RAM sticks work well alone, not together - Help

[izzikio_rage]

Hey everyone

Decided to upgrade my old inspiron a little by adding some RAM. There was one stick of Samsung m471b5273dh0-ch9 4GB DDR3 already in it, ordered exactly the same from Amazon.

Installed it excitedly and booted up Unreal tournament to test RAM usage. After about 15-20 min the laptop froze and i got weird colorful artifacts on the screen. Did a hard reboot, started browsing, again got the same in 10-15 min. Both modules seem to work ok when used individually (tried on both the RAM slots).

Should i return the RAM? Get it replaced? Need advise

Dell Inspiron N4110
Intel i3 2.3Ghz,
4GB RAM, 1TB hard disk
orignal power brick, used with a laptop cooler stand.

 

[rijinpk1]

post a screenshot of cpu-z memory tab for both memory modules.
also if possible try with a live linux cd as well.

 

[izzikio_rage]

This is with both the memory chips installed. It crashes within minutes of clicking this. *uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/ecafe550074f06432c2269b25fa69e73.jpg

 

[izzikio_rage]

This is from each of the memory chips. To me they seem identical in every way. What do you suggest. I don't have linux at all *uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/e6e24ee32dc66511b21a93b3fe5af490.jpg*uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/946411435129ef509a6a38329558fd57.jpg

 

[izzikio_rage]

Refitted the RAM again and now the channel # shows dual. *uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/c07ec32eefc1794461a02ff59e88ecfe.jpg

 

[izzikio_rage]

And here is the SPD tab for both the slots *uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/6e86a7e6e741ccf1a586ae27413728ea.jpg*uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180228/90232db49cb6774f6043df3144566f27.jpg

 

[rijinpk1]

you have tried both slots with single ram,right?
if it has shown as single channel with both rams installed, i hope you may not have fitted the rams properly. make sure that slots do not have any dirts on it and firmly fit each of the ram.

Do you experience the freezing problem only when your system is on load? Timings on ram seems identical.

 

[izzikio_rage]

Tried both the slots, they work well with one RAM. My guess is an issue with the placement as well. Will use a blower to clean the slots

It seems to start when the system is stressed. But by CPU monitor shows just 3-4GB RAM use and a CPU temp of 62-65 deg. Plus for the next few boots it freezes very quickly

 

[rijinpk1]

one more thing you can try is to update the BIOS to the latest version, restore to default settings and configure it to the apt settings.
Meanwhile is it possible to check voltage of both ram from BIOS?

 

[patkim]

Also do run RAM tests using Memtest 86. Try both ways with each stick of RAM alternating between both slots and both put together. See if it reports any errors and if so under what conditions/situations.

Also try re-installing or in case any newer version is available then installing Chipset drivers.

 

[rijinpk1]

Also do run RAM tests using Memtest 86.

His system works fine with single ram and he tried both rams. so ram tests like Memtest 86 could be waste of time I suppose.

 

[rijinpk1]

Any update @izzikio_rage ? Did you solve your problem?

 

[izzikio_rage]

Sorry guys was traveling. So did some experimenting and got some help this weekend. It seems there is an issue with my slot. If i put both sticks then for some reason the top one does not fit perfectly. My brother took both the sticks out and basically pushed them back all the way in, it fit after some tries. Seems to work ok for now.