upgrading my laptop ram from 8gb to 32 gb

[Souvik_]

hi, i own a hp pavilion gaming 15-ec0xxx series laptop and recently i am in need of upgrading my ram. I have also purchased a 32gb kit from crucial however when i install them it shows me black screen. When i installed 1 of the new ones with one of the old ones i saw in the task manager that the system is recognising the total ram but the whole 16 gb ram of the new stick is being reserved for hardware. Can anyone suggest a solution ? or what type of ram i should buy ? thank you

[BeemerBiker]

You have incompatible memory.  I guessed at your laptop model and found this over at crucial

They list:: 2400, 3200, 2rx8, 1rx8 and even 1rx16   I am not an expert on memory but I suspect the ec0013dx is NOT compatible with all those different types and speed.

I had the same problem on one of my MSI systems:  I had 64gb of ram that windows 11 used and another 32gb that was hardware reserved and not available.  The good 64gb was XMP and the other 32 was not XMP.  I went into bios and turned off XMP and all 96gb was used.  I ended up getting rid of the non-xmp as the memory was no longer running at XMP speed.

What is the product ID of your system?

Can you run the following command and report  what both the 8gb and 16 gb memory shows?

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, capacity, speed, MemoryType, formfactor, partnumber, manufacturer

for example

[Souvik_]

i was thinking about the same thing to be honest i am very skeptical if these types of ram are compatible and its a real pain in the arse as there are no details on the motherboard model available on the internet due to which i cant find anything and the fact hp support is no longer available makes it even worse. 

i have 2x4 gb sk hynix ram pre installed on this system which apparently sucks for me. Hence i need an upgrade asap. Also you guessed a tad bit wrong on my pc there but here is the actual model....... 

HP Pavilion Gaming - 15-ec0062ax

also here are the results of the command line you asked me to run,

[BeemerBiker]

That memory is 1rx16 according to 

https://memory.net/product/hma851s6cjr6n-vk-sk-hynix-1x-4gb-ddr4-2666-sodimm-pc4-21300v-s-single-ran...

What was the memory you tried that failed?  Was it 1rx8, 2rx8 or 1rx16?

Did you select one of the following?

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/pavilion-15-ec0062ax

I did not see 2666 speed memory listed for 16gb, only 3200 speed. Do not expect 3200 speed to run at 3200 on your system. 

I do not know of any approved 32gb memory for your system at any HP site.  Perhaps our expert @Paul_Tikkanen might recommend the correct memory.

If 1rx16 worked at 4gb  possibly 1rx16 at 16gb will work but stuck with 2666 speed

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Souvik_ 

This kit should have worked fine in your notebook.

Crucial 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 SODIMM | CT2K16G4SFRA32A | Crucial.com

My understanding is that from reading an informative post by one of our notebook upgrade experts, that Crucial has made some changes in that part number but have not changed the part number.

I had to copy and paste the information from his post because it can only be read in the Support Forum's 'Inner Circle' section. 

The title of his post is:  Crucial RAM shifts from better compatibility to better......availability.

"Apparently Crucial has decided to change some of its specific RAM product codes to codes that include two or three different versions of the same RAM module. For example, the module CT16G4SFRA32A that is (supposedly) compatible with systems requiring 16GB cl22 3200 sodimms, has been reported to actually be either 2RX8, 1RX8 and unfortunately even 1RX16 RAM (depending on available stock). The latter will NEVER run on existing HP laptops (as far as I know), the 1Rx8 might, the 2Rx8 will always work correctly. There have been many reports on the HP forum, and on other laptop companies' fora of the CT16G4SFRA32A making laptops unbootable. I suggest finding previous product codes (from Crucial) that only have one version, so as to know what you're actually buying. In this case, the omni-compatible 2Rx8 module is: CT16G4SFD832A.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to reference Crucial's site for RAM upgrade questions anymore....."

So...that info kind of throws a monkey wrench into an almost guarantee that Crucial memory will work in most HP notebooks.

Back to me...

So, what you need to look for is a 16 GB DDR4-3200 CL22 memory chip that is 2Rx8 for best results.

Check the memory module that HP installed in your notebook and buy 16 GB memory with the same specs (1Rx8 or 2R x8) if you can.

[TzortzisG]

Yes, Paul_Tikkanen EXPERT Level 22 is 100% correct. This is what we (seem to) know about Crucial's current DDR4 3200 modules. Hopefully, we might get some confirmation since an effort has been made to contact Crucial "internally" about this. It seems unbelievable, and frankly the most troublesome part for me is the fact that the 1Rx16 16GB modules aren't even mentioned on their site. The theory behind this Crucial policy change is that Crucial -along with other RAM makers- is focusing on the newer DDR5 chips, and therefore cutting back on the manufacturing of the more expensive dual-rank modules.......

Reading the initial post on this thread, I'm not sure if this information applies here. Was 3200 RAM used for the upgrade? Why? According to the manual for the HP Pavilion Gaming 15-ec0062ax , RAM installed will be downgraded to the 2400 maximum allowed (by the CPU) speed. Therefore, all that user Souvik_ has to do is get the "CT2K16G4SFD824A" 2x16GB 2400 dual-rank kit offered on the Crucial Pavilion 15-ec0062ax page....

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @TzortzisG 

The problem is that Crucial DDR4-2400 memory is very expensive in India for some reason.

16 GB DDR4-2400:

https://www.amazon.in/Crucial-CT16G4SFD824A-2400MHz-260-Pin-SODIMM/dp/B019FRBHZ0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2K4... 

The 16 GB DDR4-3200 is out of stock right now, but if memory serves me right, it was somewhere in the ballpark of 2,800 Rs.

That is why most folks buy the DDR4-3200 memory which used to work just fine.

I certainly would have bought the faster DDR4-3200 memory if it was less than half the price.

I even believe that HP fitted most of those 15-ec0xxx notebooks with DDR4-2666 MHz memory and it bridged to 2400 MHz. 

It primarily depended on what memory they had on hand at the assembly plant at the time.

Cheers,

Paul

[TzortzisG]

That makes sense. Thanks!

It's true about the 2666 modules. HP laptops I own that run memory at 2400 all had factory-fitted 2666 RAM modules installed. I think we come back to your advice then "So, what you need to look for is a 16 GB DDR4-3200 CL22 memory chip that is 2Rx8 for best results.".

[BeemerBiker]

The topic about crucial and especially the 1rx8, 2rx8 and 1rx16 concern me as I rely on mostly WMIC and occasionally CPU-Z to determine what memory is in the system.  The label on the memory stick sometimes has only an OEM part number that makes upgrade hit and miss.

WMIK returned HMA851S6CJR6N-VK for the part number.  Could that part be 2rx8 or 1rx8  instead of 1rx16 as found by looking up  HMA851S6CJR6N-VK ?

@Souvik_ what was the part number for the memory that did not work?  

[TzortzisG]

Crucial is the only serious company I know of that has decided on selling unspecified rank modules. To me, this pretty much evicts Crucial from the "serious company" category.... Hynix sells modules with a known chip organization. Kingston even uploads specific pdfs with the chip organization. So no worries........yet.