I have an ASUS M4A78LT-M-LE motherboard, and I bought a new stick of RAM for it (Kingston KVR1333D3N9 – 4GB, 10600 CL9), however when I put this new stick in, the computer does not boot. It powers on, but the screen stays black, hard drives do not spin up, etc. This occurs when I put the new RAM stick in alongside the old one or by itself in either of the two DIMMs.
Thinking that the RAM stick was faulty, I took it back for a replacement, but the replacement suffers from exactly the same problem./
What could be causing this? Is the RAM not compatible? Should I be buying a different brand or is my motherboard faulty?
The RAM timings in the BIOS are all AUTO.
The old RAM stick is 2GB G-Skill DDR3 CL9. I am 100% certain that the motherboard is ASUS M4A78LT-M-LE (sudo lshw), and both RAM sticks are DDR3.
Best Answer
Please make sure you reseat the RAM sticks firmly (Until you hear two clicks, then push a little more.), and also try them in different DIMM slots. Make sure there is no dust in the way inside the DIMM or on the RAM itself.
If this does not work I would try them in another computer to attempt to find the real issue - the replacement sticks (unlikely, just like what psusi said), or the Motherboard. I did a little Googling, and it appears that psusi is right about BIOS updates. There are some and you can get them from the ASUS website for your laptop here. If you need instructions on installing the new BIOS update, don't hesitate to comment on my answer.
EDIT> I did not even notice that you changed from DDR2 to DDR3. Robotnik is right. Although, I am unsure how it's possible for you to mistakenly insert DDR3 into a DDR2 slot, as the RAM sticks have notches at different levels along the stick to prevent just that.EDIT2> Nevermind, I have before seen computers that have the ability to support both DDR2 and DDR3. Awesome dude.