[Digerati]

I am afraid I am at a loss. Is your BIOS current?

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i believe so.. i am on webchat with ASUS tech support.. hopefully they have had this come up before.. im *on hold* atm though.. grr...

[SomeCrazyStuff]

i believe so.. i am on webchat with ASUS tech support.. hopefully they have had this come up before.. im *on hold* atm though.. grr...

[Digerati]

Keep us posted.

[SomeCrazyStuff]

grr.. asus tech is taking the "that memory is not in Qualified Vendor List" approach...

[SomeCrazyStuff]

ok.. Asus tech support only wants to say that the memory is not supported because it is not on whatever QVL list he was looking at. Even though the memory has run just fin for 2 years. So.. i guess my options are either find a way to tackle this on my own.. or get new memory off the QVL list...

..OR.. chuck computer off the back balcony onto the cement below... hmmm....

[SomeCrazyStuff]

ok i am running Prime95.. will post tomorrow(or as soon as it crashes) with those result. Hopefully all is good though....

[Digerati]

i guess my options are either find a way to tackle this on my own.. or get new memory off the QVL list...

Not "or" get new memory. More like "by" getting new memory. Your RAM failed MemTest. That pretty much puts an end to the story - with fingers crossed it is not the motherboard. I mean, it is not like you can repair the bad chip, they have to be replaced. That's after determining which chip, on which stick. If this problem started a couple days ago, it might be easy to isolate the problem, then fix it. Or attempt a System Restore. But since this has been going on for a couple months now, all kinds of changes could have happened - certainly Microsoft sent out a couple batches of updates, as did your security programs. Drivers get updated. All these affect how your RAM is used.

Summer came (and went - 39°F tonight in Nebraska!), but perhaps something got a bit too warm, and is now barely in, or just out of tolerance (as happens when electronics ages over time, or fails prematurely from stress caused by an abnormal "event" (surge, spike, heat, physical abuse), manufacturing defect, or any combination of any of the above.

There are so many RAM makers tossing out countless "lines" of modules. Motherboard makers can't test them all. The ASUS tech really could little more than what he did, other than have you run a memory tester, and we already did that, and determined your RAM does not work correctly - at least not with that motherboard. If you are running dual-channel, you might try them in single channel mode. If they work, then you may have a bad dual-channel memory controller, an integral part of the motherboard - new motherboard time. If still bad, then it points back to the RAM.

At this point, you have no way of conclusively isolating the fault to the RAM, or the motherboard. That said, the evidence does point to the RAM. Replacing the RAM is cheaper, and MUCH easier than the whole motherboard, not only because of the obvious physical task of gutting the case, but a new motherboard means a good chance of Windows choking upon next reboot, or at least force a Windows reauthentication.

I think many RAM makers warranty their RAM for 3 years, and many have lifetime warranties.

[SomeCrazyStuff]

all said and true but ti limit further the possible things that could have gone wrong the computer is in enviroment controlled room that stays 65F degrees at all times and is on commercial UPS conditioned power (this machine is my personal machine that i took to work and currently use to work off of, i run IT dept in a trucking company, i of course have a secondary machine that i am working off of atm)

it just doesn't make any sense why the memory would work "fine" in one configuration and seperately but then test bad when swapping slots.. the sticks are exactly identical(as far as the eye can see) and have been working without fault for over 2 years. If something caused one to overload then why am i not seeing more errors pertaining to the memory?

the computer sits ontop of a false floor away from electrical sources, other than the main power cord going to the computers power supply so i dont believe there could have been a static discharge. again the room is environment controlled(aka server room). Physical abuse is definitely not an issue.. only person in here is me and the computer sits far enough away from me so that i dont kick it.

im not sure if the memory is dual channel or not but i will look into that.. i too hope that it is not the motherboard because as much as i would hate to have to buy memory i would really loathe buying a new MoBo..

