BSOD
BSOD
Hi, I’ve been using the same desktop for several years, making a few upgrades along the way. Recently, I increased the RAM speed to 9000 MHz. I’m running an Ripjaw S5 4800ms DDR5 board. After that change, my computer started behaving oddly and eventually stopped working altogether. I reset the speed, removed the battery from the motherboard, cleared the hard drive and SSD, tried reinstalling Windows, bought new RAM, and checked all XMP and BIOS settings, but nothing seems to work. I can post another update with all the error codes. Occasionally I access the installation media, other times I don’t, yet whenever I try to install Windows it crashes no matter what. I’m currently reinstalling a USB drive with Windows 11, after previously having Windows 10, but my drives were wiped when I switched versions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Consider trying to clear the CMOS first. (Remove the battery while the PSU is off for 5 minutes) After that, reinsert the battery and start the PC. If the issue persists at normal speeds, the problem could be with the RAM or possibly the CPU memory controller.
It seems your PC could have experienced some issues because of the RAM overclock. Running RAM at 9000 MHz might have put pressure on the CPU’s memory controller. Try re-seating the CPU (this likely won’t help but could be worth a shot). High RAM overclocks can also occasionally harm the motherboard’s VRMs or memory traces. Check for any burn marks, damaged capacitors, or bent pins in the RAM slots. Because you removed the CMOS battery, consider using the motherboard’s clear CMOS jumper. If your BIOS is outdated, updating it might resolve the problem. Turn off XMP/EXPO settings and stick to the stock 4800 MHz, then test stability. Execute MemTest86. If you can boot into BIOS and run MemTest86 via USB, it will detect RAM faults. If that fails, try booting with a different RAM stick in another slot to identify a faulty component. Since your OS crashes during installation, the SSD or HDD might be corrupted. Try a different drive if feasible. Review Error Codes and Debug LEDs for guidance. Those are all my assumptions about possible causes. Good luck!