Bad Processor IMC or bad Motherboard?

[7AIR28]

My newly built AMD (Phenom II X4 965) system has run into a major road block.
I recieved the RAM last week and booted the system up. Installed Win7 and so far so good. Then after a restart the DRAM indicator LED on the motherboard (M4A88TD-V EVO) was light indicating a RAM failure. I figured a BIOS setting may have accidently been changed so I pressed the onboard MemOK button (resets RAM to factory/MB compatible settings) but no luck. Powered down reset CMOS jumpers-no luck. Removed Onboard battery and reset jumpers-no luck. Tested both sticks of RAM (2X2GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 CL8) individually in every slot and together in channel B configuration but no luck. I then picked up another stick of DDR3 and tested MB to see if the G.Skill RAM was bad or if the MB was bad. Failed all four DIMM slots.

Now I am trying to decide between returning the Motherboard (warranty still good) or purchasing a new CPU (PII 965 warranty expired) for a bad Memory Controller.
Is it probable that all four DIMM slots failed on the Mobo all at once or did the processor's IMC fail?


Thanks for any help



***No onboard speaker=no BIOS beeps***

[ShyguyXPC]

its a greater chance the board failed, than the CPU's IMC, at least I've never heard of that happening with any of the current and past generations CPU's with Integrated Memory Controllers.

more likely that not its the board, if the Board is still under warranty you might as well, see if you can have it replaced, if it still fails after that, its possibly another dead board, or maybe the CPU has failed.

may not be practical for you, but this is why I like having a Spare CPU ($50 or less if possible) for any given Socket design to test things with, if I run into problems. currently my problem is running a Socket 1366 Platform, and those aren't exactly cheap, so I don't have a spare for that.

[7AIR28]

its a greater chance the board failed, than the CPU's IMC, at least I've never heard of that happening with any of the current and past generations CPU's with Integrated Memory Controllers.

more likely that not its the board, if the Board is still under warranty you might as well, see if you can have it replaced, if it still fails after that, its possibly another dead board, or maybe the CPU has failed.

may not be practical for you, but this is why I like having a Spare CPU ($50 or less if possible) for any given Socket design to test things with, if I run into problems. currently my problem is running a Socket 1366 Platform, and those aren't exactly cheap, so I don't have a spare for that.

I am planning on picking up an Athlon II X2 for $60 here soon for that reason. But good bet its the board?

[ShyguyXPC]

or even the lowly Sempron 140 would be fine for testing, at less than $35 on most sites.

not sure if your newer chipset board is able to unlock it to a dual core or not, but there's always that aspect to look at as well. unless AMD started making 140's that can't be unlocked no matter what. I know a year ago that was all the news, with a SB750 chipset, it could be done or something.

[nickslick74]

After reading your post and Shy's reply, I agree that the most likely culprit is a bad motherboard. If you can RMA it, do so as quickly as you can!