MSI Z77 MPower and 2133 Ram Problem (E55)

[Archmage]

Hiya,
I've a newly assembled rig, based on a Z77 MPower MB with an air cooled 3770K and 4 x 4Gb of LP Corsair Vengance 2133 ram.
On first boot, everything seemed OK and I was happy to see the new snazzy BIOS welcome screen. While explaining how things worked to my lad, I noticed that the XMP of the memory wasn't enabled so enabled it. The figures listed matched the ones I ordered -> 11-11-11-27 1.5V so looked good.
I saved and rebooted, but all I got was the MB cycling every 10 seconds, stopping at POST error 55.
I tried removing one set of dimms,then swapped them over, but still the same. Clearing and then setting back to AUTO (1333) had it booting normally.
I started testing the frequency manually, leaving everything else in AUTO.
I found the MB would POST fine up to 2000 but would fail at 2133.
By chance, I then had a look at the monitor function, under the Eco section, and found an odd thing with the ram voltage. At 1333 or 1400, the voltage sits around 1.46V. Any setting above 1400 displays the voltage at 1.65V!
Did I miss something but, aren't the XMP settings supposed to configure the freq, timings and voltage?
The MB bios, I believe, is sitting at V17.5.
Please let me know if I've forgotten to list something inportant and I look forward to finding out what I'm doing wrong
Cheers,
Andy

 

[FTLN]

Be careful there matey, msi z77 boards are known for there error 55 bootloop..

My board is in RMA at the moment as I was unable to get out of the error 55 bootloop even with a cmos reset..

What happens if you manually set voltage to 1.5v on the ram ??

 

[Archmage]

Thanks, I'll bear the RMA problem in mind.
Was going to try fixing the voltage at 1.5V but haven't found how to switch it to manual in the BIOS yet. I've still fond memories of Phoenix BIOS and all the text based ones that followed. Still a bit lost in this one, lol.

 

[Archmage]

I've fixed the ram voltage at 1.5V, but this hasn't helped. I also connected up the test points on the MB and verified with a multimeter that the voltages were as listed in the BIOS.
Looks like I may be contacting Scan's Returns.

 

[airdeano]

and what RAM is it you have?

 

[Archmage]

It's Corsair Vengeance LP 2133 11-11-11-27 1.5V
Fitted as 4 x 4Gb Dimms. I've also sent Scan a message about it.
I noticed on MSI's website spec for the board, that they don't even consider 2133 an over clock.

 

[airdeano]

RAM stability is also a part of the CPU IMC (integrated Memory Controller).
but at last glance, the Dominator 2x 2gb 2133 were the only "supported" corsair
modules... tried 1866MHz same timings?

 

[Archmage]

I did try to find a compatibility list on the MSI website but failed. Do we know which MB this ram may have been tested in? If it won't run at the xmp values it was sold at, I could have saved £20 and bought the 1866.
It posts at 2000 but I can't yet say if it's stable at that as I've not put the OS in.
Maybe I'm expecting too much, but in days gone by, ram did what it said on the tin. You only pushed your luck when you tried OC beyond the values sold. :-(

update/

I managed to find the memory compatibility list for the MPower MB but it didn't seem very up to date. When I looked at the Video card compatibility list, there were no HD 7xxx series cards listed at all, including the MSI one I bought! So this shows how up to date it all is.
I've since flashed the BIOS up to V17.7 (it has to be the flakiest procedure I've come across compared to MB's I've done in the past). The new BIOS didn't fix anything for me but, amazingly, crashed a few times while editing the boot device priority(Can't remember ever having a simple text interface bios, crash!). It looks like the boot list doesn't update the graphic along the top of the menu properly and the text gets corrupted. Hovering over the graphic sometimes causes a crash. I flashed back to V17.5 and it's OK.

 

[PetetheSweet]

Sounds like there is something more going on then just a RAM incompatibility.
I just bought the G.Skill Ripjaw Z 2133 of the MSI List.
Now it's running on two M-Power Boards @ 2400, with 10-12-11-32 on 1.65V, 100% stable.
The XMP Profile worked fine too.

BIOS rev. 17.7

 

[Archmage]

I just bought the G.Skill Ripjaw Z 2133 of the MSI List.
Now it's running on two M-Power Boards @ 2400, with 10-12-11-32 on 1.65V, 100% stable.
The XMP Profile worked fine too.

BIOS rev. 17.7

Thanks for the info.
I have Windows 7 installed and all's fine with ram at 1333, so I thought I'd try the "idiot-proof" OC Genie button. I left XMP disabled in the bios.
Well, that fails to get past error 55 and cycles every 8 seconds too.
I can fudge it by modifying the custom Genie settings in the bios and limiting the ram, but it didn't actually provide any OC.
I'm still waiting to hear from Scan, re my RMA request. Not sure if they'll ask for the ram back too.
With regards to V17.7, the bug I see is where I set my Plextor SSD as first boot device under the BOOT settings option. When I then look at the icons displayed over the top of the main screen, the first icon fails to display the plextor name and ID, it just shows a garbled mess, when you hover the mouse over it. This works fine again now I've flashed back to V17.5.
Please could you let me know which flashing method you used, as the MSI forum suggests that the in-built tools and Live system are a bit flaky. I stuck the bios on a usb stick and used MFlash from the bios. I then chose "combined bios and MC firmware". MFlash said it completed successfully.

