Computer had random issues, turning off during load and then sometimes not starting. It finally went all the way to not starting, so forced to troubleshoot. Happily, the first thing I pulled, a RAM stick, was the issue. Apparently its the motherboard connection rather than the stick itself, which is good and bad. I don't need a new RAM stick, but now I'm down to 1 working RAM connection, so down to 8 gigs. Can't fix (at least I don't know of anyway to fix) without getting a new mobo....
The pain of switching a mobo... How much ram does your current one support per one slot? Maybe you could swap in a bigger stick as a temporary solution until the mobo eventually dies, which may actually take quite a while.
First step would be trying to blow out the connections of the ram, it's possible you've got some crud built up over the ages and it may fix quite simply by throwing some canned air at it (not literally, thanks) If you really want to cross all the possibilities of corrosion and crud remove the mobo, ground up and get a fine foam brush and some silver polish taking care not to damage the brush inside the connectors (since then you're just adding to the problem) After you've applied the cleaner wait a few hours so the cleaner can remove any oxides and then use some IPA to rinse out the connectors (lay something to absorb the liquid around the outside, preferably dry wipes but if you don't have some from the fab handy just pick a towel that isn't shedding lint. I don't recommend paper towels) give it some time to dry and then hit it with some more canned air to push any residue out to dry. If there's any remaining crud at that point odds are you're not going to be removing it without unsoldering the connection and at that point I'd say just replace the mobo XD
What Damion said - but you don't suppose you'd have a compressor around? I got a shitty 80€ compressor a while back and it has helped me cope and help fill all kinds of things from such as filling things that range from low self esteem to a tire that had a screw through it to cleaning computer with it's 7 bar steady pressure - it really makes dust and crap explode from the computer internals as well as all the other electric devices that also seem to get clogged up like guilt that builds up from visiting certain unsavory women at cheap hotels.
