Dead hard drive then dead RAM

[goombawaho]

I've got a lady that I replaced a hard drive for in 2008. No big deal - hard drives die. PC runs happily until last week.

Then, I go over there and her PC is throwing all kinds of corrupt registry problems. I restore the registry via BartPE and it boots but then starts a brigade of blue screen errors.

Turns out BOTH sticks of RAM were bad.

Now I ask is this just by chance or a symptom of a bad power supply/power problem or motherboard failure? It just seems odd that both sticks of RAM would go bad. No, there is no UPS - only a surge strip.

It's a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4700

 

[cdogg]

It's quite possible that the PC fell victim to a small spike or surge in the power line. It could have been just enough to affect part of the system (hard drive, memory, and perhaps even the mobo) to where it worked fine for a while then failed later.

It could also be a failing power supply mismanaging its power output which can also do damage. There are a lot of " if 's " unfortunately!

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah - I wish there was a reasonably priced "active" power supply tester which could apply a load and see what happens to the voltage and current outputs. Then you'd have a real world test of what the power supply can deliver and how tightly it holds to it's limits.

 

[dippncope]

Powere supply tester around $20

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=246

Build your own

http://www.ehow.com/how_2257392_build-computer-power-supply-tester.html

 

[SkipCox]

That's not the kind of tester goombawaho is talking about...they only tell you that voltage is present.

A tester that will load the various rails and measure the output in volts, amps and watts often carries a 4 figure price tag.

Skip

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah - I've got a $20 power supply tester and it has tested a power supply as GOOD, but the PC won't start up. I replaced the power supply (just on a hunch) and it started right up.

I don't trust it beyond 80% or so.

 

[goombawaho]

Replaced the RAM and this PC appears to be quite happy now. That's what I call bad luck though, when you have failed RAM and a failed hard drive all within 4 years of buying a computer.

Bad luck or bad power - hard to say. That's why it's always good to have a UPS. You never know when there are small brownouts or power surges and this can hurt the PC components over a period of time.

 

[FredWagner]

another possibility - how old is the surge strip ? Many folks replace PCs, but keep using the old surge strip - and the components in the surge strip that absorb the voltage spikes - MOV's and SAD's - wear out, so after a number of years you've got an extension strip with no protection. In a household environment, with many motorized appliances - vacuum cleaners, blenders, blowers in airconditioners and furnacees - generating spikes, it's entirely possible to wear out the surge protection components.

Fred Wagner

 

[Noway2]

The power supply will also age and degrade. This is especially true of the capacitors as the electrolyte will dry out. This in turn will cause a higher degree of AC ripple in the output and eventually a total failure.

If you have an o-scope you can monitor the power supply output as you increase the load and verify that it maintains regulation and that the ripple stays within tolerance. You should look for overall voltage, sags, and swells too. You should also apply a step load and watch the transient reponse. Make sure that there isn't excessive ringing or stair stepping.

Anecdotally, I once got a brand new work PC that had numerous, wierd failures, such as claiming the DMI pool was bad on startup, it fried the RS-232 and parallel ports, the hard drive crashed, and some other things. Turned out it was a flaky power supply "killing" the rest of the hardware.

 

[goombawaho]

Wow - I didn't think my thread needed to be bumped after all this time.