Asus P7P55D Deluxe with CMX8GX3M4A1600C9

AppleBonker · #1 09-11-2009, 05:26 PM

I think I am having a somewhat unique problem with this combination. I have viewed the compatibility link provided at compatible.corsairmemory.com and found that this combination should work (other posts have shown users with the same configuration as well). When I first booted the computer and entered the BIOS setup, it showed 8 gigs of usable memory. I then installed Vista (64-bit) Ultimate and was surprised when the OS only showed 4 gigs of ram. I rebooted and re-entered the BIOS and it was only showing 4 gigs of memory installed.

I began installing software/updating windows (including the install CD included with the motherboard) and figured I would debug my ram issues later. I used the PC Probe software provided on the CD, and was informed by it that I had all 4 DIMMs occupied by 2048 MB sticks of ram. I am currently in the process of finishing installing SP 1 and 2 (I've got an old Vista disc) , but I don't see how the OS would affect my BIOS setup. I've yet to try booting with one stick installed at a time to rule out potentially faulty memory, but that is the next step. Any other ideas? Am I missing something?

Edit: The BIOS is currently configured with all the default settings and has been flashed to the most current version.

AppleBonker · #2 09-11-2009, 08:37 PM

Unique problem indeed. Apparently in my haste to get my new system up and running, I failed to properly seat one of my DIMMs. I opened the case and re-inserted my RAM and now all is well. I guess I am just an idiot. Oh well, now I can confirm that this RAM and mobo combo are fully compatible. Sorry if I wasted anyone's time, should have checked this first before posting...

AppleBonker · #3 09-11-2009, 10:46 PM

Ok, I guess I wasn't as slow as I thought. I rebooted again and now BIOS is only showing 4 gigs of ram. I'm guessing that I've got a bad stick or board, so I guess I'll begin testing one stick at a time...

AppleBonker · #4 09-12-2009, 02:07 AM

Ok, I'm thinking I have a bad board. I was able to get run memtest with no errors using all 8 gigs installed at once. Once it was complete, I rebooted by hitting escape and immediately noticed the board was only showing 4 gigs installed. If only I had a second mobo laying around to try out. Has anyone else had a similar problem with this setup?

mitrix · #5 09-12-2009, 10:12 PM

Hi mate. I seem to be having an almost identical problem with the same board and slightly different memory.

Just recently purchased a P7P55D mb with an i5 750 and 4gig of corsair 1600mhz ram (TW3X4G1600C9DHX G)

When i remove my ram and put it back in the board again and run memok it detects the full 4gig of ram and seems to run sweet for a while. Then randomly or whenever I try and put the computer into sleep mode (which i can't restore from) Windows will tell me i only have 2 gig of ram. Cpu-z will report the full 4, and when i reset, my bios will tell me I only have 2gig as well.

The only fix I have found so far is to remove the memory and run memok again.

Just wanted to know what Os you were running? I'm using windows 7 64bit and was trying to figure out if that was the problem at all.

AppleBonker · #6 09-13-2009, 02:41 AM

mitrix,

I am currently running Windows Vista x64. I don't have Ubuntu installed yet, but will be dual booting as soon as I get my ram situation resolved.

It is interesting that you are having a similar problem. Although, my mobo seems to have no problem detecting sticks installed into DIMMs A1 and B1 (in theory). I'm running 4 sticks of 2 gig size and the BIOS is showing 4 gigs installed, so clearly it's picking up two of the four. Your memory is only two sticks, so I am confused as to why you are only recognising one. If I run only two sticks (installed in DIMMs A1 and B1), the Bios does not have any issues detecting both. It doesn't ever seem to drop down to 2 gigs recognised when only 4 gigs are installed. My problem is only with the jump from 4 gigs to 8.

Same as you, I am showing all of the ram in CPU-Z, but windows is only showing 4 gigs available. I just tried to set the voltage, latency and frequency manually in BIOS hoping that it was just an issue with the auto settings, but that didn't seem to help. I'll let you know if I encounter a solution in the near future. I've got another few weeks to return my board (purchased at microcenter so it should be easy enough), but since someone else is having a similar issue, I'm begin to think that it isn't a faulty board, but rather some setting that I am missing.

Edit: I wish I had a copy of Windows 7 x64 RC as I wouldn't mind running it. I'll be upgrading to 7 once it is available (I'm running 32-bit on a netbook right now). If I did I would test it out for you.

Also, memory remapping is enabled in my BIOS, so that isn't the issue here.

mitrix · #7 09-13-2009, 04:32 AM

Hey Apple,

I think I have found the reason for my ram problems. Unfortunately it won't be any help to you but it seems its just incompatible ram.

The 2x2gb sticks i have require 1.8v to run correctly and the i5 shouldn't run ram at over 1.65v

Going back to the computer store tomorrow to attempt to swap for some ram that will be compatible. I've noticed since I have been in and bought everything from them they have updated their price list to include ram marked with i5/i7 next to them.

Seems to me that if they were already selling the i5 they shouldn't have directed me towards buying the ram I did and should allow an exchange. Hopefully they will do a swap for the 8gig kit (CMD8GX3M4A1600C8) if I throw in the extra cash needed.

