Polar Light wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I just got a call from a friend who tried to upgrade the RAM on his
> computer, after installing the new memory, the computer just wouldn't start.
> He then took out the new chips and replaced the old ones but it's still the
> same. The power comes on, the fans make noise and the monitor says there's
> no signal so presumably both the power supply and monitor are working fine,
> however, the BIOS screen doesn't come up and there are not bleeps.
>
> He says he's checked the connections and they're all OK and the system was
> working perfectly before.
>
> Can a motherboard be killed just by installing new RAM?


Yes. If power is on, or ram is bad, or not seated properly when power
applied. Usually, no.

>
> Any ideas much appreciated.
>
A fellow came in just yesterday, with the same symptoms, he removed
some RAM, to identify it, so he could buy more. And when he replaced
it, it was dead. But when I opened up the case, there was a whole row
of bad capacitors. So no way he killed it unless it was already
terminally ill.

So look for bulging or leaking capacitors anyway.Capacitors look like
little soda cans.