3XS Cyclone RAM Fault

[Winterlove]

What CPU and RAM are you using Thorbog and Winterlove?

Extract from CPU-Z:

CPU: Intel Core i7 Extreme 980X
CPUID: 6.C.2
Extended CPUID: 6.2C
Stepping: B1

RAM: CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 (Ver 7.1A 10324595), 6x2Gb.

Mainboard: P6X58D-E

If you want, I can send you the full report from CPU-Z, if this is of any use.

Winterlove

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Winterlove

Have you been contacted by the engineers to confirm the collection of your system?

Once we get the system back we will sort it one way or another

Regards

Ben

[Winterlove]

Not yet, I'm afraid. When I got a BIOS that seemed to fix the problem, I (foolishly, perhaps) cancelled the pickup, thinking all was well. So perhaps we need to reschedule the pickup again?

Edit: I've actually done quite a bit of work with this machine. I'll back up as much as I can prior to collection, of course, but should I assume that you'll leave the storage devices intact except in the unlikely event that they are the source of the problem?

Edit edit: It is being picked up tomorrow afternoon.

[Thorbog]

What's the plan for mine?

Wait and see how you fix Winterloves machine and then see if it is something I can fix myself either with settings or sending me new RAM etc?

[Winterlove]

My machine has now been collected, I assume you'll start looking at it tomorrow. What happens as far as keeping me informed regarding investigation progress, etc?

[Mossy]

As soon as it is booked in we will let you know the outcome.

Ben will update the thread.

Thorbog

Have you purchased the same PC also?

Regards

[Thorbog]

My system is as per the thread subject title. Bog standard fixed spec Cyclone.

Having been reading around on various web forums it appears as though this cold boot problem with the RAM is extremely common and rarely fixed by playing with BIOS settings. It appears as though most issues were solved with new RAM (often of a different brand) or by replacing the CPU.

I notice you mentioned earlier that you had another customers machine that like mine reported 2GB instead of 6GB and of course Winterloves machine exhibits the same cold booting issue.

So I assume it would be best if I returned mine once you have clearly identified and solved the problems on those two machines? How did you get on with that other customers machine that Asus were looking at? What did you do?

The problem I have is that this is my only machine at the moment

So what I really really really want to avoid is to go through the massive inconvenience of having no PC only for this one to sit under a desk at Scan in a "backlog" for a few days and then spend further time possibly waiting for parts to come or even have it returned only for the problem to reoccur because you couldn't pin down the source of the fault.

Any chance mine can be collected and fixed only once it is ready to be worked on and the solution is known with all relevant parts available?

In the meantime I am happy to keep trying suggestions with regards to BIOS updates or voltage adjustments if you have any to offer or even try swapping in different RAM. Just so long as when it does go in to be repaired it is still considered as DOA and I don't become liable for postage costs. That is what worries me at the moment as I have had it nearly two weeks now and I got stung by another PC builder some years back who got me trying all sorts of fixes and then after 30 days said "Ok send it back but by the way you are outside the 30 day DoA period so you are paying for the carriage and in future you can only speak to us on the premium phone number"!!!

So what is the best way to play it?

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Thorbog

We will collect your system at our expense if necessary dont worry we are not like the other company

We will have Winterloves PC back this week and hopefully will have a workable solution soon

Thanks for your patience and co-operation regarding this issue to you and any other customers who may be awaiting a fix !

Regards

Ben

[Winterlove]

We will have Winterloves PC back this week and hopefully will have a workable solution soon

Of course, since (us being engineers of various sorts) we all know that the perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum, it would be just my luck that for you it happily starts up seeing all 12Gb every single time ...

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Winterlove

We tested the system and you will be pleased to know that it didnt show all the Ram everytime so we have seen the issue first hand and Pete is working on the system and will be in touch soon

Sorry not to update the thread sooner it has been one crazy day and I thought I would pop a message on here now I have got home and had my tea as I havent had a minute free today

Regards

Ben

[Winterlove]

Thanks Ben. Pete has been keeping me up-to-date with his progress via PM, and I'm happy with the way things are going right now. I'm also greatly relieved that it has misbehaved for you in the same way it misbehaved for me ...

[Nzastudios]

Asus need to pull their socks up fast.

[PeteG@Scan]

To be fair to them (and anyone round here will tell you that I rarely am) they have over the last month or so put in a lot of effort with this issue. They've had one of their field engineers here for 3 days last week, and I've got a testing and diagnostics email thread as long as a football pitch (if I dare'd to print it out) breaking down everything we've done to try and eliminate it.

We've had a few time where we've think we've nailed it once and for all, only for it to crop up again a few weeks later when we've gone back into production with them again, normally after a batch change on the cpu or memory.

Asus's bios is the best for extreme overclocking and it's this fact that seems to be causing problems. Gigabyte has it pretty much nailed but their bios is a lot harder to overclock now, than before the issue was raised. We can take the Asus a lot further but it's this flexability that seems to be problematic in combination with this current issue.

The other firms up there for overclocking (I'm thinking extreme cooling) would be EVGA and DFI and both of those are showing the same problems althrough as we don't use them day to day I can't comment on how far down the road they are with solutions. With great power comes over sensitive bioses it seems! We're all working on a solution through for you. I've just shipped another failing board/memory/cpu combination (Winterloves in fact) to Taiwan for them to examine and dissect on Monday morning

[Winterlove]

And I for one really hope it gives them valuable data. I've worked in the computer tech industry for a long long time now and I've been in teams having to deal with issues like this, so while I want my new computer back (and I believe there are plans to ship it back to me with a (brand) replacement motherboard, new CPU and new memory so I'm not waiting for Asus to get things sorted) I do have quite a bit of sympathy for the stress this will be causing some people in Asus right now.

[Thomas_Asus]

Hi guys,

My name is Thomas and I am one of the Asus engineers currently working on the X58 memory dropping issue which has been affecting your systems. I just wanted to take a minute to personally apologise for the inconvenience caused to Winterlove, Thorbog and any other Asus user which has this problem.

Since Scan made us aware of this bug we have been working tirelessly both here in the UK and in our headquarters in Taiwan to find a solution, on a typical day our R&D team has been working to roughly 12'o'clock at night specifically on this case!

After my visit to Scan we managed to make some great progress in finding what adjustments to our memory configuration algorithms helped the controller to always detect the inserted memory modules, but unfortunately (as you are very well aware) this was not a permanent fix as the RAM later dropped again! We are currently in the process of making a permanent fix and progress is going very well. I hope to have some good news very soon.

I have been checking on this forum topic daily and I have greatly appreciated the patience and understanding you showed while we have been fixing this problem. Also just so you are aware Ben and the rest of the Scan tech support team have been absolutely invaluable to us in providing assistance and feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Thomas & the whole engineering team at Asus.

[Vedeneyev]

Many thanks to Ben@SCAN for pointing me here and to Thomas et al for all the hard efforts in working for a permanent fix to this issue. Just to report I'm suffering the same problem: system seemingly randomly reporting 10GB instead of the installed 12GB (always seems to be DIMM1 of 0-5 that reports as empty so far).

Asus P6X58D-E (BIOS Rev0402)
i7 980X
6x2GB Corsair CMP6GX3M3A1600C7