Less Memory After Failed Upgrade

[chrisjconnor]

I have a 6 Memory slot Alienware that came with 3 2GB sticks for 6GB of Ram. Each stick is at 1600 MHZ. Tonight, I installed 3 more 2GB sticks (was going to be 12GB total) at the same speed and it would not start (just beep). When I took out the new sticks, the PC said that overclocking had failed and I had to adjust the settings accordingly. I did not know what to change so i just saved and rebooted. Well, now I have just 2GB of Ram down from 6 GB. What can I change to get my 4 GBs of Ram back? Also, if I just use my new 6 GB to replace the old won't I still have to adjust that setting?

 

[bobohenriksen]

Are all the sticks 1600mhz what Alienware model is it maybe it dosen't support all the ram or different ram models

 

[chrisjconnor]

Yes, all the sticks were 1600 and that appears to be what caused the overclocking failure message. The Alienware model is Aurora Alx and bought it way back in 2009. Has been good over the years, but i need to upgrade it to use it for recent games and software.

The main thing is what to do now to get it back to at least 6 GB Ram. According to the manual, I need all 6 at a lower speed (the same speed) or I need 3 4GB sticks at 1600 and remove the old ones.

Any ideas on how to get the 4GBs of Ram back? Do I change a setting in the Bios because the unknowing overclocking attempt failed and it reset the memory to 2 instead of 6?

 

[Calvin7]

Mixing memory not purchased as a single kit is not recommended and not guaranteed to work. The old memory has never been tested with the new memory so you are left to "do it yourself" compatibility testing.

Clearing the CMOS may help.

Workarounds for adding extra memory include:
Lower DRAM frequency
Relax DRAM Timings
Increase DRAM voltage
Lower CPU multiplier

 

[chrisjconnor]

Thanks for your response. Yes, I will never mix old and new Ram again. The speed difference when using all 6 slots is what makes that not possible on this PC. Lesson learned, just hope it was not a very expensive lesson.

Ok, went into the Bios and looked for a way to clear the CMOS. My system information is saying installed and available ram is 2056 MB. Did not see a way to reset anything except an optimal default option and a restore to default settings option. Tried both, but neither changed the system information so I didnt save those changes. Was that the only way to reset CMOS or is there another way?

Does the defaults not working mean that two of my sticks are now not working and I should use the new ones to replace them? Considered doing that, but not sure it would pick up the changes since I dont see what settings to adjust in the Bios to make it work properly again.

 

[chrisjconnor]

So just buy three 4GB sticks at once and replace the old ones with those?