Why is the new RAM not working? (Aspire M3910)

HELP!

I had 12Gb RAM in my PC, (2+4+4+2Gb). One of the 2Gb sticks were faulty, so I decided to remove both of them and upgrade to 4x4Gb.

I bought 2 RAM sticks:

Art.nr.:: 574926 | G.Skill | Modell-nr.:: F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL | EAN:: 4711148594684

G.Skill Ripjaws - DDR3 - modul - 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - 1333 MHz / PC3-10666 - CL9 - 1.5 V - ej buffrad - icke ECC

The new RAM's are similar to the ones already installed, the old ones are Corsair with pretty much the same specs.

When installed the PC cannot boot windows. I get various BSOD and Windows restarts the PC in a loop. If I enter the BiOS 16Gb of RAM is shown. When starting the PC beeps one short beep, which I guess means RAM issue.

If I run cmd prompt and list the RAM, they're listed as 4x4Gb with the Corsair ones in banks 0 & 1 and the new Ripjaws in 2 & 3 (if I place them in any other order the PC won't start, with only the new RAM - won't start). I've ran windows update, all drivers checked and working. I have double checked that the sticks are placed correctly in the socket and I've also tried to move them to different slots with no luck. When I remove the new RAM the PC boots normally again.

I'm starting to realise that the new RAM is not compatible with the Aspire M3910 (although the manual says they should be) - but I want to understand why so I don't order wrong ones again.

My PC:

Acer Aspire M3910

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 550 @ 3.20GHz, 3200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. P01-A3, 2010-05-17

SMBIOS Version 2.6

Embedded Controller Version 255.255

BIOS Mode Legacy

Platform Role Desktop

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home - Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045

I know it's an old PC and I should get a new one, but I'm very happy with this one since it still performs excellently (until now). I've even been able to play games like Code Vein, which whouldn't really work, so it's really an over-achiever and I like it for this reason. Any help or hint would be appreciated!

Accepted answers

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OwnsAspire3910

Additional question: could it be a software issue rather than hardware issue? I struggle to make sense of the BIOS seemingly adopting the RAM but windows not booting. One of the BSOD was IRQL_not_less_or_equal, another "Memory management" or something similar...

JackE

>>>If I enter the BiOS 16Gb of RAM is shown. When starting the PC beeps one short beep, which I guess means RAM issue.>>>

Nope. This seems normal. Did you save BIOS settings on exit? Then shut system off. Then turn it back on again?

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182444#Comment_1182444

Jack, thank you for this clarification, which makes me at a total loss and I cannot find any reasonable explanation.

Yes, BIOS-settings have been reset, saved, restarted - it makes no difference. I've tinkered with the settings (there aren't that many really, this BIOS is quite simple) and RAM placement. The amounts of restarts are countless at this point.

Interesting note: amongst things I tried was to run driver verifier to stress test the drivers. When the test was running I actually managed to boot windows with all RAMs in place, and I could navigate the PC for 5-10 minutes before BSOD & shutdown.

I emailed Acer, their technician replied and said these *should* work, but they've not been tested (apparently no 4gb RAM has been tested in this PC). I'm going to assume that the G.Skill RAM are "too new" and therefore not compatible (although this seems far fetched), so I've decided to return them and ordered a pair of Corsair, same as the two I have in place already and model is from about the same year as the PC. If they don't work then I don't know what to do with my life. Maybe become a fisherman and live on a boat or something...

JackE

Before you send them back, see if it boots OK with just the two old 4GB modules installed. Then replace them with the two new 4GB modules in the same socket to see what happens.

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182482#Comment_1182482

Yep, I've tried that as well. Using the PC right now with the old ones. Did not even get into the BIOS when only the Ripjaws were in. Only way it starts is if my old RAM is in slot 0. I think I've tried every possible combination and even each RAM as a single in slot 0.

It's really weird.

OwnsAspire3910

Last time it started I grabbed a couple of screenshots.

billsey

Take pictures of the BSOD screens and show us them. Since the new memory doesn't work right by itself I'd be suspect of it causing the issues.

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182506#Comment_1182506

Hi Billsey!

I appreciate you taking the time to look at this. I actually return posted the Ripjaws earlier today, so I can't run more tests.

However, the recurring BSOD messages were: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, MEMORY MANAGEMENT and KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED. There was no additional information, i.e. it did not point to a specific driver.

Again, I've given up on the Ripjaws, I'll make sure to post again when the Corsairs arrive at the start of next week to compare. Maybe we'll learn something from this, however trivial :)

JackE

Only way it starts is if my old RAM is in slot 0.

