M515DA laptop locking during/after boot

[hornetster]

Happy New Year!!

Have recently been given an M515DA to 'look at' for a friend.

Apparently it WAS running fine, but the person was buying a new PC, so ran recovery to install fresh OS and since then, it 'often' locks up when booting (circle stops spinning - nothing happening), but if it does boot ok, can then randomly lock, as well.

Have:

• Updated BIOS, and reset to defaults several times. Strangely, after resetting to defaults, the 1st time Windows seems to boot more reliably, but on reboot, locks up again.
• Installed drivers/apps from Asus site
• Updated all according to Windows 11 update.
• Run full memory test (7 passes). Reseated RAM.
• Checked the SSD using Windows
• Have attempted to boot off a Ventoy USB with several ISOs, that works fine on any other Laptop/PC I have tried, and it ALSO mostly locks before arriving at a working OS.
• Disconnected battery - reseated connections.

Any thoughts?
Thanks, John.

 

[Firewatcher]

I would be inclined to suspect the RAM - if two sticks, try taking one at a time out and see how it performs. I have done memory checks on RAM but have found they may pass on a check, but are actually faulty.

 

[hornetster]

I would be inclined to suspect the RAM - if two sticks, try taking one at a time out and see how it performs. I have done memory checks on RAM but have found they may pass on a check, but are actually faulty.

Yeah, have thought that myself, but unfortunately it is only 1 stick. Can't really afford to purchase a new stick, and find out that's NOT the error...

 

[Firewatcher]

Looking at the Specs for that range, 4GB is soldered to the board, so the stick you have reseated must be additional. If that is the case you should be able to remove it and still boot. - worth a try.

 

[hornetster]

Looking at the Specs for that range, 4GB is soldered to the board, so the stick you have reseated must be additional. If that is the case you should be able to remove it and still boot. - worth a try.

Thanks for the tip!!
Checked it out, and there was actually 8GB onboard, so removed/tested/cleaned/reinstalled the additional 8gb...
Seemed a lot better, ran for quite a while, but eventually locked up again. Removed, and doing a "long-term" test now, with just the onboard mem. 8gb will do the user...!
Wierd thing was that on boot, the computer never picked up the extra 8gb, but checking in windows, always shows it?
And did try the memtest software again, which still didn't pick up any errors - always thought that software was fairly reliable....?
Thanks a heap!

 

[Firewatcher]

There is no substitute for going back to basics when it comes to fault finding. Removal of any possible suspect components is definitely the surest way. The symptoms you describe are typical of a RAM fault and it is a fairly easy thing to eliminate where you have removeable sticks. Windows diagnostic testing will pick up obvious faults, but will not detect more subtle problems.