[SOLVED] Not even sure this is the problem, but I just discovered I had not pushed a ram stick in completely

[Sqwirl]

I am not even sure this is the problem, but I've never done this before, and now there is a problem.

I put two 8 GB sticks of ram into my PC yesterday, and I tested them with the win 7 memory test. There were no errors, so I shut down, put some of the old ram back in and rebooted. I started getting various BSOD messages, a different .sys file every time was given as the failing point. I decided to run memtest and made a bootable USB stick.

I rebooted and went into bios, but the bios was very slow to load at that point, but it did load. I looked at the boot options and didn't see USB, so I restarted. It is an old PC and might not have a boot to USB option, I reasoned. I have never updated my bios, so I decided to try that.

After restarting, the desktop is now stuck on the bios loading screen for very long periods. It does not respond to the key commands to enter setup or boot menu. It has posted once, and the windows startup recovery repair tool ran. then it rebooted, and now I am back at the same bios load screen. FWIW I took a photo of my current bios version the first time https://photos.app.goo.gl/SZBx5C27pf9s3AEZ8

Since something is obviously very wrong, I decided to take out the new memory and put in the old memory as I know it is fine. At that point I realized I had not pushed a ram stick all the way in until it clicks.

Is it possible that I damaged something by not pushing the ram stick in completely and starting the PC? I am really not sure what to do at this point.

BTW, after half an hour the bios seems to have responded to my pushing f12 to enter the boot menu. It's not recognizing the USB mouse, but it is responding to the keyboard.

It almost seems like my bios firmware is bugged, and idk what to make of it. Any thoughts?

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H

 

[Gerald6049]

It is an old PC and might not have a boot to USB option, I reasoned. I have never updated my bios, so I decided to try that.

They should detect. The motherboard is not really that old. Make sure the bootable is made properly.

Is it possible that I damaged something by not pushing the ram stick in completely and starting the PC? I am really not sure what to do at this point.

Now, make sure the both stick is connected properly, then reset the BIOS. After that try to boot to BIOS, without bootable USB. If they still take a long time, try to boot only with 1 stick RAM.

 

[Sqwirl]

Thanks, I was able to boot with one stick of ram and make a bootable dvd of memtest86. Now I am testing just the two new sticks of ram. It's been going for almost 20 minutes without an error, so the ram is probably fine :/

 

[Gerald6049]

Thanks, I was able to boot with one stick of ram and make a bootable dvd of memtest86. Now I am testing just the two new sticks of ram. It's been going for almost 20 minutes without an error, so the ram is probably fine :/

Have you try to boot windows with 1 stick new RAM ? In some cases, the ram passed memtest but the issue still occure.

 

[Sqwirl]

I was able to boot into windows with one stick of ram, then I put in only the two new sticks in. It took a long time to post with the two new sticks, but I was able to boot into memtest where I let them be checked for 40 mins. No errors.

Next I went into bios to try and reduce memory speed as a friend was saying this might help. With the two new sticks of ram it would not recognize my mouse. I have never had a problem with that before. Arrows worked, but enter did nothing.

So next I put in one old stick, went back into bios and tried to reduce the memory speed. It recognized the mouse with one stick, but I was unable to change any settings. Reading my mobo manual, I see that I should have been able to change those.

Now I have only the old memory in, which is 24 GB, and it is not posting at all again. Everything was working fine with this memory before and has been for a long time.

Next I am going to go back to one stick, and if I can boot into windows again, apparently gigabyte put an @bios software on my system which will update the bios automatically.

I really don't know what to do other than that. I have never updated the bios, and this is an 8 yo computer, so that is overdue. I hope I don't wind up bricking the mobo

 

[SkyNetRising]

I really don't know what to do other than that. I have never updated the bios, and this is an 8 yo computer, so that is overdue. I hope I don't wind up bricking the mobo

Test single ram module. Test them one by one.
Find faulty one.

Do not update BIOS with faulty ram module. You can brick your motherboard this way.

 

[Sqwirl]

Test single ram module. Test them one by one.
Find faulty one.

Do not update BIOS with faulty ram module. You can brick your motherboard this way.

Well, I have an old stick of kingston in. I memtested it some time ago and have been using it for ages...

Edit: but just to be safe I will do it again

 

[Sqwirl]

Addendum: I wonder if it could be soemthing else, say a hdd? I was getting some low memory and OOM problems before as I leave my PC on most of the time and otherwise put a strain on it.
Sometimes I would get a found or lost hardware message saying SATA controller 0 (iirc) was found or lost, but none of my drives were unmounting, so idk what to make of that.

I need a new computer, I think. I am kind of broke though

 

[Gerald6049]

Addendum: I wonder if it could be soemthing else, say a hdd? I was getting some low memory and OOM problems before as I leave my PC on most of the time and otherwise put a strain on it.
Sometimes I would get a found or lost hardware message saying SATA controller 0 (iirc) was found or lost, but none of my drives were unmounting, so idk what to make of that.

I need a new computer, I think. I am kind of broke though

HDD issue don't affect the BIOS. They will affect the windows. But, always try to minimum boot when you troubleshoot (PSU, MB, CPU and RAM only).