P55-GD65 - Available RAM Suddently Changed

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mrant

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Sorry for double posting this, but I figure I shouldn't have hijacked the thread I originally posted this in.

My problem can best be described as a sudden unexpected change in the available RAM. I have 2x2GB sticks that had previously been recognized at 4GB available, but this morning my machine will only POST with 2GB available. Both sticks are recognized and I can view SPD info, but during POST, only 2GB is reported.

I built my machine about 3 weeks ago and everything was working great, booted first try and no errors in memtest+ or LinX or Prime95. I have been running just fine since then. I have MSI P55-GD65, Core i5 750, DDR3 2x2GB GSkill Trident 2000MHz RAM.

This past weekend I decided to mildly overclock, I upped the bclk to 160 and adjusted the DIMM voltage to 1.6 according to the RAM spec. I tested and tested this config and everything seemed stable. I have been using the machine to play games and things with no problems.

I go to resume from hibernate this morning and the machine hangs. I restart and I notice BIOS is only showing 2GB during POST. I check out the BIOS settings and it sees the 2 DIMMS, but still only shows 2GB. I boot into Windows 7 x64 and it shows 4GB (2GB Useable). Previously all 4GB were recognized and useable just fine. This may be relevant, I don't know, but I started a long video transcoding job before bed last night. Presumably this job finished and the machine went into hibernate.

I reset all settings back to default, thinking maybe my overclock wasn't as stable as I thought, but no change. Even before I reset the clocks, I tried upping the DIMM voltage, the VTT voltage, reducing RAM frequency. Nothing.

I figure maybe I need to upgrade the BIOS, as I am currently running v1.5 and latest is 1.8. I download the 1.8 image to a flash drive and try to use M-Flash to boot the BIOS image off the drive, but BIOS hangs with a repeating BEEP when I try that.
Then I noticed something very odd. When I boot up with the flash drive plugged into a USB port, BIOS reports 4GB on POST. Without the drive, 2GB on POST.

As an absolute last resort I will reseat the CPU, but after the flash drive behaviour, I am not sure it is a CPU pin-contact issue. When I get home from work I am going to flash to v1.8 BIOS and see if that helps. If not, I will reseat all DIMMS and try that. If the problem persists, I will try DIMMS individually and in different slots and see. I will also try a CMOS clear, before and after the BIOS update.
Is there anything else I should try before reseating the CPU? What if I just wiggle the heatsink? If it all possible, I would like to avoid having to clean up the TIM and reapply, it was a big pain on my heatsink.

Thanks,
--MrAnt--

System Specs
MSI P55-GD65 v1.5 BIOS
Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.66GHz
CM Hyper 212+ HSF
GSkill Trident 2x2GB DDR3 2000 - F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD (Running @ 1333MHz 9-9-9-24)
WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB HDD
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
Sapphire Radeon 5850 1GB
 
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Definitely reseat the RAM modules and test each stick with Memtest in case one has developed a fault.
 
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How long should I run memtest for each DIMM?

When I first put the machine together I ran one complete pass of memtest with no problems. Should I have run it longer?
 
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A quick and dirty way is to run test#5 20X and test#7 20X.  Usually, for all tests, it's recommended to run the tests, at minimum, overnight, about 8 hours, but the the quick and dirty tests, #5 and #7, have the highest probability of failure. Generally, if you can pass #5 and #7 20+ times without failure, a failure is not likely to show when running all tests overnight--but remember, this is a general rule.
 
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I ran each DIMM by itself for 20 passes of memtest test #5 and #7 without any errors. I then put both dimms in dual-channel mode, and it posted showing 4GB. Ran a full memtest test suite overnight, it finished 10 passes in 6 hours without any errors. I was able to boot into windows, showing 4GB.

I'm not sure what caused the problem. Maybe is was simply a loose DIMM, but everything seems ok now.

Thanks for the help,
--MrAnt--
 
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Have been monitoring very closely and the issue has not cropped up again.

I have been running everything at stock since the incident. As I am really not sure what caused the problem, I am a little hesitant to overclock again. Though I do want to get more performance from my RAM and CPU as they can both be increased by a fair amount.

I have also disabled hibernation in Windows 7, as the issue occurred at some point while the machine was in hibernation state. It went into hibernation with 4GB and woke up with only 2GB. I realize this does not mean hibernation caused the problem, but could have played a factor.

I think I will slowly restore settings back to how had them before the problem occurred and I will be sure to test more thoroughly this time.

Thanks for help and advice

--MrAnt--
 
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I had a small problem when I transferred my memory and CPU from the H55 to the H57M. At first the RAM was OK but after shutting down a couple of times one stick of RAM was no longer detected and re-seating them cured the problem. That seems to be a relatively common thing, even looking at the locks on the RAM they looked to be fully seated. Over the past 12 years that has happened to me a couple of times.
 
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Just wanted to post an update:

After reseating the RAM and running memtest to ensure everything was back to normal, no problems. I am going to try re-enabling my overclock and testing very thoroughly this time.

Raised bclk to 160, running the RAM at 1600MHz 6-7-6-18-72-1T @ 1.66V. All 4GB detected, all power saving functions left on/auto for the CPU. Starting a long memtest run, will post back how everything goes.

--MrAnt--
 
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Most likely the RAM shifted a tad bit out of the socket because of the case being moved, or heating/cooling(or gremlins).
 
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