Asus p7p55d_pro + f3-10666cl8-2gbhk

[Tuathanach]

Configuration:

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D Pro
BIOS Ver: 915
RAM: (4 dimms) #F3-10666CL8-2GBHK
CPU: Intel, Lynnfield, Core i7 860

I have the same symptoms as several others.

The computer boots properly with 2 dimms installed either as dual or single channel.
Runs fine, never stumbles. If all 4 slots are occupied, it will "blue screen" at a cold boot.
I remove the dimms in slots A2&B2, reboot with no problem, shut-down Win-7 immediately, re-install the dimms in slots A2&B2, reboot and run without problem for the rest of the day.

I recently flashed the latest BIOS (#915). Set the AI Tuner to: X.M.P. and selected the single
profile offered (8,8,8,21). The computer ran properly all day with 8GB installed at those settings . I rebooted uneventfully several times through the day. I thought the problem had been solved with the new BIOS. But, when "cold" booted the next morning, it "blue-screened". I have tried several combinations of settings.
The computer always reboots with the 8GB and runs without incident for the rest of the day.
The next morning it will always crash at the cold boot. I repeat the sequence in the first paragraph and continue.
Not a convenient start to the day.

It would appear that several other manufacturers/vendors of DDR3 desktop RAM are experiencing similar problems.
Perhaps the problem lies with Intel's combination of the P55 chipset with the i5/i7 CPu and not the RAM manufacturers.


Have any settings been discovered that will allow the ASUS P7P55D_PRO + F3-10666CL8-2GBHK DDR3-1333 RAM to cold boot reliably and maintain a stable 8Gb?

Any suggestions will be appreciated. And, apologies for the long post!

Thanks in advance,

David

[gpb500]

Yeah a lot of people have this "cold boot" problem it seems. What I did was test with one pair on cold boot. I was able to isolate the errors (using memtest) to a specific pair, then RMA'd and the returned set was OK, but not without a little more work. I'm still testing...but I now have my 8GB running at 1970MHz (with i5 at 3.57GHz) but had to reduce the mem voltage to 1.5875 to 1.6000 (both seem to work at this setting). At 1.625 it was unstable and at 1.65v (the rated voltage) was even more unstable. You have different memory than I do, so none of this may apply. You'll need to isolate the the bad memory...swap out the pair in A1/B1 and try a cold boot with the other pair you were using in A2/B2.

Using 8GB, you may also need to underclock it just a bit...or loosen the timings. The GSkill guys will be able to help with that. They were supposed to check with Asus about it but haven't heard back. Corsair memory is having problems too and I don't think it's isolated to the Asus boards. It's maddening...but you should be able to get it to work with not tons of effort, esp at stock speeds. I'm running the Asus Deluxe P7P55D board (swapping the board does not solve it).

[Tradesman]

Couls you post your base and advanced DRAM timings...also is Command Rate at 2T

[Tuathanach]

Thanks for responding to my post. Here's the info requested.

The BIOS has been reset back to the default settings.
I tried using the X.M.P setting (Profile #1) with no success. I tried several manual settings with no success. Since there seems to be a number of users with this problem, I decided to stay with 4Gb and wait for a definitive solution to emerge.
I re-installed the additional 2 dimms this morning and re-booted successfully. I have no doubt it will "blue-screen" when I do a cold boot tomorrow morning. It always has.

BIOS adjustments require waiting until the next morning to see if they work.
After the computer has been initially powered up, booted and re-booted, it seems to run
reliably for the rest of the day.

Here's the settings running at 8Gb as reported by "CPUID".




Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel DMI Host Bridge rev. 11
Southbridge Intel P55 rev. 05
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 8192 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 668.8 MHz (2:10)
CAS# latency (CL) 9.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 9
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 9
Cycle Time (tRAS) 24
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 74
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Uncore Frequency 2407.5 MHz

Memory SPD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM # 1
SMBus address 0x50
Memory type DDR3
Module format UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) G.Skill (7F7F7F7FCD000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
Part number F3-10666CL8-2GBHK
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP yes
XMP revision 1.0
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 6.0-6-6-16-22 @ 444 MHz
JEDEC #2 7.0-7-7-19-26 @ 518 MHz
JEDEC #3 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 592 MHz
JEDEC #4 9.0-9-9-24-33 @ 666 MHz
XMP profile XMP-1334
Specification PC3-10700
Voltage level 1.600 Volts
Min Cycle time 1.500 ns (667 MHz)
Min tRP 11.00 ns
Min tRCD 11.00 ns
Min tWR 15.00 ns
Min tRAS 31.25 ns
Min tRC 45.00 ns
Min tRFC 90.00 ns
Min tRTP 7.50 ns
Min tRRD 6.00 ns
Command Rate 2T
XMP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
XMP #1 8.0-8-8-23-33-2T @ 727 MHz (1.600 Volts)


DIMM # 2
SMBus address 0x51
Memory type DDR3
Module format UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) G.Skill (7F7F7F7FCD000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
Part number F3-10666CL8-2GBHK
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP yes
XMP revision 1.0
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 6.0-6-6-16-22 @ 444 MHz
JEDEC #2 7.0-7-7-19-26 @ 518 MHz
JEDEC #3 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 592 MHz
JEDEC #4 9.0-9-9-24-33 @ 666 MHz
XMP profile XMP-1334
Specification PC3-10700
Voltage level 1.600 Volts
Min Cycle time 1.500 ns (667 MHz)
Min tRP 11.00 ns
Min tRCD 11.00 ns
Min tWR 15.00 ns
Min tRAS 31.25 ns
Min tRC 45.00 ns
Min tRFC 90.00 ns
Min tRTP 7.50 ns
Min tRRD 6.00 ns
Command Rate 2T
XMP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
XMP #1 8.0-8-8-23-33-2T @ 727 MHz (1.600 Volts)

