Help! Ram Upgarde Help!

aliEnRIK

Baldur wrote: »

I've certainly had to deal with a PC where the owner had inserted the RAM module the wrong way around - it burned out the RAM module and the RAM slot in the motherboard.

Fair play. Its very rare for them to be fitted the wrong way round simply as its such hard work to do (Not to mention a bit stupid). Id say its even more rare to make a mess of things doing so but clearly these things do happen on occasion

Baldur

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Fair play. Its very rare for them to be fitted the wrong way round simply as its such hard work to do (Not to mention a bit stupid). Id say its even more rare to make a mess of things doing so but clearly these things do happen on occasion

The most unusual bit was that it was the old double-notched SDRAM DIMM type.

How on earth he'd managed to force it into the slot eludes me!

aliEnRIK

Probably had very sore fingers afterwards

Baldur

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Probably had very sore fingers afterwards

Or a damaged sledgehammer....

old_codger1

Might be worth checking some of these...

http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/BIOSBeepCodes.asp
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/BiosBeepCodes2.asp

My initial reaction was a bus error but depends on the BIOS.

Chuzzle

Ok, hoovered out the two places for the RAM and re-inserted just the old 256MB. Still getting the long repeated beep and no other signs of booting up. After 30seconds I just press and hold the power button in to switch off....should I be leaving it for longer to see if anything might or might not happen. Um... I do think I had the RAM round the wrong way before..after further investigation I could see the notch and matched it up and the sicks went in sooooo much easier this time.:o And also my fingers didn't hurt so much this time!

As it would appear I have done a very stupid thing I'm now wondering if I'm wasting my money doing the computer course (Comptia A+) clearly I may not be cut out for a careeer in IT :rotfl:

In my defence here are some photos of the inside of my pc.....I daren't disconnect any of the wires incase I have further probs so have just been fitting my hands through the wires IYKWIM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36729159@N07/

The box is laid on its side in these photos. Also one other quick question....I think last night I might have left the power cable in the pc with the wall socket switched on but the pc switched off while I did one of the change overs.....would this make much difference?

I agree these are probably really daft questions and please don't think this is a wind up cos I can assure you it isn't...although at this point I am now wishing I was blonde as that might give me an excuse for these stupid things I do....

Thanks for you help so far anyway.

Baldur

Ruthibe73 wrote: »

Also one other quick question....I think last night I might have left the power cable in the pc with the wall socket switched on but the pc switched off while I did one of the change overs.....would this make much difference?

Yes, there's always 5 volts running through the motherboard if it's connected to the mains via an ATX power supply, whether it's switched on or not - this could also be the cause of the problem.

It sounds highly likely that the RAM and/or motherboard may have been 'toasted'.

Chuzzle

OH FUDGE! I knew there had to be a reason for making sure the power was disconnected. BOTHER I reeckon thats what I've done. Not 100% on it but I'd say there was a good chance...must try not to stop world war 3 when I'm trying to fix the computer.

Is the next best thing to get more RAM and try again and hope it's just the RAM toasted and not the motherboard as well?

DatabaseError

1st thing to try is each stick on it's own, in each slot...the right way round this time. (with the power off at the socket!)
I guess you don't know anyone daft enough to lend you some ram to check what you've broken?
Next stop - reset the BIOS...that'll require checking the motherboard manual to find out which jumper needs moving..so a definite model number required.

Chuzzle

DatabaseError (gosh I really feel like I'm one of those!!) Model number...would that be motherboard model number or pc model number...where do I look to find that.....not sure if I have any manuals for the pc but will have a hunt round later.