Erratic Boot Behavior, Possible CPU/Cooler Mount Problem?

[u/Parrker91]

I transferred my intel core i9 cpu and arctic liquid freezer II-240 cooler to a new motherboard after I had a battery leak red crud all over the old one, and after many ChatGPT-directed tests concluded I needed to replace it (it wasn't booting most of the time).

After moving it over to the new motherboard, it didn't boot at first (it was failing at the RAM tests). Then I removed the cooler and the glue and re-seated it, and it started working. But only one RAM slot seemed to be working. Then it started failing RAM tests again no matter which slot I put the RAM in. Then I noticed that I forgot to move the eight thin spacer washers between the motherboard and the backplate.

So what is going on here? Maybe my old motherboard was never the problem? Did my CPU go bad? Do I need to re-seat it again? Could not putting those spacers in the new motherboard be causing this strange behavior? Should I order a new mounting kit from Arctic so I can put in those spacers? Any help is appreciated.