[SOLVED] Would RAM work at all if bad? Booting issue

_dawn_chorus_

Honorable
Aug 30, 2017
558
56
11,090
[UPDATE]: RAM is good, but only work in the first of the two DIMM slots. So could it be Win? Or is it for sure the Motherboard DIMM that is not working?

-I put in a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM to an existing machine. I did not wipe the SSD before hand. Upon first boot the RAM troubleshoot LED was flashing on the mobo, so I I re-seated the RAM, it booted, RAM troubleshoot LED went off, it even worked with windows (an OEM version) although it was not activated when I looked. I ran a few "userbenchmark"s everything ran in the high percentile, but it only showed I had 8gb installed when 16 were actually. Windows/BIOS showed the same.
-So I re-seated the RAM again, now I cannot get it to boot... RAM trouble LED is back on, black screen.

Would bad RAM work at all if it was bad? Like a flickering light bulb? Or would the DIMMs behave this way?
Because I so drastically changed the system could the OEM version of Win be the issue? But then why would it boot at all to begin with..
System:
I3-9100f
MSI h310m proseries
Gigabyte 1060 6gb
16gb ripjaws 3000 (8x2)
Samsung 860 evo 1Tb
 
Last edited:
Solution
the 2nd slot is probably bad, if it didnt detect the ram it would boot with only 1 slot, by re-setting the ram it may have detected the ram but the slot is still bad and will prevent boot.

also if the motherboard is new, i would suggest taking a closer look at the slots. i once received a board where 2 pins were missing from 1 of the slots and pc would only work with 3 of the 4 slots. - i sent the board back highlighting where the missing pins were and they replaced it with a better board.
Apr 8, 2020
18
2
25
the 2nd slot is probably bad, if it didnt detect the ram it would boot with only 1 slot, by re-setting the ram it may have detected the ram but the slot is still bad and will prevent boot.

also if the motherboard is new, i would suggest taking a closer look at the slots. i once received a board where 2 pins were missing from 1 of the slots and pc would only work with 3 of the 4 slots. - i sent the board back highlighting where the missing pins were and they replaced it with a better board.
 
Solution