[SOLVED] Issues with computer booting up when adding more RAM; 16gb to 32gb

Nov 30, 2021
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Alrighty so I decided to upgrade from 16gb of ram to 32gb because why the hell not? Well when I did, my computer booted up, and was working fine, I checked to see if all of the ram was available to be used but was showing 24gb available instead of the 32. So then I went to system configuration and boot advanced options and put the max memory(followed a YouTube video) which required a restart. Then it would not want to boot properly. I got the blue screen of something going wrong and having to restart/repair. It would not want to load by normally pressing the power button. I then went into my BIOS and tried figuring out what I can do, I changed the memory speed from 3200 to auto in hopes that maybe that would help/solve it. Started up windows and it was working okay but still not all of the ram was available to use. Then i decided to just give up on it for a bit, was happy that it booted to windows finally and I turned off my computer and went to do other things and when I came back, I was having the same issues of getting that blue screen. Whenever I would get into my bios weather i made changes or not, it would boot properly. So tonight I decided to take out the ram and see how my computer would boot and it would work normally with no issue. As soon as i added back the additional 16gb, same issues, to the point that I got this screen that scared the F out of me but once I removed the ram, again everything is working fine. Does anyone know what I could do to make it work properly or what may be causing issues. I'm ready to return the ram and just be content with the 16gb I already had because this is not it haha.
My specs are:
ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
RTX 3070
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz( the other 16gb ram sticks are the same exact ones)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600

I do not know how to insert pics so here is a link to another post I made that does include the pictures. Sorry haha
https://linustechtips.com/topic/139...r-booting-when-install-more-ram-16gb-to-32gb/
 
Solution
Do the new sticks work when they're in there by themselves, without the old sticks?

In any case, RAM is only guaranteed to work when it's sold together. RAM of the same brand and specs is not actually "identical" RAM by any stretch of the imagination. There are no real "models" of RAM in the same sense like, Toyota has separate cars called Avalon, Camry, and Corolla. RAM sold as 3200 MHz RAM just means that the RAM was too defective to sell as 4000 MHz RAM.

In other words, RAM models are determined by binning, not by making specific models that all work together. There's no such thing as "an exact same" stick of RAM. While it's more likely than not that similar RAM sticks will work together, it's not assured. You may need to do...

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Do the new sticks work when they're in there by themselves, without the old sticks?

In any case, RAM is only guaranteed to work when it's sold together. RAM of the same brand and specs is not actually "identical" RAM by any stretch of the imagination. There are no real "models" of RAM in the same sense like, Toyota has separate cars called Avalon, Camry, and Corolla. RAM sold as 3200 MHz RAM just means that the RAM was too defective to sell as 4000 MHz RAM.

In other words, RAM models are determined by binning, not by making specific models that all work together. There's no such thing as "an exact same" stick of RAM. While it's more likely than not that similar RAM sticks will work together, it's not assured. You may need to do some manual tinkering, slightly adjusting voltage, or reducing the clock to see if they'll all detect at, say, 3000 MHz.
 
Solution
Nov 30, 2021
5
0
10
Do the new sticks work when they're in there by themselves, without the old sticks?

In any case, RAM is only guaranteed to work when it's sold together. RAM of the same brand and specs is not actually "identical" RAM by any stretch of the imagination. There are no real "models" of RAM in the same sense like, Toyota has separate cars called Avalon, Camry, and Corolla. RAM sold as 3200 MHz RAM just means that the RAM was too defective to sell as 4000 MHz RAM.

In other words, RAM models are determined by binning, not by making specific models that all work together. There's no such thing as "an exact same" stick of RAM. While it's more likely than not that similar RAM sticks will work together, it's not assured. You may need to do some manual tinkering, slightly adjusting voltage, or reducing the clock to see if they'll all detect at, say, 3000 MHz.
See I did not know that haha. I was hoping it would work well even with it being the same model and brand but that info you just provided would probably be why its not working well. I tried checking if the 2 open slots were the issue by using one stick from the new kit in each slot and every time, got the blue screen when restarting my computer. initially it would boot up but the true test was with a restart. What I am going to try right now is swap out the old kit with the new to see if it works, that way i can rule out that the new kit is not bad/defective. Im at the point of just returning the new kit and waiting patiently for when new AMD cpus come out and then go all out. Or maybe get a new kit of 2 16gb ram sticks but im not sure if that is super worth it at this point haha.
Edit: Thank you for sharing that info btw, always learning new things, even with troubleshooting and struggling in the process haha
.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
See I did not know that haha. I was hoping it would work well even with it being the same model and brand but that info you just provided would probably be why its not working well. I tried checking if the 2 open slots were the issue by using one stick from the new kit in each slot and every time, got the blue screen when restarting my computer. initially it would boot up but the true test was with a restart. What I am going to try right now is swap out the old kit with the new to see if it works, that way i can rule out that the new kit is not bad/defective. Im at the point of just returning the new kit and waiting patiently for when new AMD cpus come out and then go all out. Or maybe get a new kit of 2 16gb ram sticks but im not sure if that is super worth it at this point haha.
Edit: Thank you for sharing that info btw, always learning new things, even with troubleshooting and struggling in the process haha
.

