Added RAM, got BSOD

[Penthesilea]

So I've got this PC I bought and decided to add in another stick of ram.

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

ASUS Rampage III Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333



I had previously only had 8GB of the ram and decided to add the last stick to it. Now I'm getting a BSOD after installing the RAM (and a wireless card).

I'm pretty much new to building/trouble shooting a build and would like some help.

[hey]

Did you try reseating it? Does it work in a different slot? Do the other sticks work in the slot you used for the third slot? Why did you have 2 sticks of ram in a motherboard that uses tri-channel ram?

[Amastacia]

Exactly how many sticks are in the PC at the moment, and in which slots?

In all likelihood, you got a bad stick of RAM, but it could also be weirdness related to how it is installed.

[Penthesilea]

I originally had 2 sticks in at 4GB a piece. They were in the first two slots, I'm gonna swap the unused one into a slot that's been working, see if it's the stick. If it works I guess I'll try a working one into the last slot.

I can't check what the BDOD says as it resets reallly quickly.

[Isiolia]

Right click your My Computer/Computer icon and go to Advanced Settings, then in the Startup and Recovery settings, uncheck the "automatically restart" option under System Failure. That'll leave the BSOD up so you can look at what it says.

[shiarua]

Did you build the computer yourself? Was the last stick of RAM purchased separately? Usually DDR3 modules are sold as 3 stick of RAM because they are matched and guaranteed to play nice with one another. DDR3 can be really finicky.

What do your BIOS settings look like? Did you have an overclock on the CPU/RAM at all?

[Kurokikaze]

Put the RAM sticks one at a time on the first red slot. Going from left (where CPU is) to right (towards PSU connectors). See which one errors out.

If none of them error out:

Put all the RAM sticks into the red slots. The black slots are for a second set; it's weird but DDR3 are supposed to start from slot 2.

If one errors out:

That stick is bad. Get an RMA on the set.

Lemme know how that goes. I'm fairly certain you put the RAM into the "first two slots", as in the 1st black and 1st red one. You don't do that.

[Penthesilea]

Nah, they're in 1 and 3, so red and red. I'll give your suggestion a try today. Thanks!


I actually bought the PC off of here and it's run great other than I haven't tried the last stick. He mentioned hadn't gotten it working but I got the whole rig cheap, so it wasn't a big concern. It's worked perfectly otherwise and I figured I'd try to figure out the last stick.

Havent messed with BIOS at all so nothing I know of is OC'ed. May upgrade the PS as it's only 650w

[Isiolia]

650W should be plenty unless you're running multiple GPUs.

[Crowort]

If the CPU is over clocked adding more RAM can make the over clock unstable. It can normally be fixed by running more volts into the RAM but it is better to reset to defaults and start ocing again. Have you cecked that the ram is set to the right timings and volts? I know my board will run the volts lower than the spec which is fine for me, but can cause issues.

Edit misread your post and thought you said it was oc'ed, nvm what I said then. Still worth manually setting RAM settings to the manufacturers spec.

[Penthesilea]

Well I think the stick is bad, I took out the two I know work and just ran with one and got an instant crash upon log in. Oh wells.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[Crowort]

Did you make sure and buy low volt ram? The newer intel chips have the memory controller on the CPU so have to have lower volt ram. If you buy ram that is rated to run at >1.65 volts (normally around 2 volts) then it may or may not run at less. Of course it could just be a bad stick, but I'm just pointing that out in case the RMA has the same issue.