Problem with my memory or something else?

[losimagic]

Thanks again - I'll now go away and test ALL the sticks again

[losimagic]

Results:


1st pack to be RMA'd:
Stick 1 - 6 passes
Stick 2 - Many many errors -

Walltime: 0:00:14
Cached: 2047m
rsvdmem: 636k
memmap: e820-STd
cache: on
ECC: off
Test: std
Pass: 0
Errors: 1794
ECC Errors: 0

Error Confidence VAlue: 18
Lowest Error Address: 00000000003 - 0.0mb
highest error address: 000e485fb00 - 3656.9mb
bits in error mask: ffffffff
bits in error - total: 32 Min:1 max: 32 Avg: 16
max contigious errors: 2
ECC Correctable Errors: NA (blank)
Errors per memory slot: 0: (very big number getting very big very fast for many minutes) (75million when I switched off)


All this in TEST 2



2nd pack:
Stick 1: System won't even POST
Stick 2: 5 passes

So both packs are definitely faulty, however, how come even when I use the 1 good stick of either pack, I still either get blank screens or BSODs?


edit: I'm now testing 1 of the good sticks in the 3 remaining slots on the motherboard as whenever I've been testing, or trying to install vista with 1 stick, I've only used slot A1.

[Yellowbeard]

Is it possible you have a bad memory slot on the board? Also, do you have access to another DDR2 MOBO where you can test the modules there? It is very rare to get 2 consecutive bad kits but, regardless, we'll replace them if they are faulty. Or, you can exchange with your vendor.

[losimagic]

I'm currently testing 1 of the good sticks in the only other slot that I would have used when I first built the system, B1 - so far it's done one pass without errors. I'll then check slots A2 and B2. Sadly I can't test the ram in anything else

It still makes no sense why i can't install vista with one of the good sticks in a good slot though

[Yellowbeard]

It still makes no sense why i can't install vista with one of the good sticks in a good slot though

That could be any number of things;

Bad MOBO
Bad CPU
Optical drive incompatibility
Etc etc

[losimagic]

Very very annoying, and by the sounds of it, not really that easy to track down - when I first mentioned the problem to people, they all suspected bad memory which is why I started down this path

[losimagic]

I have now tested the other slots:

A2: 3 passes, no errors
B1: 3 passes, no errors
B2: 3 Passes, no errors

[Yellowbeard]

Refresh me here. Have you tested the suspected bad modules in a known good slot? And, have you tested a known good stick in the A1 slot or the slot where the other modules tested bad?

[losimagic]

Refresh me here. Have you tested the suspected bad modules in a known good slot? And, have you tested a known good stick in the A1 slot or the slot where the other modules tested bad?

Yes, all previous testing (and attempted vista installations using 1 stick) was done using slot A1 - that identified the 2 good and 2 bad sticks

[Yellowbeard]

So, do the suspected bad sticks work in any slot at all? If not, RMA them.

[losimagic]

Actually I didn't try that, but both sets of memory as well the as the mobo + cpu have now been rma'd to Scan. so far they've tested the memory and found both sets to be faulty and they've yet to test the mobo/cpu

[losimagic]

They're now saying that the CPU is faulty! Didn't really think much could go wrong with them, apart from overheating and dieing.