RAM Slots 1-2 not working [Intel]

[Lasiru]

I have a 7th Gen Core i5 Rig which is about 4 years old. It had 4x8GB G Skill DDR4 RAM with all four slots populated from day one.

 

Sometimes it had this issue where I didn’t use the computer for a while, it won’t POST when I turn it on and I’d have to remove all the RAM sticks and boot with one stick (then it would POST) and shut down, and stick all the ram sticks back and restart and it would work fine. I used to believe it’s due to static development in the RAM and didn’t think much about it. 

So I couple of days ago I started the PC after a while and it happened again. I didn’t think much of it and did my same ritual. But to find out that RAM slots 1-2 are not working. I checked all the ram sticks and they’re working when they’re put into slots 3-4. I’ll give you an explanation below.

 

RAM Sticks will be named A through D

slots will be named 1 through 4

 

1-A 2-B 3-C 4-D : No Post

1-C 2-D 3-A 4-B : No Post

1-Empty 2-Empty 3-C 4-D : Boots

1-Empty 2-Empty 3-A 4-B : Boots

1-Empty 2-Empty 3-Any RAM 4-Empty : Boots

1-Empty 2-Empty 3-Empty 4-Any RAM : Boots

1-Any Ram 2-Empty 3-Empty 4-Empty : No Post

1-Empty 2-Any Ram 3-Empty 4-Empty : No Post

 

As you can see, with this information I gathered, I assumed that this was not an issue with the RAM sticks. 
 

I browse through many forums and found out that this could be due to a badly seated CPU or a busted MB. Afterwards I carefully reseated the CPU two times with no success. Ended up inspecting for bent pins as well, as far as I can tell the pins look pristine. 
 

Cleaned the ram slots as well and that also didn’t bear any fruit. 
 

so my question now is, what can I do going forward, Apart from buying both CPU and MB (since I can’t say if it’s a motherboard issue or a processor issue), should I buy new RAM as well? And is there anything else I can do to solve this issue that I might not have thought about or found out?

 

Thank you. 

 

Specs:

Intel Core i5 7400

Asus Motherboard LGA 1151

DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws RAM 4x8GB = 32GB

nVidia GTX 1650 Super

 

[CommanderAlex]

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

If you can, buy another kit worth of RAM that can fill the slots up and see if the computer POSTs with the new kit. This is just to rule out if the issue lies with the RAM you currently have. What frequency is the G.Skill Ripjaws capable of? Have you cleared CMOS when moving the RAM around? Check the CMOS battery with a battery tester just to ensure that it is not dead, which can have weird issues related to BIOS. 

 

If the RAM does not work, sounds like the motherboard is on it's way out and will need to be replaced. I assume this is out of warranty so you're better off upgrading the CPU and MB from this platform. 

[Lasiru]

31 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

If you can, buy another kit worth of RAM that can fill the slots up and see if the computer POSTs with the new kit. This is just to rule out if the issue lies with the RAM you currently have. What frequency is the G.Skill Ripjaws capable of? Have you cleared CMOS when moving the RAM around? Check the CMOS battery with a battery tester just to ensure that it is not dead, which can have weird issues related to BIOS. 

 

If the RAM does not work, sounds like the motherboard is on it's way out and will need to be replaced. I assume this is out of warranty so you're better off upgrading the CPU and MB from this platform. 

Hey Alex, first of all thank you for taking time to reply to my question. 
 

Like you’ve mentioned I tried resetting the bios. But I’ll take your suggestion of getting a new battery and trying first (though I replaced it about an year ago). 
 

And to answer your other question, I did not clear the CMOS each time I changed RAM positions, do you think it would’ve caused a similar pattern to what I’m experiencing with?
 

And my current ram is capable of going up to 2400mhz but for some reason even if I enable the XMP it doesn’t seem to bump up from its default 2133(or somewhere about that number) MHz. As I’m not much of an overclocking enthusiast, I don’t know if that means anything or not. 

As for your suggestion of trying to get a new kit to test out would be possible. I’ll try to see if that avenue pans out. 
 

So if this doesn’t pan out I’m thinking of getting a;

- AMD Rizen 5 5600X

- MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS Mother board

- Corsair VENGEANCE® PRO RGB 32GB RAM Kit

 

As this is what’s within my budget given the difficulties of the pandemic times and I need the computer for work.

 

Do you think this is a good option? Or should I stick with Intel (Where I would most probably will have to spend more on the motherboard than the actual Chip to stick in a similar budget)

 

Once again thank you very much. 

[CommanderAlex]

29 minutes ago, Lasiru said:

But I’ll take your suggestion of getting a new battery and trying first (though I replaced it about an year ago).

Ok, the CMOS battery shouldn't be dead if you replaced it a year ago. If it was older than say, 4 years, it would most likely have been dead. 

29 minutes ago, Lasiru said:

And to answer your other question, I did not clear the CMOS each time I changed RAM positions, do you think it would’ve caused a similar pattern to what I’m experiencing with?

Whenever you swap RAM around, it is recommended to clear CMOS as the BIOS will save a trained memory configuration for those sticks to work. Clearing CMOS will make the BIOS have to retrain the memory to run properly. 

 

32 minutes ago, Lasiru said:

And my current ram is capable of going up to 2400mhz but for some reason even if I enable the XMP it doesn’t seem to bump up from its default 2133(or somewhere about that number) MHz. As I’m not much of an overclocking enthusiast, I don’t know if that means anything or not. 

Unless your motherboard is not a Z series board, memory overclocking is not available for this generation, only until 11th gen Intel processors. Does your computer go into a boot loop if you try to enable XMP? 

 

33 minutes ago, Lasiru said:

As for your suggestion of trying to get a new kit to test out would be possible. I’ll try to see if that avenue pans out. 
 

So if this doesn’t pan out I’m thinking of getting a;

- AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

- MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS Mother board

- Corsair VENGEANCE® PRO RGB 32GB RAM Kit

 

As this is what’s within my budget given the difficulties of the pandemic times and I need the computer for work.

 

Do you think this is a good option? Or should I stick with Intel (Where I would most probably will have to spend more on the motherboard than the actual Chip to stick in a similar budget)

 

Once again thank you very much. 

If getting a new kit is not possible, then I wouldn't worry about it and spend the money into upgrading to a newer platform. The processor and motherboard are great. The motherboard's VRMs are great for overclocking or enabling PBO on a 5600X. For the RAM kit, if you have more of the specifics like DDR4-3200 CL16, for example, that would help to make sure you're not wasting money on a bad kit with loose timings (but DDR4-3200 CL16 is great, just using it as an example besides "Corsair VENGEANCE® PRO RGB 32GB RAM Kit".