Help, any ideas to fix A1 and A2 Ram slots?

Hi,

I've gone through the process of elimination and determined that I have a problem with both my A1 and A2 ram slots, I have 2 sticks of ram, both sticks of ram work and boot as a single stick in either B1 or B2 so I know the ram works.

Quick History:
this is my first computer build, I put everything together and the computer launched, temps where really bad and later discovered I put one of the brackets for the CPU on upside down, went though the processes of fixing that. Then after I got a beep code letting me know there was a problem with my ram, after testing I discovered my A1 and A2 didn't work correctly anymore. Tried Cleaning the ram slots, no results, tried slightly loosening the screws on the CPU bracket, no results.... tried yelling at it and wiggling the ram a little... Computer booted to BIOs. Ran a memory diagnostic, and did some bench testing, then turned it off for the night. next morning the computer was fussy about turning on and cycled a few times before booting, I used the computer for a full day, it blue screened once, and completely froze another time. This morning I turned on the computer and it froze at the password login, restarted the computer and now it only cycles and there's no beep codes...
-Thank you for you time.

any Ideas? I have a extra motherboard but I'm trying to avoid replacing the current one.

Specs:
OS: Windows 10
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z390 GAMING
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER
RAM: Trident z F4-3200c16d-32gtz (2-16gb)
Storage: SSD 500GB and HDD 2TB
Power Supply: Corsair sf750

Hello, I had a similar issue, I never resolved it but it was something to with the slots I used. Have you tried using a different combination of ram slots? You mention that both sticks work as a single stick in B1 or B2. Do they both work in B1 and B2 together? Have you tried A1 and B1 slots?

My issue not properly resolved was following an i5 to i7 upgrade, I got beeps on boot, thought I had damaged something, put i5 back in, worked fine. Put i7 in, still beeps. I had to remove one of the three ram sticks I had in, booted fine. From looking into it, but not fixing as I need to buy more ram, it seemed it was down to not putting the correct memory in the correct slots and in order.

TidySean said:

Hello, I had a similar issue, I never resolved it but it was something to with the slots I used. Have you tried using a different combination of ram slots? You mention that both sticks work as a single stick in B1 or B2. Do they both work in B1 and B2 together? Have you tried A1 and B1 slots?

My issue not properly resolved was following an i5 to i7 upgrade, I got beeps on boot, thought I had damaged something, put i5 back in, worked fine. Put i7 in, still beeps. I had to remove one of the three ram sticks I had in, booted fine. From looking into it, but not fixing as I need to buy more ram, it seemed it was down to not putting the correct memory in the correct slots and in order.

Hi,
I double Checked the Motherboard Manual, Unfortunately I can only have a combination of A1 and B1 or A2 and B2 slots... I can't do B1 and B2 together

Also I got the names mixed up, both my A slots work, it's the B slots that don't. But that doesn't change much

As I said my issue was never solved, but during my research into ram slots not working, I found that some people had over-tightened the heatsink and had similar issues. Some caused damage to the socket, which couldn't be fixed, some were able to undo the screws to release some pressure. I would take the processor out and have a look at everything. If everything looks in order, put back together but make sure not to over-tighten the CPU heatsink screws. Your motherboard manual might have something on the number of turns, maybe not. Then see if it works.

Was there anything else you did when you switched that bracket over? I've damaged PCBs before using a too long screw in a PCB mounted stand-off. To check for any possible damage, when you turned the bracket over, is it possible a screw went too far into a circuit somewhere below. I doubt that myself, as you would mostly likely had that issue when the bracket wasn't correctly mounted than if it were.

At a guess, the slots weren't damaged. Perhaps the CPU, its socket, or both were.

On an LGA CPU like yours, I'd expect the socket to be the most fragile element, but I wouldn't bet a lot on it.

Sorry to make such a discouraging suggestion.

TidySean said:

As I said my issue was never solved, but during my research into ram slots not working, I found that some people had over-tightened the heatsink and had similar issues. Some caused damage to the socket, which couldn't be fixed, some were able to undo the screws to release some pressure. I would take the processor out and have a look at everything. If everything looks in order, put back together but make sure not to over-tighten the CPU heatsink screws. Your motherboard manual might have something on the number of turns, maybe not. Then see if it works.

Was there anything else you did when you switched that bracket over? I've damaged PCBs before using a too long screw in a PCB mounted stand-off. To check for any possible damage, when you turned the bracket over, is it possible a screw went too far into a circuit somewhere below. I doubt that myself, as you would mostly likely had that issue when the bracket wasn't correctly mounted than if it were.

So good news, no clue what did it... I've tried losing the screws before and it didn't work, but this time I decided to undo the whole heatsink, clean off and apply some new thermal paste, I also tried wiggling the dysfunctional slots themselves without any ram in them. I then quickly cleaned the contacts of both ram sticks and used my fingers to brace the under edge of the motherboard as I pressed the ram into it. I also consciously made sure that they where facing the same direction, a tiny context table in the manual gave me that idea (pretty sure I was doing it before, other wise I don't think the ram stick would fit)

so yeah, it's working, no hiccups as of right now, that's everything I did

also found out, that one of my fans where facing the wrong direction and fixed that at the same time...

still not sure why it wasn't working, but I hope this helps anyone else

Cool!, I am glad it worked out okay for you.

Blaize said:

So good news, no clue what did it... I've tried losing the screws before and it didn't work, but this time I decided to undo the whole heatsink, clean off and apply some new thermal paste, I also tried wiggling the dysfunctional slots themselves without any ram in them. I then quickly cleaned the contacts of both ram sticks and used my fingers to brace the under edge of the motherboard as I pressed the ram into it. I also consciously made sure that they where facing the same direction, a tiny context table in the manual gave me that idea (pretty sure I was doing it before, other wise I don't think the ram stick would fit)

so yeah, it's working, no hiccups as of right now, that's everything I did

also found out, that one of my fans where facing the wrong direction and fixed that at the same time...

still not sure why it wasn't working, but I hope this helps anyone else

That's great news.

One thing: if the DIMMs were facing the wrong way, they weren't fully in the slots. The key would prevent that. (I've done it myself.)