Installed 32GB but only 16GB being used by my 'HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15-ec2004AX'

[TesmiT]

Greetings!

The memtest86 is being run at the moment just like the video tutorial that was in the link you shared.

I have run the test with both RAM sticks included.

The screen looks like this :

It says "x1 Channel"

Does that mean both RAM sticks are not being recognised or they'll run together after a while?

Test 1 is complete and it has no errors as of now

[Huffer]

It runs them separately....single channel. Can't recall if it eventually shifts over to running them in dual channel.

[TzortzisG]

Unfortunately, as Huffer EXPERT Level 18 has already said, we've been getting issues like this with certain Crucial modules, specifically the ones of the SFRA32A variety -and the 16GB capacity. This is a similar issue in a recent post: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Upgrade-ram/td-p/8961273

These aren't faulty modules per se, but many times they are incompatible with HP laptops. Personally I think that running memtest will be in vain........

[Huffer]

Agreed the memtest is a bit of a longshot...a Hail Mary as we American football fans say but will 100% rule out a bad memory module

[TesmiT · Accepted solution]

I think I found the culprit.

When I tried running the system on Charger only (suggested by moderator in Tom'sHardwareForum, with one 16GB RAM Stick at a time, one of them doesn't work. The fans keep spinning but the "CMOS Reset" screen never appears, even when I interchange the slots with the same 'culprit' RAM.
The keyboard lights keep on for a while and then they also go off. No matter what key I press or try to get the lights back by FN+F5 key, they don't come back up.

Only lights that keep on are the power button and disk usage LED on the side.

So is this an indication that the culprit is indeed the specific 16GB RAM stick?

Or there is something else too?

Because when I tried running 8+16GB Kit on both 16GB RAMs, both worked and turned on.

I'll wait for your valuable insights.

[Huffer]

If one stick behaves differently than the other it is highly likely bad

[TesmiT]

I think it's time to return the bad stick of RAM.

Should I also return the decent one for dual rank ones?

The particular model comes with both dual and single rank.

I don't know whether they will comply.

What's your thought on this?

Dual rank sticks should not have any difficulty in working together as single rank sticks, i guess.

[TzortzisG]

Hi TesmiT.

Crucial has done something really strange with the SFRA32A modules. I've contacted them about the serious incompatibility problems with some machines and they've given me their answer, which however feels a lot like the runaround. There is NO bad module in your case. What's happening is that since you didn't buy the 2x16GB kit, you got TWO DIFFERENT modules. One has a compatible chip organization, and the other doesn't. The compatible one can run by itself, while the problematic one needs a second "normal" module to IRON THINGS OUT a bit. You can see a similar situation on that other post I linked to above.

I agree with Huffer however that this should be treated as a faulty module. Reviews on Amazon show that anyone returning these "faulty" modules will usually get a correct one. If you can find dual-rank modules, those will be the best, since they're not only ultra-compatible....but also way faster. Crucial has an older ALWAYS dual-rank 2x16GB "CT2K16G4SFD832A" kit if you can find it........

[TesmiT]

Thank you for explaining the situation further, I appreciate it.

I'll try to return the single stick of RAM while I request to recieve a dual rank one.

If they comply, I'll send the single rank one too after a while for a dual rank one

Thank you Mr. Huffer and TzortzisG for helping me out with the problem.

I greatly appreciate your time and assistance during this time of distress.

I'll try to give back to the community.

I'll close the case now.