PC won't turn on with 2 sticks of ram

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530
so, right now i'm having a pretty f*cking weird problem. My pc with a ga-b75m-d3h and 2x4gb ddr3 g.skill ares suddenly refuses to boot past splash screen if both ram sticks are inserted. If there's only 1, regardless of which stick, it'll turn on (i tried this to discard bad ram stick as the cause). This had never happened before and i have absolutely no idea what to do
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
A

aquielisunari

Judicious
Mar 31, 2011
6,499
14
33,015


Have you also made sure each slot works?
 
  • Like
Reactions: srqpcfix
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

topheron

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
67
0
18,710
I strongly suspect that you have a motherboard failure.

One of the ways motherboards fail is the memory controller stops working correctly.

Just in case, I would boot to bios, and reset all your settings to default. It is (unlikely) possible that some memory timing got messed up and that the motherboard can't process at the current timings in bios.

This isn't going to help, but I would upgrade my bios to the newest version... who knows, maybe there is some bios fix that improves ram compatibility.

But I suspect that you've got a motherboard failure. If you bought it recently, you might be able to pursue a warranty claim.

Otherwise, when you replace your motherboard make sure that the RAM you intend to use is on the new motherboard's 'recommended ram' list. Most motherboards have a chart online that says that this ram has been tested as working with this motherboard. Stick with approved ram and you'll have fewer potential problems.

Sorry that your computer is having problems!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530


I have no idea on how to reset the cmos tbh
Upgrading bios or trying to get warranty is pretty much a no-go, since i can't get to the bios (even when the pc did work, it prompts me to press "del" to access the bios but nothing happens if i do) and it's a 6yo motherboard.
Also, a few minutes ago i got to a screen saying "your computer did not start correctly" or something like that, and it prompted me with several options like restart, see advanced options, turn off, etc. but no luck after that.
UPDATE: while i was writing this, the pc booted up to a different screen saying: "Automatic Repair" but again, it just prompted me to restart
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530


Yes. i tried to place the sticks in the a1-b1 slots as well as the a2-b2 slots but it doesn't appear to matter. When it's just 1 slot, it boots up regardless of which slot it's on
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530
Ok so i got to automatic repair and clicked "startup repair" to see if that worked and now it's checking the disk. I have a 2tb disk filled up to 1,3tb. Do you guys think it'll be done by 2019?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,397
4,193
174,240
I have seen this problem before.
Only dual channel failed.
Drove us crazy.
Fortunately, we had a similar running pc(#2) to test with.
Good spare ram failed on pc#1
Old ram in pc#2 worked; ergo ram was ok.
Only dual channel failed.
cpu from pc#2 worked in pc#1 with either ram.
That eliminated the motherboard and bent pins as an issue.
It turned out that the cpu had failed in the memory controller area.
It was still under warranty and intel replaced it.
New cpu worked.

Since you have changed nothing, I suspect a cpu failure.
Had you reseated the cpu, I might have thought about a bent pin during the replacement.

What to do??

You can reset the cmos by removing the motherboard CR2032 battery temporarily.
I doubt this will work.

If you were running ok before, I would not try to update the bios unless it explicitly fixes your issue, which I doubt.
A failed bios update can render your motherboard useless or difficult to recover from.
At least you can now run.

You could buy a 8gb ram stick and run in single channel mode.

Since you do not have the spare parts to definitively isolate the problem, I think it is time to plan a replacement and upgrade.


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530


Well i was planning to buy a new cpu, and in fact, i actually do have another computer where i can try out the ram (both use ddr3 but one is amd and mine is intel). I might just try putting the other system's ram in mine and vice versa and see if it's a ram issue.
If it isn't a ram issue, how do i know for sure if it's the cpu or the ram?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Jwpanz

Jwpanz

Honorable
Apr 17, 2016
1,851
2
12,965
If known-working sticks do not work with the system (and those stick are listed on the QVL list for the motherboard) then you can be certain that the issues lies with the either the CPU or the motherboard.

The only way to test that is to plop in another known-working CPU and try to boot.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530


Thing is, again, if i only have 1 stick, it boots perfectly as if nothing happened, so i don't think my cpu is the issue here
Update:About right now the automatic repair finished and it restarted itself. Will see if that worked at all
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

askingcarpet22

Honorable
Nov 16, 2017
60
0
10,530
OK, HOPEFULLY FINAL UPDATE:
IT JUST BOOT UP AFTER THE AUTOMATIC REPAIR. IT'S WORKING AS USUAL.
Thanks to everyone anyways, as i still think my pc needs some mobo+cpu replacement, but apparently i can postpone that a little bit :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom