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I cleaned the heatsink on my Asus P6T and put it back. When I started the machine only 2 of my 8 RAM sticks were recognized.
The probability that 6 sticks went bad at the same time I cleaned the heatsink is astronomical and tantamount to impossible!
I switched the sticks around, cleaned the pins, blew compressed air into the DIMMs - 4 were recognized. I kept switching until 6 were recognized but I can't get the machine to see the last two. Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks - rev
If you switch the DIMMs around and they are recognized in different slots, then it is likely a slot issue. Quadruple check the slots where memory is not being recognized (likely the last 2) to make sure that there are no bent contacts or foreign debris in the slots. Use a high-power light so you can see every little thing. When re-installing the DIMMs, make sure that the contacts go all the way into the slots. If all else fails, make sure that the BIOS settings have not changed.
Try cleaning the contacts on the ram with a pencil eraser, cleaning the debris off with a brush or canned air. I've found this method to work sometimes, more times worked than anything else I tried.
jdc
Ah the BIOS! That is a possibility because after a couple of power outages I was prompted to restore BIOS options.
PhotoLady
That's exactly what I did, the eraser is an old trick that works well, I did the light and compressed air but my problem with all those methods is that all sticks were happy and working before. So I've been baffled and looking for something else that's changed. jdc might have hit on it.
I just took a look. I have American Megatrends v2.61 (the latest) and RAM is only mentioned 3 times in the whole BIOS.
DRAM core voltage
DRAM timing control, and
DRAM frequency
They're all set to Auto. Could there be something I need to change under a different heading?
Under System Information, Usable Memory Size is listed as 8183 MB. But that screen is only an info screen, it can't be edited.
Where do you change that figure?
You don't, but if it is showing that number, it appears to be seeing 8 GB. The only thing that you might change would be the other 3 items. Check the specs for the RAM you are using to see what you could change those to if needed. Also, try running MemTest from the UBCD5 (Ultimate Boot CD) to see what it says about your memory.
Back when I posted I ordered 24 gig of RAM which just arrived and the machine runs! It only sees 16 of the 24 - so I might have a couple of bad slots but I was working with 12 before it went bad.
Depends on your motherboard also. Can you add more than 16? Some older boards can only use a certain amount of ram.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reverend
My motherboard I am using right now, has two dead memory slots. I've bought a new board, same brand but better options, I just need a new case before I start the rebuild.
I called this Resolved without mentioning the resolution: Knowing the RAM was all new made my task easier - two slots have to be occupied before the machine will boot, then the following options:
A2 A1 B2 B1 C2 C1 D2 D1
X X two occupied (good)
X X X three (only two recognized so C1 slot was bad)
X X X X four (only two recognized so A2 and C1 are bad)
X X X X X X X X all six (four recognized - also confirming that you can add more than 16 RAM, 24 is the max)
After that it booted and crashed with BSOD 101, then BSOD 124. I didn't believe they were really hardware errors because the machine stayed up for many hours in Safe Mode. I set about updating drivers and running diagnostics. Since I've always had trouble with nvidia drivers, I planned to roll it back but found there was an update instead. I believe that's what fixed the BSODs.
Now even Windows Update has nothing left to offer and all drivers are the most recent. It seems completely stable, to test it I did what I do all day, work on songs with Sonar as the DAW. I got a song out, which took all day, using all the plugs I usually use and there were no problems.
That leaves the question that no one has ever been able to answer - why something completely unrelated, like cleaning the heatsink, makes something else go bad at exactly the same time. Everyone in computing knows this happens but I've never had a satisfactory answer.
If you move the machine from one room to another and find that a cable isn't working anymore, you could say that it was previously comfortable in the dust and nicotine and you've nudged it such that somehow one or more pins are no longer happy. But memory slots don't move, they're fairly robust and there's negligible vibration inside the box. I also got 'One of your disks needs checking' at exactly the same time. That everything is connected and interrelated is true but doesn't explain it. The odds of those things being coincidence make coincidence out of the question. Even if I concede that I might have slightly distorted the mobo when replacing the heatsink, that still leaves the disk error...
Sorry, my little table above got condensed when I posted. It's A1 B1, then A1 B1 and C1, then A2 A1 B1 and C1, then all slots. (edit)
Time to make an image backup just in case. It might not hurt to also make sure that you have all of your BIOS settings recorded somewhere as well.
If all of the RAM modules are not exactly the same, it might be a good idea to record which slot each of them is currently in.
Thanks for the update on the issue.
All good ideas! Will do. The RAM is all the same (and new) and the bad slots have to be occupied as well but I know what they are now.
There is a feature in the BIOS that lets you store any non-default settings so that you can reload them anytime, I just have to read about how to use it.
What do you recommend for making an image?
I use Acronis, but there are free imaging programs that work also.