Windows 10 boot freeze after installing new RAM

Elta

Commendable
Mar 15, 2016
3
0
1,510
I recently wanted to upgrade the RAM on my PC to add a bit of longevity. My system is
MOBO: ASRock H55M-LE
CPU: i3 540 @ 3.07GHz
GPU: MSI Radeon HD 7790 2GB

I wanted to upgrade my RAM from 4GB (2x2) Kingston DDR3 Value PC1333.

The new RAM I bought was 8GB (4GBx2) Crucial DDR3 PC1600.

When both blocks of the new RAM are in the Motherboard, the PC boots directly to 'Resume From Hibernation' and stays there.

When only one block is inserted it boots directly to the Windows logo with the rotating dots and immediately freezes.

So far I have tried any combination of RAM blocks and slots in the Motherboard and restarting the PC with the original RAM to access BIOS, where I could make sure that the new RAM got the required 1.5V current. Nothing helps.

Before purchasing the new RAM I ran the Crucial system scan on crucial.com to make sure my system was compatible with the new RAM. The scan and my (admittedly limited) PC knowledge tells me that PC1600 RAM should be backwards compatible to run on a PC1333 bus. When I made sure the new RAM got the proper 1.5V current in the BIOS it even stated that they had been downgraded.

Why, oh why, will my PC not boot windows with my new RAM?

Thank you for helping!
 

Elta

Commendable
Mar 15, 2016
3
0
1,510
Thanks for the reply.

I have tried upping the voltage for the one 4GB stick to 1.55. It now boots the BIOS splash screen allowing me to enter the BIOS menu. It then boots to a Windows screen saying it needs to repair my computer, but the top half of the image on the screen is the bluescreen-of-death. It then swiftly rebooted, went past the BIOS splash screen again, and then froze when it reached the Windows logo with the rotating dot load animation (which obviously also froze).

I'm going to go return the new RAM for two 4GB sticks of PC1333 Kingston Value. If they don't run, it practically has to be a mobo problem? Windows 10 doesen't react this way, if it gets introduced to new hardware that isn't 'compliant' with the hardware linkes to its acivation code, does it?
 

Elta

Commendable
Mar 15, 2016
3
0
1,510
OK - So I went and bought some PC1333 Ram. Before plugging them into the motherboard I reset the cmos via the jumper. On the first boot, it boots directly to the cmos screen giving me an overview of the contents of the PC, including 8GB og PC1333 DualChannel DDR3 Ram. All is not well however, as I instruct it to boot Windows 10. The Windows screen 'repairing the PC' comes up, then reboots, rinse and repeat.

After this happened two or three times I powered off the PC and removed one of the 4GB blocks. It looked to boot normally, as I could ente BIOS and verify the 4GB PC1333 RAM. But it freezes immediately when it reaches the boot stage with the Windows logo and the load animation. I give it two or three more attempts before powering off the PC. I move the one RAM block to the other channel. It now freezes on the BIOS splash screen and I cannot access BIOS.

This has now happened to three different types of RAM. One 8GB block of PC1600, which shouldn't be a problem for a 64-bit system, right? Two blocks of 4GB PC1600 and now two blocks of 4GB PC1333.

Since it's happened to all three different types of RAM, all of which have been registered in BIOS and functioned up to the boot sequence that initiates Windows, I think we can conclude that it is not the RAM.

The Motherboard shouldn't be the problem either, as it registers all three types of RAM without fault and initiates a normal boot sequence, untill it initiates Windows (except for the last attempt), it shouldn't be the Motherboard either.

Could the Windows installation be the problem?
 

MjGrdlp

Prominent
Jun 24, 2017
1
0
510


I'm having the exact same problem, specs and all, would you mind sharing how you fixed it? Thank you!