The corsaiirs should be fine. What's the price difference between the corsairs & the gskills?

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182551#Comment_1182551

G.Skill Ripljaws were about 30 EUR. The old Corsairs are about 50 EUR. The reason I went for Ripjaws (besides them being cheap) was that they have heatsinks, which the Corsair doesn't have.

billsey

Yeah, both those BSODs could be caused by memory corruption. Perhaps the reason they needed heat sinks on the memory was because they are using shoddy chips. There's no good reason for your system to use memory that runs hot.

JackE

Agreed. Leakier bits emit more heat cuz they need more power to maintain their memory states.

OwnsAspire3910

So the Corsair RAM arrived early and I tried putting them in today, unfortunately with the same result.

I see 16gb RAM in BIOS, PC gives one short beep on startup, but I get BSOD when windows is booting. This time I got a variation of the (DRIVER) IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL

Seems to point to the SATA/RAID driver, which I cannot make any sense of. Also got other BSOD:

KERNEL SECURITY CHECK FAILURE

SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION

and IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL about half of the times it restarts. Can't enter failsafe mode.

If I take them out and the PC runs without problem again. Tried putting just the new RAM in -freezes on the start screen. Can't even get into BIOS.

JackE

The one short beep is OK as discussed earlier. Please post a phone photo of your BIOS INFORMATION tab if possible. Then with the old RAM in the machine, go to crucial dot com and run their scanner on your machine to see what upgrade RAM specs it recommends.

s

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1183654#Comment_1183654

Hey JackE!

Here's the BIOS info:

I've set the settings according to what I could google and made most sense. Again, there aren't that many options.

I did run the crucial scanner once before, they recommended a 1600 mhz RAM, so I was a bit sceptical since it's not a "perfect match" according to specs & current working RAM.

JackE

One of the 2Gb sticks were faulty

How did you come to this conclusion?
Was it a DMS DataMemorySystem 2GB module?
Were the old 4GB modules factory installed?

You might have to disable the BIOS frequency controller. and FastBoot to allow Windows to take control.

OwnsAspire3910

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1184120#Comment_1184120

BSOD occurring regularly, googled a lot and all pointed to RAM issue. Ran MemTest86 which showed that the RAM in slot 0 was faulty - which was the 2gb (can't remember the make, threw them both in the trash).
I don't think so, DMS doesn't sound familiar. I'm pretty sure they were Samsung, which were the original that came with the PC if I remember correctly.
No. When I threw the factory installed ones out I put the newer Corsair in slot 0 & 1.

I have no idea how to disable the BIOS frequency controller & FastBoot, but I'll go ahead and google it if 1-3 does not ring any bells.

JackE

»>I have no idea how to disable the BIOS frequency controller & FastBoo»>

Go back into the BIOS and look for the options as shown below

OwnsAspire3910

@JackE Thanks for your reply and for enduring this hopeless case, I really appreciate your help!

So I configured the BIOS as you instructed, but Windows still won't boot. It goes into a loop of BSOD/restart, then eventually into windows repair & diagnose. I get the same BSOD, on a couple of occasions BSOD pointed to another file name: ACPI.sys, as well as iaStorAVC.sys like it's done previously. I tried to boot into safe mode and other startup settings, but it changes nothing.

Question: Could it have anything to do with the SATA settings? Should I try to change to AHCI? Or is this a bad idea when both hard drives are already configured as RAID? Personally I don't see how this would connect to the RAM issues, but iaStorAVC is the driver for SATA…

William_mk2

@OwnsAspire3910

Try to use alternative set of rams and check it. Please make sure that it is compatible for your computer.

I would like to provide some additional info which will really help you.

Kindly go through the details given below. The info provided below will be very helpful to get the current memory and ssd details of your computer and the options to upgrade it.

Please visit the website given below. There is an option to "start your scan " and " select your computer " . Please chose the options and try it. It will show you the memory and SSD’s details and the best upgrade options for you..

https://www.crucial.com/

It will tell you what you currently have and what you can add for memory and SSD's.

Note: If you decide to buy you can always compare the prices by visiting other websites or stores and then you can decide. We are providing the info of scan app just to show you the upgrade options. You can even download similar scan apps from other memory upgrade websites too.

To check the compatibility of ram which you can use on your computer.. Get CPUz and check it with that in SPD section of all the RAM and specs that you have, its a quick and simple way to check all OEM specs and what you have in your system.

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