I have a gaming laptop with 16 GB of RAM currently installed in one slot. Recently, I bought a Corsair 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM stick to add to the second slot. Both RAM sticks have matching specifications, but ever since I installed the new one, I've been experiencing issues. It started three days ago when everything seemed to work fine but today, my laptop booted up and I encountered a blue screen of death (BSOD) and screen freezes with strange cube-like artifacts. When I remove the new RAM and only use the original stick, everything runs smoothly. I also tested the new RAM on its own, and it works fine. The problems only arise when both sticks are installed together. I'm not very knowledgeable about this, and I mainly use my laptop for work, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
You might need to manually set the RAM speeds and timings in the BIOS instead of relying on the automatic settings. Sometimes, running mismatched RAM can work, but you have to do some setup. Start by booting with one stick, enter BIOS, set it to auto, reboot into Windows, then go back to BIOS and note down the timings. Do the same for the other stick. Compare the timings, and set the higher numbers manually to see if that resolves the issue.
It sounds like a compatibility issue between the two RAM sticks. For best results, it's always recommended to buy RAM in pairs that are designed to work together. This kind of problem happens quite often, so don't freak out yet! The good news is it's usually not a motherboard issue, so you might have a simple fix in adjusting settings or swapping parts.
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