Computer fried?

Question

Help comp died on me?
I had 512 mb of ram, so today I bought 1 gig of ram(its compatible) anyways when I was putting both of them in, I accidently put them in backwards. After I turned it on I heard kinda like a snap and then the comp turned off. I also smelled a lil bit of smoke. Anyways I found out I had it backwards, and put it in right. Now though, my keyboard,joystick,mouse, and display is not working. My video card fan is still working, and it still has colors coming out of it, but the display doesn't work. Also I have another video output (have no vid card plugged into it) and when I plugged in my monitor to it, the display still doesn't work (usually if i do this, the display shows but they're horrible graphics) any ideas on whats going on and how do I fix it? Also, could my vid card be fryed? The fan still works but it is plugged into the mobo so I dunno. afterwards, I plugged in the ram the correct way and there were no more beeping noises and no burn marks on the ram...

Answer 1

Can you get into CMOS at all? Verify if the computer is reading the RAM? Push F2 (or whatever your system takes) after pushing the power button.

But I have to say, if you fried a component, your system is probably done, at least the motherboard. It is very difficult to install RAM backwards. I've tried it before, but there is a little off-center notch in the DIMM slot that helps prevent that from happening. Since the video card accesses RAM, and if the RAM somehow had power, there may be a chance you fried that as well.

Something else you could check. When you installed the RAM, maybe you accidentally unplugged fan power cords, and forgot to reinstall them. Definitely check your CPU fan.

Sorry, I don't have much good news for you.

Answer 2

Of course, DRAM will not install reverse. Most newbies mistake is that a PC that is switch off is not OFF. You have to remove the power cord from the power line. ATX systems are designed to be alive by phone or remotely!!! Todays PCs, TVs etc.. power is
ON and you must unplug. the power line. Hit the remote and it is instantly ON.
You must be installing it with the power on. Hopefully the fuse wire on the power supply save the Motherboard. Bring it back to the store and just tell them ONLY it did not boot up, assuming that it is less than 1 year. Most manufacturers like Dell use less than 300w. Ask them to replace it with a 500w rated PS.

Answer 3

How did you get your ram in backwards? You must have broken something forcing it into place as it's designed to only go in one way. A pop and the smell of smoke is an electrical short and yes you quite probably destroyed your motherboard.

Answer 4

Some things are better left to the pros. Better take the PC in to a reputable PC repair store.

Answer 5

Even if you try to insert the ram backward it wont get in the slut , what are you talking about?.