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RAM not working in Dual Channel on a new build

Formhault
By Formhault
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Go to solution Solved by Joeyf201,

I can't. I bought it from some guy. Paid the price of a 4 GB kit on it...

 

Guy is legit. Went over to his house today to test the RAM in two other systems - they worked just fine. So it's the motherboard... or rather, the BIOS. F*** Gigabye :(

 

He won't take the RAM back. And I understand him. I wouldn't want some dude I sold an iPhone case calling me two weeks later like "hey, dude, I realised this case isn't for me, can I have my money back please?"...

 

I've put up the RAM on for sale. Hope someone wants them. Meanwhile, I'm gonna be on the look out for RAM promos at my local retailers.

 

Life lesson learned : RAM - motherboard compatibility issues are real :) lol.

 

-----

 

Oh, by the way... I just flashed the F3i (beta) bios... yeah, that didn't change sh*t.

If you are looking for a good memory kit that for sure will be compatible with your mobo I would go for a nice set of corsair vengeance, vengeance pro, or dominator platimum. They are all great kits

Posted

I've been creating a lot of topics lately. Hope this is the last one I beg for help :|

 

So... I put my system up together. And went on to install Windows on it (after running an older installation from the previous PC for about a day, which was on the SSD I moved over, almost flawlessly)...

 

All is done. I install the drivers, Chrome, my set of applications (CCleaner, Defraggler, Speccy at first)... and decide to run Speccy. Huh? 8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)? That can't be right. They're supposed to run in Dual-Channel.

Speccy actually showed them to be running at 4-5-5-15 initially, but that must have been due to the drivers not being installed yet.

 

RAM is this, by the way. 2 x 4 GB Corsair XMS3 CL9 1333 MHz.

 

I thought hey, maybe I installed the DIMMs incorrectly. The motherboard has 2 black sockets and 2 grey ones. When I installed the DIMMs, I said to myself hey, let's not use the black sockets as the first one would be too close to the CPU cooler... so I went with the grey ones (sockets DDR3_1 and DDR3_2, as they are labeled).

 

I opened up the motherboard manual. See they are running in a good config - just what the manual recommends.

 

But hey, why don't they show up as Dual-Channel then? Maybe I'm missing something? Then I noticed this, on the same page of the manual.

If Channel A is sockets #2 and #4 and Channel B is sockets #1 and #3... why the hell am I being told to use sockets #1 and #2? Would that be Channel C? The way they say Channel A and Channel B works there is... the sockets aren't even the same color!

I went on and arranged the DIMMs in both ways : channel A and channel B. Still no Dual Channel.

Actually, when the DIMMs were arranged in those ways, 2/5 the system would not post, and 5/5 it would random reboot every once in a while. I figured I f***ed up, so I changed the config back to #1 and #2.

 

Now here I am. Not having a clue what to do in order to get these DIMMs to work in Dual Channel. Any idea, anyone?

 

Oh, for what it's worth, the motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (Rev4.0). It has F2 BIOS on it (which appears the latest "stable" - there's an F3i out, which is apparently beta). Not sure if it's the BIOS...

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Posted

Wait this might be a dumb question but, the slots are as followed -

 

Slot-4 (Left most)   Slot-2     Slot-3           Slot-1 (Right most)

 

Are u sure U installed in Slot 2 and 1 and not in 3 and 1? Because If you installed in right space, there should be an empty space, a ram stick, empty space, ram stick

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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Wait this might be a dumb question but, the slots are as followed -

 

Slot-4 (Left most)   Slot-2     Slot-3           Slot-1 (Right most)

 

Are u sure U installed in Slot 2 and 1 and not in 3 and 1? Because If you installed in right space, there should be an empty space, a ram stick, empty space, ram stick

 

Yes. They are installed like that. 2 and 1 are grey, 4 and 3 are black.

 

But Gigabyte says channel A is 4 and 2, and channel B is 3 and 1. Which doesn't make any sense, since channel = same color... and the way they put that there is mixed up. :|

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Saw you didnt follwo topic @Formhault, Please follwo your topics to get notifications

 

I wasn't following them because I had them bookmarked. They're marked as solved, by the way, so... :P

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I wasn't following them because I had them bookmarked. They're marked as solved, by the way, so... :P

Can I have a pic of your computer and for something to run in Dual channel, they have to be in the same channel.

Confusing I know lol

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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You will want them to be in the same channel, in most cases channel a. So odds are that you will be installing them into 2 and 4. 

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You will want them to be in the same channel, in most cases channel a. So odds are that you will be installing them into 2 and 4. 

Actually no, you install them in the same color. Cause Gigabytes numbering is so frkn messed up, yeah........

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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Can I have a pic of your computer and for something to run in Dual channel, they have to be in the same channel.

