HP Laptop 17-by0069cl RAM and M.2 SSD Upgrade

[CornBeard]

Alright, so my girlfriend was given this laptop that was running slow. I went to reformat it with a clean Windows 10 install. The installer couldn't see the hard drive (Intel Optane), and I couldn't get the drivers to load either. At that point I decided to upgrade the SSD. I opened the laptop and saw the M.2 slot with the octane chip in it and two SODIMM slots. I then ordered 16GB (2x8) DDR4-3200 SODIMM, and a Samsung 970 Evo 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD. I installed the parts once they arrived and had no luck. I disabled octane in the BIOS and was able to see the HDD, but not the SSD. As for the RAM, It will only work with one stick installed, no matter which stick or slot it is in. With two sticks installed, I get three long flashes and two short flashes on the caps lock button. It is silk screened on the motherboard ONE DIMM ONLY. Is there seriously no way to get 16GB of RAM in this thing? Why gimp the machine to one slot? Memory picker websites try to sell 16GB kits for this machine as well, very misleading. And the M.2, is there something that I'm missing here? I can't get the drive recognized by the BIOS even. Very frustrating.

[erico]

I suggest removing the HDD until you have the new SSD set up with a Windows 10 installation.

If you have a USB external enclosure or adapter, you can setup the M.2 SSD in another P{C before installing it in the laptop.

The Samsung 970 Evo 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD is  a compatible SSD for your laptop.

Use the Windows Diskpart utilty to see if the OS sees it.

"1. Initialize a new SSD via Diskpart

1. Enter "diskpart" in the search box, and click "Run as administrator" in the right window.
2. Input the following commands and press "Enter".
3. After the SSD is successfully initialized, type "list disk", "select disk 0" and "create partition primary" to create a new partition."

An identical pair of DDR4-3200 soDiMM memory modules should work, but there must be something off with the pair you have. It could be the voltage requirement or primary/secondary settings.

For that reason I always recommend that members use guaranteed compatible memory modules. See the compatible memory for your laptop at Crucial Memory. With Crucial guaranteed compatible memory you have the support of  their support staff.

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/hp-17-by0069cl

[CornBeard]

Okay, so as for the m.2, it turns out that the housing is broken. I'm not sure if I want to try and replace it, or just put in a SATA SSD. 

That's probably why this thing was running so poorly to begin with. It doesn't look too difficult to replace.

I'm still not sure about the RAM. I bought this RAM and the specs look Identical to this one conformed compatible from Crucial. Again, both sticks work fine in either slot, but not both at the same time. What does the three-long, two-short code mean exactly? I can't seem to find that one listed anywhere. I can send this back and get the Crucial, but I can't see a difference.

[CornBeard]

Update:

It will actually only boot with the OEM 4GB stick in either slot. The TG RAM will only work in the right slot. I was able to boot with 12gb this way.

[erico]

Sorry to hear of the broken slot. The only fix for that is replacing it.

There is, of course, the PCIe NVMe or SATA3 2.5" option of cloning and then replacing the original legacy hard disk.  That will bump your performance up.

Mixing manufacturer brands of memory frequently leads to the frustration you have felt.

Using only the timings and voltages of the memory to find what you think are viable upgrade candidate modules can be as frustrating as you have found it to be.