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What's Killing My RAM?

BKKSteve

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I bought this pc 11 months ago and all was fine up until 3 weeks ago when I noticed only 2GB of RAM was showing. Belarc Advisor showed Dimm0=2096mb, Dimm1=16mb. I swapped the sticks over on the mobo and Dimm0=16mb, Dimm1=2096mb.
The pc POSTs and starts fine with the one good stick installed but fails to POST with just the faulty stick.
Thinking I had a bad stick of RAM I ordered a new kit of 2x4GB instead of RMAing the originals.
The new kit installed ok and showed 8Gb installed. Now this morning only 4GB is showing. This time Dimmo=4096, Dimm1=empty.
I tried increasing the voltage to 1.56v and manually setting clock speed to 667mhz but still the same.

I'm running Win7 64bit, not overclocked, BIOS flashed to latest edition, all settings an Auto.

Please help.
 

95Viper

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I bought this pc 11 months ago

Well, first it has a one year warranty, by the site info. So, I would contact them as quickly as you can.
Second, static could be one thing.
Third motherboard going, maybe?
Since, you swapped the memory and it did not kill the other sticks immediately, makes for a confusing problem.
Something maybe causing a spike in voltage in a dimm slot.
If the dimms that went bad were plugged into the same DIMM1 slot each time... I would sorta lean toward a motherboard problem.

Either way, you need to get the problem solved with Aria PC while it is still under warranty.
 
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I have to fix loads of PC's as the season changes to winter; and it's mostly RAM too. Seems RAM doesn't like season changes sometimes. One of the the two most common rigs that I have to fix is kept in a flat that suffers from damp problems, and the other rig is in a decent house but kept in the basement (recording studio).

Could any of this relate to your rig? If so, keep some of those "silica gel" sachets that you get with new trainers etc. inside your rig.

Oh, and welcome to TPU, Land of the Genius and Home of the Great :p
 

BKKSteve

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Different Dimm on each ocassion. The 2Gb stick was in Dimm1, the 4Gb stick Dimm0.
I have already contacted Aria about this and have an RMA number from them but it means being without my one and only pc for up to 4 weeks. As it is in constant use by all the family I'm reculant to do that - only as a last resort.
 

BKKSteve

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I have to fix loads of PC's as the season changes to winter; and it's mostly RAM too. Seems RAM doesn't like season changes sometimes. One of the the two most common rigs that I have to fix is kept in a flat that suffers from damp problems, and the other rig is in a decent house but kept in the basement (recording studio).

Could any of this relate to your rig? If so, keep some of those "silica gel" sachets that you get with new trainers etc. inside your rig.

Oh, and welcome to TPU, Land of the Genius and Home of the Great :p
No damp issues with the house, on a desk in the lounge.
 
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That PC uses Mushkin RAM, which carries a lifetime warranty. Most name brand RAM producers do.

At any rate, it sounds like the board is going bad. Have you swapped the new sticks around to see what happens?
 
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Sounds like failing motherboard/PSU then.

Any other electricals in your house randomly dying? Any light bulbs dying regularly?

RAM does die randomly - and 99% of RAM comes with lifetime warranty...
 

BKKSteve

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That PC uses Mushkin RAM, which carries a lifetime warranty. Most name brand RAM producers do.

At any rate, it sounds like the board is going bad. Have you swapped the new sticks around to see what happens?
I have swapped the sticks over on the board and the fault moves from Dimm to Dimm.
Sounds like failing motherboard/PSU then.

Any other electricals in your house randomly dying? Any light bulbs dying regularly?

RAM does die randomly - and 99% of RAM comes with lifetime warranty...
No other electrical issues in the house.
 

BKKSteve

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If the mainboard is the problem, how come the fault moves across Dimm slots when I swap the RAM sticks over? I could understand that if the fault was just on one slot, but one stick on both kits is now totally dead, having died in different slots.
 

JrRacinFan

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Do you have any dents/dings in your case around the I/O ports?
 

BKKSteve

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Do you have any dents/dings in your case around the I/O ports?

No, everthing is unmarked and as new. The only changes made to the original spec is to install a GT220 GPU (installed 11 months ago when I first got the pc) and a Xigmatek S963 heatsink.
 

Bo$$

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you need to send it back asap.
 
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usually ram is die hard, i agree to recheck your board, your ram slot than risking another rams
 

JrRacinFan

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Just my insight. I would start by switching out the board and MAYBE the case.
 
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brandonwh64

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Windows 7 is killing your ram , one stick at a time.

LOL WUT?

 

LoserDave

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I was jesting when I said the above.
However, unrelated to the OP's problem, I ran xp just fine on my ASUS MB for two years but when I upgraded to 7 I began losing RAM slots one by one. The RAM was fine,it was the slots that were dieing. No lie.:eek:
 
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