My Friend Has a Question

[BLLDoesTech]

So my friend was doing some work on his PC, and thought it was off. He took the RAM out, and replaced it with new sticks.

 

He went to turn on the PC when he realized it was sleeping the whole time. Now his system won't boot with any sticks of RAM.

 

Did he fry something?

[Ja Krispie]

3 minutes ago, BLLDoesTech said:

So my friend was doing some work on his PC, and thought it was off. He took the RAM out, and replaced it with new sticks.

 

He went to turn on the PC when he realized it was sleeping the whole time. Now his system won't boot with any sticks of RAM.

 

Did he fry something?

He might have fried the sockets the sticks go into. Were all the ram slots populated? If not he can always try using the other slots.

 

Edit: He also could have fried the motherboard and/or Ram sticks that were in there.

 

Edit 2: I've only ever seen once in a server where RAM was hot swappable (Keep in mind Windows doesn't support the feature so likely even if it did it still wouldn't be wise.) There is electricity that runs across the pins and connector of the memory module so it would have likely fried it.

[emosun]

he'll have to at least reset the bios on the board

[Ja Krispie]

Just now, emosun said:

he'll have to at least reset the bios on the board

He will be VERY lucky if that's all he has to do. The most likely scenario is that it's toast.

[emosun]

Just now, Psybadek said:

He will be VERY lucky if that's all he has to do. The most likely scenario is that it's toast.

an important part about diagnostics.....

.... is not immediately jumping to the conclusion that its fried and offering zero solutions or answers as if you're paid on commision for selling new products like an apple store.

[BLLDoesTech]

I'll help him to reset the BIOS. If that doesn't work, then probably fried

[Ja Krispie]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

an important part about diagnostics.....

.... is not immediately jumping to the conclusion that its fried and offering zero solutions or answers as if you're paid on commision for selling new products like an apple store.

Well obviously that's the case but in this case in knowing how it works it's safe to presume the outcome. Not many cases where you pull ram out of a motherboard while it's receiving power (even residual power can do it) results in the Ram or motherboard not being fried. It's not impossible but not many options, he's also stated the new memory still doesnt have the pc boot up. They've also done the diagnosing when trying the new and old ram again with no difference

[BLLDoesTech]

Just now, Psybadek said:

Well obviously that's the case but in this case in knowing how it works it's safe to presume the outcome. Not many cases where you pull ram out of a motherboard while it's receiving power (even residual power can do it) results in the Ram or motherboard not being fried. It's not impossible but not many options, he's also stated the new memory still doesnt have the pc boot up. They've also done the diagnosing when trying the new and old ram again with no difference

The pc was in sleep mode, so are the pins receiving power?

[Ja Krispie]

Just now, BLLDoesTech said:

The pc was in sleep mode, so are the pins receiving power?

Yes they will still be receiving power

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

12 minutes ago, BLLDoesTech said:

Did he fry something?

take ram out to see for burn marks.

rams do smoke

[emosun]

1 minute ago, Psybadek said:

Well obviously that's the case but in this case in knowing how it works it's safe to presume the outcome. Not many cases where you pull ram out of a motherboard while it's receiving power (even residual power can do it) results in the Ram or motherboard not being fried. It's not impossible but not many options, he's also stated the new memory still doesnt have the pc boot up. They've also done the diagnosing when trying the new and old ram again with no difference

an yet you have no idea if the firmware was ever reset

in your mind , a machines firmware will handle part swaps without a reset even during sleep mode.

seeing as you still offered no options maybe comment when you have something to offer the op other than "it's broke"

[Ja Krispie]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

an yet you have no idea if the firmware was ever reset

in your mind , a machines firmware will handle part swaps without a reset even during sleep mode.

seeing as you still offered no options maybe comment when you have something to offer the op other than "it's broke"

I don't need to know if the firmware was reset. A BIOS flash won't fix the issue. When you're dealing with electricity even with a PC in sleep/hibernation mode pulling out modules have a high chance of damaging the module or the logic board it's plugged into.

 

Also I did offer other suggestions. I did suggest he can try other DIMM slots seeing as he could have only damaged the DIMM slots that sticks were plugged into. Something you can do without requiring to do without replacing the whole board if you don't need all slots populated.

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Psybadek said:

I don't need to know if the firmware was reset. A BIOS flash won't fix the issue. When you're dealing with electricity even with a PC in sleep/hibernation mode pulling out modules have a high chance of damaging the module or the logic board it's plugged into.

 

Also I did offer other suggestions. I did suggest he can try other DIMM slots seeing as he could have only damaged the DIMM slots that sticks were plugged into. Something you can do without requiring to do without replacing the whole board if you don't need all slots populated.

k don't need you to mansplain electricity to me like i'm somehow new to computers, not your wife

 

[Ja Krispie]

Just now, emosun said:

k don't need you to mansplain electricity to me like i'm somehow new to computers, not your wife

 

Don't tell me what's in my mind then. I'm not new to computers either and have been servicing them for the majority of my career.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, Psybadek said:

I'm not new to computers either and have been servicing them for the majority of my career.

that would explain the "to lazy to figure it out" mentality

[i_build_nanosuits]

19 minutes ago, BLLDoesTech said:

The pc was in sleep mode, so are the pins receiving power?

Reset the CMOS on the motherboard and try with only 1 stick 1st...let us know how it goes

[Opencircuit74]

It's kind of a gamble with pulling out RAM sticks while the computer is on. I killed a motherboard (DDR3) by doing that, but on an older DDR2 system I could do it all day, and it just made a pretty light show on the monitor.

 

It is quite possible something was damaged, and I would clear the CMOS and try again. If that doesn't work, try putting the modules in another system to see if they work. Worst case scenario either the RAM or motherboard is damaged. Maybe ask him to try @Psybadek  or @i_build_nanosuits's ideas, might as well do everything possible to see if something is in fact dead.

[Ja Krispie]

13 minutes ago, Opencircuit74 said:

It's kind of a gamble with pulling out RAM sticks while the computer is on. I killed a motherboard (DDR3) by doing that, but on an older DDR2 system I could do it all day, and it just made a pretty light show on the monitor.

 

It is quite possible something was damaged, and I would clear the CMOS and try again. If that doesn't work, try putting the modules in another system to see if they work. Worst case scenario either the RAM or motherboard is damaged. Maybe ask him to try @Psybadek  or @i_build_nanosuits's ideas, might as well do everything possible to see if something is in fact dead.

You can also test the ram in another rig and do a memtest to make sure the sticks are good as well

[BLLDoesTech]

@Psybadek

I would like to let you know you were wrong. Nothing was fried.

Bios flash worked like @emosun suggested

[BLLDoesTech]

 

10 hours ago, emosun said:

he'll have to at least reset the bios on the board

Thanks, this worked, only one old stick of RAM was fried

[emosun]

11 hours ago, BLLDoesTech said:

Bios flash worked like @emosun suggested