PC wouldn't strart, memok switch fixed it.

[Thrashaholic]

Hello

I recently bought a new PC and got it up and running etc, I started patching WoW then went to the pub for a bit, I came home to find that my monitor was off and PC was still running, tried restarting alot and got 3 beep BIOS.

I then fiddled around with the RAM to no success, my problem was finally fixed by using the MEMOK switch on my motherboard. I'm now paranoid somethings not right, any help?

[Tierbook]

if your monitor isnt on how are you posting

[Plasmon]

More system details please, that's not enough information for anyone to really help you much.

Wild guess, but is this a Sandy Bridge system with an ASUS motherboard and 1600MHz RAM...? (I know ASUS has the MemOK button)
If so, I think the problem goes away when you flash to the latest BIOS... although I might be misinterpreting your problem.

[Psykoticrage]

Agree with above poster, more info please. Was it 1 long then 2 short beeps?, 3 short etc.
Depending on make of your motherboard you can go to Here and check the error codes for 3 beeps or whatever it was

if your monitor isnt on how are you posting

He said he fixed it by hitting his MemOK button, but is now paranoid that it would happen again.

[Cilraaz]

The MemOK button is there to dynamically "patch" in the microcode that should (hopefully) allow the system to at least boot. Either that or it sets it down to a low clock speed and high timings to try and brute force a boot.

My advice would be to go into PC Health settings in BIOS, check what your memory voltage is at. Then, go into voltage settings, and add another 0.02 volts to it (so, if it's running at 1.50V, set it to 1.52V, or if it's running at 1.65V [as mine does], try running it at 1.66V or 1.67V).

If it's a Sandy Bridge setup, make sure to keep VTT (also called QPI, IMC, VCCIO depending on your motherboard manufacturer) within 0.5v. If you don't, there are reports of bad things happening.

[Deleted]

If it's a Sandy Bridge setup, make sure to keep VTT (also called QPI, IMC, VCCIO depending on your motherboard manufacturer) within 0.5v. If you don't, there are reports of bad things happening.

Not just Sandy Bridge, I have to make sure of this on my Nehalem systems too so basically every i3, i5, i7

[Thrashaholic]

Here you go guys

2 xCorsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1155, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

Extra Value Pst700-it1 Thermal Compound Silver Grease Injection Tube

Crucial 64GB Real SSD C300 2.5" - SATA 6Gb/s Interface - Read 355MB/s Write 75MB/s

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

MSI GTX 560 TWIN FROZR II 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card

CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular PSU

Asus P8P67 R3 Socket 1155 USB 3.0 Bluetooth 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

[Azgrath]

Hello

I recently bought a new PC and got it up and running etc, I started patching WoW then went to the pub for a bit, I came home to find that my monitor was off and PC was still running, tried restarting alot and got 3 beep BIOS.

I then fiddled around with the RAM to no success, my problem was finally fixed by using the MEMOK switch on my motherboard. I'm now paranoid somethings not right, any help?

I'm pretty sure 3 beeps means there is an issue with your graphics card. could be wrong as it has been a long time since i have had anything like this happen.

[Plasmon]

Wow I actually guessed your CPU, motherboard type, and RAM speed correctly... What BIOS version are you using? You can see the version by going into the BIOS and I think on POST too. If it's before 1305, you should update. Latest is now 1401.

And about beep codes, it depends on the motherboard, not every BIOS type uses the same patterns. Beep codes for your board are probably are in the manual on page 2-47 (at least in my P8P67 PRO version). One continuous beep followed by two short beeps means no memory detected, which is why you had to press MemOK to fix it... If you don't have the latest BIOS, flashing to it might probably fix your problem. Version 1305 fixed a problem where RAM set at 1600 MHz was causing boot issues.

[Thrashaholic]

Wow I actually guessed your CPU, motherboard type, and RAM speed correctly... What BIOS version are you using? You can see the version by going into the BIOS and I think on POST too. If it's before 1305, you should update. Latest is now 1401.

