memtest86 memory damaged?

[Cedro02]

I've had countless BSODs over the past month, with 90% of them being memory_management stopcodes. I defragged my hdd, reinstalled all drivers (completely), ran win diagnostic on my memory, updated bios, updated chipset, clean boot, done sfc/scannow mulitple times and loads more. Nothing fixed it, and none of the scans showed any errors

Now, yesterday I ran memtest during the night and It found around 20 000 errors... I don't know how many passes it went throught, but Im assuming this is bad.

Is this a guarantee that it's my RAM that's physically damaged and not anything else that's causing the problem?

 

[jaslion]

I've had countless BSODs over the past month, with 90% of them being memory_management stopcodes. I defragged my hdd, reinstalled all drivers (completely), ran win diagnostic on my memory, updated bios, updated chipset, clean boot, done sfc/scannow mulitple times and loads more. Nothing fixed it, and none of the scans showed any errors

Now, yesterday I ran memtest during the night and It found around 20 000 errors... I don't know how many passes it went throught, but Im assuming this is bad.

Is this a guarantee that it's my RAM that's physically damaged and not anything else that's causing the problem?

Your ram is beyond dead when you get that many errors. Replace it and it should fix your problems.

 

[atljsf]

each pass takes around a hour

memtest should find 0 errors, 0 is tolerated, over 0 it means that you need new ram

if it is under warranty apply warranty, if is old, buy new ram

the second part that could fail is the motherboard, but is not that common, is more common to see ram modules fail,

 

[Cedro02]

each pass takes around a hour

memtest should find 0 errors, 0 is tolerated, over 0 it means that you need new ram

if it is under warranty apply warranty, if is old, buy new ram

the second part that could fail is the motherboard, but is not that common, is more common to see ram modules fail,

Yea everything else on my motherboard works just fine, and it's especially programs like chrome and discord which are quite memory dependent that crash before I get a BSOD. It makes the most sense I guess,

Thanks for quick and clear answers guys, I just needed clearification from someone who knows their stuff

 

[geofelt]

ANY error from memtest indicates a ram error.
Assuming you have two or more sticks:
Try running single stick tests to see if any of the sticks test as good.
If you can identify a single good stick, then test it in each slot to see if the slots are good.
Check your motherboard manual.
Some older motherboards will support a single stick on only one specific location.

If you determine that the ram is defective, return RMA it; most ram vendors have a lifetime warranty.

 

[Cedro02]

ANY error from memtest indicates a ram error.
Assuming you have two or more sticks:
Try running single stick tests to see if any of the sticks test as good.
If you can identify a single good stick, then test it in each slot to see if the slots are good.
Check your motherboard manual.
Some older motherboards will support a single stick on only one specific location.

If you determine that the ram is defective, return RMA it; most ram vendors have a lifetime warranty.

Im using the asus z170 pro gaming, I don't know if that would classify as an older board

 

[geofelt]

By older, I mean MUCH older.
Z170 is quite modern.
That said, your motherboard manual will have recommended slots in which to install a single dim.
Likely, it does not matter.
My ASUS Z170I motherboard has only two ram slots.
The manual indicates that either slot is ok for just one stick.
Likely your 4 slot motherboard does not care either.

The rationale for testing in each slot is to discover the possibility that a slot is defective.
Long ago, I had a similar situation where only some apps were impacted.
I think it was because only a high end of the ram address range was defective.
Memtest86 discovered the error; it is the gold standard for ram testing.

If you conclude that one channel is defective, that points to a motherboard problem.
Possibly a damages cpu socket pin.
More remotely, a cpu defect can show up as a ram channel issue.