New RAM, Fried computer [SOLVED]

[Toughluck]

So I've recently starting looking into building a new PC as the one I am using now is over 7 years old. Today I received some RAM in the mail which I had forgotten that I ordered for my current PC. I pulled out the old ram sticks and put the new ones in, and the computer wouldn't start. Slightly pissed that I may have been ripped off, I put the old ram back in to make sure it wasn't my computer. And of course it didn't start, switched the old sticks around, still nothing. Now I was sitting on my carpet floor while doing this, and from reading online afterwards, on my phone, it sounds like I may have shocked something from not being grounded. My motherboard is an ASUS A7VBX-MX SE, the RAM sticks I bought are Kingston 333Hz PC2700 KTC-D320/1G 2.5V BSMH1650826 1gb each. My MOBO only has 2 slots. I thought maybe the MOBO had fried but the green light on it is still on. Could it be the PSU? I don't have another one to test it. Any help would be greatly appreciated as typing this out on an iPhone is really a pain, and I would like to know what I did wrong so I don't go and do the same to a $1500 computer.

[chrisk]

Grounding yourself is a good idea, and not working on carpet is also a good idea as you have learned.

Try the following two things:
1. re-check to make sure you did not unplug anything by accident, and make sure no loose wires and such are hanging around.

2. Take out the battery, and reset the CMOS (check the manual). Could be that the new ram messed up your BIOS's settings, which is now messing with your old ram too.

Make sure the computer is unplugged while you do any of these steps.

[_dangtx_]

it can be just about anything. get your screw driver and take out the mobo from the case, on your table/desk

there proceed again. if no go, pull the plug on the psu, short the pw pins a couple times, short clr_cmos pins with the
little thing there, take out bios battery.....wait a bit, maybe 30 min, maybe overnight.

if i were you id be troubleshooting this while new pc parts in the mail but thats just me :p

[coleo]

have you disconnected the power cord all together and waited for the green light to go out on its own
reset the cmos? checked that you didnt shake loose the wires from your power button to the mb?
i have an older a8n-vm that acts funny every now and then and it seems like it just wants to have some attention. did you have anything overclocked?
silly question did you turn off the rocker switch on the back of the psu?

[frontier204]

To what degree of "doesn't start" are you talking about? Pushing power button does nothing? No POST? Can't get into OS?

If it's the first one (power button doesn't do anything), it may be something as simple as your front panel connector got dislodged when you were swapping the RAM. That happens to me every second time I swap hard drives, so I reseat the front panel connector every time I have a no-boot situation hehe. If that's not the issue I'd do the troubleshooting as chrisk stated. Try to get your computer going again with the bare minimum attached - CPU, 1 stick of RAM, and video card if your computer doesn't have integrated graphics.

[Toughluck]

Hahaha oh man do I feel like an idiot. I forgot that I had unplugged the wires for the power/reset switches and lights, As the HDD light was on all the time instead of under load, ha. Thank you very much frontier209! And thank you everyone else I really appreciate it, I'm glad I didn't have to pull everything out, luckly I refreshed this page as I was starting to do so. You guys are great I think i'm going to stick around this site for awhile, lots of good info on here, even when it's my plain stupidity.

[coleo]

im sure many of us have silly stories where we forgot something on our mental checklists.
myself i always forget about the rocker switch beside the plug . just a few weeks ago i had a massive coronary when i hit the power button and nothing happened on a new mb and ram upgrade. i never used to turn the rocker switch off

[frontier204]

Glad we could help The loose / missing connector thing happens to me quite a bit. During my last build the issue was a loose CPU 8-pin connector, and before that I forgot to plug my GPU's power connectors in. I'm glad both components were designed with careless people like me in mind, so they let me know through not starting / beeping / flashing red lights rather than just frying

Don't forget to stress-test your new memory!

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by Toughluck

Hahaha oh man do I feel like an idiot. I forgot that I had unplugged the wires for the power/reset switches and lights, As the HDD light was on all the time instead of under load, ha. Thank you very much frontier209! And thank you everyone else I really appreciate it, I'm glad I didn't have to pull everything out, luckly I refreshed this page as I was starting to do so. You guys are great I think i'm going to stick around this site for awhile, lots of good info on here, even when it's my plain stupidity.

Sounded like something simple like an unplugged wire. Good to see that you got up and running again. Can be scary when you mess with your rig and it does not power on. We have all done something like this at one time or another.

[Stock]

This was my first mistake too! Stuff happens.