Z790-A GAMING WIFI D4 often fails to boot/warm reboot with 128GB RAM from the QVL

[loinad]

Hello there,

I hope @Shamino or other ASUS specialist can take a look at this issue.

I am running a Z790-A GAMING WIFI D4 with BIOS 0812, a 13900K, and Kingston 128GB 3600MT/s DRAM KF436C18RBAK4/128 from the QVL list.

Since Raptor Lake doesn't officially support >3200MT/s DRAM, please note that I select the XMP1 profile but manually set the RAM speed to 3200MT/s in all circumstances. Also, I do not overclock the CPU at all.

Then, the following behavior can be observed

1. With profile XMP1 & RAM speed set to 3200MT/s and everything else on AUTO & stock, the system will not boot at all.
2. With profile XMP1 & RAM speed set to 3200MT/s and Command Rate set to 2N, the system will not boot at all.
3. With profile XMP1 & RAM speed set to 3200MT/s and Command Rate set to 1N or 2N and Gear Mode set to 2, the system will sometimes boot but often fail to warm reboot or wake from sleep (Windows 11).
4. With profile XMP1 & RAM speed set to 3200MT/s and Command Rate set to 3N and Gear Mode set to 1 or 2, the system will sometimes boot but often fail to warm reboot or wake from sleep (Windows 11.


Only configs 3 and 4 are able to get a working PC at all but will still fail often. I am currently running config 4 (Command Rate = 3N and Gear Mode = 1), but this issue with a memory kit & config from the QVL is a huge dealbreaker.

Can you please advise? Thank you.

[Hopper64]

I am not an Asus specialist. Have you tried everything on Auto? XMP is still an OC state and that 128G density may require some increase in voltage such as the VDD and the SAV. However, I am a bit rusty on DDR4 since going over to DDR5 so I am not sure. I would suggest you clear the CMOS first and see if everything boots in a default state. You may consider testing the memory via the bios memtest86 before going into windows. Then report back and by then Scone will probably have seen your post to guide you further.

[loinad]

Hopper64 wrote:
I am not an Asus specialist. Have you tried everything on Auto? XMP is still an OC state and that 128G density may require some increase in voltage such as the VDD and the SAV. However, I am a bit rusty on DDR4 since going over to DDR5 so I am not sure. I would suggest you clear the CMOS first and see if everything boots in a default state. You may consider testing the memory via the bios memtest86 before going into windows. Then report back and by then Scone will probably have seen your post to guide you further.

Hi there! Thanks for the reply.

memtest86+ is fine for >10 full passes. No errors at all.

The system is able to boot in a default state -- that is, using JEDEC speeds. It's also able to boot in cases 3 and 4 that I specified, except occasionally in warm reboots (that is, a restart) or wake from sleep.

Since this particular memory kit and config (with the 4 DIMMs, 128GB in total, and at the rated memory speeds) is explicitly listed in the QVL, the ASUS BIOS should definitely handle this in an automatic way when using XMP. Please note that in the QVL, as shown below, it's even stated that it's tested at 3600MT/s, even though I am having problems even while forcing lower/stock speeds supported by Raptor Lake (3200MT/s).

[loinad]

BTW, I opened a support ticket with ASUS, protocol N2303020189-0001.

[Hopper64]

You might try XMP2 with tweak mode 1 and 2 as well. Consider adding some increase in the SAV or VDD voltage or both. You may want to use Hardware Info64 and post a screenshot of that with the memory voltages. Small increases in the SAV or the VDD may help stability.