Hi, I have built a few computers over the years but this is the first one to ever give me any trouble. Here are the specs: Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Ram: ADATA Gaming Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Video: ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready HD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD322GJ/U 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive OS: Windows 7 64bit Home Premium I went into the bios and set the ram to run at 1600 and I leave the voltage at automatic. It doesn't happen with every restart. It almost seems like any restarts after any updates or programs have been installed. What will happen is the red ram light will come on and I can hear it trying to cycle through the ram settings at initial startup. It will not boot. I believe a black screen just pops up with an error of some kind. I have tried hitting the button on the motherboard next to the light and nothing happens. I have to force shutdown the computer and remove the other 3 sticks of ram. Start with the one stick in and it usually prompts me with Overclocking failed press f1 for setup or f2 for default. I hit F1 go into bios and ensure the ram settings are the same, which they always are, then the computer boots fine. I had tried to use an automatic program to overclock the computer when I first built it a few months ago but it didn't go right. I feel this could be a cause. I have also updated my bios version since. I have gotten into the habit of leaving my case open to quickly remove the other 3 sticks of ram or just simply running it on one stick of ram. I would like to finally solve this issue. Thanks for your help, Nicky
What's the voltage required by the RAM for that particular set? Try leaving one stick in and manually set the voltage and timings for the memory (should be on the sticker on the DIMM), then repopulate the sticks one at a time until it either works or fails. If it fails, try that stick on its own to rule out a bad RAM stick. If that doesn't work, repost more details in here. Sentinel.
I have attempted what you have said already. I have set the timing and voltage to the specs listed on the ram stick. Once I have set everything up in bios and the computer boots with one stick, I shut down the computer and add the other 3 sticks. Upon the *first* startup with all 4 sticks I never experience any problems. It is when the computer is restarted or shut down for the second or third time that it will not boot and give me the red ram light. I then have to force shut down the computer, remove the other 3 sticks and start the process all over again. I usually leave my computer running 24/7 so I may only have to go thru these steps once a week or so when it will automatically restarts for windows updates. After any updates it usually is always good for a red ram light on restart. Is it possible that there is a compatibility issue with my ram and motherboard?
Did you add the sticks one at a time like Sentinel-R1 suggested or did you add the other three sticks as you said in your post? Perhaps if you add one at a time you can detect a defective stick of RAM and fix your problem for good.
So even though it is not consistent it is possible that I still may have a bad stick of ram. I suppose I should try running with just adding one more stick at a time. I'm a little out of the computer loop but if I remember correctly I don't think my ram is compatible with 3 sticks running. So I will have to run just 2 and swap the 2nd out.
Have you tried a ram test to see if you get any errors? Such as memtest86? Have you got the latest bios version? You mention you have updated it
It will still run with 3 sticks in, just won't be in dual channel mode proper. The Qualified Vendor List (QVL) for RAM that is tested as 100% working for your particular board can be found at the following link: http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A87TDUSB3/#MSL That said, it's not to say that RAM not on this list won't work, but it's just not guaranteed tested by Asus.