 

[Mark3Max]

Hi Archmage ,As you discovered MSI's webpage is really out of date . I've found out if you go to the manufacturers webpage of the ram you want to use they're much more up to date as to which motherboard the'll work in, At least G Skill is.
I don't have an M power board but their Ares ram works perfect on my board.

 

[PetetheSweet]

I've used the MSI Updater 5 for flashing the BIOS.
I know some people may shout at me, for not using the USB Option but, andrevautour told me it's fine, so I gave it a shot and it worked perfect.

The Problem with the Boot Priortity (Pictures/Icons) sounds weird, never experienced something like that.

Whats with Stock Settings for CPU and Ram?
Everything fine then?What's your Voltage if you take on of the XMP Profiles, I mean the Real voltage not that one of the Profile?

I asked because, when I choose a specific voltage e.g. 1.65 V then enter, I get 1.64333.

Maybe the Profile says 1.5x and the real voltage is 1.4?

Just have a look.

 

[Archmage]

Sorry for the delayed reply,having problems with my fingers at th moment.
I checked the actual ram voltage, at the test point, and it was fairly close to that listed in the hardware monitoring part of the bios (sorry again,sat in hospital so can't see menu options).
The bios does some really odd things with the ram voltage. Spd and xmp setting have it at 1.5v. Yet, when I manually set the frequency above 1333, the actual ram voltage gets set to 1.65v. While I've been playing with it, I manually fixed the voltage at 1.51v. I couldn't set 1.5 as it always selects auto.
The errors you see in set to actual volts are caused by rounding errors in the D to A converter. It's probably only 9 or 10 bit in resolution. 9 bit gives you a precision of range/512; 512 different values between lowest and highest, and they probably cap the range too.
I've also dropped Corsair support an email regarding the 2133 ddr3 ram. They have a ram selection tool on their website, and oddly, none of the 77 series motherboards by anybody, have this ram as an option. They say the ram is fully tested at that and includes xmp settings for numpties, so I've asked which boards it DOES work in!
Currently have proc at stock volts and freq, as also the ram. As prev mentioned,the OC Genie function will only get past error 55 if I "customise" the Genie settings to fix the ram freq and voltage.
It's currently running Windows 7 fine on bios 17.5 as 17.7 gave bios crashes and no other improvements.

 

[Master&Puppet]

I had a similar situation recently with some Patriot 1866 on an mpower where the XMP just wasn't stable (tried setting the same settings manually too). Also tried it on a gd65 with the same results.

I had a play and tried different settings. It was easy to get stable at 1333, 1600, 1800...and overclocked all the way up to 2000, 2133 and 2200 but still not at 1866 regardless what I set. I still have no idea why not. It simply would not boot at 1866.

Anyway - if you haven't already tried it I'd suggest you type in the settings for your RAM as they are listed but change the frequency to 2000 or 2200 (should be enough headroom for a few extra hertz on stock settings). Worth a shot probably.

I'd suggest that you run HCI memtest in windows to 1000% to make sure your RAM isn't dodgy at which ever setting you decide on.

I never resolved the issue I had. I RMA'd the RAM and got the same issue with the new set so it was Mobo related. I ended up setting one of the overclocks anyway.

 

[Archmage]

I had a similar situation recently with some Patriot 1866 on an mpower where the XMP just wasn't stable.

Anyway - if you haven't already tried it I'd suggest you type in the settings for your RAM as they are listed but change the frequency to 2000 or 2200 (should be enough headroom for a few extra hertz on stock settings). Worth a shot probably.

Thanks for the reply Master&Puppet.
I've tried 2000 with the timing on auto and it POSTs fine. Oddly, the timing it picks are the XMP ones, but it ignores the voltage and sets it to 1.65V! I then manually fixed the voltage at 1.5Vish, because of the auto mode problem. It ran memtest86 ok. I haven't tried the XMP timings at 2200 though. It might not be till the weekend but I'll give that a go.
I've asked Corsair for a list of motherboards supported by their LP Vengeance 2133 as I struggled to find any boards at all using their ram selection tool.

 

[airdeano]

sounds like the bus-rate is messed up. like its on a 100MHz bus and not 133MHz
using even dividers. hence 1600/1800/2000 speeds its fine, but the 1866/2133
just wont fire...

 

[Archmage]

To follow up, I've had an email from Scan tech support and they say the problem could be with the processor, not the MB! I've to try each stick on its own.

 

[AlwaysLearning]

mPower Z77; Error 55 (possible solution)

I have read this thread because I too was having trouble with the mPower Z77 MB. I recently installed a Corsair H80i CPU cooler. The PC would continue to display Error 55. I read elsewhere that the CPU pins might be misaligned and that straightening them out could very likely solve the problem. I ruled out the water cooler as a problem and found one pin out of alignment in the bottom right of the CPU socket. This very likely happened when taking the CPU out for cleaning (I had a stock fan installed for a while and there was a bit of dust around the socket). The PC now runs fine. I'll give an update on the success of the water cooler installation once it's complete. I reckon it should work.
Cheers!

Update: The PC is operational again. I forgot to mention this in my initial response, I used a magnifying glass and a loupe to examine the pins. I used a thin metal poker used in pottery to straighten the misaligned pin.