Crashes and error messages

[imported_Bee]

Hi all.

I've been experiencing random crashes on booting my PC as well as all kinds of error messages during the last two days. Before that the system has been rock stable without a single BSOD in a year The crashes during bootup are either hangs w/ black screen, BSOD or simple reboot. If I manage to boot up the system (Win XP btw) I'm getting all kinds of weird error messages - e.g. "service X had to be stopped to prevent ....."

This morning I tried running one instance of Prime95 testing the RAM and I got a fatal error on the 1st iteration. So, the RAM could be the culprit. On the other hand I'm using high quality sticks (2 Gb Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC2-8000) that are not even overclocked. Why would the RAM die just out of the blue?!? :roll:

Any hints/opinions?

 

[oztrailrider]

What are the BSOD error messages you are getting?, they may provide some clue. Make sure to turn off automatic restart so you can read what they are saying.

 

[imported_Bee]

Originally posted by: oztrailrider
What are the BSOD error messages you are getting?, they may provide some clue. Make sure to turn off automatic restart so you can read what they are saying.

It's turned off. BSOD errors seem to be random as well - I'll take notes next time. Fortunately I have a pair of OCZ sticks lying around (I knew I'd need them sometime LOL), I'll try those when I'm home...

 

[imported_Bee]

yep. One of the sticks is responsible for the mess. RMA# request sent. OCZs installed