Hope you sort out your problems sometime soon too :)

AppleBonker · #8 09-13-2009, 04:44 AM

That may help, but this board is having problems. I've scoured the interwebs lately and have found numerous users having a problem similar to mine. It seems that the new P55 boards from Asus all have this bug, and I'm hoping a fix will be released shortly. You should be able to get 4 gigs to run off a pair of sticks, but upgrading to a 4x2GB configuration is not functional at this time. Based on the numerous reports of this problem, I would imagine Asus is aware. This is an enthusiast board, so I would think it would destroy sales if they don't fix this MAJOR issue...

mitrix · #9 09-14-2009, 04:45 AM

hey, I just replaced my ram with some corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9... and all 8gig is working fine for me, first go after running memok.

What bios do you have installed? I'm running the latest one from asus so maybe that might fix it for you? I have heard bad things about the flash program in windows so I used the built in flash program in the bios and the rom on a usb key with no problems.

^^ignore above, just re-read your initial post :( maybe I got lucky somehow? Strange since I only ever buy asus boards as I have never had any dramas with them at all.

AppleBonker · #10 09-14-2009, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitrix

hey, I just replaced my ram with some corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9... and all 8gig is working fine for me, first go after running memok.

What bios do you have installed? I'm running the latest one from asus so maybe that might fix it for you? I have heard bad things about the flash program in windows so I used the built in flash program in the bios and the rom on a usb key with no problems.

^^ignore above, just re-read your initial post :( maybe I got lucky somehow? Strange since I only ever buy asus boards as I have never had any dramas with them at all.

Interesting that it's working for you. What do you have everything set at? Did you leave it all on default?

Would you mind telling me what the bios boot screen reads (pressing TAB after post)? For some reason, before I boot windows (while my mobo recognizes all 8 gigs) it's only seeing the ram as 1333 MHz. In addition to that, it seems that the board has problems posting occasionally. It'll just sit there with the DRAM led lit until I run MemOK!, which is a pain since it's hard for me to get into the case. On top of that, sometimes the board hangs really bad at reboot/shutdown.

The more I look at it, the more I think I've just got a bum board. Since I can get the ram to pass at least three cycles of memtest, I don't think the ram is actually the problem. Maybe I'll see if I can replace the board tonight (though I'm not much looking forward to having to reinstall everything - running windows on a raid 0 array and having to rebuild the array will kill off windows for me). Though I was going to have to work to get the system to boot again since I installed ubuntu on a third HD and messed up the bootloader...

I too have been a long-time Asus fan, so I will stick with this model if I can get it to work. I'd prefer it over the comparable boards from Gigabyte/EVGA.

AppleBonker · #11 09-14-2009, 06:29 PM

Ok, apparently I screwed up. I wasn't on the latest bios. I am now running 0606. At first, all 8 gigs were not seen. I pulled two sticks and got 4 gigs to show up. I then shutdown and installed the other two sticks. I now have 8 gigs showing again (though I was able to get this before by re-installing sticks) and am running memtest once again. I'll probably let it go through a few passes and post back with updates later. Then probably boot Windows to see what happens. I've got my bootloader corrected, so I may try to boot ubuntu if windows doesn't work to see if the same memory drop occurs with a different OS (though since it shows 4 gigs in the BIOS when it happens, I don't see how the OS could be altering anything). I'll keep everyone updated.

AppleBonker · #12 09-14-2009, 08:39 PM

And I'm back down to 4 gigs showing. Ran 3 passes of memtest without issue. I have an open support ticket with Asus now. Hopefully this can bring some resolution.

AppleBonker · #13 09-15-2009, 09:28 PM

I just replaced my board with another of the same model. It booted with 8 gigs the first time, but now I'm back down to 4. I'm not sure what the deal is. I tried running both the bios version that came installed 0205 I think as well as the latest 0606 and neither seems to be working so far as me seeing my ram. I'm not sure what is going on, and I'm about done pulling my hair out. I'm only about a day away from ordering a a Gigabyte UD5 from the egg. This is getting to be just too much for me. We'll see what Asus technical support has to say now...

mitrix, you still around? If so, what other hardware are you running (anything other than you have listed here)? I doubt it, but maybe I've got a hardware conflict somewhere. Either that, or the memory controller on my CPU is jacked, but I highly doubt that as well...

AppleBonker · #14 09-16-2009, 08:48 PM

This may be my final reply. I took the entire PC into Microcenter to try to debug my issues. I thought it was actually the memory controller on the CPU, since memtest showed the ram ok and I swapped the mobo already. They tested the ram first (since it's more likely to fail than the cpu) by swapping it out for an identical package. Wouldn't you know, it runs fine. So even though my original pack of ram could continuously pass memtest, there was some error there. I feel like a moron for not having tried this first, but fortunately it didn't cost me anything more since I had just purchased all of the components from them. They just replaced my faulty item. Needless to say, I think my issue is fixed. Now I'm bummed I gave a poor review to the motherboard on newegg, so I'll have to find a way to revise that. I've probably rebooted 100 times now and have not had my ram drop once. I'll be back if it does it again, but for now I'm hopeful. Thanks for all the help.

mak-daddy626 · #15 09-17-2009, 11:42 AM

Same problem here, same RAM, different motherboard (Gigabyte)... From a cold boot (meaning system off for several minutes to an hour) 8 GB or RAM is found by the BIOS, after a cold boot only 4 show up as "active"... Shutting system off for some time results in all 8 returning.

Returned MB last night, plugged in new board, SAME THING.

Did MicroCenter try re-booting to see if it was STILL showing 8? If not, try it and let us know?