Memory upgrade goes horribly wrong

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I have HP Pavilion dv6-21 Intel Core i3 CPU M 330 2.13GHz with 2x2GB RAM, my laptop supports up to 8GB upgrade. I needed upgrade and I went to Crucial website and their analytics showed compatible memory Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM. Since it was out of stock I find Kinston SODIMM DDR3L 1600 4GB so the same specific just different manufacturer.

After installation I got blue screen 'Your PC run into problemm and needs to restart', after that black screen 'Preparing Automatic Repair' and it just keeps going like that in circle.

When I click ESC and enter into Startup, in BIOS it shows 8GB memory and after running a memory test it shows 'memory test pass' so that means that there is nothing wrong with the memory.

I tried putting just 1 stick, replacing their position but always the same.

Could someone please tell me can I use this memory at all or is there any additional tweak that I shoud take in resolving this matter.

Thanks!
 
When you say you ran a memory test, did you run something like Memtest86? Because that's what you need to use. The Windows test is garbage.
 
Did you switch back to the old RAM to see if they're still working?
 
put one stick each of the new one in bank0 and reboot and see if windows boots, this is after you reboot with old ram and confirm everything is good.
 
You tried using only one stick. did you try both sticks in this singular way. One of them could be culprit. Look for a legit DL of "Ultimate Boot CD" it has memtest on it you can boot from thumb drive. crosscheck the memory using the Kingston tool and see if it agrees the memory is compatible. https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
 
Just an FYI, but I have recently experienced something remarkably similar on an ASUS motherboard based desktop here. It had 2x2GB DDR3 1600 sticks in it and I replaced them with 2x 4GB 1600 sticks and it behaved just as you described. This was a machine I was going over and I couldn't even get it to finish booting the Windows 10 image, it kept crashing. It had 4x slots, I tried each stick individually in all 4x slots, the sticks were known-good, but the behaviour persisted. I swapped back in the 2x 2GB sticks, it booted no problem. I found 2x more 2GB sticks to bump it up to 8GB (all 4x slots populated) and it worked fine. I'm guessing the higher density 4GB sticks posed a compatibility issue, despite allowing the system to post. I've had a similar issue in the past with single-sided 2GB sticks in a board that when developed, 2GB sticks were lower density double-sided.

It may be that the sticks Crucial recommended were of a different density.
 
You need DDR3 NOT DDR3L?

Try to find DDR3 without the L.

DDR3 without the L is an older higher voltage memory module.
For most cases, they are not interchangeable.

Based on reading the spec you link in the original post.
 
Originally Posted by JMJNet
You need DDR3 NOT DDR3L?

Try to find DDR3 without the L.

DDR3 without the L is an older higher voltage memory module.
For most cases, they are not interchangeable.

Based on reading the spec you link in the original post.


I think you're right. The I3-330M doesn't take DDR3L according to their site
 
yep ddr3L 1600 in a 2010 laptop that has 1066mhz ddr3

nice catch.

or it might be some kind of memory incompatibility as Overkill explained.
a clue to this is the motherboard only supports 8GB max

I had that issue in ancient times (about 15 years ago is ancient for computers)
 
Originally Posted by JMJNet
You need DDR3 NOT DDR3L?

Try to find DDR3 without the L.

DDR3 without the L is an older higher voltage memory module.
For most cases, they are not interchangeable.

Based on reading the spec you link in the original post.


I think you might be bang-on the money here. He only provided a fragment of the model # in the OP, and if you use the Crucial tool and just snag one from the list that comes up you end up with the memory he chose:
[Linked Image]


However, if you go to the Kingston site and find the one with the matching CPU that he listed:
[Linked Image]


The memory recommendations are quite different (note they are all discontinued
lol.gif
)
[Linked Image]


So yeah, he needs the non low voltage part # here as you've surmised.
 
OP needs to buy from Ebay or Amazon marketplace if somebody happen to sell it used.
Other source will be Craigslist.

Please be careful to read the description not just the title on ebay.
It needs to be WITHOUT "L" or PC3 WITHOUT "L".

I don't think Crucial site sells DDR3 without "L" anymore.
It is 2 generation behind.

Latest and greatest being DDR4 and before that is DDR3L.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by JMJNet
OP needs to buy from Ebay or Amazon marketplace if somebody happen to sell it used.
Other source will be Craigslist.


