Can Adding Extra Memory To a PC Blow PSU

popey21

I was putting Extra Memory 2*256mb pc 2100 DDR in a Motherboard gigabyte titian ga-8ir2003 . I had 256mb in originally I added 1 chip and tested it worked fine with 512mb I added the third and there was a burning Plastic smell. I quickly powered off. Im about 80% sure the smell was from the PSU could be Cpu though. I powered up again the there was rapid hi pitched beeps from the machine. The Psu was a 300w Q-tec I bought in marx-computers less than a year ago. Im am about to buy another 400w for €38 but don’t want to waste money if it turns out something else is the problem. Does anyone know if adding more memory consumes a good bit more power or it could be just a coincidence

BKtje

hmmz normally i'd say that it was very unlikely but seeing as it was only a 300w q-tec it could very well be. That said i'd check everything else first. (could be there was a fault with the dimm slots and that it burned the memory?)

Remove everything and check for damage, also try smelling the psu exhaust fan

popey21

I have had memory in each slot on it own at some stage and it worked ok. Although I did have a small problem getting the memory in. I had to take the Psu out and the video card to get in at the memory slots. Maybe I damaged the Psu or memory slot taking them out. Another thing I should mention is that I got a 3-month trial free broadband and since I have had that about 2 and half months now, the pc has been hardly switched off.
Does memory burn and smell so fast, this happened as soon as I powered up would memory burn and smell so fast. I would have imagined it would take time for it to burn

Ciaran500

PSU normally stink when they die.

If your going to buy another PSU stay away from any q-tec or cheap brands like that.

StRiKeR

you sure you didnt put the ram in wrong way round? did you get a clear view when you install the ram? in the right direction? if you cant see from the side and only can see from the top, if you wasn't able to see that the ram is fully seated, just looks like its sitting in right then theres a chance you might have got it in wrong, even the wrong way it still sits down pretty low and it looks like its in fully, when you power up the ram will be shorted and burn out, the plastic smell could be your memory slot, the beeps is your memory controller I think! I guess this as I have seen that before, a customer brough back his ram and I asked to see the board, put the ram in to match the burned mark, i was right!

Optikus

well my job involves building repairing P.C's and this sound like its a possible case of you installing the rams the wrong way (as striker said). do you remeber having to use a bit more force than normal when seating the ram on the board??

popey21

thanks for the suggestions, but I put the memory in the right way . I took all the memory out and fitted in to another machine it works fine. reads all 3 memory chips. I bought a new 400w Psu. tried the machine again . same problem. took out he video card and memory and powered up . just constant high pitched beeps it think it might be the cpu or the board it self or both. and idea on how to Troubleshoot further. I don't have another P4 board to test the cpu on . I suppose I could look for burn marks around the processor, but still wouldn't tell me if it the boards faulty or not

Does anyone know were i could get a cheap p4 cpu and motherboard. thats takes pc2100 memory

BKtje

A machine wont boot up without a video card or memory which is what those high pitched beeps might be. Check the beep code the manual or online.
Will be able to tell you what is failing when you boot up.

Inspector Gadget

For what it's worth, I think I remember reading somewhere that a 128MB DDR DIMM (probably PC2100) is meant to draw about 8W at 2.5v, or about 3.2A(!). Also, considering most people won't bother buying mere 128MB sticks these days, you're looking at a proportional increase in transistor count and (by extension) heat output due to switching losses - so a 256MB stick will draw roughly (but not quite) double what a 128MB stick will draw, for example - but only at "full tilt", so to speak. From that perspective, adding more RAM will add load to the PSU, but whether or not it'll "blow" it is impossible to guess.

On the RAM back-to-front issue, I have a stick (PC100 I think) that burned through a PCB track after someone (not me ) inserted it back-to-front - pretty good going considering SDR RAM has two keys in the slot (as opposed to just one for DDR)... I keep it as a reminder

Have you properly tested that RAM, as in Memtest or similar?
Gadget

Gadget

popey21

Thanks for the suggestion but
The machine makes Rapid beeps not like a normal beep codes. It makes this noise with the components in or out so it not posting its making the noise before it searches for memory or video, so the problem is occurring before them.

