Victus laptop sold that did not meet manufacturer specs

[mitch415]

What is my recourse if HP sold me a laptop thru Best Buy that does not meet HPs minimum specs as published on the HP Support site? deets below

July 1, 2022 

I bought a laptop from the Best Buy at 1 [edit]

SN# edit

ProdID 68Y11UA#ABA

Victus Gaming Laptop 15-fa0032dx (68Y11UA)

According to the HP Support website this should have 8 GB of DDR4 RAM (https://support.hp.com/id-en/document/ish_6398109-6398208-16)

March 18, 2024

I tried to upgrade the RAM from 8 GB to 16 by purchasing an additional 8 GBs (GB DDR4-3200 MHz SO-DIMM) and making an appt with the Geek Squad for 1:20 PM on the same day (March 18th). The representative from the Geek Squad in the Arden store opened up the back of the laptop and said that the motherboard motherboard in my laptop was only compatible with DDR2 RAM and would not support DDR4. Also DDR2 was so out of date that Best Buy no longer carries DDR2 sticks. Also, that when I purchased the laptop on July 2022 DDR5 was already released and had been around since 2020 so it was surprising that a laptop purchased in 2022 had what was even then an outdated RAM specification.

[iomare]

Hi,

Go to a different store

You're notebook supports at least 32GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM

On page 33 of service manual you can see steps to install RAM

https://kaas.hpcloud.hp.com/pdf-public/pdf_5957172_en-US-1.pdf

I believe max RAM is 64GB

Example

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp-compaq/hp-victus-15-fa0032dx/1000

Hope it helps,

David

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[mitch415]

Thanks but the problem is not that I don't know how to install RAM. The problem is that HP sold a laptop that did not meet its own published minimum specs (DDR4) so now, since this laptop has such outdated RAM (DDR2) it is difficult for me to find RAM sticks. According to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, the motherboard in this laptop only supports DDR2, and the 2 cards currently in the 2 slots is DDR2. 

Is it even legal for HP to sell product that does not meet its own published minimum specs? 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

@mitch415 

As Iomare wrote...go to a different PC repair shop, because what the Geek Squad guy told you is impossible.

Below is the link to the parts list for your notebook.

HP PartSurfer

L46598-001

MEM 8GB 3200MHz 1.2v DDR4

As you can see HP did install an 8 GB DDR4-3200 memory chip and even shows a picture of the memory chip they installed (click on the camera icon on the far-left side of the memory part line).

DDR2 memory runs at a higher voltage than DDR4 memory, has a different number of contact pins and the slot in the DDR2 memory chip is cut in a different place than it is in a DDR4 memory chip, making it impossible to install a DDR2 memory chip in a DDR4 memory slot.

Not to mention that DDR2 memory hasn't been used in any notebook PC in over 13 years.

PC manufacturers went to DDR3 memory around 2010, and then to DDR4 memory around 2015.

[mitch415]

Thanks. I'm going to order a tiny screwdriver so I can open the back, and some RAM cards, and see what I see. Too bad about Geek Squad - the guy really seemed to know what he was talking about. I'll report back here when I'm able to open up the machine and see for myself.

[mitch415]

Final update: the RAM card issue is now a moot point. The max RAM supported on my laptop is 16 GB and I'm running SketchUp/VRay so want 64 Gb anyways.

Thank you to everyone who replied so quickly with advice.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The Crucial memory report that Iomare posted indicates the notebook could support 64 GB of memory, and that report is usually very accurate.