Can faulty RAM damage motherboard or CPU?

[andyrp]

I tested a friends RAM on my system, which we found to be faulty.
After putting my RAM back in the system sporatically crashes, and sometimes won't even POST. Never works for more than a few minutes, sometimes seconds.
Could the faulty RAM have damaged something?

My Computer:
MB: Asus M4A79T Deluxe
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
RAM: 2x Corsair TW3X4G1600C9D sets, total 8GB.
Graphics: Asus EAH4890

Faulty RAM (that was tested): Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D, was tested one module at a time.

 

[badge]

Could the faulty RAM have damaged something?

No. Go in to BIOS and set RAM voltage, timings and speed to Corsair's specifications. If you do not know how, try pulling the MB battery and resetting the CMOS jumper to default the BIOS. Instructions for setting up the RAM are also explained in the MB manual.

 

[andyrp]

Hi badge

When we tested the faulty we set all BIOS settings to auto, they were still on auto when we changed the RAM back.
Pulling the MB battery and resetting the CMOS jumper did nothing. When I was setting the voltages and timings in BIOS the system crashed before I could save and exit.

What could be wrong?

 

[badge]

Have you tried one DIMM in slot one only. Perhaps work from there. Run memtest if you suspect bad RAM. The MB supplies voltage to the RAM through onboard voltage regulators. This voltage supply process to the RAM would not cause damage to the board...by swapping a DIMM. The voltage has been predetermined in BIOS, not by a DIMM. Unless a RAM slot was physically damaged in the process, swapping out the RAM would not cause damage to the MB.

 

[andyrp]

Looks like we've got it working now.

We managed to get into the BIOS for long enough to change the latency from 7-7-7-20 to 9-9-9-24, and then save and exit. After that it was more stable and we could set the rest of the settings.
It crashed again a little later but after playing around with the arrangement of the modules so that the paired ones were on the same channel it seems fine.

The system has been fine running a stress test for about 15 minutes, if there's any more problems I'll post back here.

Thanks for your help badge.

 

[badge]

Great.