Bad Memory Strip

[Caldrifter]

Hello,

Recently I have discovered through a Tech Help call that I possibly have a bad memory strip. The tech person suggested that I download Memtest-86 and test each strip individually. I have done so, but the results are a bunch of numbers that are confusing to me and, as such, I cannot decipher whether the strip is good or bad. Can anyone give me a hint as to what I should be looking for with the Memtest results. I would greatly appreciate it.

Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Delux
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Socket AM2
Memory: 4 - Corsair XMS2 2-Gb DDR2 SDRam 800 (PC26400)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 750Gb Sata
Graphics Card: PNY GeForce 8800GTS 640Mb 320-Bit GDDR3 PCIex16
Power Supply: Antec True Power Trio 650-Watt

Robert

[bobbyraw]

How did the tech person determine that your mem slot is bad, what lead you to beleive the slot is bad, what's happeinging to the pc, give are you seeing less mem that what is supposed to be in the system. tell us whats going on

[Caldrifter]

How did the tech person determine that your mem slot is bad, what lead you to beleive the slot is bad, what's happeinging to the pc, give are you seeing less mem that what is supposed to be in the system. tell us whats going on

Hello bobbyraw,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, I should have posted more information than I did. To go back some and give you a picture as to what happened, about a week ago while I was flight simming, my computer froze. After a series of restarts, Windows XP kept on acting worse and worse until finally I was getting the blue screen of death with the message that Windows was shutting down my computer to prevent further damage. Then it got to the point where Windows wouldn't boot at all because a Windows file (the name of which I cannot recall now) was missing. So, I decided that it was time to do Windows reinstall from my CD.

This is when I discovered the problem. The reinstall reached a certain point (about 70 - 75 percent) and then started with the blue screen messages stating that such and such file was not copied correctly and was not a valid Windows XP file or Windows could not copy such and such file. At first I thought it was my CD, so I cleaned it real good (there are no scatches on the CD as I keep it in pristine condition) but the problem persisted. I also have a brand new Windows XP upgrade CD and I tried that. No joy....continue to get these blue screen messages. This is when I call the motherboard tech support and that's when he told me what the problem was. He said that he's seen this particular problem many times and a bad memory strip (not slot) was usually the cause.

As per his advice, I pulled three of the four memory strips out and the Windows XP install went through without a hitch. As stated before, he advised to then test each memory strip one at a time with Memtest-86 to see which one was bad. I still have the first of the four strips installed that I used to install Windows XP and now I'm at the point of beginning the memory strip tests, but I am really a novice when it comes to deciphering the information provided by the Memtest-86 screen. I really don't know what I'm looking at or what to look for in a bad or good memory strip. This is why I've posted here hoping some kind soul would help me out with some advice.

If it is more convenient for you, you can email me directly and we could dialog from there.

[e-mail]

Again, thanks for your reply.

Robert

[The New Normal]

I'm no guru, but a nice simple test would be to boot your computer with 1 stick/strip of RAM.
If that works, shutdown and try another. Repeat with all sticks.
If one doesn't work, you've found your problem.
If they all work then you may need a BIOS update or a CMOS reset.

A BIOS update is a last resort, but resetting the CMOS is easy (google it). Just turn off your computer, unplug the power cable, take out the CMOS battery from the motherboard (looks like an oversized dollar coin), leave like this for a minute then replace the battery, plug it in and boot up.
This will reset your BIOS settings and date&time, but you sound knowledgeable enough to tweak any of these settings that need it (I had to turn my motherboard audio back on when I did this). Google is your friend.

bobbyraw may have a better idea though...

[caperjack]

Hello,

Can anyone give me a hint as to what I should be looking for with the Memtest results. I would greatly appreciate it.

in memtest86 if the stick of ram is bad ,you will see red error messages for each bad address in ram that is bad ,it make take awhile for them to appear or it could be instant ,the whole lower half of the screen will go red with messages ,
just to add, a bad stick of ram could still boot a computer ,just not run it well.!!thats why memtest is better than just switching stick of ram out .