RAM XMP only works sometimes!

Hi lads and ladettes.

I will try to keep this as simple as possible. First of all my setup is a Asrock Fatal1ty AB350 ITX motherboard paired with R5 1600 and G.Skill Trident-Z GDDR4-3000 RAM. Now, when I enable XMP in the BIOS, and enable the Ram to run at 3000, it works, sometimes. It will boot and run the RAM at those speeds, everyone is happy. But some other times, it will beep 3 times (according to Asrock beepcodiology, it means "Main memory read / write test error.") before restarting. Sometimes it will do the 3 beep and restart like 3 times in a row, before finally beeping just once (Memory refresh timer error) and then booting normally, however resetting the RAM speed to the BIOS default. I don't know how to tackle this problem because as I mentioned, sometimes it will boot beautifully, some other times it will then just beep/restart before booting and with lower ram speed. My BIOS is the latest version. I have seen words thrown around like RAM timings, setting voltage etc, but I am such a noob when it comes to those things, so talk to me like Im your 6 year old cousin. 

Robin2win14 wrote: Hi lads and ladettes. I will try to keep this as simple as possible. First of all my setup is a Asrock Fatal1ty AB350 ITX motherboard paired with R5 1600 and G.Skill Trident-Z GDDR4-3000 RAM. Now, when I enable XMP in the BIOS, and enable the Ram to run at 3000, it works, sometimes. It will boot and run the RAM at those speeds, everyone is happy. But some other times, it will beep 3 times (according to Asrock beepcodiology, it means "Main memory read / write test error.") before restarting. Sometimes it will do the 3 beep and restart like 3 times in a row, before finally beeping just once (Memory refresh timer error) and then booting normally, however resetting the RAM speed to the BIOS default. I don't know how to tackle this problem because as I mentioned, sometimes it will boot beautifully, some other times it will then just beep/restart before booting and with lower ram speed. My BIOS is the latest version. I have seen words thrown around like RAM timings, setting voltage etc, but I am such a noob when it comes to those things, so talk to me like Im your 6 year old cousin.

That happened to me occasionally with my X370 Killer SLI/ac board, with earlier UEFI versions. I use G.SKILL FlareX memory, which in reality is no more "Ryzen compatible" than any other memory using Samsung B-die memory chips, while it is claimed to be designed for Ryzen. I never really knew with certainty what was the cause, but I think it was due to marginal memory stability with the earlier UEFI versions, and using the option in the UEFI I will discuss below.

We don't know what model of G.SKILL memory you have, you need to be more specific with the full model name. There are many TridentZ models. For example, my memory model is F4-3200C14D-16GFX.

In the UEFI, OC Tweaker screen, Advanced mode, not EZ Mode, find the AM4 Advance(d) Boot Training option, set to Auto (Enabled) by default. The three restarts you mention is this option at work trying to "train" your memory. If (when) it fails to get your memory trained, it then sets the memory to its default stock speed. IMO, it usually does not help, and can cause the problem you have.

Set this option to Disabled, and enable the XMP profile if it isn't. Save and Exit the UEFI, and live with the PC for a while, and see if the cold start issue appears again.

Also in the OC Tweaker screen, check if you have an SOC Voltage option. Some of the cheaper, B350 boards don't have that option. If you do have this option, set the SOC Voltage to 1.100V, from the default 0.900V. That helps with memory OC stability.

Thats the thing, on the occasion that I am able to boot the PC at 3000 speed, i run prime95 for like 15 minutes with no problems. And then I start up my PC the next day and it will reset the speeds. I will try the voltage increase, thanks for the tip!