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I picked up a stick of memory tonight to max out at 16GB supported by the motherboard.

I already had a stick of 8GB which has been working well.

This is the motherboard: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAGSC95H7935

And this is the memory I purchased tonight: https://www.frys.com/product/8368167?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

After the installation, the system does not detect it. I checked in BIOS, and the story is the same there.

Could someone tell me why this may be? Are these units compatible? If not, what makes them incompatible?

Edit: This morning I took out both memory sticks and used compressed air to clean the slots in the motherboard. After that, I was able to get the new memory stick to work by itself. Then, I added the old one. They both worked.

Hence, it appears that the problem may have been related to dust or misalignment during the installation. Thanks for you help!

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  • Have you tried only the new one? Is it detected but not in conjunction with the old one? That may be explained if they are very different.
    – user931000
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 3:58
  • I have not. I may try that. There was also a thread I found which mentioned that voltage may be an issue. The old one is working at 1.5V according to the BIOS. The new one is rated the same. Could be a defective stick altogether.
    – MadPhysicist
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 4:07
  • Gabriela's suggestion of trying the new stick in isolation is a good starting point. I'd also suggest disabling XMP if you have it enabled (it'll be in memory overclock settings on that board - also disable any manual overclocks). Do you know the model number of your existing stick? Unfortunately Pacific Sun's specifications are very sparse. The only other thing I can think of is one is single-rank and the other is dual-rank, which should theoretically work fine in dual-channel but tends to not be recommended.
    – Bob
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 4:37
  • Oh, if you can get the new stick working in isolation, also try swapping the order. It's possible that the second channel/slot on your system is broken (or just dusty!).
    – Bob
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 4:39
  • Please see the edit. Thank you!
    – MadPhysicist
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 15:46

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Its impossible to say with certainty without knowing all the details. There could be a number of reasons the memory isnt detected.

Here is what we do know:

  • The motherboard you have supports up to 16 GB of RAM, so it should support another 8 GB module.
  • Based on the specifications listed on the website, the memory your purchased is compatible with the motherboard. However, this doesnt mean it is compatible with the original stick of RAM.

There are a lot of tests we can try, but my gut feeling is you purchased RAM that is in conflict with the original RAM. This is a not too uncommon mistake people make.

Remove the original memory and look at the label on it. Compare it to the label on the memory you purchased. Are they EXACTLY the same? The memory you purchased is PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3. If ANY of those three parts are different, this could be the problem. For example, if your old memory has the letter "L" after "DDR3" that would cause the new memory not to work. If any of the three parts are not matching, I would return the memory and purchase memory that is identical.

Please report back with a comment and let us know what you find.

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