Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 : L2-8800CL5D-4GPI (x2) : Won't work with 8g

[daniel777]

I have a Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 and have been trying to get the 1100 L2-8800CL5D-4GPI (x2= 8g) to work with 8gig ie: 4 x 2 gigs (the silver heatsink version)So far, its been impossible, I have gone to forums, tried others settings...It will not work...

Ever since I purchased this ram, about 2+ years ago, I could NEVER use it over 4 gig max. I feel cheated by it.
I have gotten 3 replacement MB from Gigabyte because of this problem, and the most recent one, is brand new. I also have a new replacement Intel Quad Core 9550 : LGA 775 processor; and a new replacement power supply Corsair 1050....

...STILL..., this annoying ram will not work with 4 sticks/8gigs, ... not only that, but now I can only use 1 stick ie: 2 gig in the new replacement MB. If I put more than one in there, the graphics just will not come on...., and/or it just reboots...

...in desperation, I decided I will not let this G.Skill ram cheat me of being able to use 8 gigs ram (with Windows 7 - 64 bit - Ultimate), and have ordered some Kingston Hyper-X ram x 8 gigs to replace the G.Skill pi.

I decided that before I pick this ram up, I will give the G.Skill pi x 8 gig ONE more go, by posting this on the G.Skill tech forum...., so that in case there is a quick-fix-response : THAT WORKS : I can cancel the order for the Hyper-X and use the G.Skill I have. Otherwise, I will just take the Kingston RAM and ditch the G.Skill as a bad purchase decision, at least for Gigabyte MB's, in fact, I am wary of getting them ever again for any board...

...but 'just in case' there is a solution to get my MB working with 8gigs without ANY glitches....I am posting this in the hope that there is a solution/setting and I have not just thrown my money away into the 'wind of glitchy or substandard electronic mistakes'....

I suspect that this G.Skill ram and/or my attempts to get it going, may have caused the MB; CPU and PSU faults to occur...I dont want to take that chance again, and risk using this ram..., unless there is a clear-working-fix for it....

So..., are you aware of this problem? and what is the fix/solution - if any ???...can you please let me know ASAP ...,thank you

[Tradesman]

Do you have the mobo's latest BIOS? Have you run Memtest on each stick, in the chance you have a bad stick? FSB at 1333? Sticks set up with the correct timings, CR and voltage? You are running two sets, which of itself can be problematic, so will prob need about an extra .05 added to the DRAM voltage...also with 4 sticks prob need to raise mobo NB voltage and may have to adjust the tRFC slightly....let us know, I'll be back in this PM and GSkill should be in later today

[daniel777]

Do you have the mobo's latest BIOS? Have you run Memtest on each stick, in the chance you have a bad stick? FSB at 1333? Sticks set up with the correct timings, CR and voltage? You are running two sets, which of itself can be problematic, so will prob need about an extra .05 added to the DRAM voltage...also with 4 sticks prob need to raise mobo NB voltage and may have to adjust the tRFC slightly....let us know, I'll be back in this PM and GSkill should be in later today

...thanks....'but'....

...I am finding the same with other forums I looked at..., what you are saying much of I cannot relate to what is in my bios...., nor can find some settings....This way, it could damage my MB, CPU and most likely PSU...., --- again ----

I cannot find NB voltage, dont know what CR means, FSB is multiplied 8 x 333 = 2.664...??? DRAM voltage is .015, what is tRFC???

...thanks again, however I need real settings (that I can understand and see on the screen) that are proven and related to my MB..., not something that might fry something just 'trying a setting that looks like it'....

...the bios is AWARD bios; and the latest bios update, which is installed, is F8C...

...I ran memtest when I first encountered this with brand new sticks, ...it took forever, I think I resorted to a 'quick test'...., there were no errors then....

[daniel777]

As I thought - no-one has the answer

Its as I thought, no-one has the answer, ... its becoming increasingly clear, that this was/is just sub-standard ram, which by all events so far, is indicative of damaging my other components.

I really think more responsibility should be taken by G.Skill to ensure thier ram is up to standard - or adjustments settings made clear...., and that at least it does not at least damage other components..., either directly or as a result of trying to get it going...

...the fact that there is no response nor solution offered is not helping this matter ...

[Intelguy]

NB is NorthBridge Voltage, CR is Command Rate, your FSB is at 1333 (or the 333 x 4), the 333 x 8 you mention refers to the processing speed of the CPU not the FSB speed, tRFC is one of the Advanced Timings that can be adjusted for memory.

I would offer the original response provided by Tradesman covered things neatly.

He suggested you test each DIMM individually (which yes takes time, but is cheaper than taking it to a shop. He asks if the DIMMS are set up with proper settings, to wit the basic timings, DRAM voltage and CR (explained above). He explained that running two separate sets, in of itself can cause problems. He then goes on to suggest what to try to get the two sets to work together. All of the initial suggestions offered are well within safe limitations.

