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| Thread ID: 41446 | 2004-01-11 09:39:00 | Possible RAM stick failure | craig_b (2740) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 206792 | 2004-01-11 09:39:00 | I have been having some very wierd errors on my system, like the pc resetting at strange times during games, and at times when just web browsing, and every time the error is different - It has manifested itself as three different symptoms: - A blue screen of hardware error - says the pc has been halted to prevent damage - A spontaneous system reset - A standard "were sorry but this application has died" error, that successfully returns to windows. Also, when booting to xp, the boot process fails at different times, and gets stuck in a reset -> boot -> reset.... loop The only time I ever have a successful boot is after the system has been off all night. I am running windows xp pro SP1, 512MB ram, 80Gb of free disk space across three drives, most of that on the windows disk, and 128Mb graphics card. I have tried: new drivers for all devices, removing my new tv tuner, and other hardware, one device at a time, until all I had left was my graphics card, one hdd, and a single 256Mb stick of ram - apart from the hdd and gfx card, all the original components that I have had since I bought the pc 2 years ago. The errors were still happening. I also have a knoppix cd which failed to boot. Then I took out the original 256Mb ram, and replaced that with my 2 upgrades of 128Mb. As far as I can tell, the system is now working again, but rather slowly, as I only have half the ram. Is there any reliable way I can test this stick of ram to see if it is still good? I am a bit wary of replacing it in my system until I am sure that it is OK, and I don't have access to another PC. Cheers, Craig. |
craig_b (2740) | ||
| 206793 | 2004-01-11 09:45:00 | Problem could also be heat related??? What temperature is your CPU running at? | JohnD (509) | ||
| 206794 | 2004-01-11 09:57:00 | Temps are: Room: 25 deg C Case: 28 deg C CPU: 38 deg C PSU: 32 deg C the differences between room temp and case, case and cpu, and case and psu haven't changed in more than 6 months. |
craig_b (2740) | ||
| 206795 | 2004-01-11 10:08:00 | >Is there any reliable way I can test this stick of ram to see if it is still good? Try out Memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/) - it has been recommended on PF1 quite a few times now for testing out dodgy RAM sticks. |
Jen C (20) | ||
| 206796 | 2004-01-12 04:45:00 | I'd suspect the memory. ;-) If it fails with that stick in, and not with it out ... One thing you could try is slowing down the memory bus a bit. A lot of memory is "only just" fast enough. :D If it "sometimes" isn't, you get problems. The Linux people have said for a long time that it's best to run memory at the next lower speed than that it was sold at. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 206797 | 2004-01-12 10:19:00 | I agree 100% Jen_C. My computer had two 512 Meg sticks in it and worked for some time. Suddenly for no apparent reason the computer started rebooting at odd times. I suspected a memory stick and ran memtest on one stick at a time. First stick fine. Second stick broken. Replaced under warranty. More advice.... Leave Memtest running overnight. |
Elephant (599) | ||
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