System won't boot after upgrade

[Ken_65]

Hey. I have a Supermicro X8DT3-F based system with 2 Xeon processors. I have 24 GB of system RAM and I preformed a upgrade to 48GB today. The system was not seeing the new RAM so I preformed a CMOS reset. After the CMOS reset the system saw all the RAM but now Windows will not boot. Attempting to boot into Safe Mode results in the system reseting itself at the login prompt. Attempting to boot normally leads to a "black screen of death" where the log-in screen would normally be. If I attempt to load from a DVD recovery disk the system never loads into recovery mode. What gives?

FYI the system is running Windows Server 2008 R2 which is most closely matched up with Windows 7

 

[XistenZ]

Since you cleared out CMOS then there's probably just a setting in BIOS that got reset. My first guess would be that secure boot (if there's such an option) got enabled. Make sure you can still find the harddrive with the OS installed on and that the system is booting to it.

 

[LukeFatwalker]

Need to repair or replace the Boot Manager as it's either corrupted or damaged.

You can attempt to run Startup Repair and repair the damaged components but note that if the damages are too severe it won't actually repair the Boot Manager to the point of being bootable into the Os again. If this is the case, you'll need to re-install the OS which will fully replace the Boot Manager with a new one.

Either way, you may want to look into backing up your server. Disk imagers work but for a server I'd recommend RollBack Rx Server Edition; it's just better optimized for servers.

 

[Calvin7]

Mixing multiple RAM kits, no matter what model number, can cause the PC to be unable to boot or to be unable to operate at rated specifications.

If you have a question about memory, I suggest you list the part number(s) or include a link to the memory.

 

[aford10]

I would first try taking out the RAM and see if it boots up. If it does, you know where the problem lays. If not, then you can focus more on the BIOS.