Amazon has suitable memory from several brands, Corsair, OWC, TIMETEC Hynix being the best options. It was used in the Macbooks of that era. As I recall mac certified memory guaranteed proper performance.
Here's an example: Corsair DDR3 1066

Ed
 
Originally Posted by tillnova
I have HP Pavilion dv6-21 Intel Core i3 CPU M 330 2.13GHz with 2x2GB RAM, my laptop supports up to 8GB upgrade. I needed upgrade and I went to Crucial website and their analytics showed compatible memory Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM. Since it was out of stock I find Kinston SODIMM DDR3L 1600 4GB so the same specific just different manufacturer.

After installation I got blue screen 'Your PC run into problemm and needs to restart', after that black screen 'Preparing Automatic Repair' and it just keeps going like that in circle.

When I click ESC and enter into Startup, in BIOS it shows 8GB memory and after running a memory test it shows 'memory test pass' so that means that there is nothing wrong with the memory.

I tried putting just 1 stick, replacing their position but always the same.

Could someone please tell me can I use this memory at all or is there any additional tweak that I shoud take in resolving this matter.

Thanks!

For memory upgrades I always buy cheap used memory from eBay.

Your problem has nothing to do with the memory. If it were, your computer would never boot, meaning it would never get past the BIOS load.

Blue screen means your operating system is corrupted. Download the Windows operating system on a DVD or a flash drive using another PC and then do a system reinstall with it. Do an upgrade -- not a fresh reinstall -- so that you don't lose your data.
 
Originally Posted by Gokhan
Originally Posted by tillnova
I have HP Pavilion dv6-21 Intel Core i3 CPU M 330 2.13GHz with 2x2GB RAM, my laptop supports up to 8GB upgrade. I needed upgrade and I went to Crucial website and their analytics showed compatible memory Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM. Since it was out of stock I find Kinston SODIMM DDR3L 1600 4GB so the same specific just different manufacturer.

After installation I got blue screen 'Your PC run into problemm and needs to restart', after that black screen 'Preparing Automatic Repair' and it just keeps going like that in circle.

When I click ESC and enter into Startup, in BIOS it shows 8GB memory and after running a memory test it shows 'memory test pass' so that means that there is nothing wrong with the memory.

I tried putting just 1 stick, replacing their position but always the same.

Could someone please tell me can I use this memory at all or is there any additional tweak that I shoud take in resolving this matter.

Thanks!

For memory upgrades I always buy cheap used memory from eBay.

Your problem has nothing to do with the memory. If it were, your computer would never boot, meaning it would never get past the BIOS load.

Blue screen means your operating system is corrupted. Download the Windows operating system on a DVD or a flash drive using another PC and then do a system reinstall with it. Do an upgrade -- not a fresh reinstall -- so that you don't lose your data.


Not necessarily. My brother picked up a new laptop a few years ago, it would run fine until you started trying to game on it, or opened 1 too many tabs in Chrome. Turns out 1 of the 2 4gb sticks was bad, had some obscene amount of errors when tested with Memtest.

Bought new sticks and it never had another BSOD.
 
Originally Posted by Gokhan
That's easy to test -- simply put the old memory back and see if everything goes back to normal.


That's what's already been suggested, hoping the OP posts back on that. But a BSOD most definitely doesn't mean your OS has been corrupted, there are many, MANY things that can cause a BSOD and a mismatch of memory voltage (which is wha is suspected here) is just one of them.
 
Originally Posted by edhackett
Originally Posted by JMJNet
OP needs to buy from Ebay or Amazon marketplace if somebody happen to sell it used.
Other source will be Craigslist.


Amazon has suitable memory from several brands, Corsair, OWC, TIMETEC Hynix being the best options. It was used in the Macbooks of that era. As I recall mac certified memory guaranteed proper performance.
Here's an example: Corsair DDR3 1066

Ed


This is awesome link. Price is actually very good.
 
Originally Posted by JMJNet
This is awesome link. Price is actually very good.

DIMMs don't go bad when they get old. Get used from eBay. It sells for under $30. It makes no sense to use new memory for a computer upgrade. It's unneeded, more expensive, and produces e-waste.
 
My old HP laptop did something similar but the memory went bad and caused a computer crash.
 
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