Question New RAM not booting even though motherboard specs say it's compatible

[KelvinH]

Hi all,

I currently have an MSI A320M-A PRO MAX motherboard with 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 RAM and it works great. I am trying to upgrade to 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200 RAM, however my PC refused to boot up with it installed. I have double and triple checked that it wasn't an installation error, the RAM was seated correctly and all the way in; I also updated my BIOS to the most recent version to see if that was the issue, but it still refused to boot up. When I do try and turn on my PC with the DDR4 3200 (new) RAM, all the fans turn on however the LED on the PC case doesn't light up, and there is no display signal at all.

On the MSI website, the specs say that the A320M-A PRO MAX supports DDR4 and up to 3200 (OC) MHz. It also supports up to 64GB of memory, so compatibility shouldn't be an issue. The only other thing I can think of is that the RAM sticks themselves are faulty, but I currently have no way of testing that theory as I don't have access to another rig that definitely works with that RAM.

I am new to the forum so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, or if I didn't include enough information. If I should provide my full rig build, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[sonofjesse]

Always provide full details and your experience level.

Did you seat the RAM sticks in the correct slots? Are you sure its on the QVL list? Could be DOA?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hi all,

I currently have an MSI A320M-A PRO MAX motherboard with 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 RAM and it works great. I am trying to upgrade to 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200 RAM, however my PC refused to boot up with it installed. I have double and triple checked that it wasn't an installation error, the RAM was seated correctly and all the way in; I also updated my BIOS to the most recent version to see if that was the issue, but it still refused to boot up. When I do try and turn on my PC with the DDR4 3200 (new) RAM, all the fans turn on however the LED on the PC case doesn't light up, and there is no display signal at all.

On the MSI website, the specs say that the A320M-A PRO MAX supports DDR4 and up to 3200 (OC) MHz. It also supports up to 64GB of memory, so compatibility shouldn't be an issue. The only other thing I can think of is that the RAM sticks themselves are faulty, but I currently have no way of testing that theory as I don't have access to another rig that definitely works with that RAM.

I am new to the forum so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, or if I didn't include enough information. If I should provide my full rig build, please let me know. Thanks!

Did you reset CMOS after installing the new memory?

Do you have a system speaker connected to the motherboard? If the motherboard doesn't have troubleshooting LED's, aka DrDebug lights, this will provide an audible indication where the problem is with a beep code.

But the first thing is to reset CMOS if you haven't. It may also take a minute or two as the CPU trains the new memory.

 

[KelvinH]

Always provide full details and your experience level.

Did you seat the RAM sticks in the correct slots? Are you sure its on the QVL list? Could be DOA?

I just looked it up and the RAM I purchased is NOT on the QVL list. I wasn't aware this list existed, I just used PCPartPicker to check for compatibility issues.

So, since it isn't included in the QVL list does this mean it's completely incompatible? Do I need to just reorder from a QVL listed vendor?

Did you reset CMOS after installing the new memory?

Do you have a system speaker connected to the motherboard? If the motherboard doesn't have troubleshooting LED's, aka DrDebug lights, this will provide an audible indication where the problem is with a beep code.

But the first thing is to reset CMOS if you haven't. It may also take a minute or two as the CPU trains the new memory.

I haven't tried resetting the CMOS yet, should I still attempt it even though the RAM isn't on the QVL list?

Also, here is my entire build:

OS: Windows 10 Home
Motherboard: MSI A320M-A Pro Max
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT 8-Core, 3901 MHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
Memory: G-Skill Aegis 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4, 2133 MHz, CL16
SSD: 1) Kingston 240GB A400 SATA 3
2) Silicon Power 2TB SSD 3D NAND A55 SLC SATA3
PSU: EVGA 700 BR, 80+ Bronze 700W


Thank you all for your help, I appreciate it!

 

[drea.drechsler]

....

I haven't tried resetting the CMOS yet, should I still attempt it even though the RAM isn't on the QVL list?
...

Even if your plan is to take it back it can do no harm to try. Keep in mind that QVL's are never complete and there could be any of a number of sensible reasons your RAM isn't on it, not the least because it's simply not been tested. So it's entirely likely your memory will work perfectly well.

But even if your memory isn't compatible it's very rare for it not to start up, even if only at a base DDR4 clock speed (2133 or 2400) when BIOS settings are in full defaults. That's what resetting CMOS does.

 

[djcarlos10]

Hi all,

I currently have an MSI A320M-A PRO MAX motherboard with 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 RAM and it works great. I am trying to upgrade to 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200 RAM, however my PC refused to boot up with it installed. I have double and triple checked that it wasn't an installation error, the RAM was seated correctly and all the way in; I also updated my BIOS to the most recent version to see if that was the issue, but it still refused to boot up. When I do try and turn on my PC with the DDR4 3200 (new) RAM, all the fans turn on however the LED on the PC case doesn't light up, and there is no display signal at all.

On the MSI website, the specs say that the A320M-A PRO MAX supports DDR4 and up to 3200 (OC) MHz. It also supports up to 64GB of memory, so compatibility shouldn't be an issue. The only other thing I can think of is that the RAM sticks themselves are faulty, but I currently have no way of testing that theory as I don't have access to another rig that definitely works with that RAM.

I am new to the forum so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, or if I didn't include enough information. If I should provide my full rig build, please let me know. Thanks!

Hi, i am in the same predicament you are just i haven't bought the 64 GB memory. I did a very deep research before and if you check Corsair Vengance RGB 64GB set ups (2x32GB) you will see they have two options, one is 3200mhz CL 16 and other one is 3600mhz CL 18. The first one in the compatibily list mentions AMD 300 series and the second one doesn't, it says compatible with AMD 500 series and on.

I had no ideas what they meant with AMD 300 series and couldn't find an official list of what devices are included in the AMD 300 series, but taking a look a the results of google searches (trying with several words combinations), it appears they are talking about AMD motherboard chipsets and it looks like the A320M-A PRO MAX is part of this AMD 300 series. So according to this information in the Corsair Website, it depends of what kind of 64GB Memory you got. So it would help if you provide exact model number which usually is a long alphanumeric code that will let us know about exact model and compatibilty.

Another thing to mention is you can search via compatibility in the Corsair website BUT this exact motherboard is not on their list which makes very dificult to confirm compatibility. They have other boards like the MSI A320M-A PRO (without the PRO) and other.

This is just another stop in may way to double check if i can buy the 64GB (2x32) 3200mhx CL 16.