I had an interesting experience today

[HermDogg]

So lately when I boot up my computer in the mornings it keeps hanging at the "Memory testing" stage in the BIOS. It occurs seemingly at random, and is fixed when I unplug everything and unseat/reseat the RAM chip. So it hasn't happend for about a week until this morning. Being pissed as I normally am, I just unplug the power cable and contort myself to get at the case, remove the side and un/reseat the chip. This time, it doesn't work. So now I'm freaking out and I notice that my USB drive (Which has an LED screen because it doubles as an MP3 Player) is lit up, but with black squares filling it. I start to wonder if that's how it normally looks, so I pull it out. Lo an behold, the computer finishes testing the memory and boots up. Apparently it was trying to use the flash drive as RAM. Anyone else know if this is supposed to happen or just a freakish coincidence?

Cliff Notes:
1. Computer hangs at Memory test in BIOS
2. Normally fixed by reseating RAM, doesn't
3. Notice anamoly in USB drive (connected) at startup, pulls out
4. Computer works because was trying to use USB drive as RAM

 

[George P Burdell]

whoa

 

[phonemonkey]

Hmm..I'm not sure if that's happened on my machine before, but I've had windows try to install itself to a SD card before (forgot it was in the reader). It failed miserably, and I ended up having to remove the adapter from the USB bus before trying to reinstall windows again.

 

[notfred]

I don't think it was trying to use the USB drive as RAM. It would take a very conscious effor ton the part of the motherboard's designers to have it look anywhere else besides the RAM slots for memory. More likely, there's some kind of incompatability between the USB firmware in your BIOS and the USB drive.

 

[Shanteli]

If I leave a USB flash drive connected at bootup it hangs me comp at BIOS too. This is cuz it thinks that the flash drive is a removable boot drive. Just unplug it.