About 6-8 months back I completed a build of a fully new PC. The rough specs are:
- Intel Quad Core 2.8 GHZ
- 2x2GB GSKILL Ram PC2-6400 CL5-5-5-15
- 2x 640GB HDDs
- Gigabyte EP45 motherboard.
Since I first installed Windows XP, I have received random blue screens (BSODs). They normally occurred once every two weeks and I have never been able to recreate the issue that causes them.
Recently the frequency has picked up and I was getting some BAD_Pool_Header errors along with IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal. I decided to reformat (full format plus fix mbr) the drive and reinstall with Windows 7 RC. Due to numerous errors during the Win 7 install I formatted and went back to Windows XP.
Since the format, BSODs are happening more frequently (1 ever 3-4 days). Last night I booted the PC and ran memtest86 on each Dimm. The first dimm yielded 9 errors after several hours. The second dimm gave the following:
Bits in Error Total: 2
Max contiguous Errors: 1
Errors Per ememory Slot: 47,000,000 (and counting quickly)
This happened on Test #6 Moving Inversions 32 bit Pattern fffffbff
Since I have no experience using memtest86 I have to ask a stupid question, does this mean I have a serious problem with my memory? Should I trash my ram and replace it with new stuff? Could these errors be caused by some other type of memory (L1 L2 cache)? What else should I do to trouble shoot?
(One last note, I have also been noticing that every few days I run into issues with files being corrupted. Thought this might be a virus, but numerous scans show nothing.)
Any advice on the RAM test or my issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
- Intel Quad Core 2.8 GHZ
- 2x2GB GSKILL Ram PC2-6400 CL5-5-5-15
- 2x 640GB HDDs
- Gigabyte EP45 motherboard.
Since I first installed Windows XP, I have received random blue screens (BSODs). They normally occurred once every two weeks and I have never been able to recreate the issue that causes them.
Recently the frequency has picked up and I was getting some BAD_Pool_Header errors along with IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal. I decided to reformat (full format plus fix mbr) the drive and reinstall with Windows 7 RC. Due to numerous errors during the Win 7 install I formatted and went back to Windows XP.
Since the format, BSODs are happening more frequently (1 ever 3-4 days). Last night I booted the PC and ran memtest86 on each Dimm. The first dimm yielded 9 errors after several hours. The second dimm gave the following:
Bits in Error Total: 2
Max contiguous Errors: 1
Errors Per ememory Slot: 47,000,000 (and counting quickly)
This happened on Test #6 Moving Inversions 32 bit Pattern fffffbff
Since I have no experience using memtest86 I have to ask a stupid question, does this mean I have a serious problem with my memory? Should I trash my ram and replace it with new stuff? Could these errors be caused by some other type of memory (L1 L2 cache)? What else should I do to trouble shoot?
(One last note, I have also been noticing that every few days I run into issues with files being corrupted. Thought this might be a virus, but numerous scans show nothing.)
Any advice on the RAM test or my issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!