[SOLVED] I was troubleshooting my PC when audible pop came out near ram slots, and 3 beeps afterwards ?

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Feb 29, 2024
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For context: I was troubleshooting a PC by moving the parts into my own PC and I took out my system until all that is left is my MB(ASRock b550m pro4) and my CPU(Ryzen 5 5600), and for additional info my PSU is a ThermalTake 750w 80+ gold, and when I tried to reseat my own ram that I had for years now, and turned it on, I heard an audible pop coming from the ram slots, not very loud either, and then 3 beeps after, I panicked and then went to turn off the PC before unplugging the power cable.

But after this I tried to check for any damage or burn marks and I see that everything is clean, and there is no smoke at all, so everything visually looks alright(I checked on every component which was the GPU, ram sticks, and m.2 ssd), and so I tried to reseat my ram in another slot and the same thing happened except that I only heard a slight pop and then just my PC turning on for .1 second before turning off again, so there was no beeping anymore, and then I tried it again in another position with my other stick and it also happened again.

Is this a problem with my PSU, motherboard, or the ram sticks?

If you need pictures as well I will be happy to take some, but for now I'm gonna see if I can talk to a PC specialist.
 
Solution
ASRock b550m pro4
Rams should be populating slots A2 and B2. Try with one stick on slot A2.

Perhaps the pop sound you heard was the ram's latch on the motherboard. See to it that they are reseated but with firmly pushing down on the slot to make sure the latch is engaged.

If you need pictures as well I will be happy to take some, but for now I'm gonna see if I can talk to a PC specialist.
Yes, visual illustration of what you're looking at/dealing with helps us two fold. Host your images on a site akin to Imgur and then pass on a link for us to look through them. As for your pop sound, you might want to provide a video/audio clip of the issue as well. Might be a good idea to roll up a sheet of A4 paper into a cylinder...
ASRock b550m pro4
Rams should be populating slots A2 and B2. Try with one stick on slot A2.

Perhaps the pop sound you heard was the ram's latch on the motherboard. See to it that they are reseated but with firmly pushing down on the slot to make sure the latch is engaged.

If you need pictures as well I will be happy to take some, but for now I'm gonna see if I can talk to a PC specialist.
Yes, visual illustration of what you're looking at/dealing with helps us two fold. Host your images on a site akin to Imgur and then pass on a link for us to look through them. As for your pop sound, you might want to provide a video/audio clip of the issue as well. Might be a good idea to roll up a sheet of A4 paper into a cylinder, holding one end to your ear while the other end inspects for the source of the noise.

I took out my system until all that is left is my MB(ASRock b550m pro4) and my CPU(Ryzen 5 5600), and for additional info my PSU is a ThermalTake 750w 80+ gold
Thermaltake is the brand of the PSU while 750W is the advertised wattage of the unit. 80+ Gold is the advertised 80+ efficiency of the unit.

As for your specs, Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Is this a problem with my PSU, motherboard, or the ram sticks?
Do the rams work in another, known working motherboard?
 
Solution
For context: I was troubleshooting a PC by moving the parts into my own PC and I took out my system until all that is left is my MB(ASRock b550m pro4) and my CPU(Ryzen 5 5600), and for additional info my PSU is a ThermalTake 750w 80+ gold, and when I tried to reseat my own ram that I had for years now, and turned it on, I heard an audible pop coming from the ram slots, not very loud either, and then 3 beeps after, I panicked and then went to turn off the PC before unplugging the power cable.

But after this I tried to check for any damage or burn marks and I see that everything is clean, and there is no smoke at all, so everything visually looks alright(I checked on every component which was the GPU, ram sticks, and m.2 ssd), and so I tried to reseat my ram in another slot and the same thing happened except that I only heard a slight pop and then just my PC turning on for .1 second before turning off again, so there was no beeping anymore, and then I tried it again in another position with my other stick and it also happened again.

Is this a problem with my PSU, motherboard, or the ram sticks?

If you need pictures as well I will be happy to take some, but for now I'm gonna see if I can talk to a PC specialist.
A popping sound could be a capacitor, but I'd suspect that it would only pop for one time. I'd measure the power supply voltages and procede from there.
 
I was troubleshooting a PC by moving the parts into my own PC
It's not always a good idea to transfer potentially damaged components into a good system. If a short circuit exists inside a suspect component, it could damage more components when transferred. What parts were you testing?

I heard an audible pop coming from the ram slots, not very loud either
Capacitors tend to make a reasonably loud noise if they explode. Quieter if they just burst or start to leak, but you haven't seen any signs of damage. I'd hazard a guess either the CPU or mobo (or both) that have died, due perhaps to a bad stick of RAM? Have you removed the CPU and checked for visible signs of damage?

Only way to tell for certain is to carry on testing more and more good components until you find the fault, with the risk of killing (more) parts.

I've not expeienced such problems, even when testing RAM which turned out to be bad, but I always use "sacrificial" systems which I'm prepared to lose.
 
It's not always a good idea to transfer potentially damaged components into a good system. If a short circuit exists inside a suspect component, it could damage more components when transferred. What parts were you testing?
So for an additional context, the other PC that I was troubleshooting the parts for was working but the performance was lacking, as for the PC specs I'm gonna list both mine that is broken and the troublesome one, I decided to try and troubleshoot it with my PC because our specs are similar when the people who own the troublesome PC is suspecting that the motherboard is faulty, that's why I tried to troubleshoot it with my PC since it's so similar.

