Weird Ram issue

[Mo2581]

I recently purchased and installed ram in my ho 14s-dq4000TU laptop however although the ram worked initially, it seemed unstable and the system sometimes froze. I tried reseating the ram but after doing so the new ram no longer works. This is because both of the new ram stick seem to not work in the slot on the left, however both work on the slot on the right. Furthermore, the old ram( 4gb 3200mhz) still works in the slot on the left so I am able to get a 12gb ram config. The ram I purchased was silicon power 2x8 3200mhz CL22. I’m confused what’s wrong especially the fact that both new ram sticks and the ram slots seems to be working fine despite the new ram sticks not working together. The configs I have tried are. Either new ram sticks in left (works fine). Either new ram stick in left and old ram stick in right (Works fine). New ram sticks in both slots ( Worked initially but now does not work). Old ram stick in either left or right slot (Works fine). Any help is appreciated, Thank you!I’m looking 

[BeemerBiker]

According to the upgrade manual, there are two memory sticks listed. The maximum memory is 16gb

Memory module, 8 GB 937236-855
Memory module, 4 GB L10598-855

https://www.google.com/search?q=937236-855

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=hp+memory+937236-855&_sacat=0

[Mo2581]

Here is the ram i purchased 

https://www.umart.com.au/product/silicon-power-16gb-2x8gb-sp016gbsfu320x22-3200mhz-cl22-ddr4-sodimm-... 

[BeemerBiker]

HP 937236-855  is single rank memory.  Either 1Rx16 (4gb) or 1Rx8 (8gb)

The memory you were sold,  SP016GBSFU320X22, was dual rank. 

SP Silicon Power Upgrade 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 Dual Rank 3200MHz 1.2V SODIMM Laptop Notebook RAM Memory Module SP016GBSFU320X22

You need single rank, 1Rx8

contact vendor and see if they have single rank.

[Mo2581]

Why do I need single rank? The laptop has two rams slots and previous had 2x4Gb ram installed

[BeemerBiker]

Memory comes in different ranks. 1Rx8, 2Rx8, 1Rx16 and others.
Single rank memory uses higher density chips than dual rank of the same size. Some older system cannot recognize higher density chips properly. Typically an 8gb high density stick in slot "A" shows up as two 4gb sticks and the BIOS ignores any memory in in slot "B" as it thinks it has 4gb in it.

You can easily check memory rank by downloading and running CPU-z

You have a recent laptop and I would have expected either single to dual rank to work equally well, but it seem not to have.

I am guessing the problem is that your laptop requires single rank (high density.  It is just a guess as the user manual does not specify which type of memory to use.  The user  manual lists 4 and 8 gb memory and when I look up the specs of the memory both of them are single rank. The memory you bought is dual rank according to that url I listed.  HP BIOSs have  hard coded memory specifications and possibly the spec from your new memory does not match that the BIOS is looking for and it got confused.

Possibly a BIOS upgrade might help.  What version of bios do you have?  The latest seems to be F.36 and Sep, 2024

Run the HP support assistant and see if it recommend an update.  Boot with a single 8gb and do a cmos reset.  Then put in the second 8gb.

Follow the steps below to reset computer CMOS data.

1. Turn off the computer.
2. Press and hold the Windows and the V keys.
3. While still pressing those keys, press and hold down the Power button on the computer for 2-3 seconds.
4. Release all the keys.
5. At the completion of a successful CMOS reset, a message showing CMOS Reset (502) will be displayed.
6. Restart the computer.
7. Press F10 to get in to bios. Check Date and time.
8. Press F9 to set bios defaults. Ensure secure boot is enabled.
9. save setting when you exit

If you do not see that 502 message then :

• Turn on the computer by holding the power button down for 20 full seconds then release.
• Press the Power button one more time (if necessary) to start the computer.
• Tap the ESC key about once a second after you see the LEDs on the keyboard flash.
• Do steps 7-9 above

Let me know what you find out.

[Mo2581]

Hi thanks for the response. I cannot send an image as it seems to exceed file size. However, Interestingly it seems that the new ram is running in single rank at least in slot #2 (the only slot the new ram  sticks work in). I tried resetting the cmos with one 8gb stick in then putting the other one in and I still got the caps lock flashing and the laptop not turning on.

[BeemerBiker]

if the memory works in slot 2 but not slot 1 there may be a slot problem.

What happens if you add a 4gb to slot 1?

you can use the windows 10/11 snip tool to copy and paste an image.

what version of bios are you running?

run the following wmic commands and post the results.

An easy way to find what memory you have is to run the wmic app from the windows command prompt. Bring up the window CMD prompt and enter the first line to see what memory you have. The second line may give the maximum memory possible based on the chipset. The number of memory sockets limit what can be added.

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, capacity, speed, MemoryType, formfactor, partnumber, manufacturer

wmic memphysical get maxcapacityEx, MemoryDevices

Should look something like the following. To purchase identical memory search for the part number shown and look for the letters 'HP' on any label attached to the memory stick.

The above values are in bytes. Divide by 1024 twice to get megabytes.
8589934592/(1024*1024) = 8192mb or 8gb

The output of maxcapacityEx is kbytes, not bytes.

Note that some older systems do not recognize maxcapacityEx even when running latest Windows.

Let me know what you find out.

[Mo2581]

Here is what i got from the command prompt

Here is CPU Z

The 4gb (Old stick) seems to work fine in both slots

I also think I am running the latest bios as when I go to hp drivers website and autodetect it says I don't need any new drivers at this time

[BeemerBiker]

This is strange.  There is no manufacturers part number for that 8gb memory.  This is unusual.  Looking at the  PDF from Silicon Power

That CPU-z reports the memory is single rank conflicts with this advertisement.

The rank of the memory is missing from the PDF document which is suspicious.   Possibly CPU-Z is incorrect but from my experience with CPU-Z that would be very unusual.

I think the problem is the bios does not properly recognized the memory and cannot handle two of them.  The memory needs to have the HP part number which will ensure that the timing values (the SPD) are correct and match the what the bios expects.  I looked at this BIOS simulator and did not see any setting for speed of the memory.

What CPU do you have?  Is it a Celeron or Pentium silver?

Looking at the upgrade manual there are some restrictions on memory.

Pentium Silver N5000 and Celeron N4000 processors
DDR4-2133 dual channel support (DDR4-3200 bridge to 2666, DDR4-2666 downgrade to DDR4-2133)
Supports up to 8 GB maximum system memory in the following configurations
● 8 GB (8 GB × 1)
● 4 GB (4 GB × 1

for Intel Core and Pentium Gold 5404U and 4417U processors
DDR4-2400 dual-channel support (DDR4-3200 bridge to 2666, DDR4-2666 downgrade to DDR4-2400)
Supports up to 16 GB maximum system memory in the following configurations

Table 1-1 Product components and their descriptions (continued)
Category Description
● 16 GB (8 GB × 2)
● 12 GB (8 GB × 1 + 4 GB × 1)
● 8 GB (8 GB × 1 or 4 GB × 2)
● 4 GB (4 GB × 1)

Note that the 3200 has to run at 2666 speed.  This has to be handled by the bios.

What does CPU-Z show for the bios version ( CPU-Z mainboard ?)

Are you running memory at 2666 with the 4 and 8gb?

Possibly a bios update will allow the memory to be properly recognized.  

You could return the pair of 8gb and buy an identical 4gb.  The pair of 4gb should run at 3200 instead of 2666 if the service manual is correct.

The problem is the memory is not properly recognized by the BIOS and you need the memory recommended by HP which probably cost a lot more.