GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

[playman]

This started when I woke up and was going to use the PC, but it was turned off.
I turned it on and it would not post, just restart loop.
After trial and errors I found out that it would boot with 2gb RAM stick and only 1x 2gb.
There was 16gb RAM in it when it broke down.
I've tried all the slots with different rams 8gb 4gb 2gb 2x8gb 2x4gb and 2x2gb, just endless restart loop.

Tried installing new win10 on to it and I can't finish the installation as it restarts as it seems it gets at certain degrees.

Any one knows what's going on? no visible damage on the motherboard.
I know it's not the newest motherboard but I have 16gb RAM and i7 3770k so I would hate to throw it away.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

this is tricky cuz the cpu, board, ram or maybe all three could be faulty. is that 2gb stick which works the only mem stick that works? what happens if u try another 1x2gb stick or 1x4gb stick or 1x8gb stick?

[playman]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

this is tricky cuz the cpu, board, ram or maybe all three could be faulty. is that 2gb stick which works the only mem stick that works? what happens if u try another 1x2gb stick or 1x4gb stick or 1x8gb stick?

All 2gb I had worked, 1x4gb and 1x8gb do not work.
I switched the 3770k for 3570k almost the same problem, 2gb work with the 3570k.
if I try any other higher RAM's it starts up, fans blow for 15-20sec with no other action then restarts, gives me one beep and shows BIOS for 2 secs then restarts again.

[playman]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

Any one?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

All 2gb I had worked, 1x4gb and 1x8gb do not work.
I switched the 3770k for 3570k almost the same problem, 2gb work with the 3570k.
if I try any other higher RAM's it starts up, fans blow for 15-20sec with no other action then restarts, gives me one beep and shows BIOS for 2 secs then restarts again.

I suspect a bad cap somewhere. That symptom is just like the normal thing I get with my Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-D3HP motherboard, when the PSU was unplugged and discharged, then plugged back in the wall.

It always bleeps once then recycles once when I turn it on for the first time after I plugged the PSU back in.

[playman]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

I suspect a bad cap somewhere. That symptom is just like the normal thing I get with my Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-D3HP motherboard, when the PSU was unplugged and discharged, then plugged back in the wall.

It always bleeps once then recycles once when I turn it on for the first time after I plugged the PSU back in.

That board has all solid caps so no easy way spotting the bad ones, could you point out what caps to test?
Is there any reason to test the SMD ceramic ones?
I've uploaded two pics of the board, and also giving a link to high res pictures.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3M?usp=sharing

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

That board has all solid caps so no easy way spotting the bad ones, could you point out what caps to test?
Is there any reason to test the SMD ceramic ones?
I've uploaded two pics of the board, and also giving a link to high res pictures.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3M?usp=sharing

I don't know which one I suspect needs to be charged to avoid the "double-boot" thing that Gigabyte motherboards are known for. (at least the later AMD platforms)

Every time it gets unplugged (or a blackout) for any reason, it will double-boot on the first switch-on.

[momaka]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

I suspect a bad cap somewhere.

Unlikely.
They are all solid polymers. Not that solid caps can't fail. But I really doubt it that there would be any.

To playman: did you try reseting CMOS settings (i.e. pull CMOS battery and disconnect PSU and/or set jumpers to "clear CMOS" position, if there is one?) If not, do that first. Then try the larger memory sticks. It could be that the board is failing to detect their timings properly.

If the above procedure doesn't work, try booting with the 2GB module and set all RAM timings and clocks manually. You should look up the model number on each of your RAM sticks and see what timings and clocks it is meant to do, then configure that with the 2 GB module that allows the PC to POST. Once you do that, see if the higher capacity modules will work both with and without the 2 GB module.

If that fails, use the 2 GB module only and run MEMTEST on the board. If it detects errors, there may be something wrong either with the VRM that supplies power to the RAM or perhaps the CPU socket pins and/or BGA.

Let us know what you find when you do the above procedures.

[boulakhsoum85]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

Unlikely.
They are all solid polymers. Not that solid caps can't fail. But I really doubt it that there would be any.

To playman: did you try reseting CMOS settings (i.e. pull CMOS battery and disconnect PSU and/or set jumpers to "clear CMOS" position, if there is one?) If not, do that first. Then try the larger memory sticks. It could be that the board is failing to detect their timings properly.

If the above procedure doesn't work, try booting with the 2GB module and set all RAM timings and clocks manually. You should look up the model number on each of your RAM sticks and see what timings and clocks it is meant to do, then configure that with the 2 GB module that allows the PC to POST. Once you do that, see if the higher capacity modules will work both with and without the 2 GB module.

If that fails, use the 2 GB module only and run MEMTEST on the board. If it detects errors, there may be something wrong either with the VRM that supplies power to the RAM or perhaps the CPU socket pins and/or BGA.

Let us know what you find when you do the above procedures.

[playman]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

Unlikely.
They are all solid polymers. Not that solid caps can't fail. But I really doubt it that there would be any.

To playman: did you try reseting CMOS settings (i.e. pull CMOS battery and disconnect PSU and/or set jumpers to "clear CMOS" position, if there is one?) If not, do that first. Then try the larger memory sticks. It could be that the board is failing to detect their timings properly.

If the above procedure doesn't work, try booting with the 2GB module and set all RAM timings and clocks manually. You should look up the model number on each of your RAM sticks and see what timings and clocks it is meant to do, then configure that with the 2 GB module that allows the PC to POST. Once you do that, see if the higher capacity modules will work both with and without the 2 GB module.

If that fails, use the 2 GB module only and run MEMTEST on the board. If it detects errors, there may be something wrong either with the VRM that supplies power to the RAM or perhaps the CPU socket pins and/or BGA.

Let us know what you find when you do the above procedures.

I got the board up and running, I tried all those things with no luck.
It was not until I flashed the BIOS I was able to use 16gb RAM again, somehow it managed to get itself corrupted.
But the restart did not stop, it was somehow connected to the onboard graphics, as I put in a graphics card it stopped restarting and everything is back to normal

[momaka]

Re: GA-H77-DS3H RAM problem

Well, good to hear you got it running again!

So looks like there were multiple issues, then (i.e. BIOS and onboard GPU.) That said, I suppose this goes to show how sometimes you just have to try all kinds of different things when troubleshooting a board in order to get to the bottom of the issue(s).

I too, have seen boards where the BIOS went corrupt by itself and needed reflashing. It's just strange that only the RAM detection got messed up. (Perhaps whatever RAM timings/tables there were in the BIOS was the only thing that got corrupt?) As for the bad onboard GPU... since for this motherboard / CPU type, any onboard GPU is on the CPU. Thus, I wonder if the CPU is starting to go bad (unlikely) or if it's just a socket issue (bad pins or perhaps CPU socket BGA going bad.)