Can RAM 'Die' in it's box?

IndigoRose · 03-19-2007, 12:18 PM

,

It's a rather strange question I know but I think this is what has happened. I had 2 x 256mb (have 3 slots) then I got a 512mb & was using it with one of the 256s (the other went to the other PC), THEN I bought a Kingston 1gb & had all three sizes in for a while but when my PC started to crash when I tried to play a graphic intense game I removed the new one (1GB), was stilling having the same crashing prob & it was suggested to me that my PC was only seeing the 256mb. So to make a much longer story short:
---I removed all teh RAM & put in only the 1GB but the system won't boot with it in, I just get a long beep that repeats itself every couple of seconds. So I out JUST the 512 in & of course it boots but still crashing with my game.

So is it possible that the 1gb "died" while it was sitting in the box again? I would think that if there were a problem it wouldn't have booted when I had all 3 sizes in together right?

I have another question regarding the 1GB RAM. My PC came with PC2100, when I went to buy the new one the guy sold me PC3200 saying that it would work w/o a prob on my system. Was he talking thru his hat? Am I out the $100+ it cost for the Kingston RAM?

Here are my specs (not sure what you need so this is overkill I'm sure):

Operating System
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600)

System Model
VIA Technologies, Inc. KT400-8235
Enclosure Type: Desktop

Processor
1.73 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
Board: KT400-8235
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/21/2002

Drives
137.43 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
111.08 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WDC WD1600JB-00FUA0 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WCAES1300927, rev 15.05R15, SMART Status: Healthy

Memory Modules
768 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'A0' has 512 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty
Slot 'A2' is Empty

Display
RADEON X800 Series [Display adapter]
RADEON X800 Series - Secondary [Display adapter]
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor]

Multimedia
ATI WDM Rage Theater Video
ATI WDM Specialized MVD Codec
CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
Standard Game Port

Thanks for any & ALL help!!

Heather

**PanamaGal** · 03-19-2007, 01:14 PM

Are you sure when you had the 1gb stick in with other RAM that the 1 gb was being picked up? It sounds to me like the motherboard is not capable of handling more than 512mb per memory slot.

IndigoRose · 03-19-2007, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PanamaGal

Are you sure when you had the 1gb stick in with other RAM that the 1 gb was being picked up? It sounds to me like the motherboard is not capable of handling more than 512mb per memory slot.

I believe so? Now having said that I can't be 100% sure.

Windows (general tab in properties) would say that I had '1724MB of RAM'. Is this what you were asking?

I was told when I bought the PC many many moons ago that I could go to 3GB max, 3X1GB. Now unfortunately we all know that doesn't necessarily mean much.

What about this part?

Quote:

I have another question regarding the 1GB RAM. My PC came with PC2100, when I went to buy the new one the guy sold me PC3200 saying that it would work w/o a prob on my system. Was he talking thru his hat? Am I out the $100+ it cost for the Kingston RAM?

I appreciate your help with this.

Heather

**TheMatt** · 03-19-2007, 02:18 PM

Hi Heather,

If you buy RAM speeds that are faster than your board takes, they will slow down to the fastest speeds they can run. Since you have a 266 MHz FSB, PC2100 is the max speed it will run.

However, since PC3200 is going to be little or no more expensive than the PC2100, I would get it as it could come in handy for a socket 939 or 478 system that may need it.

IndigoRose · 03-19-2007, 02:35 PM

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your help. I already have the PC3200, it's just that it was in my system with the other 2 sticks & my PC ran (still had crashing issues with the Graphic intense games), I removed the Kingston (PC3200) cuz I figured the crashes could be related to it, but I still got them. Then DeathHawk (here @ TSF) suggested that the RAM would only work @ it's lowest speed meaning that even tho I had 1.7GB of RAM it would only run @ 256MB, so I tried the new one again & this time I only put in the 1GB but system wouldn't boot. I would here this longish beep that repeated every cpl seconds. So I took it back out & now I only have the 512MB cuz if the system won't go any faster than the 256 why have it in right?

So if the new RAM was faulty when I bought it & put it in, would the other RAM compensate for it & allow the system to run normally?

Thanks again everyone for all your help & advice.

