HP Slimline Desktop - RAM Upgrade Issues - Won't Boot If Both RAM Card Slots Used

[Junior1011]

I have a three year old HP Slimline Desktop (AMD A6-9225 RADEON R4) that arrived new with 1 4GB RAM card.  Took it to my local Best Buy Geek Squad service counter and had them remove the original 4G card and replace with two Corsair "Vengeance" 8GB DDR4 cards to get a total of 16GB RAM.  It did not boot with both 8GB cards installed.  They removed one of the cards and it boots and works properly.

I have run all HP recommended diagnostics and bios updates and everything passed.  

Any suggestions as to the fix?  

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@Junior1011,

Welcome to our peer-to-peer HP Community Forum!

Your HP Slimline 290-a0035z Desktop PC (X6B99AA) as fitted with a Cosmo A6 motherboard (SSID: 8436), according to its specs, can be upgraded with up to 2 x 16GB of DDR4 PC4-19200, 2400 MHz, Non-ECC, Unbuffered DIMM (UDIMM), 288-pin RAM sticks on a 64-bit system.

I have two observations: firstly, why pick Corsair Vengeance RAM?  This RAM runs A-OK in many non-HP gaming platforms, but this particular brand -in my experience, has caused more issues than any other RAM in HP PCs.

Secondly, as this HP System Slim 290-a0xxx UserBenchMark link shows, RAM in this desktop doesn't perform all that well, even with 2 x 8GB RAM sticks.

Anyway, what I would suggest is to try different RAM, such as this very affordable 2 x 8GB RAM kit: Timetec 16GB KIT(2x8GB) DDR4 2400MHz PC4-19200 Non-ECC Unbuffered 1.2V CL17 1Rx8 Single Rank 288 Pin....

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777