Computer won't turn on

[Epyon9283]

I got another 512mb of ram today. I put it in and everything appeared to work until I tried compiling something in Linux. It crashed then other stuff started crashing. I thought it was the new ram so I ran memtest86 and it failed some tests. I then took out both sticks of ram. The old 512 and the new one. I put the new one in the slot the old one was on and I turned the computer back on. Everything worked fine again with the new ram only. I thought the new ram must not have been seated right before or something. I put the old RAM back in the computer in the slot the new ram was in before.

Anyway after I put my old ram back in the computer will not start. All the lights will turn on including the 3 on the motherboard, the power and hdd lights, the light on one cdrom and the light on my floppy drive. I took the old ram out to see if that was it and still nothing. I reset the cmos with no effect. I disconnected all my drives with no effect. I have no idea what happened. I was pretty sure I was grounded when I inserted the new RAM. Oh god I hope my computer isn't dead. I can't afford replacement parts now...

System specs: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epyon9283/sys_specs.htm

[Mickwish]

Maybe you jiggled something when you fiddled in the case. No beeps coming from the system speaker? Maybe you knocked the vid card - try reseating it. If all the lights light, does the hdd light keep flashing if you hit keys (like it was doing something you couldn't see)?

Just unplug and reseat everything. And listen for beeps from the system speaker when you boot.

Cheers
Mick

[rpertusio]

Take your motherboard out of your case, and put it on a non-conductive surface (such as a phone book, wood, etc..)

Hook up the bare essentials, and see if it boots up fine (Motherboard, CPU/Heatsink, memory, Power Supply, Video Card)

- rp

[Epyon9283]

Originally posted by rpertusio
Take your motherboard out of your case, and put it on a non-conductive surface (such as a phone book, wood, etc..)

Hook up the bare essentials, and see if it boots up fine (Motherboard, CPU/Heatsink, memory, Power Supply, Video Card)

- rp

I'll try that right now

[Epyon9283]

Ok I put the motherboard on a book and I get the same result.

[Mickwish]

Any spare vid cards to try?

Cheers
Mick

[Epyon9283]

Nope. The other computers in my house have integrated video and I sold my old card already.

[RicheemxX]

your link for your specs page is dead...but one thing to try is double clear the cmos meaning take the battery out as well as shorting the jumpers your cmos might not be resetting make sure you unplug the computer as well

I'm not sure what you mean by it failed some of the tests on the memtest nor do you say wich stick it was but I'd say try the old one by itself in the number one mem slot make sure your getting the vid card and memory seated properly. It doesn't sound like anything died your just not getting something connected properly or the cmos isn't clearing

[rpertusio]

(1) You've got the RAM seated the whole way in? (The small tabs should *snap* into place once the RAM module is the whole way in.)

(2) You didn't accidently bump your heatsink out of alignment did you? Maybe you wedged your processor. Remove the heatsink/processor and put it back in again.

(3) All your fans are spinning up and such?

(4) Does your video card require a power cable... and did you plug it in?

Note: Your specs page doesnt load for me. Do you mind listing them here?

- rp

[Epyon9283]

Fixed the link to the sys specs. Sorry about that.

The new stick failed on the memtest. Im pretty sure I didn't touch the HSF when inserting the ram or anything. The RAM is in all the way. I have to use a lot of force to get it in. I will try resetting the CMOS again.