Ram issues

Neil galvin · 5 Oct 2026 at 19:39

Hi guys.
So. I have been having issues with my pc shutting down when gaming. Assumed my 650w psu wasnt enough power, so i upgraded to an 850w. All seemed fine for a month or so.
Then all of a sudden my pc would take ages to boot. Lights, fans etc would come on but no mouse or keyboard. Then eventually mouze and keyboard light would come on and pc would post.
Playing squad last night and the pc shut down again. Now it wont post at all.
I have tried 1 stick of ram in slots 1 2 3 4, Posts every time. As soon as i put 2 sticks in slot 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 nothing happens no post.
Tried turning xmp off aswell.
Is it time for a new motherboard? Because surly cant be the ram sticks problem can it.

Specs
Aorus b450 elite mobo
Gigabyte amd rx 6800xt
Ryzen 7 5700x3d
Corsair rm850x psu
Corsair vengance 3200MHz ram 16gb

Would appreciate any help.

Tetras · 5 Oct 2026 at 19:43

Neil galvin said:
Then all of a sudden my pc would take ages to boot.

It wasn't moved, or cooler changed/repasted, I assume?

Neil galvin · 5 Oct 2026 at 19:54

Tetras said:
It wasn't moved, or cooler changed/repasted, I assume?

No, not touched it untill tonight. Last time i did anything was probably a year or so ago when i changed the cpu.

Tetras · 5 Oct 2026 at 19:57

Neil galvin said:
No, not touched it untill tonight. Last time i did anything was probably a year or so ago when i changed the cpu.

Reason I mentioned it, is that losing ram slots is a common symptom of the cooler mount being problematic, though normally what happens is you lose a channel rather than inability to boot with two sticks of memory.

Neil galvin · 5 Oct 2026 at 20:00

Tetras said:
Reason I mentioned it, is that losing ram slots is a common symptom of the cooler mount being problematic, though normally what happens is you lose a channel rather than inability to boot with two sticks of memory.

So are you saying if i reseat the AIO cooler, that will potentially solve the problem, or is it a new motherboard. Also im not getting any cpu problems such as overheating

Tetras · 5 Oct 2026 at 20:20

Neil galvin said:
So are you saying if i reseat the AIO cooler, that will potentially solve the problem

I don't know. I'm just mentioning it, as RAM/boot problems are not uncommonly the cooler mount. Sometimes a half turn loose or a half turn tighten can work wonders.

If you have an old box cooler, you could also try that.

Neil galvin · 5 Oct 2026 at 20:24

Tetras said:
I don't know. I'm just mentioning it, as RAM/boot problems are not uncommonly the cooler mount. Sometimes a half turn loose or a half turn tighten can work wonders.

If you have an old box cooler, you could also try that.

Ah ok no worries, i have just tried loosing the cooler off and re seating and re tightening. No luck unfortunately. If the motherboard is dead can anyone recommend a new one that decent please

NetMan · 5 Oct 2026 at 20:35

Neil galvin said:
Ah ok no worries, i have just tried loosing the cooler off and re seating and re tightening. No luck unfortunately. If the motherboard is dead can anyone recommend a new one that decent please

It was worth a shot there have been other people that it helped when the heatsink was either too tight or not tight enough so the contact between the cpu and mobo socket wasn't quiet right.

When you said trying one stick in different slots did you alternate the sticks and try all the slots again with the second stick?

Its always possible its a ram issue and with the memory controller on the cpu thats another potential cause but unless you've got another system you can test the ram or cpu in then I'd probably try the mobo first as well.

Neil galvin · 5 Oct 2026 at 20:47

NetMan said:
It was worth a shot there have been other people that it helped when the heatsink was either too tight or not tight enough so the contact between the cpu and mobo socket wasn't quiet right.

When you said trying one stick in different slots did you alternate the sticks and try all the slots again with the second stick?

Its always possible its a ram issue and with the memory controller on the cpu thats another potential cause but unless you've got another system you can test the ram or cpu in then I'd probably try the mobo first as well.

Thanks for the suggestion it was worth a try.
I tried both sticks in slot 3 and it posted with both. Then i just tried all slots with one stick just to check one of the slots wasnt dead
I will take the sticks to my dads and try them on his. If they work il obviously need a new mobo

NetMan · 5 Oct 2026 at 22:00

Neil galvin said:
Thanks for the suggestion it was worth a try.

It was Tetras I just chimed in with my 2 cents.

Neil galvin said:
I tried both sticks in slot 3 and it posted with both. Then i just tried all slots with one stick just to check one of the slots wasnt dead

Fair enough I was just double checking the second stick had been tested as well before you started ordering parts.

Neil galvin said:
I will take the sticks to my dads and try them on his. If they work il obviously need a new mobo

Fingers crossed but the memory controller is on the cpu...

ED209 · 6 Oct 2026 at 17:41

Neil galvin said:
Is it time for a new motherboard? Because surly cant be the ram sticks problem can it.

If the PC boots with 1 stick of ram in try each stick 1 at a time and if it boots then the ram maybe ok.

Might be worth running some memory diag software on each stick to confirm they are all ok.

Does sound like a motherboard issue if the memory checks above are fine

Neil galvin · 6 Oct 2026 at 17:59

ED209 said:
If the PC boots with 1 stick of ram in try each stick 1 at a time and if it boots then the ram maybe ok.

Might be worth running some memory diag software on each stick to confirm they are all ok.

Does sound like a motherboard issue if the memory checks above are fine

Tried both sticks, and it boots everytime. I did a windows memory diag on both sticks aswell and it come.back with no issues.
So yes like you said, .its looking like a board problem.
Going to take my ram to my dads tomorrow and see if they work on his, just to fully rule out a ram stick problem

Ch3m1c4L · 12 Oct 2026 at 20:15

Did you get a chance to test the ram at your dad's?

Neil galvin · 12 Oct 2026 at 20:21

Ch3m1c4L said:
Did you get a chance to test the ram at your dad's?

Yes, both worked. I seen something about it could be the memory controller has gone.
So i took the cpu out to check for any bent pins, didnt notice any, then when i put it back in it didnt work at all.
i took it back out and noticed a few bent pins. So im guessing i bent them putting it back in.

I tried an old 2600 i had lying around and it booted with both sticks. So im guessing the memory controller had gone.

Ch3m1c4L · 12 Oct 2026 at 20:26

Yea totally can be, tends to be rarer than mobo and most commonly it is a ram stick. At least you've identified it now though

Neil galvin · 12 Oct 2026 at 20:39

Had to buy a new cpu tho , gone for the 5800x3d

I was debating whether to upgrade to AM5 but decided against it with ram prices being ao high

Neil galvin · 13 Oct 2026 at 18:23

So turns out it was my motherboard all alongs, new cpu come today, and still wont work with 2 sticks of ram

tamzzy · 13 Oct 2026 at 18:26

Neil galvin said:
So turns out it was my motherboard all alongs, new cpu come today, and still wont work with 2 sticks of ram

probably the best outcome tbf. cheapest component out of the cpu/mobo/ram

Neil galvin · 13 Oct 2026 at 18:36

It would have been if i didnt destroy my 5700x3d, bent the pins and tried to repair it. Failed miserably

freddie64 · 13 Oct 2026 at 21:03

Neil galvin said:
So turns out it was my motherboard all alongs, new cpu come today, and still wont work with 2 sticks of ram

Can you return the CPU if box is open?

Are you going to switch to AM5 now or see if you can get a cheap/SH AM4 motherboard?

Did you break off any pins on the 5700X3D?