Girlfriend tried new dual channel ram in single ram Asus X551MA. Full crash, need help!!

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

So, while I was out of town for a motocross race i was set to compete in, my fiance decided to be a "nerd" and upgrade my laptop's ram. From what I was told, she replaced the ram with the new one, which was a dual-channel, and it originally had a single channel. It charged okay and all was well, until the power button was hit, then it utterly failed entirely, with an audible pop went deader than Osama Bin Ladin himself. It wont do a single thing now, not even register being charged with the light, its kapoot. Is there any ANY solution out there thats not $3-400 bucks? My fiance has been majorly upset about it and continues to be 2 weeks later, I dont want her feeling crummy, so please fellow tech enthusiasts, help a guy out with possible solutions. Thanks in advance

 

[FacePush]

If you put the old RAM back in does the system operate normally?

 

[basroil]

It charged okay and all was well, until the power button was hit, then it utterly failed entirely, with an audible pop went deader than Osama Bin Ladin himself.

What the hell did she put in there, a firecracker?

Memory should NEVER make that sound, even if they burn out from a short. Take the memory out, and if you see holes or burnt areas, you'll have to not only replace the ram, but likely the whole laptop!

 

[rgd1101]

https/www.asus.com/Notebooks/X551MA/specifications/
the laptop only take 1 ram and it should be max out at 4GB already.

 

[dangus]

well if the ram fit into the slots properly, it really couldnt have been the ram. is it possible you could provide us with the part numbers for the "old" ram and the "new" ram? if she replaced ddr3 with ddr3 then it really wasn't her fault and it was an accident waiting to happen. theres really no way she could have put the wrong type of ram into the computer without forcing it in and damaging the slots. if that is in fact what she did, then i have a feeling the laptop's motherboard has to be replaced.

also, can you provide the exact model number for your laptop please?

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

Laptop model number is as follows- D550MAV-DBO1(S). And she has like 4 different ram's in the box so I'm not really which ones which anymore -_- I'm new to the whole ram thing, lol where might one find said ram part number? All I know is the old card had 4 black chips on each side, whereas the new one has 8 on each side. I'm leary to try each of the rams to avoid any more potential damage if possible.

 

[FacePush]

I just thought of something if you heard an "audible pop" that could have been the power supply crapping out and not the RAM. Maybe the new RAM fit fine and worked as expected put during the move a wire from the power supply got grounded or loose.

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

Any idea what the factory ram is?

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

And i dont think she grounded anything just went in screwdrivers blazing. A magnetic one at that

 

[FacePush]

And i dont think she grounded anything just went in screwdrivers blazing. A magnetic one at that

I would try and plug in the old RAM, if it fires back up then great no harm no foul. However my experience has been that once you hear that pop sound the power supply or motherboard need to be replaced sometimes both.

 

[dangus]

Laptop model number is as follows- D550MAV-DBO1(S). And she has like 4 different ram's in the box so I'm not really which ones which anymore -_- I'm new to the whole ram thing, lol where might one find said ram part number? All I know is the old card had 4 black chips on each side, whereas the new one has 8 on each side. I'm leary to try each of the rams to avoid any more potential damage if possible.

And i dont think she grounded anything just went in screwdrivers blazing. A magnetic one at that

well look for any stickers on the sticks of ram and make sure theyre all DDR3. if they are ddr3...and she put them in correctly....there is no reason the ram would have messed something up. although it's sounding very unlikely she did any of this properly....its sound like the power supply went kaput instead...

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

Thats not a easy, cheap or even possible fix is it? If thats the case is it even worth it to attempt to fix it? And she's technologically illiterate, so my money's on she did it all wrong, id ask her what exactly she did, but shes at work. Women sometimes -_- yeeesh. Gotta love em haha

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

And no sticky's on the rams
except for a desktop ram but thats completely diff

 

[TheVizz_YZ450F]

Any way to tell if its DDR3 just by looks?

 

[FacePush]

Any way to tell if its DDR3 just by looks?

yes look at the gold part that plugs into the computer (looks like teeth) there should be a notch about half way through. DDR3 has a notch closer to the left side and DDR4 has the notch closer to the middle.
here is a picture:
http/www.vladan.fr/mass-production-ddr4-will-allow-producing-128gb-ram-sticks/#prettyPhoto[37660]/1/

 

[FacePush]

Thats not a easy, cheap or even possible fix is it? If thats the case is it even worth it to attempt to fix it? And she's technologically illiterate, so my money's on she did it all wrong, id ask her what exactly she did, but shes at work. Women sometimes -_- yeeesh. Gotta love em haha

Anything can be fixed and cheap is relative, is it worth the $ fixing if she is happy?

The replacement motherboard is $110
The power supply: $60-$80
The Ram $15-$30
Or the same computer new: $250-$350
Or the same computer used: $150-$200

If you want to save time and money I would go to a local repair shop and have them look at it. If its just the power supply it could be a relatively fast and cheap to fix.

 

[maxwellmelon]

agree with facepush. find a computer nerd or a shop to look at it and tell them what happened.


also you might want them to pull the hard drive out while looking at it to prevent any more electrical surges to it so you might have a chance to save your info on it. yes if memory wasn't installed right such as not pulling battery out while changing or not placing it in slot all the way can lead to a short and fry the motherboard and ram