RAM and computer freeze

My computer froze on Wednesday and on re-starting the screen and other utilities like mouse and keyboard wouldn't flash as if not being powered. I took to a pc man and he diagnosed bad ram and put new ram in it.
I now works on and off and sometimes if freezes completely and more often than not on turning it on it doesn't start the screen and others, but everytime I change the ram in the slots it works again. To make it work now I swapped them again, but if I turn off the computer, it won't start again? Is it possible the memory slot in no good anymore?

 

It is definitely possible. An easy way to check that is to leave a slot empty and see if the problems go away. If they come back whenever you put RMa back in slot 2, then slot 2 is probably your problem.

 

Sorry, no such luck! I've tried all combinations, first slot, second slot, new and old RAM and they all give the same problems. Would you think both slots are compromised? could there be another explanation?
If slots, is it possible to replace them?

thanks

 

Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing... you've tried with only the old RAM installed, in either slot?

There can be other issues as well, of course. Is the cooling working okay, for example?

 

Well, I have two ram slots and bought two new sticks of ram memory to replace the old ones as I thought that would solve the problem. When it didn't I tried all combinations to see if any would work, like leaving one slot free or combining the new and the old sticks of memory, but no such luck.

the fans seem to be working, at least they are working in the same way they were before the problems started. I have also used a whole can of air to blow any dust that could be causing the problem.

At the moment I have the new ram installed but the problem is still there. The computer freezes or refuses to start the screen until I re-insert the memory sticks, the same ones just swapping the slots.

thanks.

 

Do you know how to burn and ISO image to create a bootable CD? If you do, run a memtest. (It is very late here so I am off to bed now, but I'll check in on this thread tomorrow when I get up. With luck, I may even have had a chance to have coffee before I do. )

 

Hi mimsy,

computer froze so couldn't use for a few hours. Nope don't know how to burn ISO file but had a look on the net and it doesn't seem very difficult. Have downloaded iso recorder and memtest but not sure how to use it.

Maybe when you are rested you can walk me through it.

thanks!

 

I'd suggest downloading CDBurnerXP instead, for the burning (mainly because I know how to use that one). Toss your blank CD or CDRW in the drive and open CDBurnerXP, and tell it you want to Burn ISO image. Click on "Open...", then navigate to your iso file and double-click on it and from here on, follow the prompts on the screen.

In the drop-down menu underneath Burning speed, select a low number, since slow burning speed means lower risk of errors.

These steps should give you a bootable memtest86+ CD.

Before you try to boot the computer from the memtest CD, make sure you have looked in your BIOS and told the computer to use the CD drive as the first boot option, otherwise it'll go for the hard drive first. Also, keep in mind that memtest86 will test all your memory sticks as a single unit, so if you see errors in the test, the program will not be able to tell you which of the sticks that caused them. And easy way around that is to test one stick at a time.

 

Hi Mimsy,

Thanks. The computer is so misbehaving this morning. I downloaded the file to burn the cd and will try it.
The iso file you refered to is the memtest I downloaded yesterday, right?
Will the test identify if the slot is a problem or only the RAM stick?

 

Hi Mimsy

Haven't been able to do memtest as computer just freezes or doesn't start at all. Had to wire laptop to net now. I don't know what to do with comp now. Do you have any ideas?

 

From a hardware standpoint, it's probably either the motherboard or powersupply that makes your computer behave this way. In a desktop, you can replace parts and test components that way. In a laptop, the easiest thing to do is often to take it in to a shop and see if it can be repaired.

 

Thanks. I'll see what to do then.

thanks for your help.