Does RAM just die?

[Pablo]

My main desktop kicked the bucket last night. Woke up to a stone cold PC. Will not even boot to BIOS - although the power supply is working, MB and everything has power. I see the Z170 has some easy trouble shoot idiot lights, DRAM light is glowing red when I press the magic button.

DDR4 3200 4x8GB sticks

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3347898827...8CVXSszULeODbZJO6fAiQYwM7mES|tkp:BFBM6ozinOti

PC is ~ 6-7 years old, hate to throw $80 at it, but worth it if it works.

Need some help/input. SSD and HD have data! (I hope)

CPU to RAM dead?????

 

[blufeb95]

Did you try removing all but one stick and swapping them around, it could be several things, a stick of ram degraded, one of your slots has died for one reason or another, or you have a bad seat on one of the RAM sticks or the CPU needs reseated, or some other hardware is failing and causing the BIOS to false positive the ram during post.

 

[Propflux01]

My first two options would be to try a different RAM slot, and if no change, a different RAM.

 

[LDM]

Yes, RAM can die like anything else. If your PC has diag lights or tones and its telling you its RAM, thats probably the issue. You can pull it out and take a look at it, sometimes you can see something like corrosion on the pins or damage from a hot spot. Other times, you won't see anything at all. Unless you have a full RAM tester, the only option is to swap out the RAM with known good working RAM and see if it fixes the issue.

If that doesn't fix the issue then it isn't the RAM. Probably the RAM channel on the motherboard or some other issue related on the motherboard.

The SSD and HDD shouldn't really be affected by this although if the RAM has been failing for a while it is possible that corrupted data might have been written to them. This isn't common but it can happen.

 

[Variant_S]

Did you try removing all but one stick and swapping them around, it could be several things, a stick of ram degraded, one of your slots has died for one reason or another, or you have a bad seat on one of the RAM sticks or the CPU needs reseated, or some other hardware is failing and causing the BIOS to false positive the ram during post.

Along these lines, I've seen thermal cycling unseat a stick of memory, though to the eye it looked fine. I'd remove and reseat each stick of memory and see if that helps. Swapping them around or trying them one at a time would be my next steps

 

[Pablo]

Yeah I swapped them around and definitely reseating

Slots 1 and 3 must be filled so I tried just the two that were previously in 2 and 4… no change

 

[blufeb95]

It's optimal for performance to keep then in pairs but 1 stick is enough for it to run, I'd try a couple stick one a time in each slot. Also try reseating all your expansion cards, then if nothing seems to change then try reseating the CPU.

 

[DrDanger]

Sounds a bit like a dead bios battery to me... try and change it.

 

[Pablo]

Sounds a bit like a dead bios battery to me... try and change it.

Did that. No change

Old battery was 3.15V (3V nominal, new bat 3.2V)

 

[DrDanger]

Only other thing that comes to mind is your video card. Reseat and check if it spins up. Check for a loose cable/ extra power cables to the video card.

 

[gman2304]

One will typically hear a lifter tick before a Ram dies. It’s been well documented here.

 

[DemoFly]

Power clear the mobo.

unplug the cord from the PSU and press and hold the power button on the case for 10 seconds.
If that doesn't work try 1 stick of ram.
If that doesn't work try the other stick.
If that doesn't work try no RAM, you won't get display but you should get a different memory abnormal code. 55 vs. 53, etc.

RAM dies all the time.

 

[brianl703]

Look for bulging capacitors on the motherboard.

 

[Warstud]

If you have any External devices like a SSD or USB unplug them

 

[Pablo]

Only other thing that comes to mind is your video card. Reseat and check if it spins up. Check for a loose cable/ extra power cables to the video card.

I have have NOT done this. Will try tomorrow. The thought had occurred to me that the video card had pooped the bed

 

[y_p_w]

Even without RAM, most computers will at least show something if just the RAM is missing or otherwise malfunctioning. It should get to the point where it's checking the RAM during the boot sequence.

RAM is actually quite robust. It's not like flash memory which has more or less a finite lifespan. It should function indefinitely, but there's always the chance of random failures. The one thing I can think of is the possibility of electromigration over time, where the constant pushing of electrons causes metal in thin traces to move. I remember in EE classes there was discussion about making sure the lines were wide enough to reduce electromigration. The tendency was to make them minimum thickness in order to reduce die area.

 

[Skippy722]

I believe it was Jayztwocents on YouTube had a problem, his PC started out okay, but as he used it it kept locking up/blue screening with more and more regularity. Motherboard turned out to be bad.

 

[Pablo]

Could be MB

Racked the VC in and out, no change. Put the card in the other slot. No change.

Monkeyed with the RAM tried one across all slots, no work. Seems like slot 2 AND 4 must be filled as is screened on the MB (Fill 2 and 4 First)

No matter what combination, the red bad RAM light would be on, or come on with the test button. So this is interesting. Some combinations the light was on from the get go, other combinations the light would only come on with the button push. SO it turns out two of the modules always made the light just be on, and two others didn't. BUT with those two better modules, still no luck.

I ordered a couple inexpensive DDR4 modules, just as a hail Mary.

Wish someone had a known good video card to try

 

[Rand]

Time to upgrade?
I9 12900k, 32gb and mobo for 399 right now.

 

[Pablo]

Time to upgrade?
I9 12900k, 32gb and mobo for 399 right now.

Probably! Let me try this cheap ram and go from there.