Hey everyone! I'm a bit stuck and could really use some advice. I recently upgraded the RAM in my HP Omen PC from a single 8GB stick to two 16GB Corsair sticks. The system started off fine and recognized 40GB of RAM, but I noticed the RAM speed dropped from 3200MHz to 2133MHz. After some tinkering and advice from a friend, I tried changing the BIOS settings to switch the speed back to 3200MHz. However, now my PC won't boot—it powers on, but there's no signal to my monitor. I've tried reseating the RAM, leaving it unplugged overnight, and even bought additional RAM sticks thinking I might have damaged the first set, but nothing seems to work. If anyone has any tips or solutions, I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
4 Answers
Clearing the CMOS is a good idea. Just unplug your PC, take out the little round battery (usually a CR2032), wait a few minutes, then put it back in. This could reset the settings that prevent you from booting up. Regarding the RAM speed, for it to run at full speed, you might need to enable something called XMP in the BIOS after you've reset everything.
You might want to pop out the CMOS battery for a few seconds. This can help reset your BIOS settings back to default, which might fix your boot issue. Also, check your motherboard manual for the correct RAM slots to use, as it's usually better to stick with matching DIMMs and ideally only use two sticks rather than more.
It's quite common to have issues after a RAM upgrade, especially if settings have been changed in the BIOS. Make sure you're using the new RAM sticks in the correct slots, likely slots 1 and 3 for dual channel. If the new RAM doesn't seem compatible, you might want to refer to your motherboard's compatibility list or try running just the original stick for now while you troubleshoot.
Just a heads up, you probably wouldn't notice a big difference in performance between 2133MHz and 3200MHz in real-world usage, so unless you're gaming or doing intensive tasks, you could just run it at the lower speed until you've figured everything out. And if you're unsure about any settings in the BIOS, it's totally fine to revert back to what you had before.
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload