HCHTech
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 3,824
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA - USA
Had an odd one last week that I thought I would document just for kicks. It was a modestly-specced custom-built gaming computer, Asus Z270-A motherboard, 7th Gen i7 (so getting old), 4 x 8GB sticks of DDR4 RAM, MSI GTX 1050 2GB video card, 750W PS, single SATA SSD.
The initial Issue reported was that it would blue screen during boot. The bluescreen data didn't lead anywhere, no specific driver indicated
A full hardware test showed RAM failure, so we set out to find out which (one or more) stick of RAM was bad. After much trial & error, we found that any of the four sticks would work as long as it was the only stick of RAM inserted - AND, it would work in any slot. RAM tests would pass and machine would boot. However, if you added just one more stick in any slot, it would fail a RAM test and the blue screening would return. We even tried a different brand of RAM as we had a couple of sticks lying around. We even swapped in a spare SSD and did a Windows reinstall with a single stick of RAM inserted. The problem repeated once we added any of the additional sticks.
The RAM that they had was on the compatibility list from the MB manufacturer. We did the normal things, updated BIOS to latest version, did a full BIOS reset, set to factory defaults in case the user had been experimenting with overclocking, etc. Nothing we did changed the symptom, so we ended up calling it a MB failure and after explaining the possibility of needing more than just a motherboard, the user elected not to repair (thank goodness).
The initial Issue reported was that it would blue screen during boot. The bluescreen data didn't lead anywhere, no specific driver indicated
A full hardware test showed RAM failure, so we set out to find out which (one or more) stick of RAM was bad. After much trial & error, we found that any of the four sticks would work as long as it was the only stick of RAM inserted - AND, it would work in any slot. RAM tests would pass and machine would boot. However, if you added just one more stick in any slot, it would fail a RAM test and the blue screening would return. We even tried a different brand of RAM as we had a couple of sticks lying around. We even swapped in a spare SSD and did a Windows reinstall with a single stick of RAM inserted. The problem repeated once we added any of the additional sticks.
The RAM that they had was on the compatibility list from the MB manufacturer. We did the normal things, updated BIOS to latest version, did a full BIOS reset, set to factory defaults in case the user had been experimenting with overclocking, etc. Nothing we did changed the symptom, so we ended up calling it a MB failure and after explaining the possibility of needing more than just a motherboard, the user elected not to repair (thank goodness).
