x99 Extreme 4 won't post / erratic behavior

parsec wrote: That is strange, but at least they seem to be working. Or as Xaltar said, one DIMM is intermittent in its operation. The other board might have had a problem with the DIMM slot(s), as J Z suggested. Another possibility is bent pins in the CPU socket that were related to the memory controller, which is part of the CPU, were not in the perfect position. Or the first CPU was damaged from your "event", and we've been blaming the memory when it was fine all along. I hesitate to say this, and forgive me, but any chance your technique for inserting DDR4 memory has improved and you simply had DIMMs not fully in their slots? I always insert memory before the board is in the PC case. I can then easily check that each DIMM is fully in the slot evenly from one side to another. I've noticed when a DIMM is fully in its slot, the locking tab(s) on the DIMM slot are not really putting any pressure on the ends of the DIMM. I can move the tabs with my fingers a tiny bit, from side to side. I also perform a ritual of anointing the gold contact points on the DIMMs with CAIG ProGold contact enhancer. A very, very light coating is applied that is then removed with soft tissues and then blasted with compressed gas in a can. Not that this is a required thing to do, it is well into OCD territory. Perhaps we should just be happy everything seems to be working and not question what happened, and not try to explain it?

Xaltar wrote: It sounds very much like an intermittent RAM module. It may be that one stick needs a little more juice to get it started than the rest or there could be a fault on the module itself.  Contrary to popular thought, not all slots are equal on a motherboard. It's basic electronics really, each slot has a different length of circuit traces between it and the respective components it connects to. So while a module might not work correctly in say slot A1 it may work just fine in say slot D1 if slot D1 is closer to the RAM's power circuitry. Longer traces = greater resistance = signal degradation. I hope that makes sense.... That said, the RAM module causing the issue is still either faulty or not quite to spec with regard to voltage. I would test the system thoroughly, power off and on, disconnect from the wall for an hour or so and power on again from a proper cold boot a few times and then, if the RAM consistently shows up correctly in OS begin testing it with Memtest. If everything checks out then you should be good to go.

ualdriver wrote: wardog wrote: My guestimate: One of the four sticks is either defective or there's a difference in that sticks timings and or voltages that was programmed onto the SPD chip. I buy a large amount of four stick matched kits. It's happened to me 4-5 times. That's why I asked to test each stick. Maybe hopefully discover the one that might be causing this. Fingers crossed here ! Parsec, Wardog, Xaltar- Your help was much appreciated.  Obviously it was some sort of RAM issue, although I am still a bit befuddled........ I have the original 4 RAM sticks, I'll call them RAM 1, RAM 2, RAM 3, RAM 4 as i currently have then numbered.  They're 4GB each. I booted up my computer with RAM 1 & RAM 2 in the A1 & B1 slots, Windows 10 said I had 4GB of RAM intalled when I have 8GB.  A bad stick I guess? I booted up again, with only RAM 1 in A1, Windows 10 says I had 4GB of RAM installed.  Great. I booted up again, with only RAM 2 in A1, Windows 10 says I had 4GB of RAM installed.  OK, I guess.  I thought this would be the bad stick since RAM 1 booted normally. I booted up again, installed RAM 3 and RAM 4 in A1 & B1.  Windows 10 said I had 8GB of RAM.  Great. I booted up again, left RAM 3 and RAM 4 in A1 & B1, put RAM 1 & RAM 2 in C1 and D1, and Windows 10 says I have 16GB of RAM. So what's going on here?

That is strange, but at least they seem to be working. Or as Xaltar said, one DIMM is intermittent in its operation. The other board might have had a problem with the DIMM slot(s), as J Z suggested. Another possibility is bent pins in the CPU socket that were related to the memory controller, which is part of the CPU, were not in the perfect position. Or the first CPU was damaged from your "event", and we've been blaming the memory when it was fine all along.

I hesitate to say this, and forgive me, but any chance your technique for inserting DDR4 memory has improved and you simply had DIMMs not fully in their slots? I always insert memory before the board is in the PC case. I can then easily check that each DIMM is fully in the slot evenly from one side to another.

I've noticed when a DIMM is fully in its slot, the locking tab(s) on the DIMM slot are not really putting any pressure on the ends of the DIMM. I can move the tabs with my fingers a tiny bit, from side to side.

I also perform a ritual of anointing the gold contact points on the DIMMs with CAIG ProGold contact enhancer. A very, very light coating is applied that is then removed with soft tissues and then blasted with compressed gas in a can. Not that this is a required thing to do, it is well into OCD territory.

Perhaps we should just be happy everything seems to be working and not question what happened, and not try to explain it?

It sounds very much like an intermittent RAM module. It may be that one stick needs a little more juice to get it started than the rest or there could be a fault on the module itself. 

Edited by Xaltar - 22 Nov 2016 at 4:25pm

wardog wrote: My guestimate: One of the four sticks is either defective or there's a difference in that sticks timings and or voltages that was programmed onto the SPD chip. I buy a large amount of four stick matched kits. It's happened to me 4-5 times. That's why I asked to test each stick. Maybe hopefully discover the one that might be causing this. Fingers crossed here !