what's wrong with my computer's memory?!!!

[elxr06]

All of a sudden my computer's not booting up properly. I shut it down earlier and now turned it on. It makes some beeping sound and when I took out one of the memory, my computer works again!

It ain't booting properly when I had all my memory inserted in (4 sticks DDR memory) and I had never had this problem in my life with my computer. And it never had this problem for a long while.

Is my memory stick the problem? It's an infineon PC3200 that came with my computer when I purchased it a year ago OR could it be that it's the problem of the memory slot like a bent pin or something?!!!


I used to have 1.280 gigs of memory but now I only have 1 gig of memory that I can use without that annoying beeping sound which tells me my computer ain't gonna boot since there's some kind of error!

[dairyman]

Download memtest86.
Read this tutorial on how to start it.

Before you run the test, insert the 'faulty' memory card into your computer.
Tell us what the results of the memory diagnostic was.

[elxr06]

Download memtest86.
Read this tutorial on how to start it.

Before you run the test, insert the 'faulty' memory card into your computer.
Tell us what the results of the memory diagnostic was.

With the memory in, my computer just beeps and doesn't load. So how can I test the memory if I can't even get to the screen for which I can load memtest86?

[Broni]

You have to download it on working computer.
It'll create bootable CD, or floppy.
Just read manual provided by dairyman.

[Deerpark]

Well if the computer won't even boot with the stick inserted there is definitely something wrong.
I would remove all other memory sticks and try the suspected faulty one in another slot. If the computer still won't boot the stick is definitely faulty.
Remember to take anti static precautions when working with memory sticks. They're very sensitive.

Since you've already found the problem I didn't start with this step, but I think you should still know about it for future reference. The beeps your heard wasn't random. They're known as beep codes and they essentially tell you what piece of hardware is having problems.
take a look here for a list of beep codes.
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

[elxr06]

Ok. It seems like the suspected memory stick is faulty and it simply just "died". I have tested by putting one working memory stick into system and my computer boots ok. When I replace with memory stick in question, computer fails to load. There are 4 slots and I tested same test on all 4 slots and the working memory all ok and memory in question always failed so slots/pins/memory controller no problem, meaning 4 sticks DDR ram should be ok if sticks were all working properly.

Regarding static issue, i don't know if that may have caused problem. But since I don't have antistatic wrist strap, I touched some metal part of computer case before touching memory stick itself.


Once again, how can I use memtest86+ on my own computer when I can't even run anything with faulty memory in place? In that case, my computer can't even start booting to the media for which I have installed memtest86+ for use. Maybe I try other computer but probably memory problem will happen on other computer too >:-S


Thanks for all responses, maybe I will go bug infineon (which I already have done, waiting for reply) to see if they will replace my memory for free or I'll just buy some replacement memory.

[Deerpark]

Once again, how can I use memtest86+ on my own computer when I can't even run anything with faulty memory in place?

You can't. But you don't really need to either, the stick is clearly faulty. You use memtest in cases where it's uncertain whether a memory stick is defective or not. That is in cases where the computer still boots but crashes with memory related error codes.

[elxr06]

ok thank you. i just don't understand how I have been using my computer for so long and now the stick all of a sudden fails? Compaq supplied this memory stick anyway.  And the beeping. It was a one short beep, stop, one short beep, stop, etc.

[patio]

I've had RAM run fine for 2-3 years and all of a sudden fail...it happens.

[elxr06]

Ok. I will definitely just buy memory to replace the broken one.

Now, how do I enable dual channel memory mode on my computer? I have an Amberine M motherboard, manufacturer is ASUSTek Computer INC.

There are two memory slots that are blue, and two that are black. Which slots are the ones to use to enable the dual channel memory mode?

[patio]

This One ? ?

[elxr06]

This One ? ?

Yeah that looks right.  So how would I enable the dual channel memory mode? Some people said the pair of memory goes in same colored slots for some computers while different colored slots for others. So what is it in my case ?

[patio]

From the same link you can DLoad your MBoard manual...

[elxr06]

From the same link you can DLoad your MBoard manual...

ok thank you. i got it