And about beep codes, it depends on the motherboard, not every BIOS type uses the same patterns. Beep codes for your board are probably are in the manual on page 2-47 (at least in my P8P67 PRO version). One continuous beep followed by two short beeps means no memory detected, which is why you had to press MemOK to fix it... If you don't have the latest BIOS, flashing to it might probably fix your problem. Version 1305 fixed a problem where RAM set at 1600 MHz was causing boot issues.

3 short beeps and I haven't flashed the BIOS yet, also having an issue in Sc2 where I get random 1second freezes, playing on max settings.

---------- Post added 2011-04-05 at 02:52 PM ----------

It just happened again, all my voltages are set to auto and my bios version is 1305[COLOR="red"]

[Plasmon]

Well, whatever you think the beeps are, check your mother board manual to find out what it means. I gave you the page reference, and I doubt your list of beep codes is placed very far from mine, I have the PRO version, but the manual is likely almost identical. The title of that section with the beep codes is "2.4 Starting up for the first time."
In my manual, there is no option for 3 short beeps... but it does have one long and 2 short.

Also, have you disabled hibernate/sleep or is that enabled? With an SSD you don't need it and it also doesn't work properly in some cases, so you should disable it.

[Thrashaholic]

I'm going to disable it now, it did it after a very short time, still I think there's something wrong with my RAM somehow, all the voltages are set to normal. my manual says the same, 1 long 2 short, it hasn't beeped in a while but everytime the system doesn't boot, pushing the button fixes it.

[Plasmon]

Is your RAM set to 1333 (default) or 1600MHz? You can see the setting in the BIOS, or you can see the result in windows in CPU-z.

What voltage is your RAM running at? You also can find this in the BIOS somewhere, even if your setting says auto, you should be able to find the actual V_RAM value or whatever it's called. Maybe it's set to 1.5 and with your RAM being rated at 1.65V then it might be "under-volted". It should be at 1.65V for you RAM.

If you want to test your memory for errors, you can use Memtest86+
You would need to burn the software as an image (iso) to a CD, and then stick the CD in the drive and boot from it. It will run tests on the memory without having to even enter an operating system. You might want to let it run a few hours, so this is good to do over night or some other time when you won't need your computer for a bit. If you get a message saying there was a problem or error, then you would probably need to test each RAM stick one by one to determine which one is faulty.

Your 1305 BIOS is a reliable version, I'm also using that one. But the latest one (1401) says it increased hardware compatibility. I don't know any details beyond that, but maybe your RAM was part of that compatibility improvement, so you could look into the changes or just flash to 1401 and hope it fixes it.

[Thrashaholic]

Is your RAM set to 1333 (default) or 1600MHz? You can see the setting in the BIOS, or you can see the result in windows in CPU-z.

If you want to test your memory for errors, you can use Memtest86+
You would need to burn the software as an image (iso) to a CD, and then stick the CD in the drive and boot from it. It will run tests on the memory without having to even enter an operating system. You might want to let it run a few hours, so this is good to do over night or some other time when you won't need your computer for a bit. If you get a message saying there was a problem or error, then you would probably need to test each RAM stick one by one to determine which one is faulty.

Couldn't find either of those MHZ, but these SSs might help

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/9292/53200990.jpg
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/615/26616713.jpg

[Bitlovin]

if your monitor isnt on how are you posting

1.) He said he was able to restore functionality to his computer and

2.) They make these new-fangled things called smartphones nowadays that can browse the inferwebs (and even post on forums!) when you don't have access to a computer. I know! It's crazy.

[Plasmon]

Looking at your screenshots from CPU-z:
The SPD is a list of settings that comes programed in the RAM. The other one (DRAM frequency) tells you what your speed is set at. You've got it at 686.9MHz, so multiplied by two [DDR=double density(?) RAM] that's 1373.8 MHz, which means it's overclocked above 1333MHz.
Divide by 1333, and that's tells me it's a 3% overclock, which means your BCLK is set at 103 instead of 100.

I think you ran an auto overclock didn't you? Manually set your BCLK back to 100 and see if the problem goes away. You should leave it at 100.

