help needed - PC only starts up if I re-insert RAM

So at this point it turns on and no video at all?.

Have you tried plugging the video into a different port?. like using the motherboard display instead of the video card?.

>>202238
Are they inserted all the way? they should click when they're in all the way

>>202240
Yes I have, no difference. The way the fans keep blowing on full leads me to believe it isn't just a matter of no video, the whole thing sounds different when it boots up properly.

Right now it's turned off and I know it won't boot but if I re-insert the RAM it will. I have reproduced it about 5 times now. Used the computer for 6 hours and played a demanding game while both HDDs were active in a file transfer just fine no hiccups. But as soon as I turned it off it wouldn't start up (until I reinsert RAM)

>>202242
Yes like I said the computer runs fine

>>202242
Yes like I said the computer runs fine

Disconnect the new hdd, power and data. Does it boot normally?

I can't imagine why this would make you have to reseat the ram, but just test it to see.

>>202268
nope, no difference.
I also reinstalled windows just to get that out of the way and no effect. still runs fine after I reinsert the RAM and I can even restart it but if I turn it off it won't turn on.

The way the re-inserting ram works is I have to remove them both then start up the computer with one stick of ram and it boots fine. After this I can turn it off and reinsert the second stick and it will boot up fine ONCE and run just like normal. If I turn it off after this I need to repeat the steps above.
However the computer does not function regularly if I just keep one stick in. It will boot up fine twice or three times after witch it gets stuck in a boot loop restarting itself every ~20 seconds. This is different from the 2 ram behaviour in that BIOS does show up but nothing after that except a small white "_" on a black screen. Also with 2 sticks of ram it doesn't restart itself. Both of these cases are fixed by removing all ram then starting it up with one stick. Which stick and which hole I plug it in makes no difference

>>202299
Depending on how many banks* are connected, the memory controller needs to clock the bus down to ensure stable operation.

Possible scenario:
- hardware change causes BIOS to select fallback timings; boot goes fine
- successful boot causes BIOS to select optimised timings; computer is broken the next time the BIOS initialises the memory controller, and stays broken until the next hardware change

Are you using the SPD RAM timings?


* banks are not the same things as channels

>>202301
I'm sorry I don't know what SPD RAM timings mean. I haven't touched anything in the BIOS except I updated the firmware like 18 months ago. Googling stuff now and browsing through the BIOS I discovered that my "XMP" is turned off but I didn't change anything.

>>202301
should I try messing with the ram timings? should I enable XMP? it should all be default so I don't know why it would bug out but this theory sounds logical.