[SOLVED] Computer not booting; dram LED on

[apememes]

Hello helpful people,
I built my first PC in august, and it’s worked fine ever since, just a little slow from time to time. I noticed that chrome was eating my RAM so I decided to upgrade. I got a SATA SSD, and two more sticks of RAM. I installed both items yesterday and my computer refused to boot. All the fans are spinning and the lights are on, but my monitor says no signal. I tried making sure my connection was ok. I tried a different port and a different cable. I thought maybe my computer was trying to boot from my newly installed SSD, so I unplugged that. That didn’t work and then I noticed that my DRAM LED is on on my motherboard. (Solid Yellow). I reseated my RAM in every possible way that my motherboard manual said. I made sure all my power cords are plugged in properly. I reseated my CPU, reset my CMOS (not sure what that really does). Clearly, nothing has worked and I am concerned. Does anybody know a fix?

My specs are:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: AMD Radeon Sapphire Prx 5600 xt
MOBO: ASUS TUF GAMING x570-plus (wifi)
RAM: 4x G Skill Ripjaws 8gb
PSU: Corsair CX Series 550 Watt 80 Plus Bronze

Thank you so much. I think I might go insane. If anything I said doesn’t make sense, my apologies; I don’t know as much as you all.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi apememes

You have a problem with your RAM and if you have mixed kits then it may well be a compatibility issue. Even same specs can have bad results due to Latency differences.
Test the system with just a single DIMM module in the slot meant for single channel mode.
If the system boots then add the other module of the same kit in dual channel mode.
Ensure your Bios is up to date.?
Why do you need 32GB.?
List the RAM part No.?

If other modules are added and the system refuses to boot then you have a compatibility issue. Return the new kit and get a matched kit.
Best is to have a single kit the size and frequency you need that the MB and CPU support and selected from the MB QVL that are tested and known to work.

 

[apememes]

Hi apememes

You have a problem with your RAM and if you have mixed kits then it may well be a compatibility issue. Even same specs can have bad results due to Latency differences.
Test the system with just a single DIMM module in the slot meant for single channel mode.
If the system boots then add the other module of the same kit in dual channel mode.
Ensure your Bios is up to date.?

If other modules are added and the system refuses to boot then you have a compatibility issue. Return the new kit and get a matched kit.
Best is to have a single kit the size and frequency you need that the MB and CPU support and selected from the MB QVL that are tested and known to work.

Thank you for the response. I tried each DIMM module by itself already, and nothing happened. I made sure to get ram that is supported.

 

[MeanMachine41]

I've added more to my post.
Your RAM may be supported however a mismatch can still occur if you mix kits.
Try clearing your CMOS and try again with a single module.

 

[apememes]

I've added more to my post.
Your RAM may be supported however a mismatch can still occur if you mix kits.
Try clearing your CMOS and try again with a single module.

I tried it, and still nothing. I added ram because my computer was struggling and task manager said my memory was at full capacity. I don’t know how this would cause this big of a problem. Where do I find the part NO.?

 

[MeanMachine41]

The Part No of the kit is on a label on the module or the box they came with. Example: F4-3200C14D-16GTZR.
Problems like this can corrupt the Bios and may need a reflash if clearing CMOS does not work.
You can clear CMOS by removing the MB battery and pressing the power switch to deplete the capacitors.

 

[Karadjgne]

Task manager said your pc was eating up 16Gb of ram? Doing what exactly? Even games run at 4k rarely hit 12Gb total system usage. It takes Content Creation or similar programming to hit that kind of usage.

Cmos is a list of the settings in bios. When you shut windows down, a file is created of all the bios settings and saved to the battery powered cmos chip. When you boot the pc, bios grabs that file and populates all its settings with the saved numbers.

By resetting cmos, you erase that file, so bios is grabbing at empty space. This forces bios to get off its rear end and actually go find all the equipment you have plugged in, test it, read it, set settings according to the stock defaults that are hard coded and non-erasable.

So if you add ram sticks, you are changing the hardware. Sometimes bios is nice to you, recognises the change, and updates itself accordingly. Sometimes bios is taking a nap and doesn't inform you, but since it detected a change, throws an error. The physical equipment doesn't equal its settings.

So it's best to always just reset the cmos every time you make a change to hardware.

So pull the plug, unplug the data cable for all drives/remove m.2s.

Reset cmos. Put 1 stick of ram in A2. Boot, it should go to bios. Shutdown. Unplug, reset cmos, put 2nd stick in A2. Then third, then fourth. If the ram is good, all 4 boots should be successfull to bios.

Then try a pair in A2/B2. Swap pairs. Should still boot if the ram is good.

Finally try all 4 sticks. If no joy, shutdown, unplug, reset cmos. Use 1 pair in A2/B2 and boot into bios. Once there, change dram voltage to 1.4v. Look around for SoC voltage. Bump that up 0.05v. Save, exit, shutdown. Put other pair back in. Reboot as is. You can take SoC as high as 1.2v max.

If you can't get 4 sticks at default speeds working with 1.4v vram and 1.2 SoC, they aren't going to work.

 

[apememes]

The Part No of the kit is on a label on the module or the box they came with. Example: F4-3200C14D-16GTZR.
Problems like this can corrupt the Bios and may need a reflash if clearing CMOS does not work.
You can clear CMOS by removing the MB battery and pressing the power switch to deplete the capacitors.

Hello 24 hours later. Sorry I took a break for work. I tried clearing CMOS and then adding one stick of ram. No luck, the light’s still on. I’m attaching a photo of all the serial numbers Here. I assume left is one set and right is another because of SN.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hello 24 hours later. Sorry I took a break for work. I tried clearing CMOS and then adding one stick of ram. No luck, the light’s still on. I’m attaching a photo of all the serial numbers Here. I assume left is one set and right is another because of SN.

A mismatch can occur when mixing kits as you have however, clearing CMOS should allow you to access Bios with a single module in the slot meant for single channel mode (important) unless your DIMMs are not supported or they are installed incorrectly. Sometimes the module/s are not seated correctly especially the offside to the clip.

Ryzen is picky with OC RAM so if this continues I can only recommend testing with another kit selected from the MB QVL that are tested and known to work.
The ones you have should work however it would require manually testing different Timings and DRAM voltage in your Bios.
If somehow you have corrupted Bios then you can recover Bios from your support disk or by flashing from a USB stick if you can access Bios.
Updating Bios is very much a necessity these days due to the volume of Kits that hit the market each month.
Should the above prove fruitless then the only course left is to RMA the MB.