Confusing I know lol

 

I'm not gonna take it out for the 10th time :(

 

They are, from left to right, 4 3 2 1. Black, grey, black, grey. Shouldn't I plug two (since that's all I got) in the sockets that are the same color?!

 

It even says in the manual... For optimum performance, when enabling Dual Channel mode with two memory modules, we recommend that you install them in the DDR3_1 and DDR3_2 sockets. 1 and 2 are the same color (grey).

 

Plugging them in to match Channel A or Channel B (as they put it in their own manual, on the same freaking page), I'd have to put one DIMM in a black socket and one DIMM in a grey socket. Which would result in the computer rebooting all by itself at times, and some times not even posting !

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You will want them to be in the same channel, in most cases channel a. So odds are that you will be installing them into 2 and 4. 

 

That's what I was thinking, so I tried it. All that got me was random reboots out of f***ing nowhere... Plus, Speccy still said it's Single-Channel.

 

Channel A, the way the manual says, is one black socket and one grey socket. == what the actual f***, have I been living a lie the whole life?!

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Actually no, you install them in the same color. Cause Gigabytes numbering is so frkn messed up, yeah........

I believe that gigabyte does their channels by colors

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I'm not gonna take it out for the 10th time :(

 

They are, from left to right, 4 3 2 1. Black, grey, black, grey. Shouldn't I plug two (since that's all I got) in the sockets that are the same color?!

 

It even says in the manual... For optimum performance, when enabling Dual Channel mode with two memory modules, we recommend that you install them in the DDR3_1 and DDR3_2 sockets. 1 and 2 are the same color (grey).

 

Plugging them in to match Channel A or Channel B (as they put it in their own manual, on the same freaking page), I'd have to put one DIMM in a black socket and one DIMM in a grey socket. Which would result in the computer rebooting all by itself at times, and some times not even posting !

OK, check with cpuz right now

 

Reread your post and you messed up real bad man. From left to right they are - 4 2 3 1, read the mannual again :)

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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I believe that gigabyte does their channels by colors

See his pic, it has DIMM names on it

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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I believe that gigabyte does their channels by colors

 

If so... then Channel A should be 4 and 3 (not 2), and Channel B should be 2 and 1 (not 3). Which is not the way they describe in their freaking manual...

 

I'm going crazy over this. Same color = no good, still Single-Channel. Not the same color = still no good, still Single-Channel + random reboots...

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OK, check with cpuz right now

 

Reread your post and you messed up real bad man. From left to right they are - 4 2 3 1, read the mannual again :)

 

Yes. It is 4 2 3 1. Sorry, I wrote that down wrong. It's 4 2 3 1 alright, I already know that, I just typed it down wrong. Cause 4 3 2 1 makes sense and 4 2 3 1 doesn't, probably, lol.

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Yes. It is 4 2 3 1. Sorry, I wrote that down wrong. It's 4 2 3 1 alright, I already know that, I just typed it down wrong. Cause 4 3 2 1 makes sense and 4 2 3 1 doesn't, probably, lol.

Do Same color and cpuz check.

Lets all ripperoni in pepperoni

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Do Same color and cpuz check.

 

They are the same color. Installed in sockets DDR3_2 and DDR3_1 (grey slots).

 

CPU-Z agrees with Speccy. Single-Channel...

post-76761-0-36113800-1423713397.jpg

post-76761-0-36113800-1423713397.jpg

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They are the same color. Installed in sockets DDR3_2 and DDR3_1 (grey slots).

 

CPU-Z agrees with Speccy. Single-Channel...

How many gigabytes or ram do you currently have in the system?

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How many gigabytes or ram do you currently have in the system?

 

8. Each DIMM is 4 GB.

 

Funny. The software utility that came with the motherboard (DVD) says I only have 4.

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Interesting...because cpu-z says that you have 8. But it is reading it as single channel

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Interesting...because cpu-z says that you have 8. But it is reading it as single channel

 

Yeah...

 

I tried to look up this issue and only came across this. Not really sure I wanna take out the board to try & replace it (wait ~5 days for a new one) just to find out the issue is still there...

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And you are sure that you have the colors right? I looked up your board and all the pictures show alternating colors for the slots

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And you are sure that you have the colors right? I looked up your board and all the pictures show alternating colors for the slots

 

Yes. Both are grey.

 

As I said... 4 2 3 1. Black grey black grey. And I got them in 2 and 1.

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But if they the colors are alternating black grey black grey, how could you have them in 2 and 1?

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But if they the colors are alternating black grey black grey, how could you have them in 2 and 1?

 

As I said, the sockets are 4 3 2 1.

 

4 and 2 = black. 3 and 1 = grey. 2 is between 3 and 1. Look at the pictures, damn it...

 

Why didn't they label them 4 3 2 1, but went with 4 3 2 1 instead... I can't wrap my head around this f***ed up sh*t :(

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