Q: Hi! My computer was crashing and then poof, it doesn't go through the POST. Physically checked my memory and 4 of the gold pins have blackish stuff on them and 2 are nw missing. I am guessing they are in the Dimm slot 0 still. With the memory out, my computer will give 1 long beep, so I am guessing my motherboard might be ok. The DIMM slot 0 does have some signs of a spark mark or something on it. I am a waitress and don't have much $. I was hoping to replace my power supply and the memory Kingston will replace. A friend checked my video card and it is fine. Should I take the chance and do the above?

A: When something shorts out, it is hard to say what happens to all the different components. If there was enough of an electrical short to leave marks on the memory, chances are 50/50 that the motherboard or CPU is also toasted. For some insight into fatal computer toastings, see PCSTATS article on the Most Common Ways to Kill a PC.

Power supplies are pretty robust, so if you believe the one you are currently using is what caused the problems, replacing it with a working unit may solve things. It may not if other parts of the computer were toasted, but unfortunately there is no way to tell without testing.... so, I'd suggest testing your PC with your friends PSU before buying a new one. If it works, great, then you know what to get. If it doesn't work, then more than just the memory was damaged and you might need to replace quite a lot.

Be careful though, if you try your potentially fried bits of computer in your friends PC, something could damage that persons computer.

Agree or Disagree? Feel free to share your ideas on how to safely check toasted PC hardware in the PCSTATS Forums.