Heather

**TheMatt** · 03-19-2007, 07:44 PM

Take out all the RAM, then try and boot with one stick at a time. If you don't get it to boot, then that is a faulty stick. If all boot, then run Memtest86 from my sig for 10+ hours on each stick individually and see if any return any errors.

Also, you may have to try different combinations. Try the 512 MB + 1 GB as well as 2 x 256 MB + 1 GB. and see if that works. Sometimes different RAM brands won't work with each other depending on the brand.

IndigoRose · 03-20-2007, 04:59 PM

Matt,

So if the 1GB is in with the 512MB does the system run @ 512? 1G? or 1.5G? I did run Memtest a while back when I started to have the crashing problems, I had all 2 sizes in at that time & it said there were no errors. Does it make a diff if they are in one at a time?

Thank-you so much for your help

!

Heather

**TheMatt** · 03-20-2007, 06:52 PM

If you have different sizes in, they should be added. You need to run Memtest86 on each stick individually to be sure there are no errors there. If each stick has no errors, then it is incompatibility between the sticks. Try different combinations as I explained earlier.

**speedster123** · 03-21-2007, 01:12 AM

Heather
I believe you have 2 threads on the same problem. What does the info on the side of your power supply case say? Its very important to our evaluations.
Do the games crash with the side off and a fan blowing in ?
Is the dust blown out?
Why are you only with sp1 with xp ? What antivirus protection are installed?

IndigoRose · 03-22-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedster123

Heather
I believe you have 2 threads on the same problem. What does the info on the side of your power supply case say? Its very important to our evaluations.
Do the games crash with the side off and a fan blowing in ?
Is the dust blown out?
Why are you only with sp1 with xp ? What antivirus protection are installed?

Speedster ,

Actually you are 100% right about the 2 threads. I had actually come over here to ask how to close this one? I honestly didn't think the two would end up answering the same questions, but EVERYONE is so thorough here. I'm not used to that on forums, I'm used to having to ask a # of different questions & being asked to start a new thread as "this is a seperate issue/concern". Of course I haven't been at a forum in ages, that I posted at anyway.

This thread originally was only meant to ask the actual question of is it possible that when I took the 1GB stick out & stored it & then just went back to install it on it's own to see if it would fix my problem, but my PC wouldn't boot & I thought it odd & seriously wondered if RAM could "die" with no use?

I think this will actually be answered in the other thread eventually, so how do I close this thread?

Thanks so much tho 4 helping me in both of them, but it'll probably get way too confusing using both of 'em.

Heather

**TheMatt** · 03-22-2007, 07:04 PM

I will close this thread for now. When the video card is cleared as the issue, I will reopen it if necessary.

03-19-2007, 12:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
IndigoRose Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 46 OS: WinXP	Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? , It's a rather strange question I know but I think this is what has happened. I had 2 x 256mb (have 3 slots) then I got a 512mb & was using it with one of the 256s (the other went to the other PC), THEN I bought a Kingston 1gb & had all three sizes in for a while but when my PC started to crash when I tried to play a graphic intense game I removed the new one (1GB), was stilling having the same crashing prob & it was suggested to me that my PC was only seeing the 256mb. So to make a much longer story short: ---I removed all teh RAM & put in only the 1GB but the system won't boot with it in, I just get a long beep that repeats itself every couple of seconds. So I out JUST the 512 in & of course it boots but still crashing with my game. So is it possible that the 1gb "died" while it was sitting in the box again? I would think that if there were a problem it wouldn't have booted when I had all 3 sizes in together right? I have another question regarding the 1GB RAM. My PC came with PC2100, when I went to buy the new one the guy sold me PC3200 saying that it would work w/o a prob on my system. Was he talking thru his hat? Am I out the $100+ it cost for the Kingston RAM? Here are my specs (not sure what you need so this is overkill I'm sure): Operating System Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600) System Model VIA Technologies, Inc. KT400-8235 Enclosure Type: Desktop Processor 1.73 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP 128 kilobyte primary memory cache 256 kilobyte secondary memory cache Main Circuit Board Board: KT400-8235 Bus Clock: 133 megahertz BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/21/2002 Drives 137.43 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity 111.08 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B [CD-ROM drive] 3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive] WDC WD1600JB-00FUA0 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WCAES1300927, rev 15.05R15, SMART Status: Healthy Memory Modules 768 Megabytes Installed Memory Slot 'A0' has 512 MB Slot 'A1' is Empty Slot 'A2' is Empty Display RADEON X800 Series [Display adapter] RADEON X800 Series - Secondary [Display adapter] Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] Multimedia ATI WDM Rage Theater Video ATI WDM Specialized MVD Codec CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit Standard Game Port Thanks for any & ALL help!! Heather __________________ ..IndigoRose ¸•¯•.¸.•¯•¸ .•-•......•-•

