Compaq Pro 6300 SFF does not start up after SSD upgrade and CMOS battery reset.

[AlexHoldmyBeer]

G' day,

I have an HP 6300 SFF with the following hardware: i7-2600, 1x HDD, 1x DVD drive, and 8GB(4x2) 1333MHz RAM. I have Windows 10 Pro 64-bit installed. The drive has the GPT file system.

I believe the motherboard has the Intel Q75 chipset. I do *not* know the model number of the mobo.

Recently I bought a new SSD (Samsung 870 EVO 500GB) and plugged it in the SATA power and Data. After that, I performed a CMOS battery reset and power reset. 

After all of this, the PC did not start up when the power button was pressed. Fans still spin and 1 indicator lights up (See picture)

About 3 seconds after the power button was pressed, I could hear 1 beep.

According to the beep codes document, this means either "Memory timing failure" or "Legacy floppy drive or CD/DVD drive not detected"

However, this obviously isn't true as I have already tested my DVD drive. My RAM sticks are also fully operational on another PC.

I tried with different sticks on the 6300SFF but still no hope. Also tried 1 and 2 sticks at a time.

I can NOT get into BIOS when the PC is on.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem? I'd appreciate any help, many thanks.

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

post the model number of the ram sticks, (original and new)

the max ram limit is 32gb,  the manual did not list this because at the time it was printed these modules did not exist

ram must be installed in the proper order/slots

read the link below to see mem slot load order

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/575070/Hp-Compaq-Pro-6300.html?page=38

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03348601

CAUTION: This product DOES NOT support DDR3 Ultra Low Voltage (DDR3U) memory. The
processor is not compatible with DDR3U memory and if you plug DDR3U memory into the system
board, it can cause the physical damage to the DIMM or invoke system malfunction.
For proper system operation, the DDR3-SDRAM DIMMs must be:

● industry-standard 240-pin
● unbuffered non-ECC PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 MHz-compliant
● 1.5 volt DDR3-SDRAM DIMMs

The DDR3-SDRAM DIMMs must also:
● support CAS latency 11 DDR3 1600 MHz (11-11-11 timing)
● contain the mandatory JEDEC SPD information

In addition, the computer supports:
● 512-Mbit, 1-Gbit, and 2-Gbit non-ECC memory technologies
● single-sided and double-sided DIMMs
● DIMMs constructed with x8 and x16 DDR devices;  DIMMs constructed with x4 SDRAM are not supported

NOTE: The system will not operate properly if you install unsupported DIMMs.

[AlexHoldmyBeer]

4 sticks from the same kit: Hynix HMT125U6BFR8C

Specs: 2GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600U-9-10-80

They are in the correct slots. The PC was working completely fine before.

[DGroves]

you appear to have incompatible ram modules based on  

256MX64 128mX8 chips

the 6300 pro can not use high/low density memory chips due to this i recommend you buy ram from crucial to guarantee compatibility

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/hp-pro-6300-small-form-factor

note that the crucial dimms are either 512m or 1024m, not the 256m of your current dimms

[AlexHoldmyBeer]

The same RAM sticks WERE working. How are they suddenly incompatible?

[DGroves]

i have a 6300 pro, and experienced the exact same issue, my modules were working, then got a no boot error swapping back in the orig ram, it booted put in the new ram cleared cmos drained pwr supply started working for several reboots and then again a no boot mem error

replacing the ram with the correct density modules resolved all issues

[AlexHoldmyBeer]

Alright then, I'll try another stick. Thanks for the answer!