H77M: Memory won't work in slot A1

[Talon211]

Hello,
Please forgive the length of this post, but I want to give as much info as I can. Last December I built my son a computer using the ASRock H77m 1333 Intel LGA1155 Motherboard. The build went fine except for one problem, when you inserted one of the two memory chips in slot A1, the PC would beep several times at boot up and then restart. Figuring there was a defect with the motherboard, I immediately contacted Amazon for an exchange of the exact same board. After installing the new board I had the exact same problem. Figuring now that it must be the memory, I had that replaced as well for the exact same brand/model. Again, this did not correct the issue. I went and checked the list of memory that was "approved" to work on this motherboard, and bought a different brand from the list just in case that was it. Nope, we still had the same problem. I finally contacted ASRock and they had me flash the BIOS to correct the problem. This also did not work. After spending a lot of time dealing with this, and since the computer worked with the one memory chip installed, I put it on the back burner, fully intending to get back to it....well life got busy and we forgot about it until just this week when my son installed COD Ghost and it gave him an error that it required 6GB of memory..and he was only running the one 4gb chip. Again, I am sorry for the length of this post but I wanted to be thorough. I will list the order of what was done now:

Mobo: ASRock h77m Intel
Replaced through Amazon for same model

Memory (first set) Kingston HyperX BLU 8 GB (2X4GB) 1333mhz DDR Non-ECC CL9 KHX1333C9D3B1k2
This set was replaced for another of the exact same make/model

Memory (second set) G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) Ripjaw Series DDR3 1333mhz F3-10666CL9D 8GBBBXC
BIOS Flashed from 1.20 to 1.30 In January, 2013.

Hopefully that will be enough info to get started.
Thanks for your help with this!
Talon211

[parsec]

Re: H77M: Memory won't work in slot A1

Hello,
...
Memory (second set) G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) Ripjaw Series DDR3 1333mhz F3-10666CL9D 8GBBBXC
BIOS Flashed from 1.20 to 1.30 In January, 2013.

Hopefully that will be enough info to get started.
Thanks for your help with this!
Talon211

You need to check that memory model number, as it is not listed in the H77M's memory support list, nor does G.Skill make a product with that model name, "8GBBBXC".

There is only one G.SKILL memory model listed in the 1333 speed section.

Did you ever try just using one memory module in the A1 slot alone? Did you ever set any BIOS settings for the memory? Did you ever check the memory settings, such as voltage (1.5V), or any of the timings?

There is a recent BIOS update, 1.60, that includes "Improve memory compatibility". Whether or not that would help, who knows?

[Talon211]

Re: H77M: Memory won't work in slot A1

You need to check that memory model number, as it is not listed in the H77M's memory support list, nor does G.Skill make a product with that model name, "8GBBBXC".

There is only one G.SKILL memory model listed in the 1333 speed section.

Did you ever try just using one memory module in the A1 slot alone? Did you ever set any BIOS settings for the memory? Did you ever check the memory settings, such as voltage (1.5V), or any of the timings?

There is a recent BIOS update, 1.60, that includes "Improve memory compatibility". Whether or not that would help, who knows?

Sorry, that was a typo. The memory is:
G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 240-Pin. Desktop Memory F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL

Yes, I have tried just using the A1 slot alone and that did not work.
No, I haven't tried any of the BIOS Settings or memory settings as I thought everything should work stock.
I will get the latest BIOS version and see if that does the trick. Thanks.

[Talon211]

Re: H77M: Memory won't work in slot A1

So here's an update:
I tried the BIOS update, changing the voltage and timing settings, and neither worked. I tried googling the problem again to try and find a solution and nothing was coming up for this particular motherboard. I did, however, see that there were similar problems with other motherboards so I started reading them. I read several of them and they all said the same thing, check the CPU. The memory controller on Intel motherboards is on the CPU itself, which I didn't realize. So I pulled the CPU out and sure enough, there is an imperfection on the chip, and when I looked closely at the socket on the motherboard I saw it had two bent pins. How the computer managed to boot this way at all is beyond me. I tried bending them back in place carefully, but this did not work, and even if it did I have to replace the CPU and motherboard now anyway. I just wanted to post my findings here in case anyone ever had a similar problem like mine.


Talon211

[parsec]

Re: H77M: Memory won't work in slot A1

Thanks for sharing that information, and sorry to hear you have that problem.

Regarding the computer booting, or really the CPU functioning mostly normally, it is possible. Of course I don't know how bad the imperfection on the CPU really is.

Don't forget your CPU socket and processor have 1,155 contacts. With that many connections (one Intel processor model has 2,011 connections!) many of them serve the same purpose, such as power in connections, and ground connections. Some may serve a single purpose, in your case we can guess at least one of the pins was involved only with the A1 memory slot's connection to the processor's memory controller. That one connection, likely a data or signalling connection, was enough to ruin communication between the memory slot and memory controller, the result being a virtual empty memory slot.

Frankly, it's a miracle all those connections work at one time as well as they do!