Computer won't POST, only beeps

[furrykef]

Motherboard: Asus P8B75-M
RAM: Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL (two 4GB DIMMs)
CPU: Intel Core i5 3550, stock heat sink/fan

The DRAM light comes on and the computer only beeps (one long, two short), both suggesting a memory problem. There is nothing on the screen. I've never used the mobo, RAM, or CPU before, and unfortunately have no other machine to test them on. The PSU is reused, but known good (I was using it just yesterday). I have no video card or drives plugged in; I'm using on-board video until the thing POSTs.

I currently have one DIMM in the A2 slot, as the mobo manual suggests. I've tried switching the DIMM with the other and switching slots. The DIMM is in all the way and is not inserted the wrong way or anything.

I tried letting the MemOK! feature run all its tests. All it did was the same thing as before, only with the LED blinking and the computer occasionally rebooting as the test continued (which the test is supposed to do) until the test completed with no result.

Any ideas?

[Tradesman]

Do you have a different stick you could try to see if it's poss a mobo problem and to checkand see if the mobo has the latest BIOS

[furrykef]

No, no spare RAM, no spare mobo.

Dunno what BIOS version, but I don't think I can update it if I can't even get into the BIOS...

[Tradesman]

In part I asked because the mobo hasn't been out all that long and has already had a couple BIOS updates, both were heavily inot DRAM and CPU compatibility, you may have the original and it may not like the DRAM or poss even the CPU - I'd see if you can find someone with a stick you could borrow - otherwise you may have to take it to a shop or a techie

[furrykef]

OK, I've solved the problem, and you're gonna laugh. I'll make it a little story. If you hate stories, just skip to the end.

On Saturday I gave up and I took it into the shop two hours before it closed (since that was my earliest opportunity). On Monday I got it back. Naturally, I asked what was wrong with it. They said, "We reseated the RAM, cleared the CMOS, checked all the connections, and, oh yeah, the RAM was in the wrong slot." I was like, "Wrong slot? That's impossible! The manual specifically said to use slot A2!" They put it in slot A1. They basically said, "I dunno what to tell ya, dude. It works now." So I took it home and plugged it in, and, naturally, it did work. I was a bit baffled, 'cause I'd done all that -- except clear the CMOS. For some reason I never got around to trying that (though I tried just about everything else), so I figured maybe it was that. Anyway, I'd taken it into the shop with only one stick of RAM instead of both sticks, so I still had to install the other stick. I did so in the appropriate slot. Nothing happened; the BIOS reported 4 GB instead of 8. I tried again a couple of times, taking it out and putting it back in, and was rewarded with the machine failing to POST again. (Strangely, the computer no longer beeps when the POST fails, though the RAM light still comes on. It does beep on POST success. I still don't know what's up with that. Maybe it's a BIOS setting?) So I took it back out and it booted. Then I took the known working stick and working slot and switched the other stick into the same slot, leaving the other stick out. No POST. I switched the first stick back in where it was -- a known working configuration -- and still no POST.

By now you've probably figured it out: I've been seating the RAM wrong improperly the entire time. I'd looked at the manual on how to install RAM, but not quite closely enough. See, I was pushing the locking tab into place with my finger instead of pushing the stick in the slot as hard as I could until it locked by itself. I'm not sure why I hadn't realized this, especially since you have to do the same thing with the video card. But I was so convinced I'd been putting the RAM in all the way that this possibility just went right past me, I guess. So now I have all 8 GB and am writing this post on the machine in question. (And, by the way, the tech was wrong: it does boot fine with the stick in A2, so long as you have the stick in properly!)

Anyway, thanks for the help.

[Tradesman]

One of the mobo manufacturers had had a problem, back after the P67s came out with DRAM slots that were too tight and you really had to sort of force the sticks in to get them to go, else you ended up with a terminal restart loop, sounds similar, may just be overly tight slots, but glad to hear all is well now, keep in touch....your story will be a good example to point to when telling folks to ensure the sticks are firmly seated