Memory Question

S

silky62678

Guest
Can bad memory cause the bios not to come up at all?
 
Yes.

Badly seated memory can do the same, so make sure it's in correctly. :)
 
That would cause the system not to boot up at all, right? Would the memory cause that to happen like a month down the road "not touching inside the case"?
 
It's possible. Electronics do die early sometimes. We refer to it as infant mortality. Happens in the first 10% of equipment life. After that things are good for a long time until low cycle fatigue (thermal cycling from turning power on-off) and high cycle fatigue (vibration and shock) kill things off.

First make sure the power supply comes on (fans are spinning or case LED's are on) that the monitor actually is working and that the vid card is working. If you have speakers and the problem is in the vid card or monitor you should still hear a beep code of some kind at boot. Also, depending on your motherboard if your CPU fan is dead or disconnected the system may not boot as a safety precaution.

Next try removing and reseating the memory. It could have been loose from the beginning, or corroded pins, etc and finally lost contact. I had a POS memory stick taht had to be reseated every couple of months. Unlikely but, hey it's free and easy.

Last see if you can try someone elses memory in your machine or your memory in someone elses machine. If you have 2 memory sticks put them in one at a time in the first slot and see if either works.
 
If the machine is "playing dead" it can be alot more than the memory that is broken you know...
 
I tried replacing everything but the memory. I dont think that is the problem. When I start the computer the monitor doesnt come on, but i also DONT hear the bios beep. I think it is the bios, just wanted to make sure since that is the only thing i didnt replace.
 
OK, pull out as much as you can if you haven't done that allready. Leave only Mobo, CPU, memory and graphics and the power on switch. Then try again.
 
Did you try changing the power supply unit? That is usually the first thing that dies out...at least it's been that way in my experience. ;)
 
Originally posted by NetRyder
Did you try changing the power supply unit? That is usually the first thing that dies out...at least it's been that way in my experience. ;)
And in mine, the last. I never replaced a PSU except due to thunder storms... :)

But of course, check the PSU too.
 
Zedric, God loves you.

I've lost a couple of supplies (and not from lightning, I've got multiple surge protectors on everything since my stereo fried in 1988).

My favorite was the one that caught fire after its fan died.

I only buy ANTEC now. It may still fail, but they will replace the PC if it takes anything else with it.
 
Originally posted by LeeJend
My favorite was the one that caught fire after its fan died.
Yeah I've replaced a few PSU fans of course. :)
But I don't count that as PSU failure (unless they catch fire!!).
 

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