's ago lol)
Click to expand...

Sounds like you may have some other issues in play however.
 
SonicSW20 said:
Its quite common, and as a general rule 4 DIMM configurations will have a lower stable maximum speed than a 2 DIMM configuration. Even being on the list doesn't 100% guarantee your specific system will be stable at those speeds.

Reset the BIOS (there will be a jumper or button on the board most likely, check the manual)
Make only necessary changes to ensure you can boot - legacy vs UEFI mode, secure boot etc.
Try with 2 sticks (make sure they're in the right slots as per the manual) without XMP and just check the system is stable in a "base" configuration.
If there are no issues, try enabling XMP again with the 2 sticks installed.
If it is not stable, then its likely your particular configuration just won't support that XMP profile with 4 DIMMs, most likely due to the processor (there is variance in the capabilities of the memory controller when overclocking).
Try stepping down the speed manually until it is stable. If 3200MHz is stable, you could try going back up to 3600MHz with a little more voltage, or start adjusting timings.

In this situation though if it was stable at 3200MHz, I'd leave it at that.



Sounds like you may have some other issues in play however.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all that. I removed a few programs that I figured could cause issues, but I still can't boot normally even on two sticks and all the scans and checks coming back clear. I'm in safe mode with networking at the moment and I've had enough, going to do a clean install of Windows.

I'm wondering if it's that 24H2 update, I'm sure that was what caused issues last time. I'm dreading setting up the VR again and the Virtual Streamer settings etc. What a pain. I think I'll be running a very clean system going forward.

Thought I'd run the AMD chipset updater again and now it won't run but comes up with: error 182 amd software installer detected amd graphics hardware in your system configuration that is not supported

I've got an Nvidia card, I wonder if it's getting confused. Going to run the AMD clean up utility.

(edited this post a little)
 
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Tried to flash a previous and known stable bios but whist it can see the flash drive it can't seem to see the bios file (file has been renamed accordingly). I've tried a different usb stick, only 16GB and also FAT32 but it's just the same.

Maybe the bios has corrupted? I'm using the flash button to try and force a bios update.


UPDATE: I think it worked, the computer booted up but still getting BSOD. Tried a Windows Restore from the advanced boot options and the furthest one back was 10th Aug (??) and it failed. Tried the 11th Aug and it worked and for the first time I've managed to boot to Windows normally. The only thing that has changed on my computer since then was Windows updates, so I've disabled them in services.

Ran SFC and it's pulled up the same errors and repairs as earlier.

Fingers crossed it stays stable. MSI Afterburner isn't seeing my GPU, so something isn't quite right. (it's all back to normal now).

I'm going to be creating a lot more restore points going forward.
 
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Everything seems to be stable again and I've had four sticks in since the BIOS reflash. Thanks for the advice all.

So, the previous RAM was never the issue, it was most likely a W11 update, so I had swapped in new RAM and tried XMP on an instable system. The big question now is that should I risk trying XMP on what seems like a stable system?
 
ninjag said:
The big question now is that should I risk trying XMP on what seems like a stable system?
Click to expand...
It almost certainly won't work "out of the box", since the profiles are intended for 2 sticks. You may get it working with some minor adjustments to frequency and voltages.
 
ninjag said:
Everything seems to be stable again and I've had four sticks in since the BIOS reflash. Thanks for the advice all.

So, the previous RAM was never the issue, it was most likely a W11 update, so I had swapped in new RAM and tried XMP on an instable system. The big question now is that should I risk trying XMP on what seems like a stable system?
Click to expand...

If you are sure you have a stable base to work from now, I would try:
  • 2 DIMM only with XMP, if stable try 4 DIMM.
  • If its not stable, try going down to 3200MHz / dropping speed until its stable.
  • When you reach a stable speed, increase the speed by one increment and also increase DRAM voltage by 0.01V. Increase DRAM voltage until stable, up to 1.4V - that should be safe for most DDR4 RAM. You could go further than this but its your own risk to set anything above the rated voltage (1.35V in most cases).
  • From here all you can do is change some more advanced stuff to do with timings etc - I would recommend reading guides on the process, and tbh unless you're benchmark chasing I'd not recommend going this far if you're able to get it to be stable at over 3000MHz - its a lot of work for not much more performance.
 
SonicSW20 said:
If you are sure you have a stable base to work from now, I would try:
  • 2 DIMM only with XMP, if stable try 4 DIMM.
  • If its not stable, try going down to 3200MHz / dropping speed until its stable.
  • When you reach a stable speed, increase the speed by one increment and also increase DRAM voltage by 0.01V. Increase DRAM voltage until stable, up to 1.4V - that should be safe for most DDR4 RAM. You could go further than this but its your own risk to set anything above the rated voltage (1.35V in most cases).
  • From here all you can do is change some more advanced stuff to do with timings etc - I would recommend reading guides on the process, and tbh unless you're benchmark chasing I'd not recommend going this far if you're able to get it to be stable at over 3000MHz - its a lot of work for not much more performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm just a bit gutted that I've replaced 32GB of RAM with another 32 of RAM that won't do anything different. My fault of course for not paying attention to that last column in the compatibility chart, although that is a bit sneaky I reckon.

I suppose I can use the older 32GB for my son's new build.
 
ninjag said:
My fault of course for not paying attention to that last column in the compatibility chart, although that is a bit sneaky I reckon.

I suppose I can use the older 32GB for my son's new build.
Click to expand...
The QVL doesn't really help for knowing what kind of speeds they will run at, or at least, that's certainly the case when you run 4 sticks.

It only means: it worked for the specific kit that the manufacturer had on hand, with the sample CPU and the motherboard they used. Manufacturers often do them based on an entire range, so they might not even be specific to a board.

Buildzoid has gone on a mega rant about it in the past, for their dubious usefulness (among other things):

This is the official spec for the CPU you have:

Max Memory Speed
- 2x1R (2 sticks, 1 rank each): DDR4-3200
- 2x2R (2 sticks, 2 ranks each): DDR4-3200
- 4x1R (4 sticks, 1 rank each): DDR4-2933
- 4x2R (4 sticks, 2 ranks each): DDR4-2667
 
Yep, its a "best chances", not a guarantee.

I think you should be able to get somewhere around the 3000-3200MHz mark but it'll take some time to get there as you really need to go through slowly and methodically.
 
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