By your statements, it appears clear you should probably read up and learn something about the BIOS and it's settings before attempting to do anything or enlist the aid of a friend/relative that know a little something about computers and the BIOS.

Lastly, bashing products that you have no idea bout the quality of, and doing so based on a poor, uninformed decision that you yourself made, is probably the worst approach a person can make when seeking help. GSkill seems to be one of the more responsible manufacturer's sites I seen over the years and help provided by it's members is generally of a higher level than found at other sites. I have used their DRAM for some time now, and I build a fair number of systems for my customers. I have found their DRAM to actuall be above standard and generally they are the leader in cutting edge DRAM, might take a look sometime at who has 32, 64 GB DRAM kits out there, or who has the biggest selection of sets using 8GB DIMMS.

[daniel777]

thanks

NB is NorthBridge Voltage, CR is Command Rate, your FSB is at 1333 (or the 333 x 4), the 333 x 8 you mention refers to the processing speed of the CPU not the FSB speed, tRFC is one of the Advanced Timings that can be adjusted for memory.

I would offer the original response provided by Tradesman covered things neatly.

He suggested you test each DIMM individually (which yes takes time, but is cheaper than taking it to a shop. He asks if the DIMMS are set up with proper settings, to wit the basic timings, DRAM voltage and CR (explained above). He explained that running two separate sets, in of itself can cause problems. He then goes on to suggest what to try to get the two sets to work together. All of the initial suggestions offered are well within safe limitations.

By your statements, it appears clear you should probably read up and learn something about the BIOS and it's settings before attempting to do anything or enlist the aid of a friend/relative that know a little something about computers and the BIOS.

Lastly, bashing products that you have no idea bout the quality of, and doing so based on a poor, uninformed decision that you yourself made, is probably the worst approach a person can make when seeking help. GSkill seems to be one of the more responsible manufacturer's sites I seen over the years and help provided by it's members is generally of a higher level than found at other sites. I have used their DRAM for some time now, and I build a fair number of systems for my customers. I have found their DRAM to actuall be above standard and generally they are the leader in cutting edge DRAM, might take a look sometime at who has 32, 64 GB DRAM kits out there, or who has the biggest selection of sets using 8GB DIMMS.

...thanks Intelguy...

I have no criticism of Tradesman, in fact I am grateful for his advice, ... I just wanted (and was referring to) lack of any help/settings info from G.Skill ....

... I was not 'bashing' the product, for the sake of it..., IN addition, it is not a poor-uninformed decision per se, but is the result of the frustration of not being able to use ram purchased for over 2 years..., since new..., really, it should work out of the box, as the Hyper-X at least claims to, and if not, there should be readily available settings to do so...I have tried a barrel full of 'recipes and adjustments' from others on forums who had similar problems and found some solutions or half solutions, but none of them have worked to date, when I followed thier 'exact procedure'...

...I think its fairly reasonable to expect, there will be some 'discontent' due to the fact that the majority of components had to be replaced, most likely due to the effect of the ram, or of trying to get it to work...

...I have put every PC I have owned together myself..., and know basic bios settings, but the more advanced bios settings (in particular to do with memory voltage & settings etc) I am not familiar with, esp. when they have different ways of approach then other ones I was used to in the past...

...what has just made it more dissapointing, as time goes on I have not heard from G.Skill (so far) has not come up with nor responded to this with a solution..., after all I have been through....its a bit disconcerting...

...they may be as you say, ....I dont know..., all I know is, I have a problem, and so far, 2 well-meaning people have responded, with good advice--- but no clear solution or response from the maker that will completely resolve this....so far anyway...

...so, I am waiting for a bit longer, for G.Skill to set things straight in terms of getting this ram to work, and prove that my sentiments were just a transitory frustration...., if they can get this to work, good...

[Intelguy]

I would try what Tradesman suggested, there was nothing there that would damage components, while he is not GSkill, per se, they have made him an Administrator and I have seen where he is successful in getting things going to an extremely high percentage. From reading other posts here it is apparent that the GSkill support people themselves have been inundated with support requests via email and telephone which would probably explain their recent absence the last few days. Most forums like this are almost entirely user driven, but I have seen a few actual GSkill folks out here on a regular basis, there's GSkill tech who seem to be in all the boards, GSkill who seem to primarily work in the SSD area, and GSkill Support who seems to work on-line RMA information requests..

Suggest trying what Tradesman suggested and if any particular questions, ask, I've seen where he often pulls up/out manuals and find the exact terminology or screen where the information is, It would probably help to post your current BIOS settings like the voltage, DRAM and CPU info

Cheers

[daniel777]

OK

I would try what Tradesman suggested, there was nothing there that would damage components, while he is not GSkill, per se, they have made him an Administrator and I have seen where he is successful in getting things going to an extremely high percentage. From reading other posts here it is apparent that the GSkill support people themselves have been inundated with support requests via email and telephone which would probably explain their recent absence the last few days. Most forums like this are almost entirely user driven, but I have seen a few actual GSkill folks out here on a regular basis, there's GSkill tech who seem to be in all the boards, GSkill who seem to primarily work in the SSD area, and GSkill Support who seems to work on-line RMA information requests..

