Incompatible RAM

[Dyletant]

Victus 16 RAM Upgrade – Compatibility Issue with New RAM Sticks

I recently attempted to upgrade the RAM in my HP Victus 16 laptop. The laptop originally came with two 4GB Samsung DDR4-3200MHz SODIMM sticks.

To upgrade, I purchased two 8GB DDR4-3200MHz 1.2V SODIMM modules from a Chinese brand. The specifications matched the original RAM (DDR4, 3200MHz), but when I first installed the new sticks, I didn’t disconnect the battery or discharge residual power. As a result, the laptop wouldn’t boot at all.

After disconnecting the battery, and holding the power button to drain residual electricity, and reconnecting the battery the laptop started booting but displayed a black screen with no output—even after waiting for 10 minutes.

When I reinstalled the original Samsung RAM, the system displayed a “CMOS Checksum is invalid” error (Error 502), but after a reboot, everything returned to normal.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far to troubleshoot the new RAM:

• Updated the BIOS to the latest version

• Tested each new stick individually in both slots

• Verified seating and reinstallation

Unfortunately, none of this helped. I find it unlikely that both new RAM sticks are defective, which leads me to believe this may be a compatibility issue. Also the RAM had many good reviews with customer attaching images of their recognized RAM.

My questions are:

1. Is there any known way to bypass or resolve RAM compatibility issues on the Victus 16?

2. How can I find out which RAM brands/models are officially compatible with this laptop?

3. Is there a whitelist of approved memory manufacturers for this model?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Huffer]

It would help if you would provide some more details of the replacement memory like a link to the site where you bought it. There is no whitelist of memory but you are best off sticking with a mainstream brand of stock OEM memory; i.e. Samsung, Crucial. HP notebooks, even gaming notebooks, tend to prefer memory with standard timings and not aggressive "gaming" or performance memory. You have done all the troubleshooting that we could recommend. There is no way to force memory modules to be compatible. Generally, they just work or not. HP notebook BIOS do not allow for adjustments to memory timing as you might find on a performance desktop.