Memory only working in single channel

[bdubbs]

Long story short I have a Ryzen 1700x and an asus prime x370 pro with 16 GB of G.skill flarex as 2x8GB. 

 

If i run both chips in single channel (slot A1 and A2 or B1 and B2) i can clock to 3200 and it works fine. 

 

If i run both chips in dual channel A2 and B2 or A1 and B1 it will boot at 2400 but windows only gets 8 GB to use and says 8 GB is reserved. 

 

Does this seem like a board, memory or CPU issue?

[strat guy]

Not sure if this will help but check your socket, spray it with some compressed air or a blower, check for bent pins on the chip and reseat it. I had a strand of hair on a socket once that that was killing PCIe lanes and disabled a DIMM slot even though the system was posting and booting up just fine. 

 

 

[bdubbs]

6 minutes ago, strat guy said:

Not sure if this will help but check your socket, spray it with some compressed air or a blower, check for bent pins on the chip and reseat it. I had a strand of hair on a socket once that that was killing PCIe lanes and disabled a DIMM slot even though the system was posting and booting up just fine. 

 

 

Thanks I reseated my chip. I did notice something white on the chip and socket and wiped that off the socket surround. Still no luck after that. I don't think there are any bent pins because the chip goes in smoothly and i don't see anything wonky. 

[strat guy]

5 minutes ago, bdubbs said:

Thanks I reseated my chip. I did notice something white on the chip and socket and wiped that off the socket surround. Still no luck after that. I don't think there are any bent pins because the chip goes in smoothly and i don't see anything wonky. 

I think they're still ironing out a lot of the issues Ryzen chips have with memory. It's probably not the RAM if they work fine in an otherwise traditionally unconventional slot config, or maybe its just a Ryzen quirk. A future BIOS update or something might fix it. Just use a1/a2 or b1/b2 for now, both the ram and the slots work fine, so no need to worry ?

[bdubbs]

Tried some different RAM because I don't live too far from a microcenter. One on the approved list and no luck. 

 

I'm still a year under my parts so i'm hoping an RMA will fix it. must be mobo or proc at this point. 

 

[johndms]

1 hour ago, bdubbs said:

Tried some different RAM because I don't live too far from a microcenter. One on the approved list and no luck. 

 

I'm still a year under my parts so i'm hoping an RMA will fix it. must be mobo or proc at this point. 

 

Update the bios to the most recent version if you haven't already. Technically, anything over 2666 is considered an overclock and not guaranteed, but G.Skill should have no problems with any board.

 

Edit: If you have a setting called "VDDCR SOC Voltage" increase that to 1.1v

[bdubbs]

18 hours ago, johndms said:

Update the bios to the most recent version if you haven't already. Technically, anything over 2666 is considered an overclock and not guaranteed, but G.Skill should have no problems with any board.

 

Edit: If you have a setting called "VDDCR SOC Voltage" increase that to 1.1v

Thanks I'm trying it at default speed which is 2400. SHows up in BIOS in dual channel but once in windows half the RAM is "System Reserved"

[johndms]

5 hours ago, bdubbs said:

Thanks I'm trying it at default speed which is 2400. SHows up in BIOS in dual channel but once in windows half the RAM is "System Reserved"

The only reason I can think of for it only reading half is a dead stick of ram. Update to the most recent bios. Make sure the ram is in the correct ram slots. SOC Voltage to 1.1 (no higher than 1.2). Increase DRAM Voltage to 1.36, 1.37.. no higher than 1.4. Just keep trying different combinations. Try only one stick in A2, try the other stick in A2. Send it back if this is too difficult.

[bdubbs]

5 minutes ago, johndms said:

The only reason I can think of for it only reading half is a dead stick of ram. Update to the most recent bios. Make sure the ram is in the correct ram slots. SOC Voltage to 1.1 (no higher than 1.2). Increase DRAM Voltage to 1.36, 1.37.. no higher than 1.4. Just keep trying different combinations. Try only one stick in A2, try the other stick in A2. Send it back if this is too difficult.

Thanks. I ended up purchasing another set of RAM for testing and had the same results. A different set that was actually on the QVL. I have a ticket open with Asus for the mobo. What i have it down to now is the mobo or CPU. 

[bdubbs]

So it seems I have fixed this issue. I installed the AM4 chipset drivers seperate of a bios update. Just directly in windows. I reset the bios to factory defaults, moved my memory from A1/A2(single channel) to A2/B2. Booted up with default 2400mhz speed.

 

Windows was able to see all 16GB of RAM!

 

Now the real test, i enabled DCOP profile for 3200MHZ and it worked fine. I can't say that this was definitly the fix, but it did work on my reboot after that. worth a try for someone having the same issue. 

[johndms]

1 hour ago, bdubbs said:

So it seems I have fixed this issue. I installed the AM4 chipset drivers seperate of a bios update. Just directly in windows. I reset the bios to factory defaults, moved my memory from A1/A2(single channel) to A2/B2. Booted up with default 2400mhz speed.

 

Windows was able to see all 16GB of RAM!

 

Now the real test, i enabled DCOP profile for 3200MHZ and it worked fine. I can't say that this was definitly the fix, but it did work on my reboot after that. worth a try for someone having the same issue. 

I'll remember this. I tend to forget to recommend the AMD Chipset drivers, so it's good to know it may have fixed the '8GB Reserved' problem. You're not the first I've seen with that problem. I'm glad you got it working at rated speeds, as well.

 

Tip: if your board offers the feature to save your bios settings/overclocks to a profile, do so. With Ryzen being so problematic, even my board tends to wipe my overclocks at times, so restoring my profile is the least bothersome way to quickly be back up and running. My board will clear the saved profiles when I update the bios, or remove the cmos battery, so I've also saved the profile to my usb drive.