My motherboard does not recognise one of my RAM sticks in one slot.

Hi @karon ,

You can default the BIOS 3 ways.

i) get into BIOS and go to Save and Exit > Load optimized defaults > yes

ii) with tthe PC turned off and the power disconnected short out the motherboard's CLR_CMOS header pins for a few seconds to restore the BIOS to default values -see p.17 and p.4 in the user manual

iii). with the PC turned off and the power disconnected remove the coin cell battery from the motherboard and press and hold the power on button for 30 seconds and then release it. Reinsert the coin cell battery and then reconnect the power etc. make sure that you reinsert the battery the same way as it was before. Usually it is +ve on top.

@jayeff Thank you for your kind reply. Does it matter, which method I chose, or it does not matter?

Thanks in advance. : )

@karon

It doesn't matter which.

The easiest is option i) above to get into BIOS if the PC starts OK. Start the PC and press F2 when the makers logo is on the screen.

If the PC won't turn on and pass POST (power on self test) for whatever reason then use either option ii) or iii) above.

Motherboard BIOS does a self check of the major components i.e. CPU, ram, video, controllers etc before booting into the OS (operating system) which is on the hard drive (HDD or SSD). This is called POST

If it fails POST i.e it doesn't start properly, then connect a system speaker (example only) to the speaker header pins (see user manual p.14, F_ Panel front panel header) and listen for the beep error codes when it starts. The codes will tell you what is wrong.

@jayeff

With the RAM in the first slot, the computer does not start, the fans start turning, and it starts beeping.

With the RAM in the second slot, the computer starts properly, without any problems.

If i use method i), with the RAM being in the second slot, could this solve this problem?

Or the RAM has to be in the other slot?

@karon

If there is only one memory module then in has to be in slot 2

As it is designed for dual channel slot 2 is used when only one memory module is installed.

The motherboard support only up to 16GB when one module is used but up to 32GB if two are used

Sometimes even if the two memory modules are "exactly the same" in their specifications it won't work. This is the trap with dual channel. Sometimes it depends on the brand of the memory e.g. you may find that two different brands of memory having the same specifications work and another two don't. I don't know why this is

IF you do have two different modules e.g. 8GB and 4GB and they work but their specifications are different e.g. latency, timing, speed etc then it will work at whichever one has the slowest speed etc

You only need to reset the BIOS if something doesn't work or you want to alter something that does but you can't do this with memory except for specific memory settings etc. Look in the manual on p.22 but these won't alter that it won't work with only one memory module except if it is in slot 2 or if it doesn't like the memory for some reason.

If you get two identical modules from Crucial and their frequency and specs are supported by the motherboard or that Crucial say they will work and they don't then contact crucial about the problem as I assume that it did work when you has the 2 x 4GB modules inserted.

Did you check if the motherboard has the latest BIOS version installed (and also the chipset drivers) as I'm not sure if you changed the CPU or if it came with the 7th gen CPU?