Memory slot failure

[Pleiades]

I recently RMA'd 2 sticks of Corsair as I was experiencing memory faults (Win 7 64-bit, 4 x 2GiB XMS2 DDR2, Biostar TP-45 HP mobo). However the ones they sent me still caused failures in memtest so I took them out again.

Must admit that when Corsair asked about the quality of service I did fume about the supposedly still faulty modules; unfairly as it turned out, because I managed to get hold of an Abit Dark Raider IP-35 based mobo and they work fine in that.

So, I have to assume one or both memory slots were at fault, which seems strange as all was well for quite a while (not sure, could have been 2 years or more), and all the modules are exactly the same.

Anyone else experienced this sort of failure?

TBH I'd rather it was the RAM at fault, as I could at least get new modules: since it's the mobo I'll have to go thru the upheaval of swapping it and all its darn components out (and probably buy DDR-3 and a new CPU too - there aren't many Socket 775 mainboards sporting the latest chipsets and I might as well upgrade I suppose)...

[badass]

Have you tried upping the voltage on the modules from your mobo?

When I first upped my system to 4GB (4x1GB) I had to put an extra 0.1 volts on the modules to keep them stable at standard speeds. When I went to 4x2GB oddly enough they were fine at factory settings.

[Spank]

I had to replace 2 sticks of XMS2 a couple of years ago, too about 3 packs before I got working memory. I didn't mind so much as they stopped making 1GB sticks & sent me 2GB sticks instead.

[Pleiades]

I just don't get why certain slots would fail after such a long time working fine, and others just carry on with no problem

Nothing else changed in my configuration AFAIK...

[mkrupska]

8 would be more than you would use