Problems with memory upgrade: Librem 14 won't boot

Yes, I followed all this. And it’s really sad…

I thought so. But what I don’t understand is that mainstream memory kits are not supported by the Intel FSP… And that I’m so unlucky to pick two of those memory kits which are not supported. At the same time I can’t find all those “I payed so much for this useless crap and now I payed even more for memory which isn’t supported yada yada yada…” posts in this forum. And that’s really surprising…

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I find it more surprising that my Librem 14 works just fine with very similar RAM, but yours does not. Here is a photo of my Librem 14 after disassembly:

Yes and it’s hard to accept for me that you were just lucky and I wasn’t. If we were talking about a free software project I’d find it much easier to accept that – but we are talking about the Intel FSP.

I simply can’t believe that Kingston is selling memory modules which are known not to work on Intel hardware and with the Intel FSP…

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Still, all what was tested until now does not rule out that your hardware could simply be faulty…
Maybe someone nice here on this forum would accept that you send them both your DRAM modules for them to try on their Librem 14. If those work fine on someone else’s L14, at least you will know the problem originates from your device.

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Yes, you are right… Is someone here (living in the EU) willing to test these memory modules in his/her Librem 14?

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I’m surprised the RAM slots require one stick to be flipped (left-to-right) different than the other. There should be no confusion because of the alignment cut/slot, but it seems strange.

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It’s pretty odd. IIRC, the Librem 14 had some delay because it had issues with the RAM slots/combinations (IIRC it was a blog comment by mrchromebox or kylerankin; I only recall this because it surprised me since I had thought they were using a bog-standard mainboard).

Memory timing is tricky. If you hadn’t tried with another pair, I would have assumed the sticks had problems meeting its advertised timings.

If you can still return your 2 x 16GB kit, I suppose you could try a 1 x 32GB (with the same stick that FranklyFlawless is using). Even if it doesn’t work as a single, it probably would work paired with your 8GB chip. You wouldn’t get dual channel performance, but it might be an option. And that way, if funds become available, you would only need to upgrade with a single 32GB chip instead of a pair.

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I strongly doubt this to be possible: if bought online, most certainly not (unless maybe still inside the sealed anti-static package as a proof of never used); and if returned to a brick-and-mortar outlet, they would not want nor have the means to exhaustively test both modules to insure they were not damaged and still meet specifications…

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I guess you were right… :confused: I sold the two memory kits mentioned above and tried to buy the same memory modules @FranklyFlawless has. I couldn’t get the HX426S16IBK2/64 kit anymore so I took the KF426S16IBK2/64 memory kit. And my Librem 14 won’t boot.

I really don’t believe that I’m so unlucky to pick three unsupported memory kits and no one else here complains about problems about memory upgrades.

Thank you all for your help. I’ll try to contact support again (I didn’t get an answer for 6 weeks now…).

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@JCS will ping the support team for you.

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While trying some older Coreboot versions (without any luck) I stumbled over the fact that there are two Librem 14 hardware revisions: Librem 14 v1-01 and Librem 14 v1-02. Mine is a Librem 14 v1-01 and I wanted to ask (especially you @FranklyFlawless): which Librem 14 do you have? Thanks in advance!

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Same as yours.

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Thank you! :expressionless:

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If you are able to, take a photo of your Librem 14 disassembled to compare against mine.

Sure! The light isn’t very good… but I think the picture is good enough.

btw, you really have no CMOS battery?

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The photo uploaded above is an obsolete photo without the CMOS battery, so here is a more recent one:

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OK, that’s interesting. I have an additional component to the left of the CPU, I think it’s a capacitor… Here’s a closeup:

I searched for the imprint (“G157”) and found some reports about malfunctioning ASUS mainboards caused by misplaced capacitors [1] [2]. As I understand it the capacitor in this story plays a role in powering the RAM memory… So this might be relevant in the given context :slight_smile:

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And just for the sake of completeness: The area left of the wireless module looks quite different… Since I don’t really know what I’m looking at I’ll leave it at that.

I was only saying that I have a Librem 14 v1-01 because that’s what the imprint on the chassis says… Perhaps my original mainboard was replaced with a Librem 14 v1-02 mainboard when I sent in my Librem 14 because of other issues. When I received my L14 in June 2022 I had severe power issues and I had to send it in at least three times until these issues where fixed. Not until January 2024 I got my L14 as it is now. And if I remember correctly the chassis was never replaced. So I can only guess I have a Librem 14 v1-02.

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No motherboard changes:

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@jonathon.hall Could you shed some light on that?

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