Hey everyone, I'm having some trouble with my MSI X870 Tomahawk motherboard. It won't post when I try to boot up with my RAM installed in the A2 slot, but if I switch it to the B2 slot, it works fine. I've invested quite a bit in my setup, getting 64GB of Corsair DOMINATOR Titanium RGB 6000MHz RAM, so it's frustrating to only use one stick right now. I've already updated the BIOS and tried a few things: reseated the CPU to check for bent pins, adjusted my cooling pump, reset the CMOS, and placed the RAM in the A1 slot as a test. Here's the current situation: there's no POST with the A2 slot, the red EZ Debug light is on, and the motherboard goes through some codes before stopping at 'EC' without posting. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated! Here are my specs: CPU: Ryzen 9 9950X3D, GPU: 4080S, PSU: ASUS TUF Gaming 850W (80+ Gold), AIO: Corsair iCUE LINK H170i, RAM: 64GB Corsair DOMINATOR Titanium 6000MHz DDR5, Storage: 1TB SSD NVM.e, Case: Lian Li O11DEXL-X.
3 Answers
Don't forget to reset the BIOS to stock timings. Sometimes custom settings can cause these issues, so starting fresh might help.
Have you tried leaving it in the A2 slot for a longer time? Sometimes memory training can take up to 30 minutes, and during that time, the board may display various error codes. Also, the EC code you mentioned is actually a placeholder for future use, so it might not even indicate a RAM issue.
I didn't let it sit long to be honest. Since it booted quickly in B2, I assumed the same would happen for A2. I'll give it more time and see if anything changes.
Try testing just one stick of RAM in each slot, including A1 and B1. Report back on which slots don't work; you could be dealing with a faulty CPU or motherboard here.
I checked A1 and it faults there too, but I haven't tried B1 yet. If things don't work out, I plan to return the motherboard and check the CPU next. I'll let you know what I find!
Thanks for the tip! I'll make sure to do a BIOS reset as well.