So If Memtest86 Fails... ?

[Stangs55]

Does that mean I need to replace my ram?

Ran it overnight last night because I've been having trouble with Vista. This morning, it had a huge red line with a fail for a 1gb size (4gb total).

Is this pretty much a no-questions-asked, you have bad ram and need to replace?

Thank

 

[Roguestar]

How many errors?

It's just out of interest because even one means there is a problem with your RAM. RMA it and get new sticks. Wanted to know because my personal best is 4000 errors :thumbsup:.

 

[WavingBlue75]

Wow, 4K errors, your talented!

Yep... yank the stick, RMA it, be happy.

 

[bendixG15]

Originally posted by: Stangs55
Does that mean I need to replace my ram?

Ran it overnight last night because I've been having trouble with Vista. This morning, it had a huge red line with a fail for a 1gb size (4gb total).

Is this pretty much a no-questions-asked, you have bad ram and need to replace?

Thank

Just double check that its the memory stick ..
could be the memory slot on the mobo.

 

[geokilla]

It could also mean that it needs more vdimm.

 

[Stangs55]

It was just 1 Error after about 6 hours of testing 4Gb.

I doubt it's the vdimm since I'm running at manually set stock settings.

I'm wondering if it's the mobo though...I've heard of similar things with my evga 680i sli T1 (aka: POS) before.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

yea the 680i is infamous for memory problems, try that stick in other slots, also try the same stick in other computers to ensure its not broken or you'll have wasted your time and money sending in for RMA.

i say let memtest86+ v2.00 run for 24 hours, u might get more than just 1 error, they usually come in long lists

 

[Quiksilver]

Have you tried bumping up northbridge voltage by .01 or .02 sames you are using 4x 1GB sticks which cause more stress on the northbridge; then re-running memtest86. If error persists I would have say RMA it for some new sticks.

 

[WildHorse]

No!

It means you need to muster a LOT of Patience and do L O T S of thorough trials at different settings, in a logical progression.

It's a true PITA to tweak the vdimm and ram timings to get them right, and it requires zillions of restarts and patience patience patience.

But your solution to your ram problem lies in a gauntlet of testing. Keep careful records of settings at each trial to pass Memtest86+.

I've had ram I initially thought was totally bad, defective big time, ready to give up & RMA.

After a L O T of retesting & retesting & retesting it proved to be great ram, merely sensitive to tiny tweaks. Now it screams like lightening.

Gotta realize that setting up good overclocing ram takes work, a lot of trials and tweaking, and mostly P A T I E N C E.

Unfortunately God gave all the patience to women, so chicks have plenty automatically; we guys have none, which is what makes it truly "hard work" for us guys.

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS!!! (I Ching)

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: scott
No!

It means you need to muster a LOT of Patience and do L O T S of thorough trials at different settings, in a logical progression.

It's a true PITA to tweak the vdimm and ram timings to get them right, and it requires zillions of restarts and patience patience patience.

But your solution to your ram problem lies in a gauntlet of testing. Keep careful records of settings at each trial to pass Memtest86+.

I've had ram I initially thought was totally bad, defective big time, ready to give up & RMA.

After a L O T of retesting & retesting & retesting it proved to be great ram, merely sensitive to tiny tweaks. Now it screams like lightening.

Gotta realize that setting up good overclocing ram takes work, a lot of trials and tweaking, and mostly P A T I E N C E.

Unfortunately God gave all the patience to women, so chicks have plenty automatically; we guys have none, which is what makes it truly "hard work" for us guys.

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS!!! (I Ching)

persistence and patience + tweaking is required for PC testing, but if ram doesn't work at it's specified speeds and gives errors @ those settings it should be RMA'd

 

[Stangs55]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: scott
No!

It means you need to muster a LOT of Patience and do L O T S of thorough trials at different settings, in a logical progression.

It's a true PITA to tweak the vdimm and ram timings to get them right, and it requires zillions of restarts and patience patience patience.

But your solution to your ram problem lies in a gauntlet of testing. Keep careful records of settings at each trial to pass Memtest86+.

I've had ram I initially thought was totally bad, defective big time, ready to give up & RMA.

After a L O T of retesting & retesting & retesting it proved to be great ram, merely sensitive to tiny tweaks. Now it screams like lightening.

Gotta realize that setting up good overclocing ram takes work, a lot of trials and tweaking, and mostly P A T I E N C E.

Unfortunately God gave all the patience to women, so chicks have plenty automatically; we guys have none, which is what makes it truly "hard work" for us guys.

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS!!! (I Ching)

persistence and patience + tweaking is required for PC testing, but if ram doesn't work at it's specified speeds and gives errors @ those settings it should be RMA'd

Exactly.

I had only a small OC to begin with when I was having problems.

I went back and manually set every timing and voltage at the recommended rated settings...and still failed.

RMA'd one stick today, but decided to take advantage of some sweet deals anyways and bought 4gb of OCZ DDR2 PC8500 SLI Ready...it's passed the 1 hour memtest ...but we'll see after tomorrow's run in done.

So what's a good about of time to run a continuous memtest before a real conclusion that no errors exist can be drawn?

 

[WildHorse]

so how do you handle the case where
(A) RAM seller says every individual stick is hand tested and shipped only if it passes (like the case with OCZ)

vd

(B) the home computer builder who should've bought a DEll, who mistakenly thought there's nothing more to it than plugging the chip in, who doesn't undersrtand the lengthy tedious testing required, says "bad ram, RMA RMA RMA!" Hurts everybody.

 

[Stangs55]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Have you tried bumping up northbridge voltage by .01 or .02 sames you are using 4x 1GB sticks which cause more stress on the northbridge; then re-running memtest86. If error persists I would have say RMA it for some new sticks.

I had WoW crash on my last night with my new 4 sticks (like it was doing ALL the time before with the bad stick)...but only once compared to multiple times. Yet memtest ran all night without error. Again, how long does this need to run before I can say it's okay?

Thanks for the northbridge advice. My eVGA will not let me go in .01 increments on my SPP, and I've never really played with its voltage anyways...so that is new territory for me. It allowed a .05 bump to 1.45, so I did that. Not knowing much about it, is that an okay bump...or a bad idea?

Thanks again everyone.

 

[kirilus]

About an hour for each stick.

 

[nerp]

Yeah I'm in the camp that at stock speeds and everything "auto" the memory should run memtest stable for a few years nonstop. If you suspect that your motherboard has some weird issues with memory and could be causing the fault, then pop the sticks in a different board with a different chipset and run memtest overnight on that.