DIMM # 3
SMBus address 0x52
Memory type DDR3
Module format UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) G.Skill (7F7F7F7FCD000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
Part number F3-10666CL8-2GBHK
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP yes
XMP revision 1.0
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 6.0-6-6-16-22 @ 444 MHz
JEDEC #2 7.0-7-7-19-26 @ 518 MHz
JEDEC #3 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 592 MHz
JEDEC #4 9.0-9-9-24-33 @ 666 MHz
XMP profile XMP-1334
Specification PC3-10700
Voltage level 1.600 Volts
Min Cycle time 1.500 ns (667 MHz)
Min tRP 11.00 ns
Min tRCD 11.00 ns
Min tWR 15.00 ns
Min tRAS 31.25 ns
Min tRC 45.00 ns
Min tRFC 90.00 ns
Min tRTP 7.50 ns
Min tRRD 6.00 ns
Command Rate 2T
XMP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
XMP #1 8.0-8-8-23-33-2T @ 727 MHz (1.600 Volts)


DIMM # 4
SMBus address 0x53
Memory type DDR3
Module format UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) G.Skill (7F7F7F7FCD000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
Part number F3-10666CL8-2GBHK
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP yes
XMP revision 1.0
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 6.0-6-6-16-22 @ 444 MHz
JEDEC #2 7.0-7-7-19-26 @ 518 MHz
JEDEC #3 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 592 MHz
JEDEC #4 9.0-9-9-24-33 @ 666 MHz
XMP profile XMP-1334
Specification PC3-10700
Voltage level 1.600 Volts
Min Cycle time 1.500 ns (667 MHz)
Min tRP 11.00 ns
Min tRCD 11.00 ns
Min tWR 15.00 ns
Min tRAS 31.25 ns
Min tRC 45.00 ns
Min tRFC 90.00 ns
Min tRTP 7.50 ns
Min tRRD 6.00 ns
Command Rate 2T
XMP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
XMP #1 8.0-8-8-23-33-2T @ 727 MHz (1.600 Volts)




THANKS AGAIN!!

David

[Tradesman]

Try raising tRFC to 127- 127.5

[Tuathanach]

Unfortunately adjusting tRFC made no difference.

I have run the computer continously for hours with several large applications in memory. Never had a failure. I have tested how long the computer can be powered off before it will fail at bootup time.

Powered off: Bootup:

1/2 hour Success
1 hour Success
2 hours Success
4 hours Fail
Anything over 4 hrs Fail

The failure (BSOD) occurs approx 20 seconds after the "Starting Windows" screen is displayed. Power off when the blue screen appears. Wait 10 seconds. Power on and reboot without problem. Run fine rest of day. Very consistant. Same sequence every time.

Thanks for the help.

David

[gpb500]

There's a new BIOS available...BIOS 1002. I haven't tried 1002 yet, but my "cold boot" problem seems to be solved. Good luck.

[Tradesman]

Might try raising the DRAM voltage .2 or .3 (in other words, just a hair, the mobo might not be reading it exactly right)

[Tuathanach]

As noted in the previous message, ASUS has just posted an updated BIOS. I have downloaded and flashed it. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'll implement the DRAM voltage adjustment as you suggested.

I have let the new BIOS use the default settings. I'll report the results when I power on tomorrow after the computer has been powered off overnight.

Thanks again for your continued support. I appreciate it very much!

David

[gpb500]

Just to clarify...my cold boot problem was solved a week or so ago by an RMA...so I can't test that the new BIOS has any effect at all. After I read my post it sounded as if that fixed it.

Also, regarding voltage, I've found that too much voltage creates errors as well as too little. This DDR3-2000 is rated at 1.65v but it's unstable at that setting...1.585v is good. My guess is you're gonna need to RMA. FWIW.

[Tuathanach]

Thanks for sharing your experience! BIOS #1002 had no affect. Same results this morning. On power up it ran up to the Win-7 "Please Wait" screen then BSOD. Power Off/Power on and all is well. I agree with you, The RAM has to be exchanged. I'm beyond the 30 day return period so looks like new RAM for me.

Again thanks for your input.

David

[gpb500]

Thanks for sharing your experience! BIOS #1002 had no affect. Same results this morning. On power up it ran up to the Win-7 "Please Wait" screen then BSOD. Power Off/Power on and all is well. I agree with you, The RAM has to be exchanged. I'm beyond the 30 day return period so looks like new RAM for me.

Again thanks for your input.

David

Exchange it via G.Skill direct?

[Tuathanach]

I don't expect G.Skill will take the RAM back and give me replacements. I'll return to NewEGG and purchase a different brand. I'll find a use for these sticks somewhere sometime.

David

[G.SKILL]

we'd be glad to replace with another new kits, but for 4 sticks, we still do not guarantee they could run together at our rated speed
sorry for the inconvenience


G.S

[Tuathanach]

Thank you. That's a generous offer. I'd like to try four new sticks of 2Gb each.

If I could have an email address, I'll contact you directly with my address.

Again, Thank you

David