Corsair Vengeance RAM Problem (BSOD + other problems)

[ZettaPC]

Over the last 6 months or so I have been having problems with my PC. At first I thought it was Windows playing up due to a faulty installation and maybe driver problems etc... However, after researching all the different problems I have had, I'm sure its my RAM. I've had lots of odd problems like Windows gadgets always crashing, process' ending randomly, the whole OS freezing, taskbar jumping about, Nvidia Display drivers crashing. Since I originally thought it was Windows, I formatted the HDD, did a clean reinstall of Windows and all my Nvidia graphic drivers etc and now, X months down the line, It's getting the point were I can't boot at all, or even POST sometimes.

At first I would get Blue Screen errors like, "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA", "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT" & "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT". These would occur shortly after Windows has loaded and when I would load a program or a Steam Game.

So I downloaded 'Memtest86+ v5.1' and let that run for ~6 and half hours and received approximately 530 Errors throughout different tests. I haven't overclocked my RAM at all, or even touched the tweakable settings.

So now I'm in Safe mode w/networking and I received 1 short beep from the speaker, I managed to POST and Boot successfully. This confuses me the most, Is this a combination of drivers problems and my RAM?

I'd appreciate any help,

Thanks.

 

[rolli59]

If you are getting errors in memtest then the ram is corrupting the drivers causing the BSOD's, so time to RMA the ram.

 

[ZettaPC]

I was thinking of RMA, How can I be sure this is a manufacturing error and not something else though?

Thanks

 

[rolli59]

Well the slots are on the motherboard the memory controller is on the CPU but it is still most likely that the ram itself is at fault. Have you tried running one stick at a time if you have two? Most likely only one bad stick then and the errors would disappear running on the good one.

 

[ZettaPC]

I have 4 sticks (4x4 GB), I have tried running individual sticks, and I can't seem to find a combination that seems to work without error. I'm going to request an RMA with Corsair.

Thanks for your help.

 

[rolli59]

Well if all 4 sticks are bad that is very unlikely so it could be the board or the CPU.

 

[ZettaPC]

Should I run Memtest86 on each stick individually then? and if say, 2 or 3 have errors, do I send the full kit of 4 sticks, or just the faulty ones?

 

[rolli59]

Run it on each stick individually. Normally the require you to RMA the total kit.

 

[ZettaPC]

Okay will do, I'll get back to you after I've ran the tests.

Cheers

 

[ZettaPC]

I ran Memtest on each stick for ~3:00:00. Turns out only one stick has errors. 3 turned out clean and the other had 192 errors after that time. When I was trying different configurations and combinations of RAM, I must of had that faulty stick in there each time. I now have 3 sticks running and I haven't had any problems so far. Reckon I should RMA for that faulty stick?

 

[rolli59]

I would, maybe they will do advanced RMA so you do not have to send yours before you got the new.

 

[ZettaPC]

Okay, thanks a lot for your help.