I recently bought a second-hand PC and noticed it only had 8GB of RAM, so I decided to upgrade to 32GB (2x16GB). However, when I installed one of the new RAM sticks, the computer wouldn't turn on at all. I tried putting the old RAM back in, but that didn't work either. I double-checked to ensure everything was seated correctly and even waited a while before trying again. But then I started smelling something burning, which freaked me out! I immediately turned it off, unplugged everything, and now I'm terrified of trying to turn it back on. I feel like I might've damaged something, like the motherboard. I need advice on what to check and what went wrong, especially regarding the burning smell. By the way, I confirmed that the RAM I wanted to upgrade to is DDR4, which my setup should support according to the specs I found.
2 Answers
Take a deep breath; you’re not the first to mess this up! The burning smell is definitely a flag, though. If the motherboard fried, you might see physical signs of damage. It could also just be down to faulty RAM or a power supply issue. Since you bought it second-hand, there’s always a chance something wasn’t right from the start. Try to find out if it’s the motherboard or RAM, as it could save you some money. Don’t be too hard on yourself; mistakes happen especially when diving into PC builds!
Exactly, don't stress it. Just take it one step at a time and check everything!
Hey, first off, don’t panic too much! The burning smell is concerning, but so many things can cause a machine not to boot after a RAM swap. I had a similar issue before, and what fixed it for me was resetting the CMOS by removing the battery from the motherboard for a few minutes. This clears out any old XMP settings that might be causing conflicts. Just be careful to set your RAM speeds correctly in the BIOS after that. Also, your motherboard might have a limitation on RAM speed (like not supporting anything above 3200 MHz), so keep that in mind too!
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely look into resetting the CMOS. At least it gives me a ray of hope! Not sure what that burning smell means, though. Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious.
Yeah, CMOS resets can be lifesavers! Just beware of potential high voltage issues from mismatched RAM specs. It’s tricky, but all might not be lost!
Really appreciate your understanding! I’ll check for any signs of damage and see what’s what tomorrow. Thanks for calming me down!