Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K not recognizing all RAM

I recently purchased an A515-46-R14K from Amazon Amazon.com: Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K Slim Laptop | 15.6" Full HD IPS | AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core Mobile Processor | 4GB DDR4 | 128GB NVMe SSD | WiFi 6 | Backlit KB | Amazon Alexa | Windows 10 Home (S mode) : Electronics. From what I can gather looking around the web it seems it should be able to take an additional 12-16gb of RAM along with the soldered 4gb. In fact there is a video on Youtube performing this exact upgrade on this model Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K - How to upgrade SSD & Ram // Best Budget Laptop - YouTube. I purchased the same stick of RAM used in the video G.Skill Ripjaws SO-DIMM Series 16GB (1 x 16GB ) 260-Pin (PC4-19200) DDR4 2400 CL16-16-16-39 1.20V SO-DIMM Memory Model F4-2400C16S-16GRS at Amazon.com and installed it. Both BIOS and Windows only recognize 4gb of that stick for a total of 8. After much troubleshooting, updating the bios, and contacting ACER support who claimed it should take up to 20gb, I thought maybe the stick was defective so I returned it for a new one. Same problem with that one. Has anybody else had this same issue? Any recommendations?

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JackE

Press WIN+R. Enter 'msconfig'. Click boot tab. Click advanced option button. Check mark maxmem. Post screenshot of result if possible.

S1eazyE

When checked, max mem shows 8192

JackE

Click OK. Then cold reboot to see what happens.

S1eazyE

After cold boot, system still only recognizes 8gb installed. Under msconfig, max mem comes up still checked, but shows 0gb. I unchecked it then rechecked it and it still only went up to 8192.

JordanB

@S1eazyE

I looked on Crucial and Kingston websites and couldn't find compatible ram listed for your computer model.

I looked in the Acer service guide and found a couple 16 GB OEM parts that were tested by Acer. I'll link them below. I would buy the Hynix 16GB from Amazon (only 1 left).

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-HMA82GS6CJR8N-VK-PC4-21300-DDR4-2666MHz-Unbuffered/dp/B07NBK5467

https://www.newegg.com/p/0RM-00DP-00002

The Gskill ram that you installed is CL=16. Most of the time, Acer uses industry standard DDR4 2400 CL=17 or DDR4 2666 CL=19 or DDR4 3200 CL=22. As a general rule of thumb, if you install enthusiast ram in a mainstream laptop, you run a higher risk of it not working properly. I realize the guy on youtube gave you the amazon link to your gskill, so I can't really explain with certainty why his works and yours doesn't.

In the meantime, hopefully Acer will read this and ask their liaison to work with Crucial, Kingston, Samsung, Hynix, Gskill etc to make it easier to buy ram for your A515-46. Obviously since your model comes with 4GB of ram, lots of people will be wanting to add an additional stick of ram for their A515-46-R14K.

Sometimes when a new product is released, it takes a little time for the retail parts channels to get up to speed.

Good luck!

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/acer/aspire-a515-46

https://www.kingston.com/unitedstates/us/memory

S1eazyE

@JordanB Thank you, this makes the most sense so far. I will try this out and report back later this week.

JordanB

Ok great.

It seems like you got a great price on that gskill, but honestly you’re using a 2021 motherboard/cpu and it may not like the chip density (dram density) of your budget gskill ram. I’d probably steer clear of the budget/bargain ram. I remember a couple years ago someone had the same problem and they were using some budget bargain basement Corsair ram.

https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-memory/guide-to-memory-chip-density

https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-memory/store-memory-chip-density-compatibility-price

JackE

Try running the crucial scanner without the new RAM installed to see what it comes up with.

S1eazyE

@JackE I've tried that but it doesn't come up with any compatible RAM. It seems to be the same story with everybody else with this particular model.

JackE

Yes, this is often an issue with dual channel capable DDR4 sodimms especially when trying to make them play nice with soldered RAM. Timing is critical and often the best fit is with sodimms having specs as close as you can get to the soldered RAM. Preferrably a matched set. Which in your case can often mean exactly the same capacity as the onboard RAM 4GB. While a non-replaceable soldered RAM socket is a cost saving production method, it can lead to problems like this when trying to find a compatible sodimm.

I suggest using Task manager memory performance, CPUz, hwinfo64 or other analytical freeware to characterize as much of the specifications for the soldered RAM you have in there now including its operating frequency, latency number, dual-channel capable, buffering, etc and try to find an 8GB sodimm that matches those characteristics as closely as possible. It unfortunately might be a frustrating search and you might wind up with having to settle for a 4GB sodimm upgrade.

JordanB

I've already given you two different 16 GB ram parts that were tested by Acer to work in your laptop.....so.....I'll repost the one I would buy again. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-HMA82GS6CJR8N-VK-PC4-21300-DDR4-2666MHz-Unbuffered/dp/B07NBK5467

S1eazyE

@JordanB Thanks again. I'll try that one out and report back once it arrives.

ttttt

@S1eazyE

I have the same laptop A515-46-R14K. My need for memory upgrade was just to have another matching specification RAM for optimal performance, so I just added 4 GB for a total of 8 GB only. As far as I know people can add a 16GB RAM module to the laptop to make it 20 GB total, as indicated by the chart provided by @JordanB. Just think this particular RAM module just not working right with the A515-46-R14k.

Just for your reference:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071DVVJNL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

JackE

Yes, this is often an issue with dual channel capable DDR4 sodimms especially when trying to make them play nice with soldered RAM. Timing is critical and often the best fit is with sodimms having specs as close as you can get to the soldered RAM. Preferrably a matched set. Which in your case can often mean exactly the same capacity as the onboard RAM 4GB. While a non-replaceable soldered RAM socket is a cost saving production method, it can lead to problems like this when trying to find a compatible sodimm.

I suggest using Task manager memory performance, CPUz, hwinfo64 or other analytical freeware to characterize as much of the specifications for the soldered RAM you actually have in there now including its operating frequency, latency number, dual-channel capable, buffering, etc and try to find an 8GB sodimm that matches those characteristics as closely as possible. It unfortunately might be a frustrating search even with so-called tested RAM and you might wind up with having to settle for a 4GB sodimm upgrade.

prioris

Acer manufacturer just recommends 8GB but many people on internet are using 16G

I used memory in you tube video to add 16GB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3IuI5WPKhA

Look in you tube comment section for specific Hynix ram link

RB28

I've got this same Aspire 5, A515-46-R14K came with 4gb soldered, wondering if the below will work?

https://www.acerstorage.com/products/acer-ddr4-sd100-sodimm.html

or even better this,

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-2666MHz-Laptop-SO-DIMM-Computer/dp/B092XXR43F?th=1

RB28

I'm not allowed to edit the above post so posting again here,

Acer doesn't appear to sell those at the https://www.acerstorage.com/products or if so I could not find the link. Do they not sell these directly from Acer?

ttttt

@RB28

I have the same A515-46-R14K laptop. Since I only needed 4 GB RAM for optimized performance, the RAM being added is as follow:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DVVJNL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That matches the original 4GB soldered RAM, need not be Acer RAM.

The laptop CPU only allows 2400 M HZ, motherboard allows 26666 MHZ, so anything faster than 2400 MHz or 2666 MHz will be meaningless.

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