Memtest86+ Errors and Constant Program Crashes.

[WilliamDieu]

Hi all, I've been experiencing some program shutdowns and blue screens lately, leading me to suspect my memory to be an issue. After a quick run of memtest86+ showed a bunch of errors with my ram.

My build: Rampage IV Formula, i7 3820, Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 (2x4GB), GTX 580, etc. (pretty old).

I had Windows 10 for a couple of months and recently reinstalled it a couple weeks ago however it led to blue screen errors such as bad_pool_header. A couple hours ago I reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate to hopefully fix my memory issues as I had no problem with Windows 7 but to no avail. Programs still close randomly and I occasionally blue screen.

I have set my BIOS values to defaults options but still I get errors. Additionally, the RAM is rated at 1600mhz but when I check the CPU-Z and BIOS values it states that the RAM runs at 1333mhz. After running memtest86+, I got 442 Errors found within the first 5 minutes of running it. I then changed my BIOS values to set the RAM to XMP so that it would run at 1600mhz but after running memtest86+ again, within the first 3 minutes it has found 756 errors. I am still letting it run as of now but I am unsure to how I should resolve this.

How should I go to fix this problem? Thanks!

Edit 1: I decided to run only 1 stick now and memtest86+ has been running for 20 mins now without any errors yet. BTW this is also using the XMP profile where the memory runs at 1600. I will be testing this overnight so possibly 12 hours? And if no errors occur, I'll test my other RAM stick. If any errors do happen, I'll try using the stock values where the RAM will run at 1333.

 

[Colif]

generally any errors in memtest are too many, you should replace sticks or perhaps test them in another slot and see if it maybe is the slots on motherbaord

Win 10 uses the ram more than Win 7 would have
1. Everytime you close a program, instead of removing all the data from ram, win 10 compresses it so if you restart program again later, its much faster to load it again.
2. When you shutdown win 10, it uses hybred hibernate instead of turning off. It saves half the info to hdd & other half to ram. So even when PC is "off" its still using ram.
So it seems to find faults in ram easier.

 

[WilliamDieu]

generally any errors in memtest are too many, you should replace sticks or perhaps test them in another slot and see if it maybe is the slots on motherbaord

Win 10 uses the ram more than Win 7 would have
1. Everytime you close a program, instead of removing all the data from ram, win 10 compresses it so if you restart program again later, its much faster to load it again.
2. When you shutdown win 10, it uses hybred hibernate instead of turning off. It saves half the info to hdd & other half to ram. So even when PC is "off" its still using ram.
So it seems to find faults in ram easier.

Hi thanks for replying! I did not know that Windows 10 actually did that.

Well I'm a non-working student so I don't actually have any other RAM to experiment with but testing only a single stick of RAM in the XMP profile (1600mhz) has resulted in no errors so far after 2 hours in memtest86+ and 3 passes. Should this be enough testing or should I hit the 12 hour mark before I begin testing the other RAM stick? I might consider testing it overnight if there are no other suggestions but thanks for the information!

 

[Colif]

When you tested ram 1st time and got all the errors, were you using both sticks? You got the errors much faster before so I figure, the problem might be the other stick if you haven't tested it alone yet.

I think you probably okay to test other stick, it might be the one causing all the errors.

If that case, just use 1 stick until you can afford to buy more.

 

[WilliamDieu]

When you tested ram 1st time and got all the errors, were you using both sticks? You got the errors much faster before so I figure, the problem might be the other stick if you haven't tested it alone yet.

I think you probably okay to test other stick, it might be the one causing all the errors.

If that case, just use 1 stick until you can afford to buy more.

Yeah so the two tests I did before the single RAM stick was with both in but I'll try the other ram stick now to see if it causes the issue. The first RAM stick I tested is still going strong at 3 hours with 4 passes and no errors so I think it is fine.

Edit 1: It has been an hour on memtest86+ with the other RAM stick and still no errors have appeared after 2 passes. I have read on forums that some memory errors have popped up only after the 6-8th pass so I will be leaving my computer overnight on the RAM stick to see if that is the case. If there are no errors, there could possibly be something wrong with my motherboard or my RAM.

Edit 2: So after leaving it on for 7 hours +, after the 10th pass, errors have begun showing up. 504 errors have resulted by 7 hours for the second RAM stick. This could be the case for the first RAM stick but I am unsure as I have not tested it. Could this be a timings/voltage problem on my motherboard? I have no idea where to go from here.