how to verify a dead ram slot?
 

I have an AOpen AK72 mobo. 3 rams slots. a 128, a 64 and a 32mb chip in them. total of 224mb. so the other day I notice during a reboot that the POST is only showing 192mb. so I double check in system information (win98se) and the same number is showing. so I reboot again and this time the POST doesnt even do a mem-check, but boots fine anyway. so, Im thinking the 32mb chip, being VERY old, is bad, right? so I finally pop it out and put in a 64mb chip I have out of another machine. boot up and guess what? still showing only 192mb. I take this to mean that either the 64mb chip I just put in is also bad, or the ram slot is bad.

besides swapping a bunch of chips in and out, how else can I verify this? I am all out of ram chips to try.

Re: how to verify a dead ram slot?
 

It's actually the only way I can think of.

Take a known good chip and put in a slot and boot, see what you get. Then move it to the next slot and check again. That will show you what slots are good.

If all slots are good, check each stick of memory one by one.

It's sounds like a pain in the ass, but it is a sure-fire way of testing. Process of elimination.

Re: Re: how to verify a dead ram slot?
 

This may not work on all boards. Most boards require the memory slots to be filled in order or they won't boot.

I would boot the machine you stole the 64 meg stick from to make sure it's good. If it is, put your 128 stick in the suspected bad slot, put the 64's in the other 2 slots. If it boots up with 128, you have a bad slot.

If the memory worked before, one went bad...however there are different formats of memory that fit exactly into the slots, usually these will not allow the computer to boot up...Move the memory around to different slots and see if it is the slot or the memory.

Some folks need to read the post!

Its not his memory... it worked at full capacity until a little while ago.

Check all of the RAM from the system you think is bad in the other system. Just in case.

However, if you have tried two different sticks and neither of them worked, they you probably do have a funked RAM slot. Try cleaning the bad boy out first. A cotton swab and some alcohol will take care of that. Also clean the RAM contacts.

ok, good news. i FINALLY got around to double checking the ram by swapping the two 64mb sticks and making sure they were seated ALL the way. one quick reboot later and I do indeed have 256mb of ram. I guess the last time the one stick wasnt seated all the way.

wow, 256mb of ram, Im finally in the big time :)



note: I'm not above charity. if any of you have any old sticks of 128 or > ram you'd like to donate to a worthy cause, i have my PM's set to popup automatically.

oh yeah, 1GB in an iMac baby! hehe