I encountered a serious problem while working on my aunt's old HP
Pavilion 6645c with a Phoenix motherboard. Here are the specs: Celeron
566, 64MB SDRAM, 15GB UDMA HD.

After reformatting and reinstalling Win98SE, I decided to try adding a
random 64MB stick of ram that I had laying around and that's where my
problems started. The PC booted up normally but didn't recognize the
ram. I shutdown and removed the stick of ram, and when I rebooted, I
was greeted by a serious of beep codes.

I got the 1-3-3-1, which I've learned means: "28 Autosize DRAM" on a
Phoenix motherboard.

I haven't been able to get the computer to boot since, and everytime I
get the same beep code. Here is what I've tried:

1.Booting with no RAM.
2.Booting with all devices and cards removed (onboard sound/video card excluded).
3.Booting with good stick of RAM in slot 1 and 2.
4.Removing motherboard battery (overnight).
5.Attempting to reset CMOS by switching jumper settings from 1-2 to
2-3 and all other possible combinations, following online guidelines.

None of the above has worked. Is my motherboard shot? Is there
ANYTHING else I can try to do in this situation?

Try booting with one stick of RAM.

http://computing.net/cgi-bin/AT-search.cgi?mode=concept&search=28+Autosize+DRAM&forum=Windows9x&sp=sp&x=8&y=6

I have tried that already. What I meant to say in #3 was that I've
tried the one stick in both slots. If the RAM was the problem,
shouldn't it boot w/o error beeps if I take all of the RAM out?

It won't boot at all with no RAM,I don't think you'd get any beeps
with a fried motherboard,you could take the RAM into a shop and have
it tested,the beep code tells you basically what your problem
is(RAM).The people at the link I posted know a lot more about it than
I do,you could post there for free,if you've followed all the steps on
that thread already a computer shop can run a test on the RAM for
you,it wouldn't cost much to have it replaced,neither would a new
motherboard.

Hey there,

Testing the RAM is a good idea. However, I wonder why I get the same
error beep with or without RAM installed. Shouldn't I get a different
beep with no RAM in the computer?

I don't think I was clear: When it was working, it had a working 64MB
stick of RAM. Then I added ANOTHER 64MB stick, which didn't work. When
I tried booting with the original and previously working 64MB stick, I
still got the 1-3-3-1 beep code.

Could installing a bad stick of RAM corrupt the good stick?

My guess is bad RAM=no RAM as far as the computer is concerned,the
only way you'll find out for sure if it's been corrupted is to test it
or replace it with a known good stick,it won't cost anything to have
the store test it. Good luck.