RAM slots no longer all working

[BoJag]

Hey everybody,

So I recently took my computer apart to really really clean it well with an air duster. This included taking everything out of the case and separating all the parts from each other. After I put everything back in order, I am getting 3 long beeps. I looked up what that could possibly mean, and came back with a memory issue. I had been running 4 1gb sticks (all G. Skill 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)) on my BOXDX38BT LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel motherboard. It had all been running with the 4 gb recognized for a few years, and the problem started because of my deconstruction and reconstruction. After getting 3 long beeps and no visuals on my monitor, I fiddled around with the ram locations, and according to my manual, I should have 1 stick in each of either the blue or black channels, if I'm running only 2 sticks. I tried that out, but I got the same result of 3 beeps with no visuals. I then tried the 2 sticks in both of the top slots. No beeps this time, but still no visuals. Now for the bottom 2 slots. No beeps and everything booted up just fine. So, I tried the other 2 sticks, same thing, works just fine. I'm really confused as to what i did to my computer. Is it possible I
fried the top 2 slots? Or possibly somehow broke my dual-channel compatibility? Is it a problem I could fix myself through BIOS? Help would be greatly appreciated, I don't know how I did this.
Thanks,
Greg L.

 

[Lmeow]

So it's working all fine now with all four DIMMs?

 

[BoJag]

No, I guess I worded my post badly. It's currently operating with 2 sticks of ram, and 2 sticks sitting on my desk. One is in DIMM 3 and one is in DIMM 4. Every other combination of 2 sticks in 2 DIMMS resulted in either 3 long system beeps (If the top bank and bottom bank both had ram present) or no beeps, but no visuals on my monitor either (when both sticks were in the top bank of DIMMs).

 

[Lmeow]

Strange... have you checked the manual to see what the post codes mean?

 

[BoJag]

Oddly, my manual doesn't have many beep codes at all, and doesn't cover the beep I'm hearing, which is three long beeps.

"Desktop Board DX38BT reports POST errors in two ways:
• By sounding a beep code
• By displaying an error message on the monitor

BIOS Beep Codes:
The BIOS also issues a beep code (one long tone followed by two short tones) during
POST if the video configuration fails (a faulty video card or no card installed) or if an
external ROM module does not properly checksum to zero. Table 14 lists the BIOS
codes.


Table 14. Beep Codes:
Beep Description

3 No memory
Siren Processor overheat (on reboot)"

 

[Lmeow]

Based on that, it's either the GPU or memory... Don't see how the GPU could've suddenly stopped working so it really just singles out the RAM. Are you sure you didn't hit or dislodge any components from the motherboard?

Wait... Say your four memory sticks are labelled 1, 2, 3 & 4.

Are you saying that any stick combination of 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 or 2/3 2/4 or 3/4 works? Or only certain ones work?