Question My PC won't boot with a new, faster ram stick

[Raymond Wu]

Hello guys, I'm a newcomer to toms hardware forum. I bought my first PC recently and I've been giving it upgrades here and there. It's a prebuilt from my local facebook marketplace. Here are the specs:
Windows 11
Acer Aspire TC885 D17ES
pc model on acer official website
acer motherboard with intel B360 chipset
i7 8700 (upgraded from an i5 8400)
Thermalright Si-100 cooler
XPG 256GB nvme ssd
MSI RX 580 Gaming X 8GB
Original RAM that works perfectly:
16GB in total, 2x 8GB sticks of ddr4
1x Samsung 8GB 1Rx8 PC4 2666v UA2 11
1x Corsair Vengeance LPX ddr4 2400mhz C16
samsung ram amazon link
(I cannot find official specs for this one)
corsair ram specs from official website

The RAM I bought that's giving me trouble:
Kingston 8gb 1rx16 pc4-3200aa-uc0-12
kingston official spec sheet
kingston official website page
kingston amazon page

I know Intel 8th gen processors support ddr4 2666mhz ram. And my pc is running at 2400mhz due to the presence of the corsair one. The bios on this pc is very limited and doesn't have any options for xmp profile or ram overclocking. So I decided to swap out the corsair ram to have my ram running at 2666mhz. There should be a moderate performance boost. Maybe it's negligible. But I just don't like my system being bottlenecked, even slightly. So I bought a ddr4 8GB Kingston ram locally from facebook that's rated for 3200mhz. However, my pc cannot boot at all as long as this ram stick is attached. I tried booting with the kingston only, kingston + corsair, kingston + samsung, it never worked. The pc is on a constant beep and there is no display signal at all, not even bios.
My pc booted fine with any ram combination as long as the kingston is not attached.

Now I'm confused. Why would this happen? What is the underlying issue that stops my computer from booting?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you! ; )

 

[COLGeek]

Mixing memory can often lead to poor outcomes and it seems you are experiencing just that.

For best performance, you should install matched memory. That is why memory is often sold in pairs/sets.

 

[Raymond Wu]

Mixing memory can often lead to poor outcomes and it seems you are experiencing just that.

For best performance, you should install matched memory. That is why memory is often sold in pairs/sets.

Thank you! But the pc didn't boot even with only the kingston ram installed. Why would that happen?

 

[COLGeek]

Try resetting your BIOS to default and don't enable XMP. See if that will allow that memory to work.

 

[thestryker]

The Kingston you bought runs JEDEC (default) 3200 and the datasheet doesn't mention lower speeds so the stick itself might not be coded for them. This is just a guess, as OEM systems can have all sorts of weird hard set things, but the system may not be reading the DRAM correctly because of how it's setup. You may need to buy 2400/2666 for it to work correctly or make sure the DRAM you buy has multiple speeds coded.

I'm not 100% sure the 3200 listed here would work, but it's among those labeled compatible with the model of system you've got:
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/acer/aspire-tc-885

there's also this list:

TC-885 Archives

Get Acer Aspire TC-885 memory upgrades and get ➡️ Lifetime warranty ✅ Great savings ✅ Factory original memory just like Acer does @Memory.NET! 🇺🇸

memory.net

 

[Raymond Wu]

The Kingston you bought runs JEDEC (default) 3200 and the datasheet doesn't mention lower speeds so the stick itself might not be coded for them. This is just a guess, as OEM systems can have all sorts of weird hard set things, but the system may not be reading the DRAM correctly because of how it's setup. You may need to buy 2400/2666 for it to work correctly or make sure the DRAM you buy has multiple speeds coded.

I'm not 100% sure the 3200 listed here would work, but it's among those labeled compatible with the model of system you've got:
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/acer/aspire-tc-885

there's also this list:

TC-885 Archives

Get Acer Aspire TC-885 memory upgrades and get ➡️ Lifetime warranty ✅ Great savings ✅ Factory original memory just like Acer does @Memory.NET! 🇺🇸

memory.net

That is very helpful. Also for context, I forgot to mention the Kingston ram I bought is from another "old" prebuilt. Maybe the ram supplied with the prebuilt pc won't fit some other systems, while consumer rams will.

 

[thestryker]

That is very helpful. Also for context, I forgot to mention the Kingston ram I bought is from another "old" prebuilt. Maybe the ram supplied with the prebuilt pc won't fit some other systems, while consumer rams will.

Generally that shouldn't matter (though not impossible), but it would explain why there wouldn't necessarily be other speeds coded on the DIMM. OEMs do so much random corner cutting for lowering costs you can never really tell.