Guys important info regarding DDR2 and your boards

[Tony]

Guys

You MUST power off your boards completely before you swap ram on ANY DDR2 board...if you do not you stand a good chance of killing the ram.

The worst boards for this are NF5 for Intel, they kill ram quicker than you can blink an eye unless the board is fully discharged.

Many boards apply voltage to the dimms while the board is in a standby state...So PLEASE power off your boards completely before you swap dimms.

Thanks

Tony

[Waus-mod]

Thanks for the info

[Jochenp]

Think this should be sticky or even pmed to everyone running a ddr2 board.
This information is extremely important, wtf, I almost always swap ram with my motherboard charged(that's like psu still plugged in but not running right?).
Damn, you probably saved me 200 pounds worht of ram, thnx a lot (prolly more cause I would do the exact same when my new ram would come in).

[M.Beier]

Thx for the info

However, I never change any HW without fully power off, always turning PSU off..

[alexio]

Are there any people that don't normally do this

[[timko]]

Are there any people that don't normally do this

Obviously the ones that swap out RAM and wonder why they're dead the next time they put them back in...with standby mode *again* and then RMA.

[tardbus2]

Does this apply to ALL ddr2 boards? Or just some of the newer ones. Because i've been using intel since 925xe boards and never had a single stick of ram die on me from my ocz, mushkin, micron, elpida, samsung etc.

[Viss]

Maybe youve been lucky. There are some things you just gotta do in a certain order, this obviously is one of them

[kiwi]

Some boards have LEDs on in standby mode and the manual states "DO NOT install memory modules when led is on"

[ibby]

Never had a problem ..
and ive played with lots of mobos and ddr2

[Lestat]

doing anything physical with the baord in standby mode is simply retarded.
its in standby mode not the off state for heavens sake.

[astaris]

Well i turn off the PSU even when i swap my mouse...

[The_Hardstylez]

Are there any people that don't normally do this

Yes, indeed

[NicoOCZ]

Well i turn off the PSU even when i swap my mouse...

Really? I hotswap 'em ... that's what USB is all about, no?

Thanks for the info Tony

[Vric]

You have to turn off your computer when swapping memory ? Damn, this is why Windows freeze every time I make that...

[Jochenp]

Stop acting like he is stating the obvious.
He is talking about plugging your PSU out/disconnecting your mobo from PSU when switching ram.
I know I never disconnect my mobo when swapping hardware.

[[timko]]

Does this apply to ALL ddr2 boards?

Why even ask? Just turn it off completely, regardless of DDR, DDR2, SDRAM, EDO etc and you should be safe. Either flick the switch on the back of the PSU or yank the cord from the wall. Not much effort required either way to NOT kill your cheap/expensive ram

[illmatik]

As of late I've made a habit of turning off PSU and hitting the power button a couple times to discharge anything that might be stored up in the psu/mobo and giving you a good ground to discharge any static (rare I know but my old room setup was conducive to static buildup and after 10+ years of good luck I managed to damage a good few components in the course of a month or two that way) 9 out of 10 times I'll get 1 revolution of the cpu fan meaning there was power stored up somewhere that could have increased the credit card bill without increasing the amount of toys

[freecableguy]

i hotswap my cpu all the time. it rocks.

[M.Beier]

i hotswap my cpu all the time. it rocks.

[vmsein]

Obviously there has been a high failure rate of DDR2 ram due to hot swapping or Tony would not have posted this. Thanks for the reminder of proper component handling Tony.

[sierra_bound]

DDR2 is generally very hard to kill. The same is true of Intel CPU's. Of course, it is better to be safe than sorry, so turning off the PSU is a good idea.

[JayG30]

You've got to be kidding me right? I swapped DDR2 RAM modules about 6 times when first putting together this Core 2 Duo board and didn't unplug anything. Both sticks of RAM are fine. I understand the principle of disconnecting the PSU so don't think I don't get it. But to be honest even when you disconnect your PSU there is still charge in the board. And can you explain why exactly this would be such a "issue" with DDR2 compared to others? I don't see what would make them particularly more prone to dieing. If anything I would say it's the other way around and are harder to kill.

Don't get me wrong I think it is smart to turn things off and minimize your chances of problems. But I've been changing RAM this way for years and have never had RAM die on me...not once. I'm not about to change now...even if it is only luck.

[xlink]

wow i never thought of chanign parts in staqndby mode...

seripusly someone has to be a real idiot... if your system it plugged to a power strip how damn hard is it to flip a switch or two and cut power to you system?

[JamesAvery22]

i hotswap my cpu all the time. it rocks.

You can do that with some Itanium boxes

wow i never thought of chanign parts in staqndby mode...

seripusly someone has to be a real idiot... if your system it plugged to a power strip how damn hard is it to flip a switch or two and cut power to you system?

I don't believe they are talking about when you go to Start->Shutdown and select "Stand by..."
Its when the power is plugged into your PSU, the PSU is switched to "ON," the PSU is plugged into the mobo, and the power light(if it has one) is light up on the motherboard. So the mobo is in "stand by" mode waiting for you to press the power button...