I just purchased new RAM after finding out one of mine was faulty. I was previously using 2 Elpida 8GB sticks, and decided to add in 2 additional sticks of RAM for better speeds. I made sure that all of the settings exactly matched the new RAM, and that my motherboard and CPU should be able to handle 32 GB. My laptop *occassionally* works with all 4 sticks in, but sometimes doesn't. I've tried 2 sticks in, both in my "main" memory slots and in my "secondary" (the ones that haven't ever been used before) slots. No problems. I'll get to the point where I think it may be one stick of RAM causing the issues, go through putting it in all the slots, and then it starts working. Then I'll put in all the memory, and then I'm able to boot up my PC. The next day, I'll go to turn my laptop on, and then it won't boot up. And the boot up issue isn't always the same. Sometimes it will just have a black screen and the lights will turn on and just stay like that, other times it will power cycle. Neither of these cases I get to the point of seeing the BIOS POST. I just don't understand why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, which is confusing me on what the problem could be.
Laptop: Notebook P15SM-A/SM1-A
BIOS Version: American Megatrends 4.6.5
CPU: Intel Core i7-4810MQ
New RAM: Timetec 32GB KIT(4x8GB) DDR3L / DDR3 1600MHz (DDR3L-1600) PC3L-12800 / PC3-12800 Non-ECC Unbuffered 1.35V/1.5V CL11 2Rx8 Dual Rank 204 Pin SODIMM
Old RAM: Elpida DDR3L 1600(11) 8GX16 SO-DIMM
Laptop: Notebook P15SM-A/SM1-A
BIOS Version: American Megatrends 4.6.5
CPU: Intel Core i7-4810MQ
New RAM: Timetec 32GB KIT(4x8GB) DDR3L / DDR3 1600MHz (DDR3L-1600) PC3L-12800 / PC3-12800 Non-ECC Unbuffered 1.35V/1.5V CL11 2Rx8 Dual Rank 204 Pin SODIMM
Old RAM: Elpida DDR3L 1600(11) 8GX16 SO-DIMM