Question Brand new RAM Works only if paired with old RAM

Sep 7, 2020
5
0
10
So i have this rather bizzare issue. i recently bought a brand new pair of HX432S20IB/16 Sticks for a total of 3200Mhz 32GB of DDR4 ram.

but upon installing them and replacing my old 16Gb stick, i would get a black screen. i could not figure out why this happening. i thought the sticks were defective.. i tried them single channel, double channel and it would only be black screen.

I made sure the sockets were ok so i plug in my old memory it still boots just fine... then i thought the new Ram was not being recognised by my system. and i tried to pair it with my old stick.. somehow this works...
i then switched the currently installed new RAM stick with the other New RAM stick ,just to make sure that both of them are fine. and yes. both of them are detected by the system...

i tried to reset the CMOS by removing the button battery from the MB and then holding the power on button for a while. it didn't work

after a bit more digging i though it may be a problem that i need to activate XMP in my bios. but then i ran into the issue that the Bios for my Laptop, does not support that feature.
i tried to update the BIOS (went from version 307 to version 309). It didn't work

my laptop is a ROG Strix gl702vi-ba007t
i've uploaded here a CPU-Z export of my machine status

http://www.mediafire.com/file/et00tyahw4ugy0p/DESKTOP-JVUU8LK.html/file

and in case this matters my old memory stick was the one the laptop came with. which is an Apacer technology 76.D305G.D390B 2400Mhz. this is the one that is needed in order for my machine to boot.

and now i am out of ideas... if anyone can help, i would be very grateful
 
Sep 7, 2020
5
0
10
Did you try BOTH of the new ram sticks while keeping the old ram in? the one you tried might be the one thats not broken?

Yes, as i mentioned, i already tried both of them together with the old Stick and both the new sticks of RAM worked.
In this configuration , if i remove the old Stick, and leave only one of the new ones installed. it will not boot.

i have the feeling that the MB does not support that higher frequency and it needs a lower frequency Stick in order to "tune" to... however i was not able to find any documentation to suggest that this would be the case.
 

bishopi5

Distinguished
Sorry if this was mentioed i did read the post

It is certainly a weird problem, even though your new ram is 3200 your motherboard will be trying to run it at 2133 by default, so the frequency should not matter

On further inspection you are indeed correct, the motherboard of your laptop supports 2400 max, what speed is your other stick, If i remember correctly the higher frequency stick will drop to the frequency of the lower stick as they both have to be the same, if the old 16gb stick is 2400 or under this might be the issue.

Even if it is the issue you should be able to get into bios and set both of your new sticks to 2400
 
Sep 7, 2020
5
0
10
Sorry if this was mentioed i did read the post

It is certainly a weird problem, even though your new ram is 3200 your motherboard will be trying to run it at 2133 by default, so the frequency should not matter

On further inspection you are indeed correct, the motherboard of your laptop supports 2400 max, what speed is your other stick, If i remember correctly the higher frequency stick will drop to the frequency of the lower stick as they both have to be the same, if the old 16gb stick is 2400 or under this might be the issue.

Even if it is the issue you should be able to get into bios and set both of your new sticks to 2400

these are the 2 memories and their information.

MQtPlMl.png


unfortunately looking over the BIOS.. there don't seem to be any controls to customize the memory performance, usualy this would be done through the AI Tweaker... but that is missing... hence my attempt to update the bios.

but i do have to ask, where did you find the documentation for the motherboard? i could only find some general information
 
Sep 7, 2020
5
0
10
Because its a laptop there is no documentation, but the specs are there on the website page for the laptop itself, it mentioned the max speed for memory, which is indeed talking about the motherboard, i find it hard to believe you don't have options to fiddle with ram considering its a nice gaming laptop, ill have a look

View: https://imgur.com/a/r6E0NEY
well yes, that is what the laptop comes with, i doubt that would be its max speed.
alas, let me go and take pictures from the BIOS.
 

bishopi5

Distinguished
That is not specs of the computer, its Asus recommendation, Which means the motherboard does not support more.

They are trying to sell a product, if the motherboard could handle more, they would certainly add it to there "recommended" specs

Im not sure why i thought i could find info about your bios as there is no info about the motherboard, so this part is entirely up to you, if there is no where in bios for you to change the ram speed, you literally have to take the answer you don't want, which is you bought the wrong ram. Hopefully you can return it and just buy a random brand 16gb stick with same frequency as the original and end up saving money
 
Sep 7, 2020
5
0
10
That is not specs of the computer, its Asus recommendation, Which means the motherboard does not support more.

They are trying to sell a product, if the motherboard could handle more, they would certainly add it to there "recommended" specs

Im not sure why i thought i could find info about your bios as there is no info about the motherboard, so this part is entirely up to you, if there is no where in bios for you to change the ram speed, you literally have to take the answer you don't want, which is you bought the wrong ram. Hopefully you can return it and just buy a random brand 16gb stick with same frequency as the original and end up saving money

this is what i have in the bios... as you can see it is mostly barren land
View: https://imgur.com/a/KR4JJZw
.

no big deal, i can always return it, its brand new, i have 30 days to make up my mind. thanks for the input regardless
 

bishopi5

Distinguished
I appreciate the in depth photos, you are right mate your motherboard will not allow you to change the ram speeds, return those 2 sticks and just find the cheapest 16gb 2400 you can find, should end up saving money in the long run and still having 32gb ram

Sorry there was nothing we could do