Spinning my gears

[GrandBandit]

My techs left a computer for me they couldn't figure out for me on my bench. It wasn't booting, but I knew to look up the post code. Looked like a stick of RAM was bad. I took out a stick of RAM, and bam, it booted just fine. I figured that stick of RAM was bad, so I left it out. I put another stick of RAM (yes, I checked the specs and ensured it was the same) after ordering it, and it wouldn't boot. I tried reseating, removing the new stick, switching the old one, trying new connections, NOTHING worked. I backed up her data, locked it away, and awaited her response (it was in no worse condition than when she brought it in.)

 

A week later she gets back from vacation, and I find out my Tech (unknowingly) put it in the bench to test it..IT WAS ON. Although I re-ran my diagnostics and it kept freezing beyond return during the stress test. Something was seriously messed up, but does anyone have any idea about those strange occurrences? She's opting to buy a new one regardless, it's an old ass e-machine...but I need closure on this.

[1hitwonder]

I think its either power supply or motherboard.. If I had to make a choice I would say motherboard...  Honestly though without swapping parts for known good ones I couldn't really give a definitive answer...

[GrandBandit]

I think its either power supply or motherboard.. If I had to make a choice I would say motherboard...  Honestly though without swapping parts for known good ones I couldn't really give a definitive answer...

Yeah, I figure it's only speculation. I was thinking MOBO too.