new vid card and RAM -- now we can't boot

[plautus]

I tried to upgrade my son's machine with 4 GB RAM, a new PSU and a new 4850 card. We had trouble with the card at first -- newly loaded games wouldn't work. But now we can't boot at all. We get the a brief flash of the startup data, then the screen goes black and nothing happens.

Can anyone advise? FWIW, we're using an old LCD monitor. But OTOH we had no problems with the old configuration.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Plautus

 

[zebrax2]

Try to isolate the problem. Use the old video card then use the new ram (check 1 stick at a time) and vise versa

 

[faxon]

yea i would be inclined to think you probably got a bad kit of ram before calling the video card out, especially if you cant even boot. ram being bad is one of the most common PC issues lol

 

[slash196]

Definitely pull the RAM, try one stick at a time. If you have hardware problems with a build, i'd say 80 percent of the time it's the RAM.

 

[plautus]

Thanks!

Well, I've tried pulling out the RAM, a stick at a time. I've also moved them to other slots. Sometimes it won't boot -- and sometimes it does. This is frustrating.

If the RAM was bad wouldn't refuse to work every time?

All advice is appreciated.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: plautus
Thanks!

Well, I've tried pulling out the RAM, a stick at a time. I've also moved them to other slots. Sometimes it won't boot -- and sometimes it does. This is frustrating.

If the RAM was bad wouldn't refuse to work every time?

All advice is appreciated.

Try and run a memtest .iso at boot and see if it fails. It should fail pretty much right away if it is the ram.


But to isolate, use your old ram + new PSU and video card. If that doesnt work, use your new old graphics adapter with the new RAM. If that doesnt work, use your new PSU, etc etc