Moterboard or RAM or both?

[newgrl]

OK... let's start at the beginning...

For Christmas, my husband bought us a 256mb stick'o'ram. As a surprise, he thought he would install it for us. Well... although he is a wonderful programmer(one of the best i've seen), he shouldn't ever touch the hardware. You know the type, just doesn't look very comfortable with a screwdriver in his hand. Anyhoo... he managed to put the old 128mb stick in backwards. Don't quite know how he managed it with the guides and all, but he did.(I wasn't there, remember... it was supposed to be a surprise). When he turned the computer back on the 128mb stick got VERY hot... in seconds... and the BIOS code reported "bad ram".

After quite a bit of troubleshooting, discovered that the some of the gold leads on the 128mb stick(the older one that was in the machine before.. which is now a keychain) had melted into the motherboard. He plucked those out with a toothpick and we got the 256mb stick seated properly in the only slot that is not broken(he also broke off the plastic holders on two of the slots). It has worked for about a month now without incident.

now... windows 2000 keeps freezing up on me. The bootloader's gone wiggy. When i try a reboot from Linux(Mandrake 7.2) it freezes going down. And I'm not even talking about 98... it's not worth saving.

The computer is acting like it's overheating, but it's cool to the touch. I can easily touch the heatsink without burning myself.

My question is: Motherboard or RAM? or both? I know I'm going to have to replace some stuff, but I'm hoping for one or the other... wishful thinking I'm guessing.

Any thoughts anyone?

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Moderator, Windows 9x and NT, helpfromtechs.com (http://www.helpfromtechs.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi)

[Jaturp]

Maybe some of that gold is still in there. I have never heard about someone melting a ram stick. I take it that the 256 is seen correctly. If I were in your shoes I`d consider a new mobo. It may be seeing the partially shorted slot. Heat and excessive current flow can damage mobo resistors, capacitors and even the printed circuit runs. You can eliminate the new ram being bad by placing it in another machine.JT.

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[tweakthis]

My first questions is, "Did you hide the tools?!" *lol*

What a lovely gift idea. A man after my own heart...as long as I get to do the install. I'm very proprietary about who puts their hands in my CPU. http://www.helpfromtechs.com/ubb/smilies/lol.gif

OK, I agree with JT. My thoughts also ran to the melted gold.You can test the new ram in another computer. (Who has the keychain, you or hubby?) If you keep running the system as is, I would think you'd be in danger of losing more than another ram stick. Seek thee out a new motherboard, girl.

BTW - hubby has my sympathy. I hate installing ram. I have never found it easy to install. I hate the manuals that suggest it's as easy as install and click. I find it to be install, wiggle ... remove, install, wiggle, ...repeat and pray until... click. I've put them in every which way except upside down. http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/net2/boldyellow.gif

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I can be reached at tweakthis@helpfromtechs.com

[newgrl]

for those of you that don't read the "General comments" section, I got a new motherboard... installed it myself... and i have 98 up and running...

the only problem i'm having is with the floppy drive. although it is recognized by windows and the bios.. no lights come on, and it just won't work... i am thinking it's just not getting power.

the only problem i ran into when connecting everything was the little system and LED cables... you know, the ones that are two pronged and all fit on one connector... here's what i need to know:

they are all a different colored cable and a white cable. which one is the ground cable and which one is the positive cable. i am thinking some of them are in backwards.

any advice is appreciated.

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Moderator, Windows 9x and NT, helpfromtechs.com (http://www.helpfromtechs.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi)

[newgrl]

BTW... remember i said it was acting like it was overheating... it was. the cats had chewed the red power cable off the CPU fan... just thought i'd let you know.

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Moderator, Windows 9x and NT, helpfromtechs.com (http://www.helpfromtechs.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi)

[reddsteel]

Good job on getting the Mobo to work! Stupid cats, will eat anything. http://www.helpfromtechs.com/ubb/smilies/wink.gif http://www.helpfromtechs.com/ubb/smilies/wink.gif

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:: reddsteel ::
Moderator => HelpFromTechs.com
In a world without fences, who needs Gates?

[Dogg of Demise]

when I hook up the LED's I just turn on the machine and hook them up and turn them around if they don't work. This has never crashed the machine or caused any other problems for me.

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[newgrl]

Thanks Dogg!http://www.helpfromtechs.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif now that's the kind of advice i needed... do it while the computer is onhttp://www.helpfromtechs.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

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Moderator, Windows 9x and NT, helpfromtechs.com (http://www.helpfromtechs.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi)