Decreased Memory Overclocking After Power Outage

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BallisticBooger

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A few weeks ago there was a power outage at my apartment. I was out of town at the time so I don't know any details, but the weather was good so I'm pretty sure it's not lightening. I know when the outage occurred because I use my GPU for mining when not using my PC. My PSU (EVGA Supernova G2 750W) is plugged into a pretty nice Belkin surge protector (paid ~$50).

When I got home and went to turn on my PC, I got a BSOD when windows tried to load saying driver failure. This has happened before and I fixed it with a fresh windows installation. Since I was doing some maintenance I went ahead and updated the BIOS for my motherboard (ASUS Crosshair VI).

I was in the middle of exam prep when this happened and didn't want to waste time troubleshooting so I put it off. As a result I can't remember the exact sequence of events, but after the fresh windows install and BIOS update, the PC still wasn't working (pretty sure I got more BSODs with the fresh install because I thought it was really weird) so I put it on the back burner since it's mostly just for gaming.

I have some free time right now and have been trying to figure out wtf is wrong with this thing. I've tried multiple BIOS versions and there's no difference. Everything works fine (posts, boots into windows) with the the motherboard defaults (CPU @ 3600MHz, MEM @ 2133MHz). Overclocking the CPU (Ryzen 1600x, 3.6 to 3.8 GHz) also works fine. The problem comes when I try to "overclock" my memory (GSkill Trident Z, Samsung B die) to it's stock speed (3200MHz). Everything is normal at speeds up to 2733MHz. At 2800MHz I get code 03 (System Agent Initialization before microcode loading), and above 2800MHz I get post code 15 (Pre-memory System Agent Initialization is started).

I know it's not a problem with the memory because I had two dimms from the same set uninstalled sitting in a drawer at the time of the outage and they produce the same results. Here are the other things I've tried related to memory:
- ran memtest86 on the two original dimms with no errors
- tried a single stick (8GB) in each of the 4 slots with the same problem
- increasing the memory speed with everything else set to auto and also with my old settings with no luck

I've also tried unplugging the PSU for an hour and got the same results. Before the power outage this PC had been stable for almost a year with the CPU @ 3.8GHz and memory at 3200MHz 14-14-14-14-34 (also tried both auto and these timings with no luck).

The only other possibly relevant detail is that about 6 months ago I plugged PCIe risers in the wrong way on two of my slots. This killed one of the small PCIe slots, but the x8 slot still worked fine (ran 2 GPUs in SLI for a few months with no problems).

Anyone have an idea about what the problem could be? I'm all out of guesses and can't find any relevant resources. I'm probably going to buy a new motherboard in the near future if I can't figure this out because Ryzen is so dependent on memory speed, I'd like to get all working PCIe slots again, and the X470 Crosshair VII has beefier components to power future CPUs.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and don't hesitate to ask for more info.
 
What voltage are you setting for the memory and more importantly, what voltage is the system actually supplying to the memory? Check if they are the same or even close.

I had a problem with my Crosshair VII Hero Wifi where after flashing the BIOS from 0401 to 0601, configured memory voltage settings were being completely ignored which meant that the G.Skill Flare X 3200MHz memory I had wouldn't go faster than 2866MHz at the stock 1.2000V even though I specifically set the voltage to 1.3500V.

The solution was: Shut down the PC and press the CMOS reset button on the back panel. Boot back up and set D.O.C.P. (XMP) and verify DRAM voltage is set to 1.35V and reboot. Went back into BIOS and hey, DRAM voltage was reading 1.35V and it was at 3200MHz exactly as it was supposed to be.

Might not be your problem, but it's worth a try.
 
mnewxcv said:
He's tried multiple bios. Don't they clear when you flash?
Click to expand...
It seems it's not rare on newer boards that a manual clear is needed. There were several reports here and by Kyle himself.
 
Thanks for the suggestions!

I've cleared the CMOS multiple times while trying different memory speeds and there are no voltage abnormalities according to the BIOS.
 
Doesn't seem like it should help, but try a different PSU and/or without the surge protector.
 
Did you use the USB bios flashback to flash the updates?
Did you also try and clear the cmos before flashing and after flashing clear it again?

I would try disconnect all cables and other power leads from the computer before going to sleep see if there is a problem with some capacitors not discharging.
 
sounds to me like your mb took a hit during the power outage. if its under warranty and you want to save your sanity vs chasing the ghost. i would rma it and or upgrade.
 
Surge protectors don't filter for shit, they have movs that wear out fast and otherwise are just for big dumb spikes.

Better UPS will actually do decent AVR and switch to battery when they see shitty power, the best/enterprise/expensive-as-fuck ones always double convert line power.
 
Aluminum said:
Surge protectors don't filter for shit, they have movs that wear out fast and otherwise are just for big dumb spikes.

Better UPS will actually do decent AVR and switch to battery when they see shitty power, the best/enterprise/expensive-as-fuck ones always double convert line power.
Click to expand...

i would love to be able to afford/justify a proper enterprise level ups. being that they start out at the 7 or 8 bill point kind of kills the idea lol.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. It turns out I'm an idiot. When I removed 2/4 dimms, I didn't leave them in the slots that my motherboard liked, causing the instability. I moved them to the slots recommended in the manual and whadyaknow, my OC is fine again. Unfortunately I had already bought a new board before realizing this, but at least now I have two working PCs.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and I'll definitely be investing in a UPS after this scare.
 
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