Upgrading RAM, also my post disappeared?

[jonyo]

I originally posted a long post about this, the link is now dead, no e-mail notices or anything.  It still says I have 1 post but when you try to pull it up, it says none found.  I didn't get an e-mail about it getting removed, maybe I had something in there I shouldn't have, I dunno, no messages or anything.

If a mod removes this for whatever reason please let me know why this time...

Anyways...

HP Probook 455 G4 custom built from the HP store online, got the minimum ram and the plan was to just upgrade it myself.

The laptop docs say it supports up to 16GB ram, so I have 2x8GB ram sticks.  They each work individually, but it won't boot when you try to use both of them at same time.  It will also work with my "original" 4gb ram in slot 1 and either 8gb stick in the second slot.  For some reason it won't boot either when 8gb is in slot 1 and 4gb is in slot 2.

There are no BIOS updates yet for the make / model, the current one says released late last year.  I checked there are not currently any newer BIOS versions, still 1.01.  Is this perhaps something they will need to release a BIOS update for, or maybe there is some un-published beta version with already a fix or something?

Also I've been trying to contact support, all the links end up getting to broken page, maybe something to do with switching the site over to some new system...  Maybe that's what happened for my original post too?

[mdklassen]

> They each work individually, but it won't boot when you try to use both of them at same time.  It will also work with my "original" 4gb ram in slot 1 and either 8gb stick in the second slot.  For some reason it won't boot either when 8gb is in slot 1 and 4gb is in slot 2.

Are both 8GB sticks are from the same manufacturer, and do they have the same speed-rating?

There exists "low-density" memory (lots of chips per stick) and "high-density" memory (fewer chips for the same total amount).

If the 4GB is in slot #1, and one 8GB is in slot #2, does the motherboard report 12GB of RAM, or only 8GB ?

(That's another sign that the RAM is "too dense" for the motherboard -- only "half" the RAM is addressable.)

I'm told that www.Crucial.com has a good "memory-configurator" application, to identify which (Crucial) RAM is known to be compatible with your motherboard.

[jonyo]

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@mdklassen wrote:

Are both 8GB sticks are from the same manufacturer, and do they have the same speed-rating?

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Yes, I didn't include the info since my last post dissapeared, thought maybe it was because I posted brand or something I don't know...  I bought them together so they are the same:

16GB (2 x 8G) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000)

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@mdklassen wrote:

If the 4GB is in slot #1, and one 8GB is in slot #2, does the motherboard report 12GB of RAM, or only 8GB ?

(That's another sign that the RAM is "too dense" for the motherboard -- only "half" the RAM is addressable.) 

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It reports the full 12GB.  Also each memory module has 4 chips on it, is that very dense?

[mdklassen]

>  each memory module has 4 chips on it, is that very dense?

Yes. 

Additionally, if the 4GB stick has the same number of chips as the 8GB stick, then the chips on the 8GB are TWICE as dense.

[jonyo]

Actually, looking closer there are 4 on back and 4 on front, 8 chips total.  The exiting 4gb of ram has 4 total.

So new ram is 8gb / 8 chips, old is 4gb / 4 chips, seems same amount of density, 1gb / chip..

Also I wasn't sure, is it better to have more density per chip or less density?

I tried the crucual configurator thing, it was listing even up to 16gb on single module of ram as being compatible, according to the specs though the notebook should only work with 8gb in each slot...

Something else I didn't mention, what it does:  with 2x 8gb sticks, you turn it on, the 3 lights at top light up but screen never comes on, no beeps or anything.  After a while it starts heating up and the fan comes on.  Also the antenae light flashes blue every 2-3 seconds consistently.

Thanks for your answers so far!

[jonyo · Accepted solution]

So, on a whim, in the BIOS I set the amount of memory used for video.  The default was AUTO, I changed it to the max in the dropdown, 512MB.  Reboot, shut down, put in both 8gb sticks, and now it boots!

So maybe a bug in BIOS or something dealing with the way it figures out how much memory to allocate to the display?  Oh well it's working now.  And it detects the full 16gb amount.

[Turtlecove1]

Although your post is a few months old, I found it the most useful info I could find anywhere on the web about Probook 455 G4 RAM issues, and certainly more helpful than "HP support", who have twice "closed my case" without addressing/solving/giving-a-reasonble explanation to my question, and deliberately don't give a further contact point so it's CASE CLOSED... You have to start from scratch each time you enquire to them!

I too have a Probook 455 G4 (Product number Y8B09EA) & am having issues with installing two RAM cards. I have updated to the newer Bios 1.11 without it helping.

My situation differs to yours as follows: I am trying to fit 8+4G [12G total - Obviously I have ensured equal spec/speed RAM cards although they are different manufactors and do have different "densities" whatever that means: 4G=4chips, 8G=16chips)] but I run into problems similar that you experienced initially when attempting to fit 8+8G (cycling "Preparing Auto Repair" then just stalls). Despite you state it was working for you for a 8+4G configuaration, I still tried your suggestion of changing Bios "memory used for video to 512Mb" in BIOS Setup/Advanced/Built-In Device Options/Video Memory Size (took me a while to find from your brief description!), but it didn't solve my problem. You state that 4G + 8G was working for you in order "slot1=4G, slot2=8G" - {BTW, this is an area for possible confusion, the slot marked as "Please insert DIMM into this slot for single DIMM operation" is technically Slot2, and the Slot closer to the middle of the computer is technically Slot1}. Well I've tried them all ways around and no luck.

Spanish HP support said the laptop will not work with a 4+8G  configuartion, only 4+4 or 8+8 but that contridicts the official HP document specs for this machine!

I'm at a loss and have just given up....