Inserted RAM the wrong way round!!!

icebergx

Hi all,

I've done a very silly thing!
As I'm building my new system I thought I'd transfer some of my old RAM into my brother's PC.
Unfortunately, I forgot that the RAM module only goes in one way round and the forced it in the other way (despite the notch in the module that normaly prevents this.)
When I switched the PC on there was a small pop and a puff of smoke came out of the system (I'm still trying to find the origin of this).
The PC switches on and appears to be booting up but, I don't get any signal goint to my monitor. I've tried swapping video cards but this doen't make any difference, I still get no picture.

Does anyone know what the damage is likely to be? Motherboard, Processor HDDs, Graphics Card, Ram or all of the above.

Thanks.

Ganyam

Sounds like youve fuct the motherboard... :eek: :eek:

shutton54321

Yeh i think its the motherboard u hav "fried" it. Can i ask did u put spacers in between the motherboard and the case?

icebergx

The PC was pre-built so I'm not sure about the spacers.
Do you think everything else is OK then? If I had to buy another MB it wouldn't be so bad but if I've blown the processor and Graphics card, that will be annoying!

shutton54321

Yeh i think its just the motherboard. Can always test th parts in another system 2 check they are workin a friends for example or at a local computer shop.

TheChillPill

How many beeps does it make when you switch it on? That should tell you what is wrong with it. I assume you haven't put the same Ram in? (even if it is the right way round)

icebergx

I'm not near my PC now but I don't recall it beeping at all. At most it only beeper once, if there were more I would have noticed.
When the bang happened I had a 512MB installed (right way round) 256MB installed (the wrong way round). Do you think either or both of these are !!!!!!ed?

TheChillPill

One beep would suggest all components are fine, so I wouldn't go changing anything just yet. If you get no beeps at all, check the speaker is actually connected to the motherboard (internal speaker, that is).

Easy way to test, take out both sticks of ram and switch on - you should get more than one beep. Then put each stick in one at a time, when you hit a problem, thats where you have a fault.

icebergx

So if I get 1 beep each time I put a stick in, I know both are OK.
Just incase the speaker isn't plugged in, is this easy to do?
What an where should it be plugged?
Thanks again for your help.

TheChillPill

Yes, if you get one beep each time then the ram is probably ok. If the speaker isn't plugged in, it should be fairly easy to do, but the method differs with each board - some are connected to the case, so are stand-alone and plug directly into the board. You'll need your manual to see where on the board it goes though. It would be highly unusual for it not to be plugged in though, so I wouldn't worry too much about that yet.

icebergx

Thanks Chillpill, appreciate it.