RAM went bad after power outage?

[Widjaja]

A couple of days ago a RAM stick went shortly after a power outage.
Personally it doesn't make sense to me how a power outage could cause this.

Is it possible?

This maybe a conspiracy but my Brother's onboard audio died the same day and his motherboard is basically the Z77 version of mine.

[mad1394]

The sensor of my old habu mouse died after a power outage, so I guess anything's possible where sudden lack of power is involved :P

[MN12BIRD]

I don't think it's the sudden lack of power but rather the spike that comes with it. Spikes or power surges are more common when the power goes out... or more likely when the power comes back on. That's why some people always say to unplug things during a power outage. It's so that when the power does kick back on you don't get a spike that damages your electronics. You guys have good surge protectors on your PC right? RIGHT?

I've seen good surge protectors save expensive TV's with my own eyes. My Friends Sisters house got struck by lighting and it killed most of the electronics in the house. The main entertainment center was on a high end surge protector. The surge protector itself was TOAST, burnt right into the carpet but the TV still worked! After that I bought a decent APC one with a 3020 joule rating. Even that didn't cost much, under $30.

But I don't think it's the big surges that do this damage to your PC. I bet it's the small ones that can do damage to ICs and other delicate parts on your motherboard. Some cheapo power bars claim to be surge protectors but have a pathetic rating like 600 joules and that's probably not enough to actually do much. Like I said I'm no expert but I've heard a lot of people have things die on their motherboard (like onboard LAN or onboard Sound) after a power failure. Seems to me there is a connection to be made!

[Widjaja]

Yes that could be a possible theory that the power spike was due to going back on.

I have a surge protector at the wall socket which the the six plug surge protector and 4 plug is connected to.
After what happened though, I am replacing it with a Huntkey 8-Plug surge protector.

The most annoying part would have to be going through the RMA procedure.
Since I am going to RMA through the online retailer, I do not get the possibility of Corsair's advance RMA which allows me to receive another pair of RAM sticks before I send it off so I would be without the desktop for who knows how long.

None the less I have bought a replacement pair of standard high profile Corsair vengeance locally.
It appears my Motherboard and other components are all working properly fortunately.

[n-ster]

very possible RAM can be affected

This is why you use surge protectors... It should also scale with the pricew of your PC, ie: a 3000$ PC should get a freaking good one while a 1000$ one should get the best he can with 50~100$

[CaptainFailcon]

a surge protector wont save you from a low to medium sized spike for that you need a a UPS with active line management surge protectors are made to stop massive spikes like more then %30 over allowed tolerances and the cheap ones from Walmart are pretty worthless

[n-ster]

if you do your research, a good surge protector can save your PC from practically anything short of lightning lol

[Protagonist]

In our country we get power outages regularly, where i live power outage occurs at list once a week, but sometimes several times during the day or week. The thing that baffles me is its been like this for many years and i have never used a surge protector, tho i have thought of buying one.

Good thing is despite all the outages, i have never had any electrical appliance damaged. But normally when the power goes out most people switch off power from the wall sockets just to be safe

[Protagonist]

Oh i remember an incident like 7 years ago, i had finished building a new rig then when i plugged it to the power the PSU fried immediately, so did two others that i got as replacement.

The thing is it was not due to power outage but back then i had a surge protector, and when i removed the surge protector i found out that it was responsible for frying the other three PSU coz i got them fixed and they were working, so since then i went back to plugging my computer straight to the wall socket only thing i add is an extension cable with no surge protector.

[n-ster]

That's why you buy a quality one anmd not any random thing

[westom]

Originally Posted by Widjaja

Yes that could be a possible theory that the power spike was due to going back on.

Power off does not cause hardware damage. But when manufacturing defects occur - mostly observed during power cycling - then junk science automatically invents destructive power cycling.

That protector also does nothing. Basic electricity. It does not do anything - remains inert - until voltages well exceed the let-through number. Well over 300 volts. Power off never creates such voltages.

If you had a surge or surges, then you are constantly replacing less robust devices including dimmer switches, digital clocks, bathroom GFCI, smoke detectors, etc. Provide a list of other surge damaged appliances. Information that would better avert future damage.

Due to protection inside all appliances, potentially destructive surges occur maybe once every seven years. Tiny destructive surges are a classic urban myth invented to explain things that other myths cannot explain.

What does a protector do without an always short connection to earth ground? It must earth energy somewhere. Sometimes it earths destructively via any adjacent appliance - ie your computer. Bypassing superior protection already inside your supply.

Power off never cause electronics damage. As even international design standards defined well over 40 years ago. For example, the expression in one standard for all low voltages is in all capital letters: "No damage region".

Well, one who knew power off cause damage then delivered the dead body. I found a failed pullup resistor whose only purpose was to bootstrap the regulator chip on power on. The resistor would have failed months ago. But failure could only be noticed during a power cycle. He made conclusions only from observation. Classic junk science. Reality means hard facts and numbers. One who has learned for generations from hard facts says power off did not harm anything. Your failure is a classic manufacturing defect no different than that failed pullup resistor. Most failures are only manufacturing defects.

