Memory Failure

[just1tree]

The other night I am woken up by the sound of my pc speaker in the other room giving a series of three long beeps. I was half asleep so I powered off the computer and went back to bed. The next day I went to start my computer up and the same beeps occured and the system would not boot. After reading my mobo manual, it said that the long sustained beeps meant that no DRAM was found. I (had) two sticks of 256 PC2100 DDR memory in my computer, and it seems now that they are both keychains!!! I tested them in my other pc and same thing. My question for the forums members is why on earth would two memory chips just die like that. I wasn't even using my computer at the time, nor was I overclocking the memory. One chip was purchased at the original purchase time of my PC and the other was Samsung which I had ordered off a website. I would really appreciate some feedback on this one fellas.

Asus A7A266
AthlonXP 2000
512 PC2100

[Wiggo]

It just may have been a power spike and the memory was the most vunerable part. :?:
<center>:cheers:</center>

[bigjackusa]

I agree with Wiggo, probably a power spike. Even if you have a surge protecting power strip, if it retails for less than $40us, it may not have protected you. The cheap ones are made with a design that causes components inside to degrade with each surge. So they wear out and give you no indication they don't really work anymore. I suggest that you get a good surge protector ($50-60us msrp) or a UPS when you get your new ram. If you have a phone line hooked up to your box, make sure that what you buy has RJ11 jacks in it and that you use them.

[just1tree]

I did not know that about surge protectors. I have also heard that if your power line has fluctuations, a UPS will level off all the spikes regardless and keep your voltage at even levels when entering the PC. It just sucks that I had two sticks go just like that. I appreciate your input. Are there any good UPS manufacturers which you could reccomend?

[bigjackusa]

UPSs do level out power sags as well as spikes. Most of the good ones also do line conditioning, which means that the power going into into the computer is a nice clean sine wave. The smooth power gives your PSU a head start in supplying stable DC power for the components. The really expensive ones (for a given power rating) are called line-interactive. You probably don't need one of those at home.

The only 2 brands that I have experience with are the APC on my wife's computer, and a Tripplite on mine. Both are highly regarded names in the industry. Check out their websites. They are chock full of info.

[FLaCo]

Yes...Tripplite is known to be very good...and are quite expensive but worth it if you tend to save your 1000 or mor investment. I use Tripplite on my home theater system as well as the comp.