Question Laptop wont boot after RAM upgrade... But can use one new RAM chip with one old one

[Sobeeelizard]

Decided to upgrade from 16gb (2x 8gb) to 32gb (2x 16gb) RAM on my Acer vn7-593g-70u4 (Acer site says max capacity is 32GB for my SNID). Max frequency for my CPU is 2400Mhz but right now the faster chips are actually a bit cheaper so I went with a 3200Mhz that's listed as backward compatible with 2400Mhz. After installing both chips it would not turn on, no lights or anything. Plugged in the charger and got keyboard lights, fans running, but a black screen, as if there were no power to it. Swapped back in the old ram, everything worked perfectly with or without the charger. After some reading, I decided to try one old and one new chip to get it to boot and see if my system even recognizes it. Still nothing without a charger, but with the charger plugged in it boots and runs fine. It even uses the new 16GB chip along with the old 8GB chip. Shows 24GB in task manager, and I even booted the game I was upgrading for and got my ram usage above 16GB to confirm both chips were in use. Pics of CPU-Z and RAM packaging included in the link below. Not sure why XMP 2.0 is listed in CPU-Z when the packaging says XMP is not supported but I get the feeling the explanation for my problem may lie in those timings tables which are all faster than the fastest of my old 2400Mhz ram, despite the advertised compatibility with 2400Mhz.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/utmwYwBz1w4eRDCK7

 

[white.a.drew]

Decided to upgrade from 16gb (2x 8gb) to 32gb (2x 16gb) RAM on my Acer vn7-593g-70u4 (Acer site says max capacity is 32GB for my SNID). Max frequency for my CPU is 2400Mhz but right now the faster chips are actually a bit cheaper so I went with a 3200Mhz that's listed as backward compatible with 2400Mhz. After installing both chips it would not turn on, no lights or anything. Plugged in the charger and got keyboard lights, fans running, but a black screen, as if there were no power to it. Swapped back in the old ram, everything worked perfectly with or without the charger. After some reading, I decided to try one old and one new chip to get it to boot and see if my system even recognizes it. Still nothing without a charger, but with the charger plugged in it boots and runs fine. It even uses the new 16GB chip along with the old 8GB chip. Shows 24GB in task manager, and I even booted the game I was upgrading for and got my ram usage above 16GB to confirm both chips were in use. Pics of CPU-Z and RAM packaging included in the link below. Not sure why XMP 2.0 is listed in CPU-Z when the packaging says XMP is not supported but I get the feeling the explanation for my problem may lie in those timings tables which are all faster than the fastest of my old 2400Mhz ram, despite the advertised compatibility with 2400Mhz.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/utmwYwBz1w4eRDCK7

You probably need to set the ram speed to 2400 in the bios with only one chip in and one old chip in then insert the second chip and may need to set the timing for that one as well however some may ram and mobos will auto clock to the present of the other chip

 

[Sobeeelizard]

You probably need to set the ram speed to 2400 in the bios with only one chip in and one old chip in then insert the second chip and may need to set the timing for that one as well however some may ram and mobos will auto clock to the present of the other chip

That's what I was thinking, but I can't find any way to alter RAM timing from the F2 bios menu, and I saw someone in another forum mention Acer doesn't have the option.

 

[Bob.B]

Decided to upgrade from 16gb (2x 8gb) to 32gb (2x 16gb) RAM on my Acer vn7-593g-70u4 (Acer site says max capacity is 32GB for my SNID). Max frequency for my CPU is 2400Mhz but right now the faster chips are actually a bit cheaper so I went with a 3200Mhz that's listed as backward compatible with 2400Mhz. After installing both chips it would not turn on, no lights or anything. Plugged in the charger and got keyboard lights, fans running, but a black screen, as if there were no power to it. Swapped back in the old ram, everything worked perfectly with or without the charger. After some reading, I decided to try one old and one new chip to get it to boot and see if my system even recognizes it. Still nothing without a charger, but with the charger plugged in it boots and runs fine. It even uses the new 16GB chip along with the old 8GB chip. Shows 24GB in task manager, and I even booted the game I was upgrading for and got my ram usage above 16GB to confirm both chips were in use. Pics of CPU-Z and RAM packaging included in the link below. Not sure why XMP 2.0 is listed in CPU-Z when the packaging says XMP is not supported but I get the feeling the explanation for my problem may lie in those timings tables which are all faster than the fastest of my old 2400Mhz ram, despite the advertised compatibility with 2400Mhz.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/utmwYwBz1w4eRDCK7

Using the latest bios?