At this point, you have no way of conclusively isolating the fault to the RAM, or the motherboard. That said, the evidence does point to the RAM. Replacing the RAM is cheaper, and MUCH easier than the whole motherboard, not only because of the obvious physical task of gutting the case, but a new motherboard means a good chance of Windows choking upon next reboot, or at least force a Windows reauthentication.

i do agree that mobo would be much harder to replace but there has to be a way to decide if the ram or the mobo is failing.. or if there is a 3rd party at play.

thoughts?

[Digerati]

i do agree that mobo would be much harder to replace but there has to be a way to decide if the ram or the mobo is failing..

Ummm, for about the 4th time, there is... replace the RAM. Sometimes, "remove and replace" is the ONLY viable troubleshooting method left, short of shipping the suspect items (RAM and motherboard) back to their respected factories for testing. That said, even then, if that is legacy stuff, they may have already retooled to where factory testing is no longer an option. This is one reason shops have spare RAM, PSUs, and graphics cards laying around - to verify suspicions. But in your case, you more than suspicions, you have MemTest reporting errors.

[SomeCrazyStuff]

meh.. i just talked to patriot (memory's manufacturer) via email.. they had me fill out a RMA request online.. so perhaps they will RMA the memory and fix/replace... if that be the case then all is well here.. =D

...unless it is the MoBo and not the memory... if it is then *palm to forehead (with some force)*

[Digerati]

Good. I am glad you checked with Patriot. Keep us posted.

[SomeCrazyStuff]

will keep you posted as i find things out..

just read your MS MVP profile.. nice rapsheet you've got going there! just curious.. have you tried any overclocking? if so is it something you might suggest to someone before buying new "better" hardware?

[Digerati]

I've experimented with it, but don't recommend it for several reasons. Understand that today, overclocking is just a marketing scam. Engineers don't design for overclocking. They design to meet specifications. The marketing weenies have, in effect, dummied down the specifications so users can bump them back up, feel good and brag about it. The problem is, once the design limits are exceeded, that's abuse. Note that NOTHING IS COVERED by any warranty if damage occurs by overclocking. The motherboard makers provide overclocking utilities but do you think ASUS is going to replace the CPU if it fries? No way. Do you think AMD or Intel will replace the CPUs if you overclock the motherboard? No way. In fact both AMD and Intel warranties expressly state warranties do not cover damage from "abnormal electrical conditions", "operated outside of published specifications", "misuse", and "improper use".

As noted in my sig, heat is the bane of all electronics. Overclocking increases heat yet all too often, overclockers don't even pay attention to that. Or they switch to alternative cooling, which may be fine for the CPU, but neglect all the other heat sensitive devices surrounding the CPU socket that traditionally take advantage of the CPU's fan moving.

Overclocking can be a fun learning experience, but understand it is a marketing gimmick, and should not be done on a "production" machine, that is, a computer that is needed for work, school, or other critical tasks. If you have an "expendable" game machine, go for it. But do your homework and do it right, know the consequences. Or, if you want more power, buy it.

[SomeCrazyStuff]

haha yea.. i was just curious.. the machine i have at work is really just aplay machine i bought several years ago.. i took it to work because between it and my laptop that i have at the house i didnt need both in one spot.

i have thought that too about OC being a marketing scam.. now they offer pre OC'ed hardware for extravagant prices.. of course what today isnt a scam in some way. everyone wants that last couple of dollars... look at oil and gas prices...

[SomeCrazyStuff]

hello again.. been a little while since last reply.

Here's how things are looking. I have the new set of memory! installed it and that aspects seems to be running fine. No more of the memory reference errors like i was getting here and there before the swapped memory. Thank you limited lifetime warranty!!

HOWEVER, I am still getting bluescreens and random system freezes. And, just like before, no entry in event viewer. I tried the bluescreen viewer that I believe you had me download and it comes up with nothing. Under system adv properties it is set to write a small dump and not to auto restart (though it auto restarts anyways). This time CCleaner is not deleting windows error reporting logs on startup so that is not a possible reason why there are no logs...

any ideas of a next step?