Can bad ram kill a motherboard?

[kaidemarco]

So I had this pc made of old parts I was using as a htpc for a while, it worked okay for months. However, the other day, it suddenly just would not display anything to the screen. I came to the conclusion that the motherboard had died, since it was on the cheaper side, and it had been a couple years old. So I threw out the mobo, but kept the rest of the parts. I took the spare ram from it and put it in my gaming pc, because why not. It was only a 4gb stick,and was the same speed as my other sticks(1600). Anyway, everything seemed to work fine, but only a day later, I go to boot my gaming pc up, and same problem. It turns on, but will not display anything whatsoever.
I have tried switching hdmi cables and tvs, but I'm pretty sure my expensive motherboard is now also dead. Obviously im going to ditch that ram no matter what, but does anyone know what could have happened? Another symptom both of the mobos had was they would turn on, but I would have to turn off the psu to get them to turn off. I also took two drives from the htpc and put it in my main rig, but I dont think they would be the culprit. Also, does anyone know anything I can try to revive the mobo? Help would be much appreciated.

UPDATE: I cleared the cmos and only put the cpu and one stick of ram in and it turned on. I don't know why, I did all the same things as I did to the last one. Maybe this one is just made better.

 

[atomicWAR]

Did you change the PSU when you changed motherboards? Honestly a PSU is more likely to cause that kind of damage but technically anything attached to your motherboard can fry it...The ram just isn't a likely offender is all. Usually the ram goes you only need to replace it and the same holds true for your GPU, SSDs, HDDs, etc.

 

[iamacow]

Anything is possible and I've seen a lot of strange things, but no, ram won't kill a board, maybe a slot but not the board.

I would start at 101 basics because if you are having the same problem, it probably is more than just the motherboard or isn't the board at all.

 

[atomicWAR]

If you did not buy a new PSU that is the first thing I would replace. Tier 1 or tier 2...never cheap out on a PSU. It is the heart of your PC and can kill it quicker then any other part.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/631048-psu-tier-list-updated/

 

[kaidemarco]

UPDATE: I cleared the cmos and only put the cpu and one stick of ram in and it turned on. I don't know why, I did all the same things as I did to the last one, and that one was dead for sure. Maybe this one is just made better.

I also did switch out the psu, but that didnt help. It's weird, but I still do not at all trust that ram. Thanks for the help though!

 

[atomicWAR]

Anything is possible and I've seen a lot of strange things, but no, ram won't kill a board, maybe a slot but not the board.

I would start at 101 basics because if you are having the same problem, it probably is more than just the motherboard or isn't the board at all.

Nah I have seen ram kill an entire board, same with a GPU. Just a lot more rare then say a bad PSU. As you stated the more likely scenario is it kills a single slot or it fries the CPUs memory controller and your out a CPU.

 

[kaidemarco]

Actually my cpu is good! everything is working good now. I seriously dont know what to think at the moment though