I am facing an exact same problem with my laptop
HP Pavillion 15-n204tx
Intel Core i5-4200U
128 GB SSD plus 500 GB spinning HDD
Installed RAM - 4 GB PCL3 (Kingston)
New RAM - 4 GB PCL3 (Kingston) with exact same specifications
It is quite possible that I have a bad memory slot because I tried placing just one stick (tried both of them) on the slot 2, and my laptop just shuts off as if someone removed it's battery with a snap followed by reboot. This happens lot quicker when I start playing PUBG on Google Stadia. Tried changing positions, but it doesn't help.
I then tried with just one stick on slot 1 (tried both of them), and I literally kept my lappy "on" overnight and then played games on it in the morning for 3 days without any problems. That's how I know that my RAM sticks are good.
Also, I reseated my RAM quite a few times as shown in the video -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1OZQL2l-lM
. But it doesn't do anything for me. I cleaned my RAM contacts using an eraser, again didn't help at all.
I thought that maybe somehow this is a power related problem, so I removed my spinning HDD, but that didn't help at all.
Should I then conclude that I have a bad memory slot? Or is there anything else I could try? I really want dual channel to work on my laptop and don't want to buy yet another 8 GB stick.
Edit: Found another video that kind of corroborates my fear.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpagfXraSn4