Bad RAM?

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J

johnstrohecker

I have a desktop system that I built myself a few years ago. Ran a
little loud, but it was fast and stable until a week ago.

In the middle of doing something the box shut down on me with no
warning. When I turned it back on it failed to boot, so since it was
primarily my hobby box and I don't keep any useful data on it I decided
to reload the OS. It was previously running Ubuntu Linux, but I
decided to put Windows XP back on it and use it as a gaming machine
this time around.

Now, for the life of me, I can't get an OS on the system. Here are the
symptoms, and what I think this means:

When I turn the system on I am able to boot from the CD and launch the
XP installation program. This tells me that my CD is working fine.
Also confirms that my video card seems to be fine (BIOS splash screen,
etc).

I am able to agree to the EULA and repartition my harddrive, so
presumably my HDD is functioning properly as well or the partitioning
would fail.

When the installer begins to copy system files the installation fails.
Every time. The exact location varies, but the error I get is a BSOD
with the essential information being: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
followed by what I assume is a hexadecimal memory address and the name
of the file that failed to copy successfully.

A bit of googling shows that this error seems to be related to bad RAM
either in the video card (which I think I have ruled out) or in system
RAM. I have swapped my two RAM sticks as well as tried each of them
individually and get the same error, with the only variation being what
exact file fails to copy properly.

I don't think I can swallow my pride and pay someone else to look at
this, and I don't want to drop money on components that won't help.

My thought at this point is that I may just have to replace all of my
system RAM, but how could both sticks go bad simultaneously?

I appreciate any input, especially from folks who may have experienced
this before.

Thanks -- John
 
Good plan. Ran Memtest86+ twice, once for each of my RAM sticks. Both
runs failed. In both cases the program reported no errors, and was
working through its second or third iteration, but had an unexpected
interuption and froze. When it froze, the program kicked out a bunch of
stuff (stacks) that I don't understand, but looked like memory
addresses (hex numbers grouped in two columns of eight digits). I will
be doing some googling tonight to see if I can make sense of it. I am a
little worried that maybe its not my memory now since both chips had
virtually identical issues....please don't let this be a motherboard
issue....

Any thoughts?

John
 
Since memtest86 failed using either stick and the way it failed then it may
not be a memory issue.
Have you tried running the test with both sticks inserted?

JS
 
Good plan. Ran Memtest86+ twice, once for each of my RAM sticks. Both
runs failed. In both cases the program reported no errors, and was
working through its second or third iteration, but had an unexpected
interuption and froze. When it froze, the program kicked out a bunch of
stuff (stacks) that I don't understand, but looked like memory
addresses (hex numbers grouped in two columns of eight digits). I will
be doing some googling tonight to see if I can make sense of it. I am a
little worried that maybe its not my memory now since both chips had
virtually identical issues....please don't let this be a motherboard
issue....

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Maybe Overheating processor. If it's ram, memtest usually hits it
early. If it hits after a few passes, it's usually a heat realted
issue.

The stacks of digits are what memtest wrote, and what it got back. It
reports when they don't match.
 
Maybe Overheating processor. If it's ram, memtest usually hits it
early. If it hits after a few passes, it's usually a heat realted
issue.

The stacks of digits are what memtest wrote, and what it got back. It
reports when they don't match.
Click to expand...

How about another memtest mystery:

The board had 2x1gb. Flaky behavior, I decided to run memtest. Yup,
one *reproduceable* error.

Since I didn't know which chip it was griping about I removed one and
ran it. No errors. Just to be sure before I threw the bad chip I
tried it--oops, no errors!

What's bad??
 
Mismatched sticks (not the same brand and or specifications). Also check
motherboard as some boards require specific location for second stick if you
have four memory slots.

JS
 
Good plan. Ran Memtest86+ twice, once for each of my RAM sticks. Both
runs failed. In both cases the program reported no errors, and was
working through its second or third iteration, but had an unexpected
interuption and froze. When it froze, the program kicked out a bunch of
stuff (stacks) that I don't understand, but looked like memory
addresses (hex numbers grouped in two columns of eight digits).
Click to expand...

When a RAM tester shows no errors in the RAM, but locks up, resets or
"goes funny", it's often a sign that some other hardware is at fault.

Spontaneous resets are more likely to be power related, i.e.
- mains power from utility (e.g. spikes, sags, surges)
- house wiring to the power socket
- mains plugs, cables and switches
- PC's PSU (a hi-failure rate item)
- PSU power leads to motherboard, i.e. disconnected leads
- motherboard power management circuitry
- motherboard capacitors (quite common)

On bad capacitors, see:

http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm

Lock-ups are more likely to be overheating or generally defective
hardware. The processor's only one component that can overheat;
others include fast graphics cards, hard drives (less likely while
running a RAM tester), PSU and motherboard.

Any sort of overclocking, including speeding up settings detail for
the display card, can do this too.

While the system is unstable, it's a good idea to keep the hard drive
disconnected to protect the contents!


------------ ----- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
Drugs are usually safe. Inject? (Y/n)
 
Loren said:
How about another memtest mystery:

The board had 2x1gb. Flaky behavior, I decided to run memtest. Yup,
one *reproduceable* error.

Since I didn't know which chip it was griping about I removed one and
ran it. No errors. Just to be sure before I threw the bad chip I
tried it--oops, no errors!

What's bad??
Click to expand...

Possible bad ram socket. (See any lint/ dust/corrosion)?
It could also be the processor again.
Also possible bad motherboard.

As JS mentioned. Possiblity of mismatched sticks.

There's only so many possibilities.
 
Mismatched sticks (not the same brand and or specifications). Also check
motherboard as some boards require specific location for second stick if you
have four memory slots.
Click to expand...

The error when both sticks are mounted is consistent. It reports
exactly one error while performing it's suite of tests and it's the
same one every time.

How can a mismatch cause behavior like that??
 
Possible bad ram socket. (See any lint/ dust/corrosion)?
It could also be the processor again.
Also possible bad motherboard.

As JS mentioned. Possiblity of mismatched sticks.

There's only so many possibilities.
Click to expand...

But with most of these causes the error should be random, not
reproduceable.
 
Memory timing specifications or speed ratings not the same. PC may not
adjust for the slower ram and try to access at the speed of the fastest ram,
thus the slower ram can cause errors.

JS
 
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