[SOLVED] RAM troubles after successful startup (SOLVED)

[Bobo1402]

Hello, excuse my English but I'm trying to upgrade a Lenovo Ideapad (4GB soldered and 1 slot) resulting in a lot of drama.

I have tried to install 3 separate RAM SODIMM modules in that 1 available slot and this is what happens with all 3 of them after installation: (and BTW I did reset the BIOS every time to default settings prior to installation).

The system successfully boots and the Task Manager/CPU-Z shows the added RAM, everything looks fine, everything runs smoothly. Then after 3 minutes, or 30 minutes or 6 hours the system suddenly crashes and I get a black screen or a glitchy looking screen (not the typical Windows blue one) and the party is over. It all looks completely random to me, it's not like these crashes occur as a result of heavy duty activity like Photoshop or video rendering.

Then after this has happened it's impossible to reboot the system again, there's no way to get that thing to life again ! I hear the fans spinning on reboot, but the screen stays black and it doesn't even reach the BIOS. The only way to reboot after a crash is to open the laptop, reseat the RAM , reboot and then we go again until the next crash.

Now, my thinking as a layman is this:
1. The RAM modules are fine, all 3 work fine in the laptop of my girlfriend and none of them show any issues on this laptop prior to the crash.

2. The RAM slot must be fine because there's sometimes no crash for hours.

3. It must be something else , a hardware conflict ?

Does anybody have any clue what the problem could be ? I ran Memtest86 as well as Windows memory Diagnostics, but no errors found. No Windows dump files created either.

Specs: Intel Core I5 / 4GB RAM( soldered) / Intel UHD Graphics

The DDR4 SODIMM modules that I'm trying to install: 2x 8GB(Crucial and Kingston) and 16GB(Crucial)

Thanks !

 

[thx1138v2]

Sounds like power supply problems - added new hardware and now there's not enough power to run it. Plus you have older power supply components so once it warms up you have problems with the additional load.

How old is the laptop?

 

[rgd1101]

exact model of this laptop and ram?

 

[Bobo1402]

It's a Lenovo Ideapad S145-14IIL and I bought it in September 2020.

And sorry, what I also forgot to mention, this laptop came with 8GB (4GB soldered and 4GB in the slot) , after a while I took the 4GB out and used it in another laptop, because I only use this laptop for what you would call College. At the time I didn't experience any problems with the 4GB in the RAM slot.

Since I started to add RAM last week I experienced these problems straight away.

 

[rgd1101]

and the exact model of these ram?

these are compatible
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/lenovo/ideapad-s145-14iil

 

[Bobo1402]

Thanks, I actually bought the 2 Crucial modules (8GB and 16GB) after I downloaded and ran the Crucial scan it offers on its website.

Lenovo specifies that this system allows 12GB max, but the Crucial scan indicated that this particular MB can deal with 20GB max, hence the 16GB RAM I bought recently.

Crucial 16GB DDR4-2400 SODIMM 1.2V NON-ECC UNBUFFERED
Crucial 8 GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM 1,2V NON-ECC UNBUFFERED
Kingston 8GB DDR4-2400 SODIMM 1.2V NON-ECC

These modules should be compatible because they work fine in similar Lenovo systems. I'm attending an university in Holland, and students could buy Lenovo laptops at a big discount back then. So many of my fellow students have the same type of RAM modules installed in Lenovo Thinkpads/Ideapads and didn't experience any issues at all.

Maybe it's a motherboard issue which miraculously emerged.

 

[rgd1101]

did you check the old ram stick model?

 

[Bob.B]

Hello, excuse my English but I'm trying to upgrade a Lenovo Ideapad (4GB soldered and 1 slot) resulting in a lot of drama.

I have tried to install 3 separate RAM SODIMM modules in that 1 available slot and this is what happens with all 3 of them after installation: (and BTW I did reset the BIOS every time to default settings prior to installation).

The system successfully boots and the Task Manager/CPU-Z shows the added RAM, everything looks fine, everything runs smoothly. Then after 3 minutes, or 30 minutes or 6 hours the system suddenly crashes and I get a black screen or a glitchy looking screen (not the typical Windows blue one) and the party is over. It all looks completely random to me, it's not like these crashes occur as a result of heavy duty activity like Photoshop or video rendering.

Then after this has happened it's impossible to reboot the system again, there's no way to get that thing to life again ! I hear the fans spinning on reboot, but the screen stays black and it doesn't even reach the BIOS. The only way to reboot after a crash is to open the laptop, reseat the RAM , reboot and then we go again until the next crash.

Now, my thinking as a layman is this:
1. The RAM modules are fine, all 3 work fine in the laptop of my girlfriend and none of them show any issues on this laptop prior to the crash.

2. The RAM slot must be fine because there's sometimes no crash for hours.

3. It must be something else , a hardware conflict ?

Does anybody have any clue what the problem could be ? I ran Memtest86 as well as Windows memory Diagnostics, but no errors found. No Windows dump files created either.

Specs: Intel Core I5 / 4GB RAM( soldered) / Intel UHD Graphics

The DDR4 SODIMM modules that I'm trying to install: 2x 8GB(Crucial and Kingston) and 16GB(Crucial)

Thanks !

You might want to see what lenovo offers for driver updates for the machine.
Use the auto scanner and see what it finds.
If there is a bios or chipset shown at least get those.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/...ies-netbooks/s145-14iil/downloads/driver-list

 

[Bobo1402]

All drivers are updated and latest BIOS version is installed. The old RAM stick is identical to the other 2 8GB sticks (DDR4/SODIMM, 2400 GH/NON-ECC).

I'm actually confident now that the problem is the slot or the motherboard, tomorrow I'm going to give that RAM slot and sticks a last good clean and if that won't work I guess it's time for a new laptop.

Thanks you all for your help anyway and I certainly appreciate the suggestions you gave me, unfortunately this laptop is a lost case in terms of adding new RAM. 🙂

 

[Bobo1402]

Well, well, well what do you know, problem solved !

Just for the non IT people who experience the same problem after adding RAM (random crashes after startup , non BSOD errors)

I already gave up on this problem but a guy in my football (soccerball ) team suggested that I reset my CMOS.

Okay, so I opened my laptop for the 500th time, found out that the CMOS battery was taped, so disconnected the cable from the port , waited 5 minutes and reconnected the cable.

Then I rebooted, only saw a black screen for 30 minutes and a lot of noise and thought I killed the thing.

The next day I turned it on again, and didn't experience a crash ever since ( 72 hours already) and I did all kind of stress tests , it seems absolutely unbreakable now . So I guess it's safe to assume this issue is solved.

Bottomline: to prevent hardware conflicts even resetting your BIOS alone (as I did every time) might not be enough. Detaching your CMOS battery for a few minutes might do the trick, it did for me. I added RAM multiple times in the past and I never had to do this !

Well, it was quite an adventure, but with a happy ending, I guess persistence pays off, take care.