BSOD, Caused by?

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 11:58

I'm not 100% sure what cause's a BSOD.

Recently i've formated my HD and re-installed windows because I was getting quite a lot of BSOD. After the re-installation i'm still getting them :rolleyes:

I havn't changed any BIOS options, hardware options, and havn't done any tweaks /overclocks for about 6 months. So i'm guessing it's faulty hardware?

I thought RAM was the cause of a BSOD, but thought i'd check here before I try and send them back.

The blue screens usually pop up when the memory is being used, e.g. when playing a game, or doing a virus scan of the whole system... things that use quite a bit of memory.

Thanks guys.

Rab · 24 Sep 2006 at 12:36

d/l memtest, it will tell u if u have faulty ram. run only test 5, c if it pass's say 10 times, if cant ram faulty.
if pass's those test let it run full test for 4hrs +. this will let u know if ram faulty.

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 15:18

Ok, i downloaded memtest and ran it.

I don't know if these results are good or bad, so... here they are.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8934/2409061308ix5.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9234/2409061307po7.jpg

I don't know if all RAM has errors, evan the good working RAM? Just not as many errors. I don't know :rolleyes:

Can anyone tell me if this RAM is faulty in any way?

...It used to work fine, untill 2 days ago. Now I keep getting BSOD.

Bah, nothing ever goes right for me

Rab · 24 Sep 2006 at 15:55

u pics wont show up for me, wierd, but if u getting a few errors, would say ram faulty, did u run test on each stick, also try diff ram slots, u never know. g/l

Pulseammo · 24 Sep 2006 at 16:06

NachT said:
Ok, i downloaded memtest and ran it.

I don't know if these results are good or bad, so... here they are.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8934/2409061308ix5.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9234/2409061307po7.jpg

I don't know if all RAM has errors, evan the good working RAM? Just not as many errors. I don't know

Can anyone tell me if this RAM is faulty in any way?

...It used to work fine, untill 2 days ago. Now I keep getting BSOD.

Bah, nothing ever goes right for me

Yep, your errors are in the thousands, something is certainly not right there. Is your ram running at the correct timings etc? If you have two sticks try just running with one stick to see if your problems stop. But that is a hell of a lot of errors you are getting there on memtest. AFAIK my ram doesn't cause a signle error any time I've run memtest. Is the ram new or still in warrenty?

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 16:11

Thanks Rab mate,

I've only ran the test with all my RAM cliped in, i'll try the test using one stick at a time

Test 5, Block Moves, 64 Moves.

11 Tests done - 20480 Errors

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5254/11ve7.jpg

I take it thats bad, as you said if I get "some" errors :rolleyes:

I'll try one stick at a time now, see how it goes.

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 16:14

Pulseammo said:
Yep, your errors are in the thousands, something is certainly not right there. Is your ram running at the correct timings etc? If you have two sticks try just running with one stick to see if your problems stop. But that is a hell of a lot of errors you are getting there on memtest. AFAIK my ram doesn't cause a signle error any time I've run memtest. Is the ram new or still in warrenty?

The RAM is basically brand new, baught it along with every thing els when I built this system, about 6 months ago.

Every thing is at defualt, timings, Volts etc. The only thing i've changed is the clock speed, from DDR 200 to 400. And I changed that months ago :rolleyes:

Rab · 24 Sep 2006 at 16:15

that amount of errors looks bad, one more thing forgot 2 say, u testing the ram with everything @ stock speeds, forgot 2 mention that

if u r & thats the errors, maybe time 2 rma or replace, but as says try diff slots ect, rule out all probs before even thinking of replacing, g/l

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 19:21

.... Hours later.

I've found the stick that is broken, the other sticks are 100% ok

God knows how one stick suddenly had about 50 billion errors on it?

I know this is probably a stupid question to ask, but how did I manage to break it? or was it just a freak thing that could have happend to anyone?

Any way, thanks to that broken stick of RAM. I thought the BSOD that I was getting were cause by somthing I must have done on windows. So I formated my HD because of it, have to re-configure my windows again, install all my app's, re-do all my tweaks, and give the microsoft custome care line a ring because my windows key has "Reached the amount of times it can be used"

*sigh* :rolleyes:

Tom|Nbk · 24 Sep 2006 at 20:23

NachT said:
.... Hours later.

I've found the stick that is broken, the other sticks are 100% ok

God knows how one stick suddenly had about 50 billion errors on it?

I know this is probably a stupid question to ask, but how did I manage to break it? or was it just a freak thing that could have happend to anyone?

Any way, thanks to that broken stick of RAM. I thought the BSOD that I was getting were cause by somthing I must have done on windows. So I formated my HD because of it, have to re-configure my windows again, install all my app's, re-do all my tweaks, and give the microsoft custome care line a ring because my windows key has "Reached the amount of times it can be used"

*sigh*

computers who'd have um'

Pulseammo · 24 Sep 2006 at 20:36

NachT said:
The RAM is basically brand new, baught it along with every thing els when I built this system, about 6 months ago.

Every thing is at defualt, timings, Volts etc. The only thing i've changed is the clock speed, from DDR 200 to 400. And I changed that months ago

Depending on the make it should have a warrenty provided you have invoices etc. If its geil ram I think they do lifetime.

Also, I'm confused, are you saying you bought DDR200 ram but were running at DDR400 speeds? If so that could be the cause for the damage.

fobose · 24 Sep 2006 at 20:37

I thought the slowest DDR was 266mhz? (PC2100)

NachT · 24 Sep 2006 at 20:55

Sorry about the DDR confusion I caused.

I ment it was running at 166Mhz and I uped it to 200Mhz

fobose · 24 Sep 2006 at 21:08

What is the speed of it meant to be? PC3200 (400mhz) ?

Pulseammo · 24 Sep 2006 at 22:59

If it is 166mhz default then thats DDR333.

NachT · 25 Sep 2006 at 07:47

The RAM I have is,

Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR PC4000 Ballistix Dual Channel Kit

I got told it was ok to run it at 200Mhz, thats right yeah? :confused:

Pulseammo · 25 Sep 2006 at 11:06

Thats correct. Its past DDR400 RAM, infact if you are running that at DDR400 you are running it below its certified speed (ie you are running it at PC3200). However, I've read MANY threads on the memory forum of ballistix failing, dunno why, they just fail. Do a search on the memory forum and see what the other users have done in your case, I think quite a few did an RMA with crucial who sent them new sticks (not 100% sure though, you'll have to find some threads).

NachT · 25 Sep 2006 at 16:08

Thanks for all your help mates

I'm so glad this forum is here, it's has by far the most helpful / kind people