Hi everyone,
I purchased my Dell XPS 8700 PC a few years ago. I'm not extremely tech savvy but have comfortable making simple upgrades such as upgrading RAM, installing a video card, and replacing a power supply -- mostly just plug-n-play type stuff. However, now I've run into a RAM issue that I'm completely lost on.
When I purchased the PC, it came with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (2 x 4GB sticks). I then added 16 GB of additional RAM (2 x 8 GB sticks) for a total of 24 GB. This worked fine and I had no issues up until now.
Recently I ran into some hardware issues: First, my HDD began to fail. Second, a screwdriver accidentally touched the HDD while the case was open causing the power to cut out and after that, the PC would no longer start up. I was able to reset the BIOS by temporarily removing the battery. After that, it would attempt to start up again, but would just make 4 BEEPs (indicating a RAM issue) and not start.
To troubleshoot the RAM issue, I removed all 4 sticks and tried different combinations and slots. I found that using the two original 4 GB sticks worked, but I received the 4 BEEPs on the two 8 GB sticks regardless what slot they were in, whether they were installed alone or together, or in combination with the 4 GB sticks. I assumed that something must be wrong with those two 8 GB sticks.
In order to move on with replacing the HDD, I used the two 4 GB sticks and was at least able to get the new HDD and OS installed. So far the PC is working fine. However, I still wanted to upgrade to at least 16 GB RAM. I ordered 2 sticks of 4 GB DDR3L 1600 RAM from Crucial that were shown by Crucial to be compatible with my PC. However, I'm still having issues when trying to use this RAM with my original two 4 GB sticks.
The scenarios are:
I checked the BIOS and verified it was set to DDR3 and 1600. This BIOS doesn't let you change it anyway. I also verified that I had the latest version of the BIOS for this PC which seems to be Version A11 07/09/2015.
I ran both CPU-Z and Intel XTU and both recognized the ram and indicated it was running at 1600 MHz.
I'm kind of at a loss at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting this problem?
UPDATE: Changed title. Also I noticed the new 4 GB RAM sticks are DDR3L. When I boot with just those new sticks, CPU-Z shows them running at 1.35 V. When I boot with the old 4 GB sticks, CPU-Z shows them running at 1.5 V. My understanding was that DDR3L could run at either 1.35 or 1.5 V. Could mixing the DDR3 and DDR3L cause the problem? Does it matter what slots they are in?
I purchased my Dell XPS 8700 PC a few years ago. I'm not extremely tech savvy but have comfortable making simple upgrades such as upgrading RAM, installing a video card, and replacing a power supply -- mostly just plug-n-play type stuff. However, now I've run into a RAM issue that I'm completely lost on.
When I purchased the PC, it came with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (2 x 4GB sticks). I then added 16 GB of additional RAM (2 x 8 GB sticks) for a total of 24 GB. This worked fine and I had no issues up until now.
Recently I ran into some hardware issues: First, my HDD began to fail. Second, a screwdriver accidentally touched the HDD while the case was open causing the power to cut out and after that, the PC would no longer start up. I was able to reset the BIOS by temporarily removing the battery. After that, it would attempt to start up again, but would just make 4 BEEPs (indicating a RAM issue) and not start.
To troubleshoot the RAM issue, I removed all 4 sticks and tried different combinations and slots. I found that using the two original 4 GB sticks worked, but I received the 4 BEEPs on the two 8 GB sticks regardless what slot they were in, whether they were installed alone or together, or in combination with the 4 GB sticks. I assumed that something must be wrong with those two 8 GB sticks.
In order to move on with replacing the HDD, I used the two 4 GB sticks and was at least able to get the new HDD and OS installed. So far the PC is working fine. However, I still wanted to upgrade to at least 16 GB RAM. I ordered 2 sticks of 4 GB DDR3L 1600 RAM from Crucial that were shown by Crucial to be compatible with my PC. However, I'm still having issues when trying to use this RAM with my original two 4 GB sticks.
The scenarios are:
2 original 4 GB sticks by themselves = OK, computer starts fine
2 new 4 GB sticks by themselves = OK, computer starts fine
2 original 4 GB sticks + 2 new 4 GB sticks = 4 BEEPS and won't start
I checked the BIOS and verified it was set to DDR3 and 1600. This BIOS doesn't let you change it anyway. I also verified that I had the latest version of the BIOS for this PC which seems to be Version A11 07/09/2015.
I ran both CPU-Z and Intel XTU and both recognized the ram and indicated it was running at 1600 MHz.
I'm kind of at a loss at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting this problem?
UPDATE: Changed title. Also I noticed the new 4 GB RAM sticks are DDR3L. When I boot with just those new sticks, CPU-Z shows them running at 1.35 V. When I boot with the old 4 GB sticks, CPU-Z shows them running at 1.5 V. My understanding was that DDR3L could run at either 1.35 or 1.5 V. Could mixing the DDR3 and DDR3L cause the problem? Does it matter what slots they are in?
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