Can RAM cause CPU failure?

[gogglestechnowarrior]

Hi guys, I come here for a quick sanity check from experts. I'm using mag b650 tomahawk wifi (BIOS: 7D75v1E5(Beta version)) with 78003dx, corsair vengeance 2x16GB ddr5 5600Mhz, 850Watt PSU and RTX 4070Ti Super. It's my first build so I'm quite stressing about doing everything the right way. When it came to testing the set-up outside of the case it did not boot, showing CPU+RAM error LED (red+orange). I am certain I put in the RAM in the correct sockets. I rechecked every connection, and begun to move the sicks around. I found out that one stick regardless of the socket (and whether it was inputted alone, or with the other one) prevented the system to boot. When using the other stick in channel 1A, the system powered on, I updated the BIOS to the mentioned version but it did not fix the problem.

 

So, one stick does not work, the other does. Problem solved, return faulty product and get a new set - although it quite bothers me that a faulty sick of ram can prevent CPU from booting in the mobo. Has anyone else encountered such behaviour? I'm worried there may be more underlying issues (e.g. the mobo itself).

Thanks a lot.

 

tldr: Can faulty ram stick prevent CPU from booting. 

[Godlygamer23]

The system goes through what's known as POST(Power On Self Test). The BIOS is basically recognizing all the hardware installed, and once you see a splash screen, that means the system was able to successfully complete the POST. In this case, it didn't with the one stick of RAM, so the memory is faulty. This isn't unheard of, but sometimes you can have faulty memory that does allow the system to complete the POST, but when the system tries to write to a specific area of memory(if that's the faulty component), you'll get a BSOD.

 

TLDR: Faulty major components will most likely cause the motherboard to not POST, but it does not cause any damage.

[gogglestechnowarrior]

3 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

The system goes through what's known as POST(Power On Self Test). The BIOS is basically recognizing all the hardware installed, and once you see a splash screen, that means the system was able to successfully complete the POST. In this case, it didn't with the one stick of RAM, so the memory is faulty. This isn't unheard of, but sometimes you can have faulty memory that does allow the system to complete the POST, but when the system tries to write to a specific area of memory(if that's the faulty component), you'll get a BSOD.

 

TLDR: Faulty major components will most likely cause the motherboard to not POST, but it does not cause any damage.

Thanks a lot, but that does not answer my question. Wouldn't a RAM issue only light up the RAM related LED in POST? In that case it lit up both CPU and RAM at the same time. How often does that happen?

 

[problemsolver]

12 minutes ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

I am certain I put in the RAM in the correct sockets.

 

When using the other stick in channel 1A, the system powered on, I updated the BIOS to the mentioned version but it did not fix the problem.

 

Sounds like you have a bad RAM module... BUT... I would try the correct slots first...

[gogglestechnowarrior]

1 minute ago, problemsolver said:

 

It's definitely possible you have a bad RAM module... BUT... I would try the correct slots first...

Thanks a lot for reply. I tried all combination of slots, starting with DIMMA/B1. I am confident it is a faulty stick, what I am wondering why it also lit up the CPU led

[Godlygamer23]

2 minutes ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

Tried all combination of slots, starting with DIMMA/B1. I am confident it is a faulty stick, what I am wondering why it also lit up the CPU led

Does it happen again if you repeat the same DIMM configuration? It could be because the DRAM failed, the memory controller within the CPU flagged itself, and prevented itself from starting up.

[problemsolver]

6 minutes ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

Thanks a lot for reply. I tried all combination of slots, starting with DIMMA/B1. I am confident it is a faulty stick, what I am wondering why it also lit up the CPU led

Yes, I saw that... but since you mentioned A1 it made me question other stuff. So, for example, you mention you put two sticks in and it didn't work.

1. Was that in A2 and B2? If you swap them between A2 and B2 does it not POST regardless?
2. This is the only setup that should work... trying them in other slots doesn't really help much
3. Clear the CMOS each time before you test a configuration
   
   To be clear, I think your RAM is probably bad, but hey, worth trying

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

Wouldn't a RAM issue only light up the RAM related LED in POST?

Depends on when it failed in the boot process, but there are some RAM error codes that double as CPU error codes. It's fairly common for a memory issue to cause a CPU debug LED (probably about 30% of the time in my experience). 

[LIGISTX]

24 minutes ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

Thanks a lot for reply. I tried all combination of slots, starting with DIMMA/B1. I am confident it is a faulty stick, what I am wondering why it also lit up the CPU led

If it’s working now, it’s all fine. CPU’s don’t really “only sorta work”. If it’s booting and passing stress tests, it’s totally fine. 

[gogglestechnowarrior]

Thanks a lot guys for a lot of replies and a great deal of support. I really appreciate all of your comments. I'm returning the RAM and getting myself another. Fingers crossed for a happy update later today

[Robchil]

i've seen a CPU kill a board and ram... and when the cpu was swapped out it was killed by the ram and board that was killed by the previous cpu...  so the fix was swapping all 3 components.. but it was 2 mainboards 3 cpu's and 2 ram kits later

 

[Bjoolz]

16 hours ago, gogglestechnowarrior said:

Thanks a lot, but that does not answer my question. Wouldn't a RAM issue only light up the RAM related LED in POST? In that case it lit up both CPU and RAM at the same time. How often does that happen?

 

Keep in mind that these are not error lights. They just tell you which part of POST it's in. The LED it's stuck on is just what you check first. The CPU can't really function properly without RAM (It could probably do a lot in the BIOS with just the CPU cache, it's just not made to do so). 

[gogglestechnowarrior]

Thanks again everyone for all the fantastic suggestions. Replaced the ram with a new kit and everything works perfectly well now