HP victus Ram slot not working

[usmanhanan]

I have an HP Victus laptop that won’t boot and shows the caps lock blinking 3 long and 2 short times it happened suddenly when I was using my laptop it crashed and didn't bootup and actually this happened once couple of days before but it automatically got fixed and also in the recent days I'm experiencing crashes more often, and I also saw some weird artifacts before crashes, I looked it up the blinking pattern which indicates a RAM failure. I opened it up, removed one RAM stick, and the system booted. At first, I thought the RAM was faulty, but when I placed the other RAM stick into the same slot, the laptop still wouldn’t boot. This confirms that the issue is with the RAM slot itself. I tried cleaning the slot, updated bios to latest, examined the slots they were also fine, but it didn’t help. What should I do? And please someone tell me if this issue is related with motherboard or not.

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @usmanhanan,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

Thank you for explaining the issue in such detail. It really helps narrow things down. Based on everything you've described, you're right to suspect a hardware-level issue, and you've done an excellent job troubleshooting so far.
 

What the Blinking Caps Lock Pattern Means

The 3 long and 2 short blinks on HP laptops typically indicate a memory (RAM) failure. But since:

• One RAM stick works in one slot,
• The other stick doesn’t work in the same slot,
• And both sticks are fine individually,

This strongly suggests the RAM slot itself is faulty, not the RAM modules.

Is This Related to the Motherboard?

Yes, unfortunately, it is related to the motherboard. RAM slots are soldered directly onto the motherboard, so:

• If one slot is failing, it’s a motherboard-level issue.
• Cleaning and reseating won’t help if the electrical contacts or traces are damaged.
• BIOS updates won’t fix physical slot failures.

What You Can Do Next

1. Use the Working RAM Slot

If your laptop boots with one stick, continue using it in the working slot. You’ll have reduced performance, but it’s stable.

2. Run HP Diagnostics

Since your laptop boots, run full diagnostics:

• Press Esc during startup → choose F2 for diagnostics.
• Run Memory Test and System Test.

3. Backup Your Data Immediately

Since you've seen artifacts and frequent crashes, this could escalate. Please back up your data now:

• Use an external drive or cloud storage.
• Or create a system image using Windows Backup.

4. Contact HP Support

If your laptop is under warranty, HP may replace the motherboard. If not, a local technician can confirm the fault and offer repair options.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

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Regards,

VikramTheGreat