Need approved RAM List for Elitedesk 800 G2 Tower

[Mealticket]

SDH – that didn’t work. I re-did all the BIOS stuff as before, out of BIOS instead of Windows, and it didn’t fix it. So, I swapped the SFF mobo back in and used the correct DFS sticks and I get all 16GB showing, and dual channel operation. It appears that the G.Skill Aegis sticks actually damaged the CMOS chip on the original mobo. Then, it appears that the Crucial DFD 8GB sticks initially didn’t work in the SFF board, then did work after better BIOS installation method. I see the single rank sticks have chips on one side of the PCB only, but the dual rank have chips on both sides. Reminds of old eMachines PCs. That was PC100/133 stuff…wow HP. I will re-sell the dual rank Crucial sticks and that should cover most of the cost of the single rank sticks. LOL – in the ad I will play up the fact that they’re DUAL RANK…who wouldn’t want more ranks, whatever those are?

SDH and DGroves; if I wasted your  time, I apologize; that was never my intention. Thank you both for your valuable info.

Alright, now I will say some things. You guys are loyal to HP. I am brand-agnostic. Remember how this odyssey started; I tried to upgrade the memory with G.Skill sticks. As a typical PC user, I would have every expectation that if I buy ANY memory from Newegg using their memory finder, the DIMMs would a) work properly, b) not corrupt my BIOS, and c) not do irreparable damage to my mobo. Is not Newegg an authorized distributor for G.Skill? And again, consistent with what DGroves in particular made clear, the RAM module manufacturers essentially qualify the DIMMs, not HP. HP merely gives general specs, and even when I went to HP tech support, they just spouted that same info. The G.Skill sticks met all the general specs listed by HP. What you guys are referring to is known as ‘tribal knowledge’, knowledge that the typical PC user does not have. Nor, it seems, does Newegg. Maybe not even G.Skill. And in this case, it would appear that the incompatibility (AFAIK not documented by HP) didn’t just mean that the RAM didn’t work, it screwed up my mobo, creating a diagnostic problem. Furthermore, the METHOD for properly updating BIOS is apparently critical, and, AFAIK, also not documented by HP. They just give choices. It’s good to have choices, as I will show below. And if these machines are ‘picky with RAM’ then that’s all the more reason for HP to provide their own QVL.

Technology has certainly matured enough such that HP is not justified in this kind of nonsense, nonsense that is probably in the service of making them a few extra bucks, while costing others more than a few bucks in relative terms. When I Googled this problem I found precious little info. So, when someone else finds this post, at least they will have the benefit of more info than I had, thanks to all three of us. The alternatives to a pre-built HP box  should be obvious to everyone, so I won’t name those names. You can judge me all you want. That’s how I see it, and I will have no reason to buy HP in the future. Why would I take the chance? What’s the benefit?

MT

[DGroves]

HP, Dell. Lenovo and others like Acer sell business class systems to businesses (not individual end users) that either have internal (IT") people or support personal on call who are experienced in configuring systems in a business environment

the HP support for systems of this class is geared to support staff not end users and there is a world of difference in the support between consumer and business systems in my opinion

and no, I'm not brand loyal I'm support/service loyal, whoever is best at it tends to get my $$

yes, the ram companies do certify their ram as that is what they are best at (they don't make computers!!)

HP is best at having their engineers design a specific product in concert with other engineers from ram/cpu/video/storage fields

last, there is always the possibility the boards were defective to begin with

the proper method of updating the BIOS, is to FOLLOW THE WRITTEN DIRECTIONS HP INCLUDES WITH THE BIOS UPDATE FILE

i don't want to appear rude to you,... but your skill/knowledge level appears to also be a contributing factor to your problems

there are times when you should spend the money to consult with someone who makes a living in this field, problem is finding a GOOD person is sort of like trying to find a good car mechanic