I got a really weird problem.
Two years ago bought a set of 4x DDR4 3200 16gb each, single sided and placed them in a ryzen 5600 desktop computer, which i almost never turned it off. It worked without issue.
This weekend I wanted to dust off the PC, so I took all the components out, replaced the thermal paste and so on.
Turned on the PC again, worked apparently without issues until after a while Linux was pissed about going out of memory. Out of memory? With 64gb of RAM? I checked with dmidecode -t memory and I saw that a channel was reporting completely empty.
Shut down the PC, reinserted the second channel, rebooted, saw 64gb. One hour later, kernel panic. Rebooted in memtest86+, error in memory. What? Removed one module, error. Removed two modules, no error. Switched the modules, no error. What??
Placed the two modules that are passing the test in another computer, error. Put back in the original computer, pass test. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Now I downclocked from 3200 to 2400 and everything seems working fine.
What could be? Have I been cursed?
After a few reinsertions do the slots degrade to a point that can’t sustain 3200 anymore?
RAM is easily damaged by static discharge. Were you wearing a ground strap and took care not to let the memory module touch any ungrounded surfaces while you were handling it?
Static damage can often appear as marginal or intermittent failures, probably more often than complete failure.
No I manhandled them and put them on a random shelf, I was under the impression modern electronics are designed to withstand that light abuse, saw a electroboom video where he tries and fails to fry RAM with electrostatic discharge
Newer components are if anything more vulnerable to ESD because they have more delicate construction.