Bad RAM acting like bad PSU or MB
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:36 am
Filed under "I didn't know it could do that!": For the past couple weeks my main PC has been having problems POSTing. Sometimes it'd boot just fine, other times it'd not even init the display or beep and would just sit there after causing the drives to seek a bit.
At first I thought the PSU was going south - I think my 4850 is pushing it to its capacity limits anyway. Then yesterday it POSTed and got at least partway through booting Ubuntu before freezing with the display black but receiving a signal (and staying on for about ten hours this way while I was out), and several attempts at booting after that yielded drive seek but no display or beep, so I thought maybe the motherboard was going out and it was time to think about getting Miss Sandy for my birthday.
Then just on a whim, I started swapping RAM around with a couple old sticks I still had, and it POSTed just fine right away.
At first I thought the PSU was going south - I think my 4850 is pushing it to its capacity limits anyway. Then yesterday it POSTed and got at least partway through booting Ubuntu before freezing with the display black but receiving a signal (and staying on for about ten hours this way while I was out), and several attempts at booting after that yielded drive seek but no display or beep, so I thought maybe the motherboard was going out and it was time to think about getting Miss Sandy for my birthday.
Then just on a whim, I started swapping RAM around with a couple old sticks I still had, and it POSTed just fine right away.