So my parents treated themselves this Christmas and bought themselves a new computer. Its nice too: Windows Vista, 4 gigs RAM, 500GB hard disk, dual core processor, 19 inch LCD montior, and a 3-in-1 printer scanner copier.

Well, the fate of the old computer is that it was passed to me since I blew my last hunk a junk up (long story, but no big deal). I have kept this computer running myself for 5 years, changing out lots of hardware etc to keep it running as smooth as possible.

I have had it a week, and finally got the necessary extras yesterday to set up a wireless network in my home so I could have internet too (parents didn't want wires everywhere).

And wouldn't you figure, I go to turn it on today (been working absolutely fine until now) and there is a loud pop and now my hard disk isn't working at all. It can't find anything to boot off of.

I ain't opened it yet to see whats going on, but I'm pretty positive my hard drive just fried

I have the worst luck with computers!

This is why I switched to Mac! It's not bad luck its bad product, Mac is quality Expensive yes but definatly worth it in the long run.

Found the problem lol! Its not my hard disk at all, even though its not sounding too healthy at the moment.

One of my RAM sticks went bad, so the computer was crashing when it tried to use that particular stick. It finally gave me the blue xp "memory failure" screen. I dont know why it was making a popping sound, but it has been replaced (with a cut in RAM ) but all is good now.

Your computer made a POPPING noise? Geez!

yeah ive heard that before, its normally the psu though.
better look at better parts next time

Well, more of a loud click really iBOCK lol. There are several possibilities for the location of the sound now that I figured out what was causing the crashes. When a crash would happen, the power would cut of and the computer would reboot (which was why I wasnt seeing the "memory failure scree). So the pop or click could have been the power cutting off or any number of things really. LOL, but its all good now!

so, the computer will be fine?

probally depend on if the other ram is the same as the dead ram.
if it is id be on the look out for more failures

sounds like one is fine while the other exploded

still, if its the same brand, bought at the same time, definate possibility...

though shouldnt it have been covered by that limited lifetime warrenty??

My computer now, 5 years old and passed along to me when my parents bought a new one was the one with the problem. Its working fine now that I replaced the RAM.

well alls well that ends well as they say.
so whats it running at spec wise?

Your lucky ram is cheap these days (4gb kingston ram kit, < AUD$100).

That snap crackle pop sound you heard was probably lil chips on it exploding.. might wana clean inside of your computer out, dont want little bits of metal lying around on your motherboard...

You might be able to removed the bad (black and toasty?) ram stick if its got 2, and it should be fine.

My mom has the same curse, only with plants. I hope you learn how to fix it. Midas's Curse is quite aggravating.