Remember all those failed electrolytic capacitors? Many also blamed surges for those failures. Until that manufacturing defect was eventually learned world wide.

[westom]

Originally Posted by n-ster

a good surge protector can save your PC from practically anything short of lightning lol

Any protector that does not protect from typically destructive surges - ie lightning - is best called a scam. Routine for over 100 years were earthed protectors that make direct lightning strikes irrelevant. Ineffective products are promoted only by hearsay, wild speculation, and urban myth.

More responsible manufacturers provide effective solutons including General Electric, Intermatic, Square D, ABB, Siemens, Polyphaser, and Leviton. A Cutler-Hammer solution to make direct lightning strikes irrelevant sells in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50.

Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimally sized 'whole house' protector is rated 50,000 amps. Because direct lightning strikes must be earthed. And even the protector does not fail. The superior solution also costs less money - about $1 per protected appliance.

A majority are easily told to spend more money on protectors that do not claim to protect from lightning or other destructive surges. Anyone can read its spec numbers. Most do not. Most, instead, believe what a least technically knowledgeable layman recommends.

Meanwhile, the OP does not post anything that implies a surge existed. Otherwise, he had other also damaged appliances. OP examples a classic manufacturing defect.

[karolpl2004]

most times, power surges follow any power outage. obviously it had to happen for a reason! unless u didnt pay your electric bill =p. you can always rely on a surge protector to take care of ur equipment. and talking from experience WESTOM is quite right, rely on a branded one rather than those bs generic ones. =)

[Widjaja]

Originally Posted by karolpl2004

most times, power surges follow any power outage. obviously it had to happen for a reason! unless u didnt pay your electric bill =p. you can always rely on a surge protector to take care of ur equipment. and talking from experience WESTOM is quite right, rely on a branded one rather than those bs generic ones. =)

I have replaced it with an 8 socket Huntkey one.
So hopefully all will be well now.

[D4S4]

a good psu can save the pc - we had a short, less than a second outage couple of years ago (i presume with a slight spike), i was playing crysis with a slightly higher oc on the cpu than it is now drawing at least 350W (edit - the whole rig) and the rig didn't even reboot. dad's pc was bricked - crappy psu. mine was a really great buy back then, it has proven worth every penny.

[St.Alia-Of-The-Knife]

a few hours after reading this thread yesterday, there was a power outage possibly because of the heat and i remembered to unplug everything when the power outage struck

[bud--]

Originally Posted by westom

Power off does not cause hardware damage.

A utility power failure can also result in surges. They are not real likely when power is restored.

The best information on surges and surge protection I have seen is at:
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf
- "How to protect your house and its contents from lightning: IEEE guide for surge protection of equipment connected to AC power and communication circuits" published by the IEEE in 2005 (the IEEE is a major organization of electrical and electronic engineers).
And also:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/p.../surgesfnl.pdf
- "NIST recommended practice guide: Surges Happen!: how to protect the appliances in your home" published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2001

The IEEE surge guide is aimed at people with some technical background.

Originally Posted by westom

If you had a surge or surges, then you are constantly replacing less robust devices including dimmer switches, digital clocks, bathroom GFCI, smoke detectors, etc.

The NIST surge guide suggests that most failures are caused by high voltage between power and phone/cable/... wires.

Originally Posted by westom

What does a protector do without an always short connection to earth ground? It must earth energy somewhere.

The IEEE surge guide explains (starting page 30) that plug-in protectors work primarily by limiting the voltage from each wire (power and signal) to the ground at the protector. The voltage between the wires going to the protected equipment is safe for the protected equipment.


When using a plug-in protector all interconnected equipment needs to be connected to the same protector. External connections, like cable, also must go through the protector. Connecting all wiring through the protector prevents damaging voltages between power and signal wires.

Originally Posted by westom

Any protector that does not protect from typically destructive surges - ie lightning - is best called a scam.

Westom's believes plug-in protectors are a scam.

Both the IEEE and NIST surge guides say they are effective.

Originally Posted by westom

More responsible manufacturers provide effective solutons including General Electric, Intermatic, Square D, ABB, Siemens, Polyphaser, and Leviton.

All these manufacturers except SquareD and Polyphaser make plug-in protectors and say they are "effective solutions".

SquareD says for their "best" service panel suppressor "electronic equipment may need additional protection by installing plug-in [protectors] at the point of use."

Originally Posted by westom

A Cutler-Hammer solution to make direct lightning strikes irrelevant sells in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50.

If westom is talking about service panel protectors, provide a link to a Lowes or Home Depot protector for less than $50 that has westom's rating of 50,00 amps.

Originally Posted by westom

Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimally sized 'whole house' protector is rated 50,000 amps.

The author of the NIST surge guide looked at the surge current that could come in on residential power wires. The maximum with any reasonable probability of occurring was 10,000A per wire. That is based on a 100,000A lighting strike to a utility pole adjacent to the house in typical urban overhead distribution.

Recommended ratings for service panel protectors is in the IEEE surge guide on page 18. Ratings far higher than 10,000A per wire mean the protector will have a long life.