PC Blue Screens with new memory

TomT said:

The new memory arrived. 2x8GB DDR4 3200 MHz
With this fitted alongside my existing ram the PC fails to boot.
The case fans spin up, but the fans on the video card don't and the pc doesn't even POST.

Remove the new chips and all works again.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Try the new RAM on its own. (Remove the old RAM.)

If it works, you may get the two sets of RAM to play together by manually setting the RAM timings. (I've done it, but years ago.)

The SPD settings may disagree.

1. Make sure your RAM voltage is set correctly to the JEDEC standard for your RAM (The voltage for 3200 MHz)
2. Set the RAM to run at 2133 for now
3. Set all bios RAM timings to AUTO
4. Try with the new sticks only, and run MemTest86+ for a few passes (like 5 or 6 - it will take all night)
5. If the tests pass, put the old RAM in along with the new RAM, leave everything alone and see if you can boot
6. If you can boot, repeat #4 using all four sticks
7. If this is successful, raise the RAM speed a little bit at a time and try booting. If it boots successfully, increase the RAM speed one notch and try again until you can get to 3200 MHz or maybe less. My old 3200 RAM wouldn't tun at 3200, it would only run at 2933
8. Once you have it running at the rated speed, set the timings to the manufacturer's specs. If you have two different sets of timings, which you really shouldn't for best success, set the RAM to the looser (highest value) settings
9. If it boots, you might be able to tighten the timings up a little. However, that may cause more boot errors.
10. Once you have all of the settings done and you can boot. Run Memtest86+ overnight, and then (optionally) run Prime95 for a little while. When using Prime95, you MUST keep an eye on your processor temperature to make sure that it doesn't go beyond the maximum spec for your CPU. If it does, shut off the program immediately and reboot. Use something like CoreTemp to monitor your CPU die temp.
11. If it passes all of the tests and boots successfully, you are good to go.

A little note from personal experience:

Some motherboards get really cranky when you put in four RAM sticks. My old ASUS would not boot with four sticks in it no matter what I did. I fiddled with the timings and speeds until I almost went crazy. In the end I had to buy two sticks with the same capacity of the four. As for brands, I have found GSkill and Mushkin to be the most reliable that I have tested personally.

Good luck.

did you set the bios to default?

When available post share link results for the steps in post #17 into this thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive

Update on this.

I returned the memory I'd bought and then bought 2 x 8GB DDR4 from eBay.
The RAM matches exactly with the existing RAM in the PC. Same make, model. spec, version and timings.

The existing RAM is in slots A2 and B2, I added the new RAM to A1 and B1.
PC booted up and windows started fine showing 32GB RAM.
I ran the windows memory diagnostic tool which showed some errors.

So I ran a memtest86 scan with the old and new RAM installed. At step 7 on the first pass it showed hundreds of errors.

I removed the new RAM and ran the same memtest86 on the old RAM. One pass no errors shown.
I removed the old RAM and installed the new RAM in the 'original' slots A2 and B2. Ran memtest86 1 pass no errors shown.

I installed the old RAM in slots A1 and B1, along side the new RAM.
I ran memtest86 for 4 passes which took around 4 1/2 hours. No errors found.

So I'm assuming I hadn't seated the new RAM correctly and moving them around has resolved that.

Anyone any other thoughts about this ?

Thanks

TomT said:

Update on this.

I returned the memory I'd bought and then bought 2 x 8GB DDR4 from eBay.
The RAM matches exactly with the existing RAM in the PC. Same make, model. spec, version and timings.

The existing RAM is in slots A2 and B2, I added the new RAM to A1 and B1.
PC booted up and windows started fine showing 32GB RAM.
I ran the windows memory diagnostic tool which showed some errors.

So I ran a memtest86 scan with the old and new RAM installed. At step 7 on the first pass it showed hundreds of errors.

I removed the new RAM and ran the same memtest86 on the old RAM. One pass no errors shown.
I removed the old RAM and installed the new RAM in the 'original' slots A2 and B2. Ran memtest86 1 pass no errors shown.

I installed the old RAM in slots A1 and B1, along side the new RAM.
I ran memtest86 for 4 passes which took around 4 1/2 hours. No errors found.

So I'm assuming I hadn't seated the new RAM correctly and moving them around has resolved that.

Anyone any other thoughts about this ?

Thanks

Click to expand...

It's plausible that the RAM wasn't seated properly..

Some PCs will have work well with 2 DIMMs but not 4 identical ones. You seem to have demonstrated that isn't your issue.

bobkn said:

It's plausible that the RAM wasn't seated properly..

Some PCs will have work well with 2 DIMMs but not 4 identical ones. You seem to have demonstrated that isn't your issue.

Click to expand...

I'll see what happens this week while I'm using the PC for work. Hopefully it will be ok.