Bad RAM (memtest results)

[me(who else?)]

I just ran memtest 86 and I got > 18,000 errors in my RAM...is that bad? I'm sorry, but i'm a noob to RAM problems.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

1 Error alone is already enought to make you cry out with frustation.
18'000 of them are crying out loud!! to be replaced.

 

[me(who else?)]

The RAM actually runs fine for a while, but I get a BSOD fairly frequently. I think some of the errors could be as a result of the Athlon processor I'm using...I think:dead:

 

[Steg]

Yeh, 18000 ram errors is one or two too many....

Just on a side note - i tested a machine while working for a computer repair company that showed up many thousands of ram errors - replacing the duff stuff with nice shiney new error free ram caused the machine to hang on boot up - but the duff stuff back and it ran fine....odd or what.

When running memtest my ram occasionally gives one or two errors at random places - they are different every time and on the next pass they dont show up - in a 12 pass run two errors showed up on the 3 run and that was it - odd or what?

I think you should consider replacing your ram.

Steg

 

[Rick]

Originally posted by me(who else?)
The RAM actually runs fine for a while, but I get a BSOD fairly frequently. I think some of the errors could be as a result of the Athlon processor I'm using...I think:dead:

Unfortunately, memory tests are only as reliable as the computer that runs them.

These errors DEFINITELY indicate something is wrong, but the real problem is where the errors lie.

Motherboard? CPU? Memory?

These are three things that I might be concerned about. But first thing is first... Try different memory. If you have more than one stick, please remove all but one memory module and test each one. This will help you determine if the RAM is bad or incompatible.

 

[Goalie]

You mention an AMD processor.. once upon a time, AMD with Memtest caused one of the tests in particular to throw errors for no good reason.. was even listed as a problem on memtest's site.

I think it was test 5, iirc. Not sure if the newest version still has that bug.

Also, have you tried memtest86+?

 

[me(who else?)]

I managed to fix the problem. My friend helped me, and I discovered that my processor was the culprit.

 

[osudelt69]

How did you discover that?

 

[qquizz]

If you using AMD64 you must use the newest version of memtest 3.1