03-19-2007, 01:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
PanamaGal Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Panama Posts: 1,240 OS: WinXP Pro SP2; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista Ultimate; Vista Business	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Are you sure when you had the 1gb stick in with other RAM that the 1 gb was being picked up? It sounds to me like the motherboard is not capable of handling more than 512mb per memory slot. __________________ It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

03-19-2007, 02:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Hi Heather, If you buy RAM speeds that are faster than your board takes, they will slow down to the fastest speeds they can run. Since you have a 266 MHz FSB, PC2100 is the max speed it will run. However, since PC3200 is going to be little or no more expensive than the PC2100, I would get it as it could come in handy for a socket 939 or 478 system that may need it. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

03-19-2007, 02:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
IndigoRose Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 46 OS: WinXP	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Hi Matt, Thanks for your help. I already have the PC3200, it's just that it was in my system with the other 2 sticks & my PC ran (still had crashing issues with the Graphic intense games), I removed the Kingston (PC3200) cuz I figured the crashes could be related to it, but I still got them. Then DeathHawk (here @ TSF) suggested that the RAM would only work @ it's lowest speed meaning that even tho I had 1.7GB of RAM it would only run @ 256MB, so I tried the new one again & this time I only put in the 1GB but system wouldn't boot. I would here this longish beep that repeated every cpl seconds. So I took it back out & now I only have the 512MB cuz if the system won't go any faster than the 256 why have it in right? So if the new RAM was faulty when I bought it & put it in, would the other RAM compensate for it & allow the system to run normally? Thanks again everyone for all your help & advice. Heather __________________ ..IndigoRose ¸•¯•.¸.•¯•¸ .•-•......•-• Last edited by IndigoRose : 03-19-2007 at 02:35 PM. Reason: wrong wording

03-19-2007, 07:44 PM	#6 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Take out all the RAM, then try and boot with one stick at a time. If you don't get it to boot, then that is a faulty stick. If all boot, then run Memtest86 from my sig for 10+ hours on each stick individually and see if any return any errors. Also, you may have to try different combinations. Try the 512 MB + 1 GB as well as 2 x 256 MB + 1 GB. and see if that works. Sometimes different RAM brands won't work with each other depending on the brand. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

03-20-2007, 04:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
IndigoRose Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 46 OS: WinXP	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Matt, So if the 1GB is in with the 512MB does the system run @ 512? 1G? or 1.5G? I did run Memtest a while back when I started to have the crashing problems, I had all 2 sizes in at that time & it said there were no errors. Does it make a diff if they are in one at a time? Thank-you so much for your help ! Heather __________________ ..IndigoRose ¸•¯•.¸.•¯•¸ .•-•......•-•

03-20-2007, 06:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? If you have different sizes in, they should be added. You need to run Memtest86 on each stick individually to be sure there are no errors there. If each stick has no errors, then it is incompatibility between the sticks. Try different combinations as I explained earlier. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

03-21-2007, 01:12 AM	#9 (permalink)
speedster123 Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United States-New York Posts: 3,860 OS: xp pro My System	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? Heather I believe you have 2 threads on the same problem. What does the info on the side of your power supply case say? Its very important to our evaluations. Do the games crash with the side off and a fan blowing in ? Is the dust blown out? Why are you only with sp1 with xp ? What antivirus protection are installed? __________________ Infection Detection and Removal Thermal Grease Instructions Bench Test

03-22-2007, 07:04 PM	#11 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Can RAM 'Die' in it's box? I will close this thread for now. When the video card is cleared as the issue, I will reopen it if necessary. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides Last edited by TheMatt : 03-22-2007 at 07:10 PM.