The Issue:
Intermittent POST failures on cold boot and wake from sleep. The motherboard debug LED cycles through and gets stuck on either red or orange on the DRAM indicator. Sometimes it takes 4-6 forced power cycles before the system successfully POSTs and boots into Windows. Once booted, the system runs completely stable with no crashes, no BSOD, no performance issues.
Important: The issue occurs regardless of RAM configuration – happens with all four sticks installed AND with just two sticks installed. This rules out kit incompatibility as the sole cause.
What I’ve Already Tried:
• Reseated all RAM sticks
• Confirmed sticks are in correct slots per MSI manual
• Enabled XMP at 3600MHz – same issue
• Dropped XMP to 3200MHz – same issue
• Cleared CMOS via JBAT1 jumper – temporarily resolved the issue, system booted cleanly with all four sticks at 3600MHz
• Ran Windows Event Viewer logs – found kernel power event 41 (unexpected shutdowns from forced power cycles) but zero WHEA hardware errors and zero memory specific errors
• Confirmed both RAM kits work independently – each kit boots fine alone
System Specs:
• Prebuilt: MSI Aegis RS 11TE-206US (2021)
• Motherboard: MSI Z590 PRO WIFI (MS-7D09) v2.0
• CPU: Intel Core i7-11700KF @ 3.60GHz
• RAM: 64GB DDR4 total – two kits:
• Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro CMW32GX4M2D3600C18 (2x16GB) – black
• Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL CMH32GX4M2D3600C18 (2x16GB) – white
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB
• Storage: ADATA SX6000LNP 1TB NVMe SSD + Seagate ST500LM021 500GB HDD
• PSU: MPG A750GF 750W
• OS: Windows 11 Home (Build 26200)
• BIOS: A.A0 (July 2024) – not yet updated to latest 1B1
Modifications Made:
• Replaced original CPU cooler within first 3 months of ownership (original failed)
• Added a second 32GB RAM kit (CMH32GX4M2D3600C18) last year, bringing total to 64GB
• RAM slots: CMW kit in DIMMA2/DIMMB2, CMH kit in DIMMA1/DIMMB1