Will a comp pass POST with half bad memory?

[706]

This is really just a quick question. My computer was failing to pass POST a while ago, so first I checked my graphics card but it was fine. I have two 512meg sticks of RAM, I removed one of them and now it appears to be working fine. I have had some trouble in the past with one of my sticks of RAM, sometimes my computer would only say it has 512meg sometimes it would say it has the full 1024. So my question is if it is possible that one of my RAM cards is dead and that is why it was failing post? If it was dead would that cause it to fail, or would it still turn on fine but only display 512meg of RAM?

 

[CrazeD]

Bad RAM may or may not cause it to fail POST.

Run each stick by itself to see if it will POST, and then run Memtest86+ for 3 - 4 hours on each stick. This will tell you which one has errors.

 

[veedubfreak]

It all depends on if the memory has bad spots or is terminal. If there are only bad spots in the memory you could post and even boot but get BSOD's whenever it tries to access one of the bad spots.

 

[SYL\X/3K]

Usually if its really bad it wont POSt at all but if it has minor errors then you'll encounter freezing while running am application or on boot, run memtest (under my sig) on 1 stick at a time and see which one is to toss away

 

[706]

So it seems it is possible that it is faulty but the issue would only come up every now and then. In that case I'm guessing it is just the RAM, I've taken it to get some repairs when I get it back I'll run the checks you guys suggested and make sure its working ok.

 

[veedubfreak]

Yes its possible. I was getting lockups last night until i turned down my overclock on my memory. The tracers dont seem to like to run past 1k at stock timings I'm somewhat dissappointed. I may just crank up the voltage some more