Memory gone missing, and now the system won't boot up. Help!

[enmity]

My PC Specs:

-Asus Z97-A Mobo
-G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1866 Mhz 4Gb 9-10-9-28 Tuning 1.5V x2
-i7 4790k
-Asus GTX 970

Hi, I noticed a day ago that my system read that I have only 4gb's of memory installed, but i had 2x4gb installed back when I built my system a few months ago. I'm 100% certain that it used to read 8gb's of memory a while back.

Because of this problem I turned off my computer, shut off the power supply, and proceeded to re-seat my memory sticks. I have them in banks A2 and B2 because I have a Hyper 212 Evo Heatsink. I thought that it may be because one of the memory sticks were not seated properly or maybe there was some dust involved. I used one of those compressed air canisters to clean it out.

After re-seating my memory sticks, it still read as 4gb, so I decided to switch the two memory sticks around to see if it was still the same. Fast forwarding to the next problem that arose is that the system did not want to boot up at all -- even with the memory sticks in the same position as they were originally.

I noticed that there was a red light on the top right of my mobo right above the MemOK! button. I've read the user manual and it told me that the red LED will continuously be lit if the memory installed is not compatible, but it worked before? I then tried to use the MemOK! function(as it is to be used for memory compatibility tuning for successful boot up) to see if that would fix the issue, and it just flashed a few times, with increasing speed with the next segment of flashing, until it went back to its continuous red light. The manual reads that these are tests, and if it returns to its original static light state and it does not boot up, then I will need to purchase new compatible memory.

I am not sure as what I should do at the moment, because the memory did in fact work for around 2 months until this happened. Please help!

Thank you in advance for replying with advice.

 

[Dogsnake]

First I am not sure what you mean by A2/B2? There are 4 slots for memory. Each pair is designated by 2 being the same color. We may be talking about the same thing but just wanted to be clear. Your memory should go into same color slots. So I would try them one at a time in each of the 4 slots. If they were installed correctly in one of the same color paired slots, then try them in the other color paired slots. Do you overclock? It is possible that one or both of the memory modules has failed. A defective module could give that error signal as well.

 

[enmity]

First I am not sure what you mean by A2/B2? There are 4 slots for memory. Each pair is designated by 2 being the same color. We may be talking about the same thing but just wanted to be clear. Your memory should go into same color slots. So I would try them one at a time in each of the 4 slots. If they were installed correctly in one of the same color paired slots, then try them in the other color paired slots. Do you overclock? It is possible that one or both of the memory modules has failed. A defective module could give that error signal as well.

By A2 and B2, I mean the 2nd and 4th slots. I had them both in the light-gray slots originally and it worked completely fine. I just tried the other two slots as well, and the red light still persists. I do not overclock anything in my rig, so that should not be the issue here either. Maybe both of my memory sticks have died? It could be a possibility seeing as one probably went out initially, and now both of them are dead?

 

[enmity]

Anymore advice would be appreciated.

I've read the user manual for my motherboard and it does not have the memory that I've been using on it's compatibility list, but it did indeed work for a while. I'm thinking that this could have damaged the memory, and ultimately leading them to their deaths.

At this point if no one else has a solution to my problem, then I'll probably just purchase a new set of memory that's on the approved list for my mobo.

 

[PassMark]

If you can try the suspect sticks in other machine (that is known to be working) before replacing them? There is some chance it is the motherboard / CPU that is at fault.

Also try using just 1 stick at a time.

 

[enmity]

If you can try the suspect sticks in other machine (that is known to be working) before replacing them? There is some chance it is the motherboard / CPU that is at fault.

Also try using just 1 stick at a time.

My other machine's motherboard is not compatible with the suspected sticks of memory and my motherboard is not compatible with my old machine's memory sticks.

I've tried to stick in the lone stick a few times and it still resulted in the same thing.

Also, I just tried to reset my BIOS by removing the CMOS battery, pressing/holding the power button for 10-15 seconds and then placing the battery back in(with the power off, of course). Same result anyways. The red light is still on, and it won't boot up.

I went to the tech store today and the tech guy told me that it is most likely the memory that is at fault. It wasn't listed on the user manuals approved memory models, so it was probably not very stable to start off with(I didn't really notice). Probably ended up dying away, one stick at a time.