Question One of my 2x8GB Ram Sticks Stopped Working

[Aristokles]

I was using 2x8 Corsair Vengeance RGB (Specifically CMR16GX4M2C3000C15) for over 4 years now with MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON with no issues, but some days ago one of the sticks must've stopped working without me realizing.

So I tried to find out which stick was broken by only using one stick at a time, quickly i found out which was okay and which one didn't work so i tried to start with faulty ram only but PC kept restarting constantly. Then I thought its probably dust build up over the years, after cleaning nothing happened again but this time I noticed something strange, I was able to see that there was actually RAM sitting on DIMMB2 and DIMMA2 (the slots I was using normally) so it must work then right? I was able to OC it even and change its RGB lights but system memory in both Windows and BIOS showed up as 8GBs and CPU-Z showed only one SPD slot. Regardless I tried things such as:
-Updating the BIOS
-Replacing CMOS battery
-Wiping the gold contacts again

After some research I thought maybe putting the RAM on DIMMA1-2 or DIMMB1-2 would maybe fix it and something even stranger happened, this time even the RAM i thought worked perfectly fine didn't work, instead it just black screened every time. Only time I can start my PC is either only putting that "working" RAM or only using DIMMA2-B2.

My question is, do you think my RAM just kicked the bucked in just 4 years even though I read somewhere that RAMs usually outlive people. Thanks for any help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

A2 and B2 are the CORRECT DIMM slots to use if you have only two DIMMs installed. A1 and B1 should only be used if A2 and B2 are already populated.

Try each stick, by itself, in the A2 slot. If one of them doesn't work in that slot but the other one does, then that DIMM must be bad and you should file a warranty RMA with Corsair. Be sure to insist that BOTH sticks get replaced, as memory is sold in matched sets for a reason and only getting one replaced would result in getting a stick that could not be assured to "play nice" with the one you already have. Memory CAN "just go bad". It's not common, but it does happen from time to time.