I have seen memory registers ON a chip fail. (A "spot" on the silicon an stop working.) It is hard to address this without knowing your experience level.

What yo need to look at is what is inside the memory chip slot. Somewhere in there will be a "key". That key, or notch, or whatever you would call it, is in different places for the different RAM speeds. You have SDRAM (Synchronous dynamic random access memory) and then DDR SDRAM (Double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory). The key in the slot will be in a different place. I have replaced at least 4 motherboards for people who tried to shove their new RAM into a slot that was not meant for it and they cracked the memory slot.

Now, Zero is correct in saying that there is no such thing as XP RAM. The RAM is determined by the motherboard. Crucial, Kingston... all the people who make RAM, they have no way to know or no concern with what OS is going to be on a computer. It's all about the form factor.

There is also speed at which the RAM is accessed. All of that is set up by the motherboard. If the motherboard will only support a CPU of a certain form factor (the pin configurations are different - the slot has to match the CPU) then the front side bus of that CPU sets the speed of the RAM. You can FIT faster RAM into a slot if the form factor is correct, but it will perform down to the speed of the slowest chip.

The best path for this is to shut your computer down, take the door off, read the markings on the chip and match it up. You may have to pull it out to see it. In fact I am sure you will have to.

But to answer your initial question, yes, I have seen RAM go bad from power dips or surges.