Problem Customer.... Pros needed!

Hey MG's,
I have another doozy for you! (as usual)
A customer brought in a sony vaio desktop computer today. It has a P4 1.6 and uses Pc2100 ram (512 mb). So he wanted to upgrade to 1 gig. No problem.
Long story short, he got a bad RAM module right out of the box.... and it blew his board! This would normally not be my problem, except that I installed it! My company backed me up and they said, "Randy, no sweat. We'll buy him a new board." It turned out he neeeded a new case too because the board they got him used a different config for the power switch/led and so forth.

Problem solved? Not even close!

I isntall the board, install the cpu and put thermal compound on it, install the heatsink/fan, RAM, HD, CD everything as normal. When I boot it up, no POST no anything. Is it possible that the processor was destroyed by the faulty RAM? I can't see that even being an option. After the RAM blew the mobo it gave the "DRAM refresh error" POST code.

Here's what I have tried to get this working (other than the above said procedures):
1) I reset the CMOS by taking out the battery and unplugging all connections between the power supply and board. No good.
2) I tried an external video card in the AGP port to no avail.
3) I tried booting while tapping/holding the Insert key to try to boot with default settings (just to try it) Not surprisingly, it didn't work.
4) I tried a different power supply, even though the old one testing perfectly and that didn't work.
5) I tried booting with no RAM to induce a post error with no luck. I eevn tried my PC-doctor pci card and it just reports "00" which means no post. (duh)

This guy will be calling tomorow. He's already fuming mad and convinced it's something that we did wrong. No joke. He actually accused me of putting the RAM in wrong.... please. I might not be a computer wizard but I am pretty confident with that procedure

Hopefully you guys can have some fun trying to solve this one. I have spent quite a few hours on it already between driving to get parts and the labor. I am so drained that I just need a second/third/fourth/etc.. head to give some suggestions.


Thanks ahead of time!
First one to answer right get's a candy bar

Randy O.

 

mmmmmmmmmm candy mmmmmmmmmm

If nothing is happening it could well be the cpu. Maybe it is not seated correctly.

 

Suggestion noted, but I am confident that the cpu is seated in the correct direction. I was reading alot last night and I have a couple things to try like powering up wihtout the cpu and aslo the floppy could be the culprit. Otherwise, I just have to go get him a new cpu... weak. I can't wait for this to be over. All this for a $30 RAM install.

I'll keep you guys updated!

Randy O.

 

It could be the board is touching metal somewhere. You could take the mobo out of the case and see if it starts up with it out of the case. What mobo are you using? Does it need a 4 pin connector and does the power supply have a 4 pin connector? The only other thing I can think of is the cpu, as you stated.

 

If the Ram blew the MB, then surely it would have taken out the FSB on the CPU first, you may have condemned the MB a little prematurely, unless you spotted swollen Caps on the MB. Guess this means I don't get MmmmmmmmmmmCANDYmmmm hey a Cooooooookie would do

 

I dont understand this they are universal each switch and led are seperate do you have a picture of the old config compared to the new one,my first guess is some how the new power on switch is hooked into the wrong jack,do you have a link the the new board layout or a pic of which jack you have the power switch connected to, just to be sure

 

How does a defective RAM module fry the motherboard?? This is a problem that I've never encountered. And how was it determined that the RAM module actually caused the problem?

 

Ok first off, problem solved... Bad CPU too. I suppose it was fried once the ram fried the board.

It fried the motherboard by burning up (literally fire) and I suppose it fried the CPU too. he actually didn't like the case he got so we just gave him a deal on a new system. ALso the reason why the case wasn't compatible with the new mobo is that the switch and leds we're using a large 16 pin connecter and the mobo did not have that same connector. Believe me this computer has been a nightmare. Problem solved and I am doing the Files and Setting transfer wizard as I write this. I know that these issues seem strange and unrelated but actually everything I have said is true and proven to be the problem. Our districts main Tech took a look at it today and concurred with my diagnosis. So the end result of problems was:

Bad RAM blew the board and fried the processor. New case needed to match connections of the mobos power switch/reset/led/hd led "pins".
One was like this-
111111
11111
The other was like this -
11111111
11111111


SO everyones happy! Thanks agani for any suggestions. Just ended up being bad parts.

Thanks major geeks! You guys rock!

Randy 0.

 

I was going to say if the mobo dosen't even beep or nothing then its a bad CPU

 

the worst case of bad ram should be, no post. Now if you pulled and replaced the ram with the pc running, that would cause your exact problem.

 

Hipster and I and other sugar deprived Geeks would just like to know were is the Bl**dy Candy Bar. Somebody said said candy and I came running. Glad you got the customer fixed up gone2tokyo, but still am searching for that elusive "Candy Bar"...........mmmmmmmmmmmmmCANDYmmmmmmmm

 

Well, actually the worst case of bad ram is aparently no mobo or cpu
Changing the ram didnt cure the burned slot that it left behind. Thank you for the help though! I'm glad this project is over

 

Oops! Sorry guys, but I got hungry fixing the comp and ate it!
No seriously, by candy I meant my eternal gratitude!
Thank you very much for the suggestions.

Randy O.