RAM failure?

[Avan]

My main computer from time to time will simply stop functioning; no mouse or even keyboard signals get through, nothing changes on the screen, and whatever sound that was playing simply cycles through a segment less than a tenth of a second long. It's not caused by any software, I've already confirmed this - it IS a hardware problem.

Does this sound like a RAM failure? From what I read online, it is likely a RAM failure.

[McMajik]

Does your PC have two or more sticks of RAM (most today do)? If so, the simple(ish) way to test it would be to remove the sticks one at a time and see if the problem persists - it's not likely that all the RAM sticks are failing in the same way

[Weisseman]

HD, CPU or RAM can cause this issue in my experience. Do what McMajik suggests with the RAM. As for the others. You'll just have to test them as an when. CPU would be the worst case out of those 3 though.

[Foxpup]

It could be memory failure (and I'd suggest running MEMTEST86+), but note that the video card's onboard RAM can fail in exactly the same way, with the same results, and has the super-fun bonus feature of not being detectable by a normal memory test.

It could also be CPU failure caused by overheating. If your computer crashes again almost immediately after rebooting, or cannot be rebooted at all for several minutes, this is almost certainly the cause.

[Avan]

It's not cpu overheating; the cpu only ever reaches (at most) 45 degrees Celcius.
I suppose I'll have to check the video card... in my experience, video card ram caused different symptoms, but then again, that may just have been because it was a different type of failure or in a different locations

[489109]

Perhaps the Ram failed by falling off the cliffside when he didn't see the Ewe turn?

[Avan]

I got some new ram, it works perfectly now!