For the troublesome one the specs are
CPU: ryzen 5 5600
CPU cooler: some standard tower cooler
Motherboard: ASRock b550m-HVS SE
Ram: a brand called Orion 16gb DDR4 3200mhz
SSD/HDD: 2 TB SSD
GPU: Intel arc A580
PSU: 1st player 600w PSU
Chassis: cube gaming case
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: 2 standard 24" fhd 60hz monitor

And my personal PC specs are:
CPU:Ryzen 5 5600
CPU cooler: ID cooling tower CPU cooler
Motherboard: ASRock b550m pro4
Ram: 2 x 8gb DDR4 3200mhz NOX rams
SSD/HDD: quite a few, 1 1tb gen 3 SSD, 1 256gb SATA SSD, and 2 hard drives
GPU: GTX 1660 ti
PSU: ThermalTake 750w psu
Chassis: a case from a company called venom RX
OS: windows 10
Monitor: 1 27" 60hz Dell monitor

Some of these brands might be unheard since some of these brands are local brands in Indonesia, but they worked well for me when I built this pc 1-2 years ago, it was only when I tried testing swapping these parts out that I may have made a mistake on something and causing it to short circuit, it was only when I tried to put my ram sticks back to my PC did the popping happened, whilst all the other parts have been tested and it was alright

As for the CPU inspection it's clamped down quite hard to the CPU cooler that the last time I tried taking it out the CPU itself was ripped out of the mobo, so for that I am quite afraid of trying to open and take it out again, fearing that the pins could be damaged
 
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ASRock b550m pro4
Rams should be populating slots A2 and B2. Try with one stick on slot A2.

Perhaps the pop sound you heard was the ram's latch on the motherboard. See to it that they are reseated but with firmly pushing down on the slot to make sure the latch is engaged.

If you need pictures as well I will be happy to take some, but for now I'm gonna see if I can talk to a PC specialist.
Yes, visual illustration of what you're looking at/dealing with helps us two fold. Host your images on a site akin to Imgur and then pass on a link for us to look through them. As for your pop sound, you might want to provide a video/audio clip of the issue as well. Might be a good idea to roll up a sheet of A4 paper into a cylinder, holding one end to your ear while the other end inspects for the source of the noise.

I took out my system until all that is left is my MB(ASRock b550m pro4) and my CPU(Ryzen 5 5600), and for additional info my PSU is a ThermalTake 750w 80+ gold
Thermaltake is the brand of the PSU while 750W is the advertised wattage of the unit. 80+ Gold is the advertised 80+ efficiency of the unit.

As for your specs, Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Is this a problem with my PSU, motherboard, or the ram sticks?
Do the rams work in another, known working motherboard?

For the troublesome one the specs are
CPU: ryzen 5 5600
CPU cooler: some standard tower cooler
Motherboard: ASRock b550m-HVS SE
Ram: a brand called Orion 16gb DDR4 3200mhz
SSD/HDD: 2 TB SSD
GPU: Intel arc A580
PSU: 1st player 600w PSU
Chassis: cube gaming case
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: 2 standard 24" fhd 60hz monitor

And my personal PC specs are:
CPU:Ryzen 5 5600
CPU cooler: ID cooling tower CPU cooler
Motherboard: ASRock b550m pro4
Ram: 2 x 8gb DDR4 3200mhz NOX rams
SSD/HDD: quite a few, 1 1tb gen 3 SSD, 1 256gb SATA SSD, and 2 hard drives
GPU: GTX 1660 ti
PSU: ThermalTake 750w psu
Chassis: a case from a company called venom RX
OS: windows 10
Monitor: 1 27" 60hz Dell monitor
This is the specs of both the PCs, the troublesome one was made like 3 weeks ago to display videos on an LED display, when it decided to be very slow and not very responsive, which is why I was troubleshooting it, I bought my PSU at around July last year so it wasn't even a year old

I'm quite afraid of trying to test things out more since it could damage even more parts, but is it alright if I were to just plug in my PC with just the MB and CPU on without anything else just to see if the popping sound is heard on other areas of the motherboard other than the ram slots?
 
ASRock b550m pro4
Rams should be populating slots A2 and B2. Try with one stick on slot A2.

Perhaps the pop sound you heard was the ram's latch on the motherboard. See to it that they are reseated but with firmly pushing down on the slot to make sure the latch is engaged.
UPDATE: This is half of the solution, everything is fixed now, after calming down and checking on the pc the next day, I tried once again to turn it on using only 1 stick in the A2 slot, and using no GPU just in case the PC would surge power and break it, and somehow the PC turns on, after testing all the other ram sticks (even the one that I thought is the one thats broken) all of them are functional, which is ridiculous to me, but at the end of the day the PC is functioning again with the troublesome PC parts inside running well.

After talking to my brother who learnt about electronics in college, he said that he heard about resettable fuses and how when it breaks and its hot it will deny any more electricity, and after cooling down a while it can reconnect itself and "reset" itself, which could explain why I was able to turn on the PC after a few hours, although I dont even know if that was from the motherboard or the PSU that has that fuse

Overall I think electronics hate me, and that electronics needs a few hours to just adjust themselves whilst looking broken. this has happened way too many times to the point where if I bring it to a computer shop and try to explain the problem, then testing it, the computer would work flawlessly making me look like a fool

Thank you to everyone that has helped me with my problem
 
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