Can a bad ram stick stop computer boot up

[Dinosaur hunter]

Hello, Can a bad ram stick stop a computer from starting up? When I power up all the fans and driver run. Best Buy checked the power supply and it is ok. Yellow light below power button comes on for a couple minutes. no beeps though. Moniter says power saving mode and goes blank. Checked out hard drive in a box on the lap top it is good all the files are there. It acts as though it cant find the system bios to start up the os. Can a bad ram stick cause this or can the processor find what it needs to run directly from the hard drive?

 

[Engima]

I think it is possible but if it doesn't boot up at all then I would suspect maybe the motherboard is faulty.

 

[aneeshkumar]

Yes. a faulty RAM stick is one of the reasons that a computer not booting up. In the troubleshooting procedure of PC not booting, after checking the physical connections, checking RAM is the first thing to do after opening the case

 

[Dinosaur hunter]

I have changed the mother, but it is doing the axact same thing as before. The ram stick is the same one from the other board. Will I have to re load the system BIOS, and OS or is that also stored on the hard drive?

 

[Engima]

The BIOS is stored on the motherboard and the OS is stored on the hard drive so switching RAM sticks will not affect those two.

 

[Dinosaur hunter]

Best answer selected by Dinosaur hunter.

 

[konoli]

I've had totally crazy problem with my PC. Occasionally it would fail to boot up, although fans were working (no POST). The problem turned into real nightmare with freezes, BSODs and almost total inability to POST. Eventually, after all tests and experiments an IT changed my CPU and got it working again. Just as I thought it was finally over and started putting back my remaining RAM sticks (turn computer off and put one RAM stick at a time), when I put back the third RAM stick and switched on, I got no POST again. I, then, tested all combinations (maybe it was bad slot) and concluded that computer won't POST whenever that particular RAM stick is in any MOBO slot. The crazy thing is that, before changing CPU, the no-POST symptom was present even without that "corrupted" RAM stick.
Is it right to conclude from my story that a bad RAM stick can cause BIOS or other problems that persist even after the stick is removed from the MOBO?

 

[konoli]

I was too quick to celebrate my victory. After a couple of hours with another CPU and without the suspect RAM stick, the monitor turned off again. I unplugged PC power cord and turned it on again. The computer failed to POST. I removed my SoundBlaster Live and for the first time connected my speakers to Mobo (I had pulled out SB before to eliminate it as a suspect but never connected speakers to Mobo). This time I first time heard female voice saying System failed CPU test. I tried several turn ons, pushing physically Mobo (I discovered that that helps) and finally got POST. I decided to add suspect RAM stick. I got no POST but no female voice either. I removed the suspect RAM stick and turned on normally. Now it's working normally for a couple of hours but another funny thing happened. My friend called to tell me that he started having problem. He could not get past BIOS screen. As soon as he hits enter, his monitor turns off. Strange coincidence, because two days ago I was at his place trying to solve my problem i.e. I connected his monitor to my PC to see if it will POST in his home (suspected that my wall socket current was bad). I also did one other, seemingly unrelated thing: I put my USB stick into his PC and transferred a 2Gb folder to his HD. He didn't run any file from that folder, but could it be that my boot/POST problems are actually virus-related and that I transferred that virus or whatever to his computer via USB and now he's having somewhat similar boot problems? I'm loosing my mind with this issue.

 

[Walker Firmin]

In the past I have taken ram out of my system and all it says is that no ram is installed, but I don't think it would stop it from displaying any error messages it will stop it from booting into windows though

 

[Stefan Boivin]

I recently found out a faulty RAM stick will stop the PC from hitting error messages (correct me if I'm wrong), but an empty slot is apparently no problem. Try taking out all but 1 RAM sticks and booting with them one at a time (trying each slot with each stick) and see which stick or slot your PC doesn't like.

 

[Walker Firmin]

Im pretty sure it cant stop it from turning on but in the worst situation if it is a problem with the ram your computer will make a beeping sound telling you that the ram is bad. this sound by the way is called a POST code

 

[MoXymatt]

I had an issue with some old ram i installed into my new build it seemed like the computer was booting but just a backlit screen. Taking out the ram and wiping it with a rubber fixes this temporarily but new ram is the best method.

 

[Talha Fareed]

Hello, Can a bad ram stick stop a computer from starting up? When I power up all the fans and driver run. Best Buy checked the power supply and it is ok. Yellow light below power button comes on for a couple minutes. no beeps though. Moniter says power saving mode and goes blank. Checked out hard drive in a box on the lap top it is good all the files are there. It acts as though it cant find the system bios to start up the os. Can a bad ram stick cause this or can the processor find what it needs to run directly from the hard drive?

 

[Talha Fareed]

i am Having same trouble
if you find the solution let me know talhafareed321@gmail.com

 

[ekjyot sandhu]

Hello, Can a bad ram stick stop a computer from starting up? When I power up all the fans and driver run. Best Buy checked the power supply and it is ok. Yellow light below power button comes on for a couple minutes. no beeps though. Moniter says power saving mode and goes blank. Checked out hard drive in a box on the lap top it is good all the files are there. It acts as though it cant find the system bios to start up the os. Can a bad ram stick cause this or can the processor find what it needs to run directly from the hard drive?

 

[ekjyot sandhu]

Yup, its surely caused by ram, it happens with me also but i got it fixed.
Firstly, take ur ram out clean it up with dry clothes and also ur ram slots.
Hope it works for u also cz it worked for me