Brand new Crucial Ram memory doesnt work

[WW3hasstarted]

i used their scanner tool to work out memory for a motherboard for a friend here http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-inf...-us-memory 

when it arrived i fitted it but the pc will not boot up with it installed, i see nothing on the monitor at all

if i take the new memory out the pc is fine again, epic sigh ( i also swapped his 2gb from the 2 matching slots to the other 2 slots and pc works with his ram in either pair of slots proving its not motherboard slots faulty) 

why ?  i phone crucial who say do i have lates BIOS ... now ive no idea how to update BIOS and i dont want to do that for fear of wrecking my mated PC ! 

looks like i need to send it back, any ideas ??  mates pc has 2gb installed ( should be enough to run win10) but i wanted to add 2gb more so he'd have 4gb

pc is running winxp at mo

thanks

[Kingfish]

Your not giving not details of the PC but still not all older systems will take 2x 2gb sticks even though they will take 1 2gb stick and one 1gb stick.

Do put back the working ram then go onto the manufacturers website and update the bios, you wont break anything.

[dueda]

Out of my experience fiddling with PCs thru the last 20 years:

Usually RAM modules don't mix and match, gotta buy and install a full set, removing all the old units.
Even when the brand and stated speeds are the same, it may happen to fail - That's why they sell "matched sets" tested to run stable at designated speed.
Special attention to latency at the selected speed.

And some motherboards are just not what one could expect just by reading the manual, they don't tell all.
They may let you populate all RAM banks with all types/sizes of modules, but most probably not;
Example: Can have 4x 1GB 1333 in any slots but only 2x 2GB 1333 in 0-2 or 2x 1GB 1667 in 1-3.

[WW3hasstarted]

got suprbay message ..peterjack90512 has just replied to a thread which you have subscribed to. This thread is titled Brand new Crucial Ram memory doesnt work.

Here is an excerpt of the message:
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Refresh the RAM and free the device memory. Delete or uninstall all the unnecessary data files or applications from your system. It may fix the RAM issue on your system. Otherwise, report it to HP Support Australia

# dont know why but that message doesnt show on this thread..maybe as he added a link to HP ??


so my reply..

thanks in the end i sent the new memory back to crucial for a full refund, their website software ran on the pc and told me what to buy so for what ever reason it didnt work

have left my mates pc as it was

[waregim]

got suprbay message ..peterjack90512 has just replied to a thread which you have subscribed to. This thread is titled Brand new Crucial Ram memory doesnt work.

Here is an excerpt of the message:
------------------------------------------
Refresh the RAM and free the device memory. Delete or uninstall all the unnecessary data files or applications from your system. It may fix the RAM issue on your system. Otherwise, report it to HP Support Australia

# dont know why but that message doesnt show on this thread..maybe as he added a link to HP ??


so my reply..

thanks in the end i sent the new memory back to crucial for a full refund, their website software ran on the pc and told me what to buy so for what ever reason it didnt work

have left my mates pc as it was

1. At bootup see if anything on the screen identifies the motherboard manufacturer, else go into setup BIOS and look for any motherboard identification. Also look for BIOS version/date.

2. Google the manufacturer and go to their website, look for SUPPORT, and search for the model name/number. Look for DRIVERS, or more particularly MANUAL. Look in the manual under MEMORY and pay particular attention to the recommended memory types and *configuration*. Grab the latest BIOS update file and compare the numbers/date against the BIOS number/date that should also appear in bootup and/or Setup.

A 32 bit system with 4 slots may not be able to accept 2GB chips, as they are not designed for more than 4Gb. (ie. 4x1Gb)

A 64 bit system would be pretty pointless if limited to only 4GB, so *should* accept 2GB chips if configured correctly and of the right memory type.

[WW3hasstarted]

i sent back the memory to Crucial and got a full refund, if there online tool tells us what to buy and then it doesnt work im not going to spend an entire day helping a mate install memory on an old PC going through tons of steps,

thanks for the suggestions though.