My son has a new Framework 13 AI 340 DIY edition. We bought ‘Kingston Fury Impact KF556S40IBK2-32’ 32GB DDR5 to go with it. We’ve been through two separate kits of this RAM, having assumed the first kit was bad, but both exhibit the same symptoms.
When the laptop is powered on, the power button LED lights, but the screen stays black. After about a minute or two, the LED on the right hand side flashes a sequence - all greens, then an orange, then a 0xC5 error code in blue and green flashes, which we believe indicates a RAM issue?
We’ve tried reseating the RAM multiple times, having only one stick in a slot, trying both slots and both sticks separately, tried two different sets of the RAM, and all do exactly the same thing.
If we try with no RAM fitted at all, the initial sequence of green flashes includes a red flash which we believe indicates the mainboard is at least detecting RAM vs no RAM situation.
To confirm - the expected behavior is a longish wait as it validates the RAM and then a BIOS screen or “insert bootable device” screen, correct? With no flashing lights on the side?
If you get the 12 green flashs at the start, you do not have a RAM issue.
The C5 code in an unknown cause. The AMD codes are totally different from the Intel ones.
I have those exact same RAM chips and they work fine here. I have a total of 64GB RAM (2 chips installed). But, I have a 7840 AMD CPU, and not the AI 340.
The diagnosis steps would be to:
Remove the NVME SSD, Wifi, Battery.
Power off and leave the PSU unplugged for 2 minutes.
Plug in the PSU and try to boot the laptop, Pressing F2 on/off quite quickly to try to get into the BIOS screens.
Note, you will not get into the BIOS is the RAM is not working, so try just one RAM chip in at a time. Just so you get to the BIOS screens.
It can take 15 minutes for memory training, before it reaches the BIOS screen.
These sticks are 16GBx2 so we have two installed for total 32GB. We’ve tried all varieties of one stick in either slot at a time, across two sets of two sticks. So I’m pretty confident it’s not bad RAM.
We’ve tried removing SSD etc. It’s been left on for over an hour. I think it fails at the point the flashes occur. No BIOS access.
Where do you see the AMD codes different? The searching I’ve done only ends up pointing to that one list of the flash codes, where the C5 indicated RAM issues.
One concern is when I ordered the RAM, I used the validated list for the older AMD laptop 13 models as I don’t think the AI 300 list was out then. The new AI 300 validated RAM list appears not to contain these sticks despite them being 5600, and in fact it lists slower 4800 Kingston Fury sticks instead, which is very weird. So now I’m wondering if these 5600 sticks just don’t work with the AI 300 boards for some reason. None of the listed validated sticks are available at a reasonable price (the framework marketplace 32GB is more than 2x the price) so I don’t wish to go that route.
My suspicion is that the Kingston RAM timing is CL40 vs the Crucial RAM being CL46 and this tighter timing on the Kingston RAM is failing on the new AI-300 boards. Interestingly, the Kingston RAM is listed as validated for the older AMD 7040 FW13 boards, which indicates that something about the AI-300 boards has altered with respect to RAM timings. This is not obviously apparent on the FW13 information pages and might be something you wish to point out to potential customers, especially for example someone who may be purchasing just the AI-300 mainboard to upgrade an existing FW13 chassis, planning to re-use their existing RAM - this might not work, if they had this Kingston RAM for instance.
Hopefully this information is useful for future customer queries wrt RAM compatibility.
Today I tried assembling my AMD AI300 framework, and put in 2x Fury 16GB sticks ( KF556S40IB-16)… power button lights up but the screen is black. In my case the code is BGBGGGBB. Not sure if I should try to return this RAM and get a different pair.
Also, there is another customer with the same error code with Kingston Fury KF556S40IBK2-32
Yeah that Kingston memory doesn’t work. I assume the timings are too tight for the majority of memory controllers. I returned that kit and got the Crucial CT48G56C46S5 from the QVL list and that worked without issue.
I went back to my local computer store and they said it’s not a problem to exchange the kingston for different memory. They have these other types in store:
G.SKILL Ripjaws, F5-5600S4645A16GX1-RS
CRUCIAL CT16G56C46S5
The Ripjaws is available at the location but I wasn’t sure and decided to rather have them order the Crucial memory which should arrive in 1-2 days. It’s without commitment, but they will only let me do this one return so I have to make sure it will work.