First build problems/possibly defective ram

[trev.larocque]

Hey I just recently finished assembling my first build. I tried to start it up and all the fans were spinning and stuff but it wasn't producing a picture. I did some research and some trouble shooting which lead me to taking out one of the ram sticks, I did this and sure enough it seemed to work as it brought me to the bios screen. When I get home tonight I'm going to try to put the suspected bad ram back in to determine whether it's an issue with the motherboard or with the ram. If it is the ram that's preventing it from starting up does that automatically mean that it it's defective? The ram is a 16 GB (2x8) 2666 MHz Ballistix sport I bought from Amazon.ca, how do I go about returning it if that's the problem and do I need to send both back?

Thank you in advance for helping me with this.

 

[trev.larocque]

My build is as follows:
- asrock b360m pro 4
- i5-8400
- 16 GB Ballistix sport 2666 MHz ram (2x8)
- 1060 6gb FE GPU
- 2tb wd HDD
- 250gb Intel m.2 SSD
- 650w seasonic psu

 

[WildCard999]

If it's the RAM that's causing the issues then you'll want to send both sticks in for replacement as the kits have been tested to work together and adding a stick to another from a different kit can cause stability issues.

 

[geofelt]

Read your motherboard manual;if you are using only 2sticks in 4 slots, there is a preferred place to insert the sticks.

Test your ram with memtest86.
You should be able to complete a full pass with NO errors.

Was your ram bought in a single 2 x 8gb kit?
Two disparate sticks, even of the same part number may be the problem.

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

Test a known good stick in each slot.
Possibly the problem is a bad slot in the motherboard.

Your parts will still be under warranty