Is my RAM faulty? memtest results

jhob

jhob

jhob

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A couple of days ago I started to get blue screens of death after a certain period of time at the computer, usually about 30 minutes. These would occur even if the computer was just left at the windows logon screen.

In trying to fix the problem I have updated my bios to the latest version and updated my video drivers but the problems still kept occurring.

Last night I ran memtest and it came back with the following results:

memtest.jpg


Would this indicate that one of my memory modules is faulty? Would this indicate that it is the RAM module in the third position that is at fault? While I am at work today I have left memtest running again with the 3rd and 4th position RAM modules swapped over.

The memory is 4x1GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel on an asus P5K-VM board with on-board intel G33 graphics processor.
 
Well it passed 11 times.

Strictly speaking I'd say yes there is a problem with the RAM, but 3 errors in 11+ runs is very random. I would say it points more to overheating rather than actual RAM failure.

I know it sounds stupid but try disabling Legacy USB support in the BIOS and re-run it - there is apparently a known issue with Memtest on Asus boards running with Legacy USB enabled.
 
Try retesting will the case open as above could just be overheating.

I have ran memtest on my ram a few hours ago and you know when your memory gives errors cos one of my stick made 97 errors within 30secs or so lmao. I wouldn't be worried about 3 after 11 passes :D
 
Yesterday I ran the test again with the sticks in positions 3 & 4 swapped around and it came back with this:
memtest2.jpg


After which I removed the sticks in positions 3 & 4 so I am now running with 2GB and in an evening's use I didn't get a blue screen error, the problem as it was I would have expected a number of blue screens in this time period.

Last night I ran memtest again with the 2 sticks that I think are good and got the following result:
memtest3.jpg


So far my tests are pointing to a faulty memory stick. I agree that it appears the fault is not a chronic failure but it does seem there is some sort of issue with it.

Tonight I am going to run memtest again with the pair of sticks that I suspect to be faulty. After that I will run the test again with legacy USB support disabled - I have not disabled it yet as I did not want to introduce another variable into the tests.
 
Durzel said:
I know it sounds stupid but try disabling Legacy USB support in the BIOS and re-run it - there is apparently a known issue with Memtest on Asus boards running with Legacy USB enabled.
Click to expand...


This man speaks the truth, Don't give up on your ram until you have tried this.
 
malc30 said:
This man speaks the truth, Don't give up on your ram until you have tried this.
Click to expand...

I will definitely be testing with legacy usb support disabled before reporting the ram as faulty.

Could the legacy USB support be causing the crashes then? Or is it just memtest that may be affected by it?

What exactly does legacy USB support do?
 
When I ran memtest separately with each pair of sticks they both passed. My computer now seems to be running fine again with all 4GB back in there. I guess is must have been a memory seating issue as that is the only thing that has changed.

Strange, but at least it is all working again.

Thanks everyone for your help.
 
SBD said:
Try retesting will the case open as above could just be overheating.

I have ran memtest on my ram a few hours ago and you know when your memory gives errors cos one of my stick made 97 errors within 30secs or so lmao. I wouldn't be worried about 3 after 11 passes :D
Click to expand...

Yeah if you get one that is badly going/gone you can get thousands of errors within seconds. Strictly speaking you shouldnt run a system that gets any errors at all, but there are exceptions where I've heard of certain setups reporting errors that can be ignored.
 
I'm getting the blue screens again with the 4 x 1GB sticks in, although not as frequently as before. I am now running on 3 x 1GB and it seems stable. Will run that intel test at some point to see what that turns up.

Would increasing the voltage on the RAM likely help at all?
 
If your memory is this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL

They are evidently tested at voltages between 1.8 and 2.3 depending on your config. 4 sticks will almost certainly require a higher voltage than 2, hence why they work in pairs but fail with all installed. What is your voltage currently set to?

I'd suggest going to 2.0v straight away and upto 2.1v if you're still getting BSODs.

Also, your timings really ought to be 4-4-4-12 - though again, this might only be stable in pairs - your screencap indicates that you're currently at 5-5-5-18 which should be fine but on very rare occasions, having your timings too slack can result in instabilities.
 
Old thread I know but I got the exact same problem,

I have 4x1GB of these sticks
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL

Asus P5k-VM, Latest 1001 Bios revision, All sticks test good in slot 1,

both test good in dual channel but with 4 sticks in the board I can't even get 1 pass on memtest,

I have adjusted the Voltage to 2.1v and timing's to 4-4-4-12 in the BIOS but this has made no difference,

What I have noticed is the 2 sticks furthest away from the CPU get a lot hotter then the other ones, nearly too hot to touch

Think it could be the board that's at fault or just the heat that's causing them to fail in tests up??

In the O/s the system seems stable just testing the ram as its newly installed, the ram is fine as it passes individually
 
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