POST sequence does the following:

1 checks that the system board is working (My problem must be here)
2 checks that the memory is working
3 compares the current system configuration with that recorded by the PC's configuration program to see if anything has been added or removed or broken
4 starts the video operation


If there’s no beeps code usually means there’s a problem with the Cpu or motherboard to processes the beeps

Inspector Gadget

I could be wrong here, but as far as I understand the bootstrapping process, the PC is only smart enough to copy the BIOS from the onboard ROM/Flash chip into RAM, and all of the other checking is done by the processor and motherboard in concert using instructions drawn from RAM.

(If you think about it, in-system flashing of the BIOS while the machine is running would be virtually impossible otherwise)

Basically, it has to be able to access maybe 256k (this number may be larger on some newer systems) or so of RAM to be able to start the boot process, as I understand these things. Have you got access to a P80P card or someone with a motherboard that has one built-in?

Gadget

StRiKeR

your cpu should be ok, if theres anything wrong with your cpu I dont think you will get any beeps as theres nothing being process, just power! its down to your board or something there causing the problem! if you still have that problem after installing a new and more output PSU, then is not a power issue from your ram drawing too much current resulting your agp not getting enough power therefor your system wont boot and it'll beeps! try gadget suggestion its pretty usefull!

StRiKeR

can you even get into the bios?

Chad ghostal

popey21 wrote:

took out he video card and memory and powered up .

just curious but did you replace the video card when you took it out, or have you tried replacing the card with any old (working) one. .?/trying the card in another machine?

my graphics card went Kaput and i got roughly the same results. .constant beeping that seemed to have no order ..

oh.. and the beeping occured as soon as i powered on the machine, literally just went mad as soon as i powered on. .

popey21

"Have you got access to a P80P card or someone with a motherboard that has one built-in"
No I don’t know anybody with a EP-P80P, card would be handy though

"Can you even get into the bios?"
They’re no video, and as far as I know you can only enter the bios after the post

"Have you tried replacing the card with any old (working) one. .?/trying the card in another machine?"

I haven’t actually will do that. But as I said before it makes rapid beeps not a beep code. Even with the video card out!!! Therefore eliminating video. Rapid beeps like something about burst into flames.

Anyways I think I will take the motherboard and CPU from my main machine and put into this machine rather waste any more money on it. And upgrade to a new motherboard and CPU. I have already started a post on suggestions for a new mbd and cpu for €200-250 any suggestions welcome.

Chad ghostal

popey21 wrote:

But as I said before it makes rapid beeps not a beep code. Even with the video card out!!! Therefore eliminating video. Rapid beeps like something about burst into flames.

But if it was the video card that was messed up, it would make the sound with or without the card, i.e. it would go crazy because the video is not there or broken..

my motherboard did the same thing with when my card was bust, no order to beeps (or so it seemed) just a constant string of beeps on top of each other constantly straight away when i powered it on.

popey21

Chad ghostal wrote:

But if it was the video card that was messed up, it would make the sound with or without the card, i.e. it would go crazy because the video is not there or broken..

my motherboard did the same thing with when my card was bust, no order to beeps (or so it seemed) just a constant string of beeps on top of each other constantly straight away when i powered it on.

No, I would of though if it was the video card and I took it out it would make the normal beep code to indicate there no video. That is strange. but since i know what usual noise this motherboard makes it new that wasnt the problem.

thanks anyway,im happy now, im positive its a dead motherboard.

netman

I was in a similar predicament earlier, due to my own fault, but what I wanted to say is that a friend of mine has a P4 board lying around that I borrowed when I killed mine.

I'm sure he'd let it go for very little, and it's actually quite a decent motherboard. Epox, i845 chipset, with raid, lan, firewire, serial-ata etc. A bit dated now, but it was top notch back then. Even recognised my Northwood P4 CPU and enabled Hyperthreading.

I think it's this one:
http://www.epox.nl/english/products/motherboard/4pea%2B.htm

Anyways, if you're looking for a cheap motherboard let me know and I can send you his details.