DDR Going in Backwards??

[deathman20]

Oks this isn't the first time this ram did this. Back about a year ago when I originally bought my P4 system I bought 2 256mb sticks of OCZ PC2700 ram. Well when I put the system togeather by chance one stick fit in backwards. Of course when the system booted well sparks, the smell of burning electronics and the puff of smoke came. Of course the PC was shutdown ASAP and realized it was in backwards.

After that incident it worked perfecty like nothing happened. Now looking at today I've sold the ram to someone else and he by chance was able to stick that exact same stick of ram in backwards and did the same thing. Not 100% sure if he stuck it back in the system but I wouldn't be suprised if it still works.

Now just wondering how many have acutally done this on accident or seen this happen before? This took place on a IT7-Max and a IT7-Max2 v1 boards.

 

[SeanOMatic]

It is pretty hard to stick the ram in backwards and have the clips seat down into the module. DDR is keyed to only fit one way.

 

[gt24]

There is pictures of this online. Somebody tried to RMA a motherboard and RAM because they stuck in the RAM backwards. Of couse the RMA people figured out what happened and they posted pictures of what it specifically looked like.

http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burnt-M7VIG1_1.htm
http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burnt-M7VIG2.htm
http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burnt-M7VIG3.htm
http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burnt-M7VIG4.htm
http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burntram1.htm
http://www.webhelp.org/jonnyguru/mishaps/damagedRAM/pages/burntram2.htm

I'm not that great at visually identifing memory though, so I dunno if those sticks were DDR (somehow, I doubt it). However, sticking memory in backwards is known to happen and it generally fries both RAM and motherboard. Quite lucky you are indeed. What motherboard and RAM was used?

 

[deathman20]

Oks well the first incident was on my IT7-Max. Ram ran fine afterwards and also the mobo functioned without faults.

The second incident just happened to my friend that I sold the ram to. He was messing around with OCing and happened to him. Board still functions and ram is a question right now. His board is a IT7-Max2 v1.

What ever it was this one stick is really strange.

 

[SeanOMatic]

I didn't say it won't go in backwards.

I said it is pretty hard to put DDR in backwards and have it clip down. I know it will go in backwards, as I have seen plenty of RMA'd memory with burn marks on the contacts.

-Sean

 

[SeanOMatic]

That is why you need to absolutely be careful, as failsafe installation mechanisms often fail to be safe.

 

[felinusz]

Wow, how weird. I though that DDR had diferent numbers of pins on each side of the "divider" nocket in the middle of the RAM, hence making it impossible to put in backwards... probably a fault of that motherboard that you can slot it in backwards by the sounds of it

Cool thogh - I am surprised that it still lives!

 

[jhl3]

How big was the Hammer?

 

[Tipycol]

DDR? I did this with the family comp and pc133 ram (and when the internet comp was mine ). Course, the comp wouldn't boot up. Peered around till I spotted the problem (that's what I get for rushing). Thought I broke either the ram pcb or the dimm (one of the clips was about 1/4 inch higher than it should have been ). Course it all worked fine when I put the ram back in correctly and pushed (with some force) on that clip.

Tipycol

 

[hawtrawkr]

How big was the Hammer?

lol