 

[Sobeeelizard]

Using the latest bios?

Just switched back to the original ram and updated the bios. Didn't get any new options in the bios menu, I'm thinking ill just return the new ram and get an exact match.

For now, I've got a bigger problem. It won't run on battery even with the original ram in now. I did disconnect the battery cable and hold the power button for 20s to dissipate capacitors when I first installed the new ram, but if that messed something up I don't see why it would have worked on battery when I reinstalled the original ram the first time.

 

[Sobeeelizard]

Just switched back to the original ram and updated the bios. Didn't get any new options in the bios menu, I'm thinking ill just return the new ram and get an exact match.

For now, I've got a bigger problem. It won't run on battery even with the original ram in now. I did disconnect the battery cable and hold the power button for 20s to dissipate capacitors when I first installed the new ram, but if that messed something up I don't see why it would have worked on battery when I reinstalled the original ram the first time.

Scratch that last part. I'm a fool and didn't screw in the back cover because I was just checking to see that everything was working before buttoning it back up. Turns out the screws help ground the battery, so that was my power issue all along. Now it turns on in all configurations without the charger, but still a black screen when both new ram chips are in.

 

[Bob.B]

Scratch that last part. I'm a fool and didn't screw in the back cover because I was just checking to see that everything was working before buttoning it back up. Turns out the screws help ground the battery, so that was my power issue all along. Now it turns on in all configurations without the charger, but still a black screen when both new ram chips are in.

Return the ram then go here and run the scanner.
See if it shows something you like.

Crucial

 

[Sobeeelizard]

Return the ram then go here and run the scanner.
See if it shows something you like.

Crucial

Thanks, I've had good luck with that scanner in the past, although right now it's recommending 3200Mhz ram that I'm guessing can downclock to 2400, but that's exactly what I have now which is giving me so many problems. I am at the point where returning seems to be my only option, but if so I'll buy something specifically specced at 2400.

Maybe it'll just remain a mystery why each individually works fine when paired with an old one but not when installed together. I tested out gaming for a bit and it ran flawlessly, pretty good improvements too despite mismatched ram sizes. The new ram is even running at 2400 (the scanner actually identified the new ram chip and showed it's running at 2400, which CPU-Z didn't tell me). For some reason though when both new chips are installed I get the black screen. I'm not sure whether to blame PNY or Acer at this point since the chip can clearly operate at 2400 on my system. It's like it needs the slower ram there to trigger it to downclock 🤷‍♂️

 

[Jason H.]

Thanks, I've had good luck with that scanner in the past, although right now it's recommending 3200Mhz ram that I'm guessing can downclock to 2400, but that's exactly what I have now which is giving me so many problems. I am at the point where returning seems to be my only option, but if so I'll buy something specifically specced at 2400.

Maybe it'll just remain a mystery why each individually works fine when paired with an old one but not when installed together. I tested out gaming for a bit and it ran flawlessly, pretty good improvements too despite mismatched ram sizes. The new ram is even running at 2400 (the scanner actually identified the new ram chip and showed it's running at 2400, which CPU-Z didn't tell me). For some reason though when both new chips are installed I get the black screen. I'm not sure whether to blame PNY or Acer at this point since the chip can clearly operate at 2400 on my system. It's like it needs the slower ram there to trigger it to downclock 🤷‍♂️

When you use 2 different speed ram chips, if it works, the bios will typically just default to the slower speed of the 2. It sounds like its doing that when your mixing the ram which is why it works and it sounds like its not doing that when you have both of the new chips in.

There is no way to mess with ram on your board so the only option is to return the new ram and buy a set meant for that pc. Good luck!