Hi everyone, I know that this is strictly speaking in the wrong section of the board but figured it will get more views in here than in the hardware section...

Today my ati catalyst software told me there was an update for my card (hd5450 512mb pcie ddr3 dvi/hdmi) from version 12.8 (I think) to 13.xx, which I downloaded.

On running the update, the screen flickered as one might expect, then it bsod'd and rebooted, I was unable to read the blue screen error because it disappeared within like half a second.

My bios then said that the detected memory amount was now 2816mb, and not the 3072 it is meant to be, 256mb less.

After that I decided not to bother retrying the card update and thought nothing of it, but upon looking in computer properties it now said memory installed was 3gb but only 2.75gb usable, it never said that before.

I rebooted, went into bios, checked settings and reloaded the default ones just to be sure, it then detected 3072mb ram, perfect I thought, then it crashed as soon as i confirmed the newly detected memory amount and rebooted itself, it then showed 2816 detected again, then when I confirmed that amount, crashed and wouldn't go into windows, came up with some kind of system recovery option which I tried, hung itself there so I turned it off.

Then upon reboot I tried load windows normally, instant reboot, an infinite loop every time I selected load normally or whatever the option was called.

I then opened up the case and made sure everything was ok in there, which it was, nothing loose or anything, then on reboot none of my USB ports were working so no Kb or mouse.

Then I remembered I had one of those ps/2 to USB adapters so plugged my keyboard into the ps/2 port and adapter and although i now had a working kb, i still had the same problem, so I decided that if it had been shouting about memory before I'd try something, I removed the 2 512mb chips the pc originally came with, booted and started perfectly first time, all my USB ports work again and everything is perfect.

Could a gfx update cause a ram chip to die, or is this just a coincidence, coz it seems pretty darn strange that I only got these problems directly after the bsod that that failed update caused, plus although its usable, I can feel the difference between 2 and 3gb of ram, it's noticeably slower now.

You probably got some water in the fuel tank.

Boot into safe mode, remove gfx drivers and start again dan, but install the older gfx drivers.

My crystal ball is broken, so you're going to have to tell me your system specs, there may be many things wrong, and probably the graphics driver update had nothing to do with it.

Few things you could do:
1. Open up the case, check in what condition the capacitors on the motherboard are.
2. Run Memtest, boot it from CD or USB.
3. If you manage to get to windows, run HDTune, or you can check if your motherboard manufactor has special utility which you can boot from usb of CD.

About RAM, you can try with only memory stick.

Quote from danthebangerboy :

Could a gfx update cause a ram chip to die

No, just bad luck and timing. The RAM chips were propably already on their way out. If you want to make sure they are the ones faulty rather than a component on your motherboard, plug the suspected bad sticks back in and run Memtest86+.

Oops, my specs are, hp dc5100 sff PC, pentium 4 2.8 ghz, 3gb ram, 2x 1024 sticks and 2x 512 sticks, ati hd5450 512mb card, LG DVD RW drive, 500gb hdd, windows 7 32 bit.

I'll try the above suggestions when I get home, thanks, and although it probably is unrelated, it's the fact that the 'detecting system' part of the gfx card update that caused the bsod, and the subsequent memory error on reboot that made me think it.

Thanks again guys

Previous handling of the RAM boards without earthing protection may have damaged the transistors within the chips, causing them to fail whilst the computer was in use - which most likely would show up on booting or restarting of the computer.

My best guess is that its nothing to do with the graphics drivers, the failure was just waiting for a reboot.

If you are not familiar with ESD handling procedures, here's a cheating way of doing it without forking out for a wrist strap.

When working on computer components keep your feet still and one hand touching bare metal in the case. Leave the power cord connected but switched off at the wall. Don't wear woolen clothes or run your hands through your hair, if ever you grow your mullet out into a heavy metal hairdo, tie it back before starting work on the computer.

Remember that we humans feel amps not volts, but computer components feel both. Whilst most components these days are littered with capacitors to absorb ESD discharges there is only so much capacity they have before the excess runs through the circuits and causes strain on components that simply aren't designed to handle the voltages we create. A human being in clothes can easily generate tens of thousands of volts, and your components are designed to withstand 5 of these volts.

Esd, lol