Computer shows no display when using more than 2 sticks of RAM.

zarrex

Honorable
Dec 26, 2012
7
0
10,510
I have had 2x4GB of RAM for the past 4 years, and I just bought another 2x4 set a few months ago. I couldn't get them to work back then, and I still can't seem to make them work. I'm using Windows 10 64bit (Had the same issue on 7 as well), and an ASUS P8Z77V-LK motherboard. The RAM in question is PNY Optima. I ran memtest on both new sticks of ram and got no errors. It boots with 2 sticks, but when I add 3 or 4, I get no display. The BIOS is behind a few versions, so I can try to update that today, but yesterday EzFlash wasn't working (Black screen). Also, the old and new ram are the same model.
 
Solution
New ram always fails, old ram always works => either bad or incompatible with motherboard. The most common answers are going to be

1) RMA the new memory and try again.
2) Don't use mixed memory; buy a new 16GB 4x4 kit.
3) Don't use mixed memory; buy a new 16GB 2x8 kit.

If you've already bumped voltage and the new ram isn't stable even by itself, I wouldn't spend more time trying to get it to play with the old.
A good place to start if you are mixing RAM is with this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr-dram-myths,4155.html , especially point 5.

Back in the day, I remember that if a motherboard was supposed to take 4 sticks of RAM then you could put in four sticks and it would boot. RAM was sold in single sticks. However, speeds are pushed so high and timings so tight that RAM is no longer entirely plug-and-play. There's a reason it's now sold in kits of 2 or 4 sticks that have been tested together.

The article above will suggest overvolting to try to get the sticks to play together; this approach has worked for a lot of people on the forum. I'm going to take a peek at the motherboard manual just to be sure that there aren't limitations (like "if all four slots are used, only single-sided RAM may be populated.").

EDIT: The memory compatibility chart http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-V_LE/Z77_4DIMM_model_list_report.pdf shows good tests with four sticks of up to 8 GB double-sided, so the issue is not a lack of support for the memory.
 

zarrex

Honorable
Dec 26, 2012
7
0
10,510


The default on my motherboard was set at 1.5, which I had bumped up to 1.555. I will try to mess with that more when I get home, thanks for the help so far
 
Silly questions. Have you tried both pairs of RAM separately, and gotten the machine to work with both? Have you tried a known good pair in both sets of slots? I think that you can get away with populating the second slot in each channel; a test to see if the second slots have a problem.
 

zarrex

Honorable
Dec 26, 2012
7
0
10,510


I got the computer to boot by using the new ram in the first A and B slot, but everytime, 10 minutes after boot I get a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT bsod.
 
New ram always fails, old ram always works => either bad or incompatible with motherboard. The most common answers are going to be

1) RMA the new memory and try again.
2) Don't use mixed memory; buy a new 16GB 4x4 kit.
3) Don't use mixed memory; buy a new 16GB 2x8 kit.

If you've already bumped voltage and the new ram isn't stable even by itself, I wouldn't spend more time trying to get it to play with the old.
 
Solution