Ram problems

Usenye

I have an HP Omen  880 with two 8 gig ram cards.  Early this year my system could only recognize 8gigs.  Last night I finally got around to opening the case and inspecting the ram cards.  I found that the clip holding one of the cards was loose and the card was not housed properly so I re-housed the card and secured the clip.  When I restarted the computer I still only had 8gigs of ram.  I ran the system memory debugger and it found no problems.  I then tried switching the two ram cards, I figured if I still had 8gigs then it would be the slot no longer worked. But, instead what happened was that my computer no longer booted up at all.  The internal red lights come on and the fans start but the computer does not run and there is a beeping noise that resembles an "emergency broadcast signal".  Three slow low pitched beeps followed by three high pitched beeps.  I moved the Ram cards back to the original positions and the problem persists.

I am now at a loss for what to try next.  even just being able to have it run at 8gigs of ram again would be better than how it is now.  Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

TSTonyV

Have you also tried running a single stick of memory at a time? I would definitely try that first, to rule out if one of the memory sticks is actually bad. 

I would also try clearing your CMOS. Somewhere on the motherboard you should see a round silver battery that looks like a large watch battery. Power down the computer, unplug the power cord, then pull that out for 5-10 minutes, then plug everything back in and try turning the computer back on again. 

Usenye

I attempted booting up with each card alone in each slot and had no success. I then tried unplugging the power and pulling the CMOS for 10 minutes.  Still no change when I try and power up.

TSTonyV

The beeps you're getting are a POST code, indicating the computer is detecting some kind of hardware issue on startup. 

Try re-seating your other components as well, like the video card if you have one in the system. If that doesn't fix it, I'd probably recommend bringing the system to the repair desk at your local Micro Center. 

Usenye

I will try re-seating components as you suggest but I suspect that the problem is strictly with the ram as that was the only hardware I was working with.  As for bringing it into my local Micro Center, that would not be an ideal option as I have moved since I bout the computer and am now a 5 hour drive from the nearest Micro Center.  I do thank you for all your help, even if the re-seating does not work I will at least know that I have made every attempt that I am capable of.

TSTonyV

Yeah, five hours is a bit of a drive! In that case, I'd suggest looking for some HP authorized service providers closer to you, or seeing if you have any local computer repair shops. Let us know if you have any other questions!