Suggest trying what Tradesman suggested and if any particular questions, ask, I've seen where he often pulls up/out manuals and find the exact terminology or screen where the information is, It would probably help to post your current BIOS settings like the voltage, DRAM and CPU info

Cheers

...yes, your right, I have decided to do what he suggested..., and will go through the arduous process of using the full memtest for each stick..., each night one stick..., and then try the settings he suggested...

...as I said, I appreciate the help, I was expecting/hoping there would be a recipe for this problem on how to fix it, as this is an ongoing issue when doing google searches with this ram, which is why I suspect it may have a fault in its design....

...thanks...

Regards

[Tradesman]

On the Memtest, can generally run each stick through about 3-4 passes, rather than the whole all night test

[daniel777]

...just wont work... period

On the Memtest, can generally run each stick through about 3-4 passes, rather than the whole all night test

...I ran the test on one stick all day/night/next morning..., THEN I put another stick in, after taking the old one out, to test it, and the PC just keeps switching off into a reboot loop....

...the next 2 sticks, the monitor would not switch on, ....

...when I put the original only one that worked, it also stopped working properly...

I cannot help but think, that this ram has damaged my other components, .... in fact I am 99.99% sure of it...

I cannot keep taking chances with this ram....It is either severly fautly or sub-standard.

The motherboard is a brand new replacement under warranty, so is the CPU and so is the Power supply...., how EXPENSIVE has this ram turned out to be??...and I cannot even use it....

I really would like to get a refund for it, and if it has damaged my new components, ... that has to be replaced too....in addition...

...this is just the unfortunate fact of it all...

Regards

[Tradesman]

The switching on and off is generally indicative of the stick not being fully seated, something on the contacts, or something being in the slot or possibly a short on the mobo, which falls in with the monitor not coming on. Could a few things but most often from a bad connection to the case, i.e. loose screw in a standoff. Will drop a line to GSkill to check the thread and get with you. With the Holiday weekend would guess Tues/Wed since Monday's the Holiday (Federally speaking, for banks, and some businesses)

[daniel777]

OK, thanks...

...it has occured on 3 motherboards so far, and this is the 4th....,

[daniel777]

this is how the cpu got damaged last time

This is exactly how the CPU got damaged last time. I just got a new replacement back from Intel. If this is damaged again, its only fair that G.Skill replace the CPU and ram...asap

...I am so tired of this going on and on, causing so much damage and incredible loss of time...

[Intelguy]

I have found this thread intriguing, and would like to suggest it may possibly be a flaw in the motherboard itself. Some of the information I found includes the BIOS you mention, which is a Beta, F8C and was the BIOS version that added support for the Q9550 w/ the E0 stepping. which is the one should have since you just got a new one The BIOS was released 04/2009, just a couple of months before they discontinued the motherboard. I also thought it interesting that they never finalized the BIOS, leaving it as an open beta, and on their site state, that a BETA that may not include all of the features of the final version, which indicates more changes were planned, but never implemented, which often indicates problems with the motherboard that can not be easily fixed via the BIOS, like possibly support for 2GB DIMMS. This time frame also coincides with the release of Win7, which was raising demand for more DRAM in systems, the days 1-2 GB died out with the release of Vista and 2-4 became the norm, Win7 has brought on the norm of 4-8GB (and much, much more today, but early on people were looking for 4-8. Another fact I came across is that the while the motherboard advertises as 1200 as the standard DRAM and an 8 GB maximum, in their QVL Memory list, among other things they don't show any 2GB DIMMS at a speed higher than 800, and only about 6 models at 800 and below. It may be the motherboard just doesn't/didn't handle 2GB DIMMS well.

Have you tried testing your DIMMS in another system? I'm not saying they are perfectly good, but I've never seen DRAM causing all the problems you have indicated, I'm not saying they can't, but have never seen or read of faulty DIMMs frying a CPU in a 775 motherboard.

[daniel777]

well, Gigabyte were well informed that I was using this ram in my system, in fact, every aspect of the motherboards markings, ram, cpu, graphics etc...., Surely, they would have let me know..., however, they just replaced the motherboard, a number of times, previous 2 with used working ones, this time a brand new one...

...I had similar observations regarding the bios being beta and not upgraded etc...,which is 'annoying'....

...I did try them in an Asus MB, and similar occured, could not use all the ram, I think I managed to use 3 sticks, for a while anyway, but I could do that once (never again) with the GB too...

Ill try one more thing based on tradesmans comments, that is Ill attach an extra earth wire from the PSU case to chassis..., see what happens...

...interesting thing is, that 'ramcity' guarantees the hyper-x with similar general specs will work with this MB...I just want the darn thing to work properly.....