You can't tell RAM voltage from CPU-z, but the BCLK setting might be the problem if your RAM doesn't like being 3% overclocked at it's current voltage setting.
Also, just for additional info, don't set your RAM above 1.65V.

[Ninji]

The MemOK button is there to dynamically "patch" in the microcode that should (hopefully) allow the system to at least boot. Either that or it sets it down to a low clock speed and high timings to try and brute force a boot.

My advice would be to go into PC Health settings in BIOS, check what your memory voltage is at. Then, go into voltage settings, and add another 0.02 volts to it (so, if it's running at 1.50V, set it to 1.52V, or if it's running at 1.65V [as mine does], try running it at 1.66V or 1.67V).

From what I heard you can severely damage the RAM if you have voltages higher than 1.65V. Proceed with cauction.

[Saithes]

From what I heard you can severely damage the RAM if you have voltages higher than 1.65V. Proceed with cauction.

Not the RAM, the memory controller on the processor. DDR3's JEDEC specification is up to 1.95v.

[Thrashaholic]

Looking at your screenshots from CPU-z:
The SPD is a list of settings that comes programed in the RAM. The other one (DRAM frequency) tells you what your speed is set at. You've got it at 686.9MHz, so multiplied by two (DDR=double density RAM) that's 1373.8 MHz, which means it's overclocked above 1333MHz.
Divide by 1333, and that's tells me it's a 3% overclock, which means your BCLK is set at 103 instead of 100.

I think you ran an auto overclock didn't you? Manually set your BCLK back to 100 and see if the problem goes away. You should leave it at 100.

You can't tell RAM voltage from CPU-z, but the BCLK setting might be the problem if your RAM doesn't like being 3% overclocked at it's current voltage setting.
Also, just for additional info, don't set your RAM above 1.65V.

Didn't run anything of OC'ing, for what I need this comp for there is no point in me OC'ing. I just put everything together and switched it on How do I adjust the MHz?

[Plasmon]

Well, for whatever reason, if your RAM is at 1373.8MHz then it means your BCLK is set to 103.

I haven't poked around in my BIOS for a few weeks so I might be a bit rusty on location and names, but lets give it a try:

Do these things:
Go into the BIOS, go to the exit thing at the top right corner, and then enter Advanced mode.

Go to the AI Tweaker tab:
> Make sure OC Tuner is disabled.
>Look at the setting for AI Overclock Tuner, was it AUTO, manual or XMP? If it was on manual then I think you would have the option to set BCLK and CPU multiplier. It sounds like your BCLK is set to 103. You don't want that, set it to 100. Then set the AI Overclock Tuner back to AUTO. If/when you decide to overclock your system (which honestly you should because you can get likely a 27% CPU performance boost without even increasing core voltage), you would change AI Overclock Tuner to manual, but keep BCLK at 100 unless you know exactly what you're doing.
> Note the location of "Memory Frequency". Yours is probably set to AUTO, which means your RAM isn't running as fast as it could be since it's 1600MHz rated RAM. This is where you go to change it from 1333 to 1600, however do that another time, because that's not the problem we are trying to fix. It's easier to diagnose the problem at default running conditions.
>Scroll down, and find DRAM Voltage. There are two things to look at: What it's running at, and the setting. If it's on AUTO, it will still give you the voltage that it's running at. It should be 1.65V. If it's not at 1.65V, take it off auto or whatever setting it's at, and manually set it to 1.65V. (Auto might have put it to 1.5V.)
>Exit the BIOS and boot up. (Save & Exit)

Now when you load back into windows your RAM should be running at it's rated 1.65V and at default speed 1333MHz (which is slower than the 1600MHz that you should be able to run it at). Your BCLK will be set back to 100, and your computer should not be overclocked. Open CPU-z to confirm all this. You can't see DRAM Voltage in CPU-z, but if you set it manually, it's probably going to do what you told it to do. You can confirm the setting by opening the BIOS again and checking the DRAM Voltage value.

If you still have problems, you could try updating the BIOS as I mentioned earlier and/or running Memtest86+.
If you don't have the problems anymore, it might have been caused by improper settings. You could then try to set your RAM to the 1600MHz speed that it's rated for, and see how it goes.