My computer randomly crashes, then the DRAM light stays on after

rickyreilly

Here is my current build:
Mobo: Asus TUF Gaming x670-E Plus Wifi
Cpu: Ryzen 9 7950x
Ram: G.Skill 2x32g 5600
Gpu: RTX 3090
PSU: Corsair RM1000x

I built this computer back in December. I have been experiencing an issue where my computer will randomly turn off and the DRAM light turns on and nothing else happens. The fans still spin and the rgb stays on. But the DRAM light just stays lit. I swapped the old ram out with ram that is on the QVL and the same results happen. After I completely turn off the pc by flipping the PSU switch everything comes back on and works as normal. I've reinstalled windows. Swapped out RAM for RAM that is on the QVL for Asus, repeated my cpu, checked all my PSU cables, and I am still getting random crashes. Could my motherboard be bad? Any help is greatly appreciated!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

To be clear, the system just shuts off then won't POST? You're not seeing a BSOD? IS the RAM running at 4800 or 5600?

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Yes. The system shuts off and the DRAM light comes on and it will stay like that until I flip the PSU power switch. Previously I had my old RAM running at 5600. With the QVL RAM I reset everything to optimized defaults in the BIOS

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

When that DRAM LED comes on, does it stay yellow, or switch to red then yellow? Does the system seem to be restarting every 30 seconds or anything?

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

It stays yellow. Everything stays on until I turn the computer off.

Forgot to mention. If I don't switch the PSU switch off ti turn it off and just use the power button on the case to turn it off and back on it will still show the DRAM light and the DRAM led stays on. The case fans still spin and rgb lights come on. But that's it

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

It strikes me as more of a board power issue. It's restarting and that generally indicates a brief power loss, but you get the DRAM error on startup. Now it doesn't try to retrain or anything, so I think the DRAM is indicating that the IMC fails to initialize. It's more of a CPU memory controller issue than a DRAM issue. You have to clear caps to POST again.

What BIOS version are you on and are you doing anything specific on the system when this happens?

rickyreilly

The BIOS version I have is 0821. The first time it happened I was gaming. Then sometimes when I closed a game it would turn off. One time I left it idle on the homescreen and it also turned off with the same result.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

Worth trying the 1222 BIOS with the AGESA 1.0.0.5 firmware. My feelings are that this is a power issue. I'd swap the PSU, though based on the symptoms I think motherboard VRM is more likely.

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

When I first built it I did try to swap the PSU out, and it would still turn off randomly. I was thinking of trying a different Mobo. I have been looking at the Strix B550E-E.

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Update: I left my PC on with a game running and it crashed twice but fully restarted both times as of right now. But it still turned off with a game running

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

The Strix B650-E is a good board. It's a guess at this point, but the power loss I would assume is on the board if you've ruled out the PSU. Possible it's a GPU issue where you're losing video and crashing, but you can't see the BSOD, but that wouldn't explain the failure to initialize the IMC most of the time.

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Update:

So after a few days, I swapped out the Motherboard. The issues with the DRAM light staying on seem to have gone away. However, when I close a game after playing for a little bit, the computer restarts again (it starts up just fine when it does this). But again there are no BSOD errors or anything like that. This has happened on two different games and I'm not sure what's causing this to happen. I have run sfc /scannow and it did say it fixed some corrupted files, but the issue still keeps happening

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

My thought would be it's a voltage issue when the game stop and the voltage drops it's causing the reset. Check your BIOS on the right side see what your CPU voltage is and the load line calibration level. It should say like 1.24V @L5 as an example.

rickyreilly

Bios says cpu voltage at 1.244 @L5

I let it sit idle with just the desktop turned on while I went to run errand and when I came back the screen was off with the DRAM Led on again

rickyreilly

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

You can try AI Tweaker Digi + VRM - CPU Load-Line Calibration. Change it to level 4. See if it's the idle CPU vdroop that's causing the restart possibly.

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Set it to level 4 and let it idle again. Same result. The crash still happened and the DRAM led is lit up

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

Set the power plan in Windows to High Performance as well. See if that has any effect. Did you exchange the board or swap to the Strix B650-E?

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

The power plan on Windows is already set to Best Performance. I did exchange the board for the Strix B650-E

Just out of curiosity, could my CPU or GPU be bad? The GPU was an open-box purchase from Micro Center. Everything else was purchased brand-new.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

You ruled the board out. GPU is possible, but you should see a crash in event viewer or a minidump. It sounds like it just restarts. Double check C:\Windows\Minidump. See if there's anything in there.

rickyreilly

@PowerSpec_MikeW

I don't see a Minidump Folder in Windows?

PowerSpec_MikeW

@rickyreilly

That means the system has never logged a crash. It doesn't create that folder until the first time it does. So this just the PC restarting. Given the indication is that the system hangs initializing the IMC, and that's on the CPU, I'd swap the CPU first.