Tried to remove 1-Ram Stick computer will not work

[edgenet]

Hello to all my 1st post

Up to a week ago I was using a 12 year old Compaq Computer we both went from Vista to Win 10 Pro with no issues, Still working like an old horse. I decided to upgrade to something newer, Bought a Lenovo 310-s (What Junk and I mean Junk)

I decided to upgrade my Ram from 8gb to 16gb once done it runs slower with 2-sticks vs the 1-stick it came with. I decided to remove the new stick I added and now the computer will not work it goes in a repair mode and is stuck in this mode, I re-installed the 2n-stick and it works as before in slower mode.

Should I be deactivating the stick I am removing or ?? Note: I power down and unplug power before removing or adding

 

[bigtallanddopey]

Did you add exactly the same type of ram, same size, same speed etc? It could be that if you have added a different speed/type of ram the pc is not sure what settings to use. Usually when you use different types the motherboard will run the ram at the settings of the lowest speed ram. However I would imagine that the board in that pc is dirt cheap and mite not be the best.

You could try taking the extra ram stick out, clearing the CMOS and then rebooting. Maybe that will “fix” it.

But yeh looking at the specs online, it is a real entry level system.

 

[edgenet]

I think you got it I used a different ram make and speed but it was 8-gig like the orginal, Lenovo is crazy they want $229 for an 8 gig stick.

My computer knowledge is very limited, I tried cleaning the CMOS by removing the battery No luck I will google and see how it's done Note it will only run with the two sticks in the same slots. Never Never buy cheap crap just a waste of $$$$$

 

[Time-Bandit]

Ram will drop to the speed of the slowest stick. Does your BIOS pick up both sticks ?

I had an issue recently where I purchased a cheap ram stick that wasn't compatible with my motherboard which sent me into a reboot loop. Purchased a stick that will work with the motherboard and it booted without issue. I then put the cheap ram into another slot which ended up working but running at the speed of the slower stick. Can't get my money back for the slower stick so just settling with using it.

 

[edgenet]

The 8-gb stick from Lenovo is 2400 the other stick I put in also 8gb 2400 EVO Potenza. To make sure the evo worked I removed the Lenovo stick and install this it worked ok I then installed the Lenovo giving me 16gb and yes the software indicates 16gb But the pc ran slower, But it did work. I figure to much ram for this **** AMD processor. Now I can not remove ether stick the computer goes in repair mode and eventually craps out. Tried to reset the CMOS as per the lenovo forum no go. My 12 year old compaq still working like a champ. Next time I will only buy intel-inside as their commercials say.

 

[UltraTaco]

Did you try removing original ram stick and reinserting it?
Since its Compaq, getting into bios is probably useless, because OEM, hence no tuning.

Have you installed single stick of ram into "master slot"? Maybe it's inserted into slave now if you have been troubleshooting? If you haven't moved original ram at all, probably try taking it out and using only new stick.

This is very odd because usually ram is ram and would still at least boot, even if errors later.

 

[MrCrunch08]

Even though there will be no real tweaks you can do in bios you may be able to reset it to factory settings and see if that forces a retrain. The poor performance of both sticks is probably a timing conflict and the laptop may not be training the ram at every restart. Do you know the timing of the stock ram and of the ram it came with? Idk but maybe it trained for the new ram you put in and it's not training again after you remove the new ram and replace it with the stock stick. I don't know of any way to clear cmos without taking the laptop apart unless it has a removable battery. You can always try starting it with no ram then reinstalling the stock ram to see if that forces it to retrain. If that works and you feel brave you can try both sticks again except this time put them in the opposite slot you first tried in hopes of training to the slower stick. That may be wishful thinking though. It's possible one stick could have samsung modules and the other is micron or something.

 

[edgenet]

Thank-you to all with your suggestions. I stumbled my way and it seems the computer is running much faster and smoother than before. I can now try and sell it with a straight face as long as they do not touch the ram sticks, it's max'd out at 16gb so no need to mess with them. Next computer it will be an HP with at least an I5 9th or 10 generation cpu. Learned my lesson on buying cheap crap.

 

[UltraTaco]

Well, new OEM may likely give you similar issue because HP...OEM...locked up like biscuits!! BIOS in such PCs is usually very ultra watered down with no options to change...well, ANYTHING!
If you want tunability or upgradeability, you'll have to go overpriced high performance pc builders(alienware?) or build your own.

Congrats on finally being able to figure it out!