Full PASS MemTest86, but ram appears defective

[tzr916]

I have an Asus Z590 with i7-11700k and 32GB of G-Skill RAM that has been running Windows 10 for two years without any issues. This is a whole home DVR/media server machine. I do not overclock or game on this machine.

Recently I upgraded to Windows 11, and the computer started freezing two or three times a week. So I ran Furmark, Prime95, Hard Disk Sentinel drive tests that all came out clean. Then I ran MemTest86 which also came back full PASS. This is when I noticed that two of the four ram sticks were showing some very odd speeds in the BIOS, same on Asus AI Suite windows software, and also in the MemTest86 final REPORT.

So I removed all the ram, cleared the CMOS, loaded/saved defaults, then put each of those two "odd" ram sticks in the A2 slot one at a time and the machine would NOT POST!

So I am curious how Memtest86 can see these odd speeds but still come out with a full PASS ?



Summary
Report Date 2025-08-01 07:15:50
Generated by MemTest86 V11.4 Free (64-bit)
Visit MemTest86.com to Upgrade to Pro
Result PASS
System Information
EFI Specifications 2.70
System
Manufacturer ASUS
Product Name System Product Name
Version System Version
Serial Number System Serial Number
BIOS
Vendor American Megatrends Inc.
Version 1801
Release Date 12/26/2022
Baseboard
Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
Product Name TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI
Version Rev 1.xx
Serial Number 210889260802291
CPU Type 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11700K @ 3.60GHz
CPU Clock 3638 MHz [Turbo: 4701.0 MHz]
# Logical Processors 16 (8 enabled for testing)
L1 Cache 4 x 80K (514878 MB/s)
L2 Cache 4 x 512K (104625 MB/s)
L3 Cache 16384K (54836 MB/s)
Memory 32561M (29022 MB/s)
RAM Configuration DDR4 3200MT/s / x2 Channel / 16-18-18-38 / 1.200V
Number of RAM SPDs detected 4
SPD #0 8GB DDR4 XMP 1Rx8 PC4-25600
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVGB
JEDEC Profile 2134MT/s 15-15-15-36 1.2V
XMP Profile 1 3200MT/s 16-18-18-38 1.35V
SPD #1 8GB DDR4 XMP 1Rx8 PC4-25600
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVKB
JEDEC Profile 104MT/s 1-1-1-2 1.2V
XMP Profile 1 3200MT/s 16-18-18-38 1.35V
SPD #2 8GB DDR4 XMP 1Rx8 PC4-25600
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVGB
JEDEC Profile 2134MT/s 15-15-15-36 1.2V
XMP Profile 1 3200MT/s 16-18-18-38 1.35V
SPD #3 8GB DDR4 XMP 1Rx8 PC4-25600
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVKB
JEDEC Profile 100MT/s 1-1-1-2 1.2V
XMP Profile 1 3200MT/s 16-18-18-38 1.35V
Number of RAM slots 4
Number of RAM modules 4
DIMM A1 8GB DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-17000
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVGB / 00000000
SMBIOS Profile 2133MT/s 1.2V
DIMM A2 8GB DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-66100
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVKB / 00000000
SMBIOS Profile 8267MT/s 1.2V
DIMM B1 8GB DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-17000
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVGB / 00000000
SMBIOS Profile 2133MT/s 1.2V
DIMM B2 8GB DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-66100
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVKB / 00000000
SMBIOS Profile 8267MT/s 1.2V
PASS
Result summary
Test Start Time 2025-08-01 06:39:35
Elapsed Time 0:34:42
Memory Range Tested 0x0 - 85F800000 (34296MB)
CPU Selection Mode Parallel (All CPUs)
CPU Temperature Min/Max/Ave 55C/67C/60C
Lowest memory speed 3198 MT/s (16-18-18-3
Highest memory speed 3200 MT/s (16-18-18-3
# Tests Completed 12/12 (100%)
# Tests Passed 12/12 (100%)
Test # Tests Passed Errors
Test 0 [Address test, walking ones, 1 CPU] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 1 [Address test, own address, 1 CPU] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 2 [Address test, own address] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 3 [Moving inversions, ones & zeroes] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 4 [Moving inversions, 8-bit pattern] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 5 [Moving inversions, random pattern] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 6 [Block move, 64-byte blocks] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 7 [Moving inversions, 32-bit pattern] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 8 [Random number sequence] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 9 [Modulo 20, random pattern] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 10 [Bit fade test, 2 patterns, 1 CPU] 1/1 (100%) 0
Test 13 [Hammer test] 1/1 (100%) 0
Certification
This document certifies that the Tests described above have been carried out by a suitably qualified technician on the System
described above.

[David (PassMark)]

SPD #1 8GB DDR4 XMP 1Rx8 PC4-25600
Vendor Part Info G Skill Intl / F4-3200C16-8GVKB
JEDEC Profile 104MT/s 1-1-1-2 1.2V

This is pretty strange.

RAM normally has a number of different profiles (sets of configuration data that determine clock speeds, voltages and timings).
These profiles are stored on a small Flash memory chip on the RAM module, called SPD data.

The JEDEC profile is the "base" speed the module works at.
The XMP profile is the highest speed, but this won't work on all systems, so the base speed is safer.

It looks like the SPD data for the JEDEC profile is wrong or become corrupted. One might be tempted to blame a hardware failure on the flash chip, but to have both modules fail in the same way would be unusual. So maybe a BIOS issue? Do you have another machine to test these in?

Does the system become stable if you remove these two suspect sticks?

[tzr916]

Thank you. I removed the sticks from this machine yesterday. If it doesn't freeze in the next 10 to 15 days, then I can probably say it has stabilized. I do have a Gigabyte Z390 i7-9700K that I may be able to test these two sticks on, but not until later this week. I'll keep you posted.

Here is what Asus AI Suite windows software showed for both of the "odd" sticks:

[David (PassMark)]

Surprising it works at all, as this is pretty messed up.