Me a few days ago:
MrDeVil909 wrote:Wonky ram is the wooooorst. It's given me untold headaches over the years.
So I was having weird issues with my computer that necessitated a Windows reinstall. Or so I thought.
PC worked fine after this for a few days then straight up wouldn't POST. So I sighed, cracked my case and started fiddling with my RAM sticks.
I'm currently running a pretty old system with an i5 4590 and 2 x 4GB sticks of RAM. Motherboard is an Asus H97M-E
I managed to trace my issue to one of those sticks so I pulled one and it's been stable although brutally slow since then.
I ordered an 8 gig stick (I know, sub-optimal single-channel etc etc I just want to get things running better) which arrived today and I can't get it to work.
Not all RAM slots seem to be working, I've tested my working 4 gig stick and it only works in some slots.
The 8 gig however doesn't seem to work in any of them. It just power cycles before POSTing.
So, here's my question/s:
Is the new RAM dead?
Likely incompatible? it's a weird brand Arktek but DDR3 is hard to find locally. PC-1600 1.35v nothing unusual though.
Might my system need a BIOS upgrade for the bigger sticks?
Is the whole thing just on it's last legs?
Budget is super tight so I'm considering maybe replacing the motherboard. But I really don't want to make a half-assed replacement.
My recent RAM experience had me down this rabbit hole too (which prompted your comment I believe!). My replacement sticks fixed the problem for me, and looking back my old RAM wasn’t on the compatibility list for my MB. I’d make sure of RAM compatibility first, and upgrade your bios to see if that fixes it. If still wonky, I would look to the motherboard.
Thanks jonny.
Tried out a few more configurations to try get it to work. I eventually managed to get into my BIOS if I paired the new stick with the old 4 gig but the BIOS didn't detect it.
Then it got as far as trying to load Windows but it gave a BSOD, so I'm returning it for a different brand. I actually have the feeling the stick is defective.
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