No Post after Memory Managent

[bbender]

Hello,

I'd like to say I know a little about hardware, but I'm having this issue with my build. Ever since I first built it, I have been having issues with memory management BSOD popping up and restarting the computer. I would test the sticks, one would fail, the other would pass. I would test the failed stick once more for good measure and let it go for 10+ passes and it would not fail again.
I then had an issue where after a BSOD, the computer would not post. I told Asus about the problem, sent it in, they said they flashed the bios, but no fault found. I had no issues for quite some time.
Fast forward to today. I have a memory management BSOD (surprise, surprise) and then restart the computer and it won't post. Unhooked everything and it still will not post. All fans are running and I can hear the hard drive spinning up, but there is no display on the screen. For kicks and giggles, I tried a different graphic card with the same results.

SPECS:
Processor: AMD FX6100 3.3GHz
RAM: PNY 2 sticks of DDR3 4Gb
Motherboard: Asus M5A97
Power Supply: Dynex 400 watt
Graphics: EVGA GT520

The bios is set to default as I didn't know much about what else needed to be set.

If anyone has any suggestions, that would be really great. At the moment, I have exhausted every possibility I know.

 

[cl-scott]

Intermittent problems are always the bane of professional techs, so let's see if we can figure out some way to reproduce the issue more reliably.

So to start, when you say you "unhooked everything" does that mean you broke it down to a bare minimum config needed for POST?

 

[bbender]

You know, I like where you're going with this. I should've known this as it's the basics to troubleshooting. I had unplugged every component and plugged it all back in, or "reseated" in some cases. So back to what you were saying...

With one stick of memory in and the hard drive and optical drive unplugged, it now posts. I noticed on the bios screen (which is displaying with pink little lines all around it now and looks quite "messed up") says that I need to reconfigure the bios as overclocking has failed. As far as I was aware, I didn't have it set to overclock since it was on defaults.

When it comes to bios issues, I'm a little lost. Any guidance would be appreciated. Also, could this be the cause of the memory management issues I was initially having before sending it off to Asus?

 

[cl-scott]

I have a sort of loose theory, but I don't want to say anything just yet and inadvertently get you fixated on that idea.

So right now it passes POST, but you have video issues. That is at least progress. I would suggest going in and just resetting the BIOS to defaults again, just to make sure. I know back in my learning days, there were times when I would hit the wrong key or something, and thinking I saved some BIOS change, I actually exited without saving. So just to be absolutely certain, just reset to defaults again and see what happens.

 

[bbender]

I actually figured it out. Er, well, a friend of mine did. I have a bad stick of memory, set the voltage for the ram to the correct (1.5) setting, and it wouldn't post again after the next restart. My friend measured the output of the 20 pin coming off the power supply and said the 12 rail was not pulling enough power. After popping in a new power supply, it seems to be fine now, though I still can't add that other stick back in or it won't post.

I guess my question is: could the incorrect amount of power going to the memory have caused the memory to fail over time? Remember that the voltage was set incorrectly as well.