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Question

Computer will only boot with one RAM stick.

Sep 10, 2015 3:55PM PDT

Hi there,

I'm having some trouble booting up my PC. I bought it pre-built 3 years ago and have used it pretty much every day to play video games and produce music. I can't recall any time the system has performed under expectations.

However, around a week ago I started having trouble booting up the computer. It would get stuck at the screen displayed in the screenshot below. After a few restarts I tried unplugging all USB devices, and it worked for a week or so. (Highlighted in case that information tells you something.) Then that trick stopped working after a few days.

After some googling I found some people with similar problems (although slightly different in "symptoms"), and a lot of answers pointed to the RAM. So I unplugged the RAM stick in slot B1 (the motherboard has 4 slots) and now the computer would start. I tried both sticks in slot A1 and they both work alone, so far. But when I plug them both in (any combination of slots) I get stuck on the screen in the screenshot below.

Additional information:
If both RAM sticks are plugged in and all USB devices unplugged, when I get stuck at the screen and try to plug in a USB device, the screen goes black and then nothing happens.

If anyone has gone through this problem before or knows in which end to start troubleshooting, please help me out.

I'm a newbie when it comes to hardware, please let me know what computer specs I need to include in this post, and I will edit it.

Specs:
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD55
RAM Sticks: Vengeance® — 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9)

http://i.imgur.com/1cwq3H8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1cwq3H8.jpg

Discussion is locked

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Answer
considering the BIOS date
Sep 10, 2015 4:39PM PDT

of 2012, I'm thinking you have a motherboard that maxes out at 4GB and won't run 8GB. Did you confirm the mobo had 8GB capability first?

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I checked, it will run 32 GB of RAM
Sep 10, 2015 4:50PM PDT

I see you have it over clocked on the CPU. Maybe pull that back and try again.

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I'll try that tomorrow,
Sep 10, 2015 5:05PM PDT

and get back to you, thanks

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I reset the clock rate and voila!
Sep 11, 2015 2:16AM PDT

The system booted with both sticks inserted, all USB devices unplugged. Now I'd like to run memory diagnostics. Is there anything else I should do to find out where the problem is? Some other diagnostics tool? thank you for your help

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memtest86
Sep 11, 2015 2:24AM PDT

As he states, it's developed over last 20 years and that's just about how long I've suggested it to people for use too.

http://www.memtest86.com/

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Answer
(NT) I'd run memory diagnostics.
Sep 10, 2015 4:44PM PDT
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How do I go about that?
Sep 10, 2015 5:06PM PDT

I've never done that, don't know where to start or what answer I'm looking for in the diagnostics. thank you for your reply

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Since you haven't said which version of Windows you have,
Sep 10, 2015 5:12PM PDT

I can't be specific. However I believe you can download memory diagnostics from Microsoft. What you're looking for is for the diagnostics to say something like "no errors found". If they find errors, they will report them so it'll be obvious.

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Windows 7 64bit
Sep 11, 2015 1:41AM PDT

is my OS. If you need any other specs to help me out, please don't hesitate to ask. I've seen "memtest86" in some threads where someone suggests running memory diagnostics, is that something i should look into? Is it a program ran through windows or while booting?

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(NT) yes, that's a good one
Sep 11, 2015 2:22AM PDT
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The system managed to boot with 2 ram sticks plugged in
Sep 11, 2015 2:13AM PDT

after i reset the clock rate on the cpu (all USB devices unplugged), maybe unrelated, who knows, you guys probably. Before I try to reboot or anything I'd like to run those memory diagnostics. As mentioned, Windows 7 64-bit is my OS. I'd love it if you could walk me through it or link to a good guide on the matter. thanks!