I just wish I had an easy fix for your rather than reinforcing the frustration!

In this case, it could simply be a defective stick. It happens. RMAing the stick or returning it and get another one may fix your problem right up in that case. Quite frequently it does work; I've certainly done it plenty of times.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
See I did not know that haha. I was hoping it would work well even with it being the same model and brand but that info you just provided would probably be why its not working well. I tried checking if the 2 open slots were the issue by using one stick from the new kit in each slot and every time, got the blue screen when restarting my computer. initially it would boot up but the true test was with a restart. What I am going to try right now is swap out the old kit with the new to see if it works, that way i can rule out that the new kit is not bad/defective. Im at the point of just returning the new kit and waiting patiently for when new AMD cpus come out and then go all out. Or maybe get a new kit of 2 16gb ram sticks but im not sure if that is super worth it at this point haha.
Edit: Thank you for sharing that info btw, always learning new things, even with troubleshooting and struggling in the process haha
.

I just wish I had an easy fix for your problem rather than reinforcing the frustration!

In this case, it could simply be a defective stick. It happens. RMAing the stick or returning it and get another one may fix your problem right up in that case. Quite frequently it does work; I've certainly done it plenty of times.
 
Nov 30, 2021
5
0
10
I just wish I had an easy fix for your problem rather than reinforcing the frustration!

In this case, it could simply be a defective stick. It happens. RMAing the stick or returning it and get another one may fix your problem right up in that case. Quite frequently it does work; I've certainly done it plenty of times.
Oh no worries, it wasn't reinforcing the frustration but making sense of the possibility of what is going on. If anything clarity is coming from this, more of a disappointment that I didn't look more into it before getting to this situation haha. The RAM is working fine tho, no defective stick since right now it booted up perfectly, even restarted it like previous test and boots just fine. I think it just isn't going to work with my initial set of ram. There is a slight interest of trying to solve it, but idk how much I'd be able to handle that mentally. I did get a suggestion of checking for any new BIOS update which I think there might be one due to windows 11 but if I do that, i know its gonna be a process and will have to set that for another time haha.
 
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Nov 30, 2021
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Nov 30, 2021
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Alrighty so I updated my bios and followed this video ( i followed this video the first time i updated my bios) and i noticed he did some changes to the ram speed. He mentions that after the update the ram speed goes into the default 2133 MHz and he changed a few things and now im wonder if that is either a possible issue when adding the new kit or a solution or neither haha.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2PuzplcBzw
 

Dean0919

Honorable
Oct 25, 2017
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10,740
  1. Did you uncheck that "maximum memory" thing in Windows? If you didn't, probably that's why it's blue screening. Your PC started having blue screens after you enabled that feature. To be honest, I have no idea what is it or what does it do, but just make it like it was on default.
  2. Put everything on default in bios inlcuding RAM speed, just to exclude the problem from speeds.
  3. Take out all memory sticks and put only your original sticks (16GB).
Let's see if PC will be working fine. If it's working and doesn't do blue screens, then now slowly start adding your new memory sticks. First put just one and see what happens.

P.S. That thing that your PC from the beginning was detecting only 24GB makes me think that one of your memory sticks wasn't detected by system (32-24=8). Maybe you didn't put one of the sticks very well inside the slot? Make sure you put RAM well in their slots.

P.S.S. Mixing RAM isn't as bad as it was told here. I have mixed RAM several times in my life in a different computers and never had a problem. I have even mixed different brands with different speeds but they still worked. Just right now, few weeks ago, I also upgraded my RAM. I had one stick of 16GB Viper steel series of 3000mhz and bought another Viper steel 16GB stick from the Amazon, but with 3200mhz and they're both still working fine, no issues here. My whole point is that mixing different RAM might create problems, but RARELY.