Why was my computer unresponsive/dead this morning, for no reason?

[Tommygunn]

I turned my desktop off last night without anything being abnormal.
Came back to it this morning and nothing.
The only sign of life was that the fans fired up at reduced speed i.e. noise off (default is full speed - a feature of my Asus P5W DH Deluxe).

There was absolutely no signal to either the monitor or my TV.

I went through the usual checks - leads, using a multimeter to check for voltage, swapping GPU slots and I got nothing.

I then decided to try my Hardisk (Western Digital Sata3, 320Gb, 16Mb WD3200KS), GPU (Sapphire X1950GT) and Memory (OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC Rev 2) on my mates computer and at least try to do some elimination on his Motherboard.

I tested the HD first, no problem. I then did my HD and GPU together, and again, no problem.
I then put in my memory and that is when his computer(my few parts) went nutty. The computer simple failed to respond maybe some slight glitches from the fans but nothing else.

Nearly did a woopsy when I put his memory back in and it fired up and shut down a few seconds later. Uh oh.

When I put my friends computer back together it was fine. Heart attack over.

So, it would seem that the memory is to blame.

First of all I need clarification that it is not a compatibility issue with my mate's M/Board an ASRock P55 pro/usb3.

If that is not a problem then I presume that by a process of elimination it must be my RAM.

Are the symptoms typical of RAM gone bad? Do they go bad like this?

Of course, I've not tested my M/Board or PSU but at the moment my RAM seems the likely suspect.

Any help much appreciated,
Tom.

 

[95Viper]

Anything made by man can go bad, in an instant. So, yes, they can become defective.

Anyhow, did you try seeing if you can get it going by just using one stick of memory at a time; until you hit the bad one?
Or, trying some other memory(borrowed or laying around).

 

[Tommygunn]

That was my next thought, to try one stick at a time. However, I've had a bit of wine, and like guns, it's not the time to go messing with comp parts so I'll hang on till the morning.
Will report back.

Tom.

 

[95Viper]

That was my next thought, to try one stick at a time. However, I've had a bit of wine, and like guns, it's not the time to go messing with comp parts so I'll hang on till the morning.
Will report back.

Tom.

I dunno... I do some of my best work after a few tequila shots.

Whatever you do, let us know how it turns out.

 

[Tommygunn]

Ok, tried my RAM sticks singularly and in different slots and no luck.

Does the computer function without RAM inserted because without them the comp behaves exactly the same which would indicate a Processor, M/Board or PSU problem, since they are the remaining untested components.

Tom.

 

[Frick]

Ok, tried my RAM sticks singularly and in different slots and no luck.

Does the computer function without RAM inserted because without them the comp behaves exactly the same which would indicate a Processor, M/Board or PSU problem, since they are the remaining untested components.

Tom.

No, you need RAM. Run memtest86+.

 

[Tommygunn]

The computer doesn't work regardless of RAM permutations, so I can't run anything.

Tom.

 

[95Viper]

Try this:
Turn-off PSU switch.
Remove the power cord from the wall.
Remove the CMOS battery (check it with a meter, if it is ok, then re-use it).
With the power off and battery out, press the start button on the case for a few seconds.
Now, go have a soda, coffee, tea, ale, beer or whatever your preferred beverage is.
Re-place battery, plug in power supply(turn-on) and (Cross fingers)press start.

Also, just a thought, try booting with NO USB Devices plugged in... that includes mice, keyboards, etc.

Plus, you might wanna try the latest bios, if you don't already have it installed. I believe it is like 3001. They fixed a few problems dealing with the boot problems in a couple of versions.

 

[Tommygunn]

Just done all that you said and nothing. Same behaviour.

Tom.