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A flaky RAM stick in a Dell OptiPlex ate 6 hours of my Tuesday and it was one bent pin on the socket the whole time
I reseated the RAM, swapped power supplies, ran MemTest twice, and even reinstalled Windows before I finally pulled the CPU and saw the mangled pin, so what's your go-to order for checking hardware when the obvious stuff keeps coming back clean?
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patricia3855h ago
Six hours is nothing, I once watched a guy spend two full days on a Franken-build before yanking the CPU, and the socket had three bent pins from the factory. My order is backwards from yours, though: I check the cheap external stuff last, not the CPU first, because a boot loop on a new build screams board or socket before it ever screams RAM. Dell OptiPlex boards are picky too, and a slightly loose CPU clamp will throw RAM errors all day without a single bad stick in the machine. Yours went the long way around, but 6 hours to rule out three parts is honestly a decent afternoon.
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