*sigh* Frustrating Computer Problem [Long]

[Hivetyrant]

Hmm, maybe there was dust or something left in your slot?
I have had strange problems with ram aswell, the sticks are fiddly things and sometimes fiddling can solve everything [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lady Sedai]

Though this problem seems to have solved itself, may I at least make a suggestion to you on the possibility of virii?

McAfee is CRAP for detecting virii. Invest in Norton AV. Then also d/l things like Spybot S&D and other Spyware/Adaware destroyers.

Run these programs on a regular basis.

Also defrag & scandisc regularly.

Because reading through this thread, I still feel it could have also been caused by a virus (up until the end where you say it's now corrected itself).

But shutdowns and reboots like you were having are common with virii.

[LennonCook]

Originally posted by Lady Sedai: McAfee is CRAP for detecting virii. Invest in Norton AV.

Or, if you prefer a free one, avast! is excellent.

[Animal]

Some very enlightened responses.

Your system will still boot but will give you a POST error if you have RAM problems.

Just because you paid $10 for a new 600W power supply, doesn't mean it's going to be any good. If you want a decent power supply, you're looking about $250-$300 for a quality 600W.

You get what you pay for.

[Seraph]

Your system will still boot but will give you a POST error if you have RAM problems.

My experience is that this generally not true for any situation short of total failure of the RAM. The RAM test that computers normally do on startup can miss all sorts of errors. The only time I've ever seen the startup tests detect a problem was when one of the SIMMs in my old 386 physically fell out of its slot, on the other hand I have had several RAM modules fail in more subtle ways that were a real pain to figure out.

[ 12-11-2004, 02:00 AM: Message edited by: Seraph ]

[Animal]

My point being that a RAM failure will not cause a complete boot failure.

[SilentThief]

also, the new stick of ram might cover the problem, but if the old stick is bad, you may still have the same problems when it uses that part of the memory.

I'm no computer expert, tho. (in fact I have a dodgy laptop right now.... )

SilentThief

[slicer15]

It's alright, the stick of old RAM on its own seemed to work fine before I put the new one in. Regardless, I'll test it with MemTest, though I'm afraid that'll make it realise it's supposed to be broken. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Calagari]

Last week I had a similar problem to yours. My problem was the connector that held the ram in place. I now can no longer use that connector. I had to trade in 2 sticks of 256 for one 512 stick and avoid using that slot connector. Mine was shorting out on the board I guess.

Originally posted by slicer15: Okay, I'm sorry to dig this up, but it's an update on the problem. I managed to borrow the same stick of RAM off of a friend (512MB, DDR 333 DIMM) and once I replaced my stick, it worked perfectly! Great, I thought, it is the RAM. At least I know which part to replace. However, once I placed my old stick back in, everything was back to normal! O.o I am really confused...it no longer reboots by itself, Photoshop and other PC games run perfectly, and it was as if the problem never happened. I'm not complaining, as now I have 1024MB or RAM, but I was wondering what could have been up. I guess I could not put it in properly or something... Any thoughts? As I said, the problem seems to have vanished. I think I'll keep my new stick and old stick in there, and if the problem crops up, simply remove the old stick again. I'll also run MemTest later. Thanks for any opinions. [img]smile.gif[/img] You guys have been a great help!

[Calagari]

Last week I had a similar problem to yours. My problem was the connector that held the ram in place. I now can no longer use that connector. I had to trade in 2 sticks of 256 for one 512 stick and avoid using that slot connector. Mine was shorting out on the board I guess.

Originally posted by slicer15: Okay, I'm sorry to dig this up, but it's an update on the problem. I managed to borrow the same stick of RAM off of a friend (512MB, DDR 333 DIMM) and once I replaced my stick, it worked perfectly! Great, I thought, it is the RAM. At least I know which part to replace. However, once I placed my old stick back in, everything was back to normal! O.o I am really confused...it no longer reboots by itself, Photoshop and other PC games run perfectly, and it was as if the problem never happened. I'm not complaining, as now I have 1024MB or RAM, but I was wondering what could have been up. I guess I could not put it in properly or something... Any thoughts? As I said, the problem seems to have vanished. I think I'll keep my new stick and old stick in there, and if the problem crops up, simply remove the old stick again. I'll also run MemTest later. Thanks for any opinions. [img]smile.gif[/img] You guys have been a great help!