How much damage did I do?

[josh_45]

I've been having problems with my computer for about 2 weeks. When I got my new motherboard everything seemed just fine... for about a day. I finally narrowed the problem down to power supply or ram, however, in my attempts to find a working ram stick/dimm slot. I accidently left the power cord in and the psu switch on.
The computer wasnt running, not that it matters.

I installed a ram module with the cord in and psu switch on, possibly removed a module too. My heart sank when I installed that ram, only to look down and see the power cord in and psu switch in the "on" position. After being careful for the past 2 weeks trying to narrow my reboot loop and random restarts problems down... I'm pretty ticked off that I made such a rookie mistake.

I know that power runs through the motherboard even when the computer isn't running. So, I assume that I ruined my ram...

My questions are:

1. How likely is it that I damaged my motherboard?

2. How much power goes through the ram slot, when its in standby mode waiting for the psu power-on signal?

I've checked my motherboard the best I can, and I dont see any burn marks.

Give me your honest opinions, thx.

p.s. sorry for the poor grammar, its late

 

[gamerk316]

Hmm...odds are the RAM is fried, but the voltages are low enough at standby where you might be lucky...doubt the board itself is fried though...

I guess try to boot and use memtest86 to test RAM...(unless someone with more EE experiance says that would be really stupid to do )

 

[Lee-m]

you dont say if it made your problem any worse.
I would personaly be suprised if it caused any damage. The operation of the board will change from board to board, and you dont say which one.
Dig your manual out and see if it tells you.

 

[cjl]

I'd be quite surprised if it damaged anything - I've done that several times without issue.

Now, if it were actually on, you'd be screwed, but just with the power plugged in, there isn't a problem.