Computer will not Boot when RAM is in dual channel slots.

[Tech bud]

This is an HP Pavilion a6333w, its an old computer that my friend was going to get rid of and get something new because it wasn't working. I took it off his hands because I wanted to fix that computer and turn it into a server for my place. Things I tried:

• At first the computer would not boot, I got all his documents off the drive and gave it to him for his new computer by using a boot cd.
• Then I reformatted the drive and reinstalled the old OEM OS (windows vista 32bit). The computer would start up. but I would get blue screens, so I ran seatools, the hard drive failed the test.
• I put in a known working drive, still would get blue screens, then I reinstalled the old hard drive, ran Western Digitals hard drive test, because that is the drives manufacturer. It tested fine.
  I ran memtest on one stick, it tested fine, I ran the one tested good stick on all dim slots, all dim slots are ok.
  Proceeded to insert the other sticks one at a time and test, one stick tested fine while the others will not even let the computer boot up. But the catch is with the two sticks that were tested fine, if in the dual channel slots together, the computer will freeze at the BIOS screen.
  I also tested the PS, it is fine.

I'm beginning to think the motherboard or CPU is bad, I know in the past I have worked on his computer, we were playing games together and he had complained about the computer restarting on him mid game. I went to his house and inside was dustier then heck, just cleaning it got the computer to run stable.
Any suggestions on what I should try next? I'm thinking I want to try a BIOS update or flash and see if it will run stable after that.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

This is an HP Pavilion a6333w, its an old computer that my friend was going to get rid of and get something new because it wasn't working. I took it off his hands because I wanted to fix that computer and turn it into a server for my place. Things I tried:

• At first the computer would not boot, I got all his documents off the drive and gave it to him for his new computer by using a boot cd.
• Then I reformatted the drive and reinstalled the old OEM OS (windows vista 32bit). The computer would start up. but I would get blue screens, so I ran seatools, the hard drive failed the test.
• I put in a known working drive, still would get blue screens, then I reinstalled the old hard drive, ran Western Digitals hard drive test, because that is the drives manufacturer. It tested fine.
  I ran memtest on one stick, it tested fine, I ran the one tested good stick on all dim slots, all dim slots are ok.
  Proceeded to insert the other sticks one at a time and test, one stick tested fine while the others will not even let the computer boot up. But the catch is with the two sticks that were tested fine, if in the dual channel slots together, the computer will freeze at the BIOS screen.
  I also tested the PS, it is fine.

I'm beginning to think the motherboard or CPU is bad, I know in the past I have worked on his computer, we were playing games together and he had complained about the computer restarting on him mid game. I went to his house and inside was dustier then heck, just cleaning it got the computer to run stable.
Any suggestions on what I should try next? I'm thinking I want to try a BIOS update or flash and see if it will run stable after that.

Do you have any completely diff ram to test? its not uncommon for issues with ram to only show up while they are dual channel.

 

[Tech bud]

I don't have any RAM on hand that is compatible with the motherboard on hand, I do have 4 sticks with the computer, 2 512mb sticks(which don't allow the computer to boot, whether single or dual), and 2 1GB sticks, that are installed now and the computer is running fine, but the 2 sticks are not in the dual channel slots.
I did have some...but just recently gave them to my brother for his computer...

 

[Tech bud]

Update, I just did a BIOS update and its a no go still. I was kinda getting my hopes up there. lol

 

[brandonkick]

So from what I've gathered so far:

You pulled the original drive after you wiped it, reloaded the OEM OS, and after getting blue screens you ran SeaTools which told you the drive was bad.

You put in a "known working drive" and after reloading the OEM OS again you still got blue screens.

So you put the original drive back in, ran a different HDD diagnostic test which said the drive was in fact good.

You have four memory slots, and four memory sticks. You tested one dimm good, and then took the "good" stick and tested the other three slots. As a result of your testing you know that two of the four sticks are bad.

If you insert the two good sticks into the dual channel slots, the machine freezes....

Couple of things...

I wouldn't trust that the hard drive is good.

I would try, with a preferably new drive, to reload the operating system onto the new good drive using only ONE memory stick in the lowest available memory slot. (presuming this stick is at least 1GB)

How are you reloading this operating system? Are you running the recovery partition on the hard drive? I assume not, since you swapped drives. Are you using the recovery disks for the PC? I ask this, since if your using a regular windows disk and simply inserting the COA key you may not have the correct drivers installed on this machine. And that could cause these problems.

How did you determine the PSU was good? I hope it wasn't one of those cheapo $20 power supply testers...

