Help with BSOD's, probably due to RAM..

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 16:19

Hi all. Been getting BSOD's since I got my PC last March, and having run MEMTEST86, it finds errors on test n#5. And having googled my mobo it seems that there are often issues with it and 1600mhz RAM. The BSODs have the stop code of "0x000000BE", which I've been told is to do with RAM. I've updated ATi drivers etc and other things.

So three questions:
1. How can I be sure that it's the RAM and not something else?
2. And if it is the RAM, what is the best (cheap) RAM to replace it? Was thinking of this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC
3. If I got some RAM from here, try it and find that it still crashes, can I return it easily?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 17:17

bump. Anyone got any ideas on how to narrow it down?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 17:40

I just googled it (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ms...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) and it seems to be a fairly common issue. Nowt is overclocked.

is the CPU ID thing
Turns out my RAM is ADATA but w/ corsair heatsinks, but I guess that I can still RMA that?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:37

As I said, it has Corsair heatsinks on ADATA RAM (don't ask...). I got it from a company which allows you to spec your own PC, and it turned out to be cheaper and easier than building one of the same spec, so I went down that route. The website seems reputable and a friend got his PC from there, and hasn't had any issues.

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:52

It is based in the UK, in Newcastle I believe.
I can't find much info on the site about returning single parts but have emailed support with the following:
"Hello.
I bought a PC from you last year in March and have frequent issues with it, such as BSODs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bsod) and other crashes. I believe that faulty RAM is causing the problem and would like to RMA the RAM or get it replaced. The PC should still be under warranty although it is hard to tell from your website what is covered and for how long. I have tried the usual graphics card drivers and other updates but to no avail. More info can be provided if need about the issues / component of the PC. I can attach a pic demonstrating the faulty RAM (tested using MEMTest86, a well know bootable utility that is very thorough http://memtest.org/).

Thanks for any replies."

Looks okay?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 19:53

What is the normal thing to do when RMA'ing? Do I take the RAM out and send it to them or do they just send me the new RAM?

Sorry I've never done it before :rolleyes:

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 20:00

Well the PC was pre-built, so I guess I just find an appropriate box , put the RAM in and send it off to the appropriate address? And what would generally constitute faulty? Failing on MEMTest, or failing to POST?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 20:23

Well as they were decently priced, unlike some (cough cough Alienware), I guess that most of their customers are fairly savvy. I sent and email (show above) to support@`companyname.com so I guess that's the best place. Is it worth getting the £36 RAM, listed above, to test if it is that? That way when I do send of my RAM I could still use my PC, although I do have others, and I can narrow the problem down to other things

One other thing. I tested my PC w/ OCCT and it came back with an error on one of the cores. Could this be caused by the RAM or is it the CPU? And could a fault w/ the CPU cause memtest to come back with errors?

EDIT: Just received a RMA form

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 20:43

I knew that it was ADATA, just I put corsair heatsinks on as I had some lying around :cool:

. CPU has always been stock so I guess nothing wrong with it. I have a 5770, and how can I ensure that that isn't causing more problems? It might be as the majority of the BSODs say that they have atikmpag.sys listed as going wrong. The drivers are the 10.12s so I hope that they are okay.

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:08

I have gotten IRQ NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL, but it's mostly things to do with pagefile or similar, something like that. Do you think that it's worth asking for 1333mhz RAM as 1600mhz isn't supposed to be great with my mobo? Using a program like whocrashed? it says that ntslkrnl.dll has caused it, i.e a random windows .dll. I haven't had any artifacts so I doubt that the graphics card has got anything wrong with it.

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:43

Yeah that was the pagefile thingy. I have 1600mhz RAM, is it worth trying it at 1333mhz, or is the error not curable by doing that?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:10

Ah k
So it's best to just follow through with the RMA process rather than try and fix it as the errors still exist? I think that I have to send off the whole PC but still in the process of finding out more info. I got a pretty quick reply from the company so they seems okay. Can you suggest any other tests to find more errors, or is memtest pretty final?

Srgt Maurice · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:28

Sorry to be pis*y, BUT THEY ARE NOT CORSAIR RAM STICKS!!!

But anyway, I'm gonna RMA the RAM soon, probably next weekend as long as I'm not busy. Thanks for all the help and I'll give you/ the forums an update on happenings (hopefully good ones, not dodgy tradesmen).
So yeah, thanks for all the help and advice