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How screwed am I - RAM died during BIOS update

Indie WinterIndie Winter die KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
First off, specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: ASUS TUF X570 PLUS
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V KIT 16GB (2X8) DDR4 3600MHz

So the RAM decided to crap out while I was updating the BIOS. Both sticks seem to be dead, no matter which ones I use on what slot. I reset the CMOS battery and shortened the pins, but the computer still doesn't boot at all - the motheboard's LED indicator says it's a DRAM issue but considering the BIOS might be boned and both sticks somehow failed I don't know if I should trust it.

Already ordered new RAM but what's the over-under on this actually being a RAM issue as opposed to a fully cooked motherboard?

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Posts

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    not gonna know without diagnostic tools but i am skeptical of the idea that your ram magically decided to stop working on its own during a firmware update

    i think more likely your firmware update did something bad and has caused an array of system failures, which may or may not be limited to just toasting your ram

    this is a discord of mostly PA people interested in fighting games: https://discord.gg/DZWa97d5rz

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  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    If the BIOS is fucked the indicator lights may not be trustworthy, as that is a potentially motherboard bricking problem. It's also possible the RAM already had some type of point failure which your BIOS could deal with once identified, and the failed update has nuked that fault tolerance, but I think the BIOS being fuckered is much more likely than two independent but trivial failures that both become critical due to a BIOS issue.

    Some (not all) boards do have a way back from it, ranging from the straightforward to the impossibly arcane and poorly documented.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    How old is the mobo? Who did you buy it from?

    Asus support is dog shit and their warranty is dog shit. Normally I’d say see about getting it replaced under warranty, but they are terrible. However Amazon is pretty great about replacing stuff if it was purchased recently. Newegg isn’t bad either.

  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited October 2022
    it is asus and it is under warranty, which is what will probably help get me the replacement for free since they don't really have a repair facility of their own where I am located. If stuff's absolutely cacked they'll just give me a replacement free of charge via the retailer

    Meanwhile the new RAM I ordered got here and yeah, no dice, still showing the same LED light. In the name of famous Australian youtube entertainer DankPods, "she's proper cooked mate". I'll take the whole kit to the place I got it from on Sunday and they'll handle the rest. Thank you, everyone.

    Indie Winter on
    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    Indie Winter wrote: »
    In the name of famous Australian youtube entertainer DankPods, "she's proper cooked mate".

    you've got a nugget on your hands now

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    and a right proper nugg it is

    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    Indie Winter wrote: »
    First off, specs:
    CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard: ASUS TUF X570 PLUS
    RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V KIT 16GB (2X8) DDR4 3600MHz

    So the RAM decided to crap out while I was updating the BIOS. Both sticks seem to be dead, no matter which ones I use on what slot. I reset the CMOS battery and shortened the pins, but the computer still doesn't boot at all - the motheboard's LED indicator says it's a DRAM issue but considering the BIOS might be boned and both sticks somehow failed I don't know if I should trust it.

    Already ordered new RAM but what's the over-under on this actually being a RAM issue as opposed to a fully cooked motherboard?

    Modern motherboards come with a backup ROM. This is a feature called crashable or crashfree BIOS. Your Asus board should have that. Check out the video below.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb6FbJwVg8Y

    https://www.youtube.com/hesthatguy | https://www.patreon.com/hesthatguy | https://steamcommunity.com/id/ThatGuy3141/
  • dispatch.odispatch.o Registered User regular
    The memory isn't the issue. It 100% should still post and give error beeps without any memory installed. It will probably give the warning beep for 'no ram installed' but it should still post and allow you to enter bios.

    Most newer motherboards can't simply be bricked by power failure / hardware failure during a bios update. Once upon a time, yes - absolutely. Now though, they usually have a secondary instruction set that while not usually a fully-featured configurable would allow you to restore/flash the primary and continue with your day.

    You can't really test ram if you suspect the board to be faulty and you can't rely on the error code it's giving you. This is a case where you'd have to drop the sticks in another machine and run memtest86 to actually check them.

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