After a routine cleaning – removing essentially all the parts (PSU, CPU fan, GPU, HDD and DVD drive, cleaning each separately, well except for the HDD and DVD) – the system would not come back on. The monitor showed nothing. The boot beep was longer, about a full second or more. The boot process repeated itself over and over, each time displaying nothing and just beeping.
I unplugged the system and moved the rightmost RAM stick over one slot. That did it! My primary question: the RAM is under warranty – should I take it back, or this a problem with the motherboard?
I'd like to be able to use the dual channel capability. According to the motherboard manual, I should put the two sticks in the leftmost slots (of the same color) and not one in each of a different color. So, as of this moment (as I write this!) I don't know what memory state it's in. Secondary question: How do I check? Everything seems fine; should I be worrying? I really hope it's not the mobo.
I use Kingston HyperX DDR2 RAM on a Gigabyte motherboard.
Another detail I should probably mention: I ran memtest about a half year ago, overnight, (RAM was in the leftmost two slots) with no errors. The whole story goes like this: I've been having trouble for two years now figuring out the cause of my system lockup, which happens fairly often but irregularly.
I've ruled out temperature and overheating, HDD error; I've installed new drivers for everything, etc. I really hope the RAM is the problem, because then I could just get a new pair and be done with the system freezing issue.
Best Answer
When it comes to memtest, overnight is not always enough, and passing half a year ago does not mean they'd pass now. Overnight might be enough to prove the memories are faulty, but not enough to prove they work. Something like 1-3 days straight is needed to be reasonably certain about the memories working.
Also, it is possible the motherboard is somehow faulty, and single-channel operation works but dual-channel does not. If the same memories in different slots work fine but in some not, I'd suspect the motherboard. Dual-channel operation obviously changes the stress to the motherboard and processor, so it can make problems come up that would eternally go unnoticed on single-channel operation.
Knowing your processor, motherboard and memory models would not hurt in helping you, too.