Did you inspect the motherboard for swelled or leaking capacitors?

 

[Tech bud]

So from what I've gathered so far:

You pulled the original drive after you wiped it, reloaded the OEM OS, and after getting blue screens you ran SeaTools which told you the drive was bad.

You put in a "known working drive" and after reloading the OEM OS again you still got blue screens.

So you put the original drive back in, ran a different HDD diagnostic test which said the drive was in fact good.

You have four memory slots, and four memory sticks. You tested one dimm good, and then took the "good" stick and tested the other three slots. As a result of your testing you know that two of the four sticks are bad.

If you insert the two good sticks into the dual channel slots, the machine freezes....

Couple of things...

I wouldn't trust that the hard drive is good.

I would try, with a preferably new drive, to reload the operating system onto the new good drive using only ONE memory stick in the lowest available memory slot. (presuming this stick is at least 1GB)

How are you reloading this operating system? Are you running the recovery partition on the hard drive? I assume not, since you swapped drives. Are you using the recovery disks for the PC? I ask this, since if your using a regular windows disk and simply inserting the COA key you may not have the correct drivers installed on this machine. And that could cause these problems.

How did you determine the PSU was good? I hope it wasn't one of those cheapo $20 power supply testers...

Did you inspect the motherboard for swelled or leaking capacitors?

Correct, wiped reloaded OEM OS(although this wasn't an official OEM torrent copy and used the same Product key with the computer) then ran seatools and it failed.

Correct, new drive and blue screened.

Correct, retested with Western Digital test(because it was a Western Digital drive) it passed.

Correct, I know that two of the Ram sticks will not post or even get the monitor to start up. Two other sticks, single test fine but don't run in dual channel. Tested every dimm slot. Tested fine.

I'm not running the recovery partition, just using the OEM Disk.

I did use the Rexus power supply tester, I thought about that too, because people were saying they don't measure under use, might have to pick up a multimeter, make sure I use it correctly too.

I did inspect the motherboard, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, I even took everything apart and put it back together to make sure there was not short.

But going to run to the hardware store and get a multimeter, and try and find a good tutorial because in class they always gave us power supply testers or just switch out power supplies, but don't have that option, everything I have is under the wattage that is installed.

Also going to try reseating the CPU, I read that it corrects the problem sometimes.

Thanks for the input, going to try your suggestions, any more help would be appreciated

 

[Tech bud]

Now that I'm digging deeper, I might have two bad capacitors, will take a picture, not sure if its bad or not.

 

[Tech bud]

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Does that look bad?
Ok researched a little more, so none of the capacitors on the motherboard should be bent

 

[Vicenarian]

Those caps look pretty bad tbh

 

[Tech bud]

Alright I tested the power supply just to be sure, because I don't have money to be wrong, plus I never did it with a multimeter before so I figured it would be good practice, from what I understand its good. So I think I'm going to chalk this up as a motherboard problem. See if I can't get a cheap replacement. Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[JustInspired]

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Does that look bad?
Ok researched a little more, so none of the capacitors on the motherboard should be bent

You definitely have swollen caps on the motherboard. You either need to re-cap the board or replace it before any further testing.

 

[brandonkick]

Those caps are swollen and the one appears to have started leaking.

Like others have said, either solder new ones in or replace the motherboard. Those capacitors are done for.

As far as using the multimeter, it's not that hard.

You set the meter to DC voltage in the 20 volt range and then you check the red, yellow and orange wires on the 24 (or 20) pin ATX connector on the power supply. If you take a paper clip and jumper the green wire with any black wire this will force the power supply to turn on (or it will if you leave the power supply connected to the motherboard and stick the probe ends into the top of the connector.

You should get about 12V on the yellow, 3.3 Volts on the orange and 5 volts on the red.

Don't call the power supply junk if they aren't dead on the money, those voltages have a 5% +/- tolerance level. Don't necessarily call it good either if they are within the specified ranges. It's just a "quick check" and doesn't call it case closed one way or the other (unless the voltages are way out of range).

 

[Ktex]

If one capacitor is swollen, chances are that the others (same value) are also either bad or on the brink of going bad. I would take all capacitors of the same value and check them out individually, usually they are in banks right next to the CPU and the hot air flowing thru the heatsink doesn't help at all.
I made a habit of visually inspecting the CPU capacitor banks right after checking for loose cables.
Swollen/leaking caps will give all kinds of errors, even freezing the computer randomly.
Beware that checking all capacitors is sometimes not worth the time/effort spent, although the learning experience is great.