PC won't boot after RAM upgrade

pl155cm

pl155cm

pl155cm

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5 Jan 2015
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Hi there, looking for some pointers on where I went wrong with when upgrading my ram:

I have a Gigabite GA-Z68AP-D3. It has 4*4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Dual channel memory, Kingston Hyper Blue.

I bought the following:

Kingston Hyper X Fury. 16GB 2*16gb CL10 DDR3 1866MHz part no HX318C10FRK2/16

2*8GB 1866MHz CL10, I have never done a ram upgrade before but as my motherboard spec said it supported 1866mhz I thought this would be fine. Now when I turn on the PC it powers on briefly fan spins for a few seconds then just goes off?

Only difference I can see is the new memory is 1.5v the old is 1.65v would that cause the issue??

Any help would be appreciated before I put the new memory on eBay and start again.
 
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I meant to add, according to the Kingston website this new memory is compatible with my motherboard, also when I put the old stuff back in it works fine? Am I missing something, I thought this stuff was plug & play....
 
The BIOS was at the most recent version, I've updated anyways, same result. I've now pulled the CMOS battery, I'll leave it for a while then see what that does.

So I have established the current ram works fine.
The new ram is compatible (confirmed by Kingston Website)
The BIOS is up to date

If removing the battery doesn't fix it I will have to assume the ram is defective and send it back.
 
Now I am confused, removing the CMOS battery didn't work.
Now I tried everything just won't work.
Except if I put 2 of the 2gb old ram in slot 1&2. The new stuff in 3&4. Machine powers up and recognised 20gb ram.

New ram in 1&2 with old ram in 3&4 didnt work?

The 4 2gb dimns that were in are matching except they are 2 kits of 2. Not sure this matters but I but 1 kit of 2 in with the new kit of 2.

Now I'm wondering is there a way to test the 20gb ram is actually usable? As I wouldn't want to go from 8gb to 4gb?

Also are there any other issues with having this mix, I know you are not supposed to do it but does that mean you can't?
 
RAM can cause all kinds of crazy problems.. If it won't even POST, it sounds like the RAM might be DOA and isn't being detected - hence the system just shuts down.

EDIT: you posted whilst I was typing. I would hazard a guess that the two lots of RAM don't agree with each other.
 
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It's strange my plan was to remove the 4*2gb and have the new 2*8gb. But the only way I can get the thing to run with the 2*8gb is to put it in with 2*2gb.

I have run the windows memory diagnostic scan and it hasn't recorded any errors?

I still don't like the situation, I don't like miss matches, I could buy another 2*8gb and see if it works with the 4*8gb? But that will be another £70 and I really don't need 32gb
 
It could also be a mobo/BIOS issue. My board doesn't like having all 4 DIMMs filled and I had a previous board a few years back that had the same issue.

It may still be worth running memtest. It could pick up an issue that the windows memory diagnostic hasn't found. It reallyseems odd that it needs the old RAM in order to recognise the new RAM...

32GB is overkill, unless you're into heavy 3D design and simulation. My home PC doesn't even need 16GB, but my work PC really does need it for serious stress analysis sims.
 
Yeah I think you are right, I have tested all the dimm slits using the old ram, all the slots are working and so is all the old ram, neither of the 2 new dimms work in any slot, so I guess the chances of both being bad are slim so I'm assuming this is a timing issue as the new dimms are 1866mhz and the old ones are 1600mhz, though the BIOS is set to auto, but showing 1333mhz...
 
1333MHz is the JEDEC standard for DDR3. Anything over that is technically overclocked. Have you tried manually setting the RAM at 1333MHz?

Don't rule out the possibility of a dead kit. It can happen. I had to send a batch of RAM back to crucial because it was faulty on arrival.
 
The other thing that makes me think the ram isn't dead, is that when I put the 2 new 8gb dimns in slot 3&4 with 2 of the old dimms in 1&2, the system recognises the full 20gb. That is the only configuration I can get to work. I haven't run memtest with that set up. Though the windows diag tool says OK when run on standard, hangs at 21% on extended, does that with just my old ram too.

I've put the old stuff back in just now, I may go back to the mixed configuration tomorrow and try setting the frequency manually to 1333, then try it with just the new dimms.

To be honest if I thought that mixed 20gb configuration was actually working I would just leave it but I'm not convinced and if its not I'd be better just leaving the 8gb in.

At the moment it looks like I may have to either go with the 20gb set up or just send the memory back ask for a replacement hope that works.

I've been pulling my hair out with this today, thought it would be a quick swap over, job done. Its not easy to see why games consoles are so popular!
 
How strange! I came to this forum because I have the same issue with the same motherboard! Except my new ram is 2133mhz rather than your 1866MHz. If I set the motherboard to use the RAM's profile, my system won't boot. But if I let it use the default, which puts the ram to 1600mhz and 1.5v (rather than 1.65v), it works fine.
 
When you say use the default do you mean set to auto?

My board is stet to auto and no joy, I'm going to try manually setting it to 1333 and 1600 see it that works. My other option is to bin the board
 
So finally got this working, as discussed I changed the frequency in the BIOS from auto to 1333mhz, now boots with only the new ram. Result.

What I am wondering now is why will it not boot when I set the frequency to 1866mhz. The ram is clearly marked as 1866mhz.

I am new to this so I may be being stupit but it would seem logical to me that 1866mhz ram should run when the frequency is set to 1866mhz.
 
pl155cm said:
So finally got this working, as discussed I changed the frequency in the BIOS from auto to 1333mhz, now boots with only the new ram. Result.

What I am wondering now is why will it not boot when I set the frequency to 1866mhz. The ram is clearly marked as 1866mhz.

I am new to this so I may be being stupit but it would seem logical to me that 1866mhz ram should run when the frequency is set to 1866mhz.
Click to expand...

Do you have XMP option in BIOS? That would be worth a try.
 
My board accepts 2133 ram, but it was a hell of a struggle getting it to run, let alone run stable...and it still is not stable in one game and has to be set at 1866.

Try the XMP profile, but even then you may have to tweak voltages, loosen timings etc.
 
XMP is only available in my BIOS if the ram supports it, this ram doesn't.

I did notice that with the old ram in and the frequency set to auto they were only showing at 1333mhz despite being 1600mhz, I haven't tried manually setting the new ram to 1600, at the moment I'm just happy to have got the thing to boot as yesterday that seemed like it was never going to happen.
 
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