Motherboard Memory Voltage Issues

[Stoney]

I have been trying to help a person to bring stability to his system. He is running 4 gigs (2x2) of G.Skill DDR3 1600 with his memory automatically set at 1.536v. The memory is recommended by Gigabyte his GA-P55A-UD4Pboard. Nothing is oc'd.

I had him manually set the memory voltage in the BIOS to 1.5 as the memory is designed for. After doing so he wrote:


I set it to 1.5V manually. DRAM Voltage still reads 1.536V, and I just blue screened.

I turned off my computer and switched the positions of the two sticks of RAM with each other. (I can't switch lanes because my heatsink is blocking one of them.) Upon boot-up, I get the message that there was a failure to boot because of OC'ing or because the voltages were too high. I enter BIOS and the DRAM Voltage read 1.586V. So, I reset the DRAM Voltage to Auto and saved and quit. It read 1.536V again, so I set the DRAM Voltage back to 1.50V manually. (Sorry if that was confusing.)

It's been about ten minutes and I haven't blue screened yet, but it's too soon to tell.



Later he said he received another blue screen the next day and the memory was set back to 1.536 but once again when he manuallly sets it to 1.5 stability returns.

I have had him run memtest twice with all sticks inserted and once on each stick (a minimum of 7 Passes each time). No errors.

He is running some other diagnostics at the moment and I will have him test his power supply.

* The voltage issues have us confused. Suggestions please. Thanks.

[jlreich]

1.536 may be correct. Often there is a small difference in the actual and what is listed in the general specs. It is just so close they round it off.

Checking the power supply is a good start. That it is functioning properly and that it is of decent quality and that it is adequate for the system.

Also check for BIOS updates and that the CPU is actually supported.

In the MIT section of the BIOS make sure the "performance enhance" option is set to "standard". It is usually set to "turbo" by default. Make sure the memory timings are correctly set. If not set them manually. You may need to set the timings to "manual" to see them, if they are correct set it back to auto, if not make the necessary changes and leave it on manual.

[Stoney]

Thanks for the reply and the advice. I passed on your suggestions and this was his response:

I went ahead and set "Performance Enhance" to standard. My memory timings match the product's tech specs. I do have another question regarding timings, though. Under my RAM's customer reviews on Newegg, a few customers have advised to set FSB : DRAM to 1:4. But according to CPU-Z, my FSB : DRAM is currently set at 2:12. Is this a big deal? Also, I couldn't find where to adjust it in BIOS.


Thoughts?

[jlreich]

Also, I couldn't find where to adjust it in BIOS.

If it isn't there then it isn't adjustable. "System Memory Multiplier" is the closest you are going to get. This is not a bad thing. Some setups have it some don't. If you don't have it don't worry about it.

Did setting the performance to standard make any difference?

What about checking for a BIOS update? What version are you running? BIOS F7 shows "enhanced memory compatibility". F10, the latest released on 04/23, shows CPU micro code updates. If you are running less than F7 I would go ahead and update to F10.

If it is set for standard performance, you are not overclocking, all the ram settings/timings are correct, the powers supply is good, and BIOS is updated and CPU is officially supported with current BIOS then it comes down to the board or the ram. My vote is for the ram. But if possible I would like to see some known good compatible ram swapped in there to make sure the issue goes away. It doesn't have to be the same speed or anything, just compatible DDR3. If that is not possible then I would RMA the RAM.

[Stoney]

jlreich, you derserve a courtesy update. Sorry for the delay but I hadn't heard from this person in a week and it was because he was moving back home for the summer from college.

A Windows Repair did the trick. Here is what he wrote:

Sorry I've been away. I was in the process of moving back home from college and didn't have access to this computer for a while.

However, after 2-3 days without turning on the computer, it crashed three times in a row during boot-up. I popped in the Windows 7 installation CD and ran a repair. I forgot exactly what it fixed, but it had something to do with my HDD missing an important file(?). My computer has not crashed since; it's been three days now!


Thanks for taking your time and supplying much needed advice.

[jlreich]

Glad it got sorted out. Hard to say how the file became missing/corrupted. Could have been a bad windows update. If missing/corrupted files starts happening again I would look at testing the hard drive to make sure it isn't failing.