Ok I'll try to keep it terse...
1. Bought my computer a few years ago and it has had infrequent problems that seemed to match bios issues others reported.
2. The graphics card died at one point and I RMA'ed both the motherboard and graphics card not being certain which was the culprit. Went along ok for a while although I still got infrequent lock ups in TF2 and a Photoshop can't save file error which I've had since the beginning.
3. I'm now experiencing...
Frequent computer freezes in TF2
BSOD in TF2
Dialog windows that say things like the instruction at "0x117af802" referenced memory at "0x15f60ce4". The memory could not be "read"
Sometimes my computer will not post after one of these freezes and requires me letting it set for a bit before trying again.
Upon reboot sometimes windows error checking will direct me to a page that says it may be hard drive error, driver error or a virus. I've updated my drivers, scanned with AVG, Malware Bytes, Spybot, Adaware and run a disk check. Only the disk check came up with anything, it fixed those errors and a subsequent test showed nothing.
From looking around the net I am now thinking it's a memory problem. So I downloaded memtest from http://www.memtest.org/ but I'm not sure if I used the correct .bat file to make the disk. There is an install.bat and a install64.bat. My cpu is 64 capable but my OS is 32 but then the test occurs before the OS even loads (can't find a page saying which to use >.<) . Anyone know which I should use for sure?
Regardless testing (with the install.bat) each stick one by one comes up with errors in the tens on thousands on 3 sticks and errors in the single digits on one stick
. So I am like am I reading or doing this right to have so many errors on ALL the sticks?
Some of the posts on the net say they have gotten rid of errors by adjusting the timings and voltages. So I look up the timings and voltages for the memory but I've got three different settings here...
From Newegg 4-4-4-12 2.2v
From Crucial 4-4-4-12 2.0v
And what the bios automatically sets it as 5-5-5-18 1.850V
The bios has one of those warning messages that says it automatically detects what the manufacture's recommended settings are and you can, in short, break things by changing it so I never changed it or looked it up before now, however clearly the auto detect settings and what Crucial says differ. I've now tested the different settings with one stick but neither 2.0v or 2.2v allow my computer to boot at all. The 4-4-4-12 timing did work with the old voltage setting and windows boots though I didn't test stability further. This did nothing to stop the errors memtest finds though.
Anyway my questions are...
Am I testing this memory correctly?
Should I use a different program or maybe use the install64.bat file?
Could have using the auto detect settings so long have messed up the memory? It's a lower voltage and slower speed than what Crucial says but can lower damage memory? Bear in mind their voltage doesn't work at all at this point but could something have been damaged that would have let it work back when?
Does memory suddenly go worse and fail in this manner?
If it's not a memory problem what could it be?
I've going to be dealing with Crucial soon so I would like to be certain it's a memory problem and nothing I did to it lest they feed me a line.
Thank you for any help.
1. Bought my computer a few years ago and it has had infrequent problems that seemed to match bios issues others reported.
2. The graphics card died at one point and I RMA'ed both the motherboard and graphics card not being certain which was the culprit. Went along ok for a while although I still got infrequent lock ups in TF2 and a Photoshop can't save file error which I've had since the beginning.
3. I'm now experiencing...
Frequent computer freezes in TF2
BSOD in TF2
Dialog windows that say things like the instruction at "0x117af802" referenced memory at "0x15f60ce4". The memory could not be "read"
Sometimes my computer will not post after one of these freezes and requires me letting it set for a bit before trying again.
Upon reboot sometimes windows error checking will direct me to a page that says it may be hard drive error, driver error or a virus. I've updated my drivers, scanned with AVG, Malware Bytes, Spybot, Adaware and run a disk check. Only the disk check came up with anything, it fixed those errors and a subsequent test showed nothing.
From looking around the net I am now thinking it's a memory problem. So I downloaded memtest from http://www.memtest.org/ but I'm not sure if I used the correct .bat file to make the disk. There is an install.bat and a install64.bat. My cpu is 64 capable but my OS is 32 but then the test occurs before the OS even loads (can't find a page saying which to use >.<) . Anyone know which I should use for sure?
Regardless testing (with the install.bat) each stick one by one comes up with errors in the tens on thousands on 3 sticks and errors in the single digits on one stick
. So I am like am I reading or doing this right to have so many errors on ALL the sticks?Some of the posts on the net say they have gotten rid of errors by adjusting the timings and voltages. So I look up the timings and voltages for the memory but I've got three different settings here...
From Newegg 4-4-4-12 2.2v
From Crucial 4-4-4-12 2.0v
And what the bios automatically sets it as 5-5-5-18 1.850V
The bios has one of those warning messages that says it automatically detects what the manufacture's recommended settings are and you can, in short, break things by changing it so I never changed it or looked it up before now, however clearly the auto detect settings and what Crucial says differ. I've now tested the different settings with one stick but neither 2.0v or 2.2v allow my computer to boot at all. The 4-4-4-12 timing did work with the old voltage setting and windows boots though I didn't test stability further. This did nothing to stop the errors memtest finds though.
Anyway my questions are...
Am I testing this memory correctly?
Should I use a different program or maybe use the install64.bat file?
Could have using the auto detect settings so long have messed up the memory? It's a lower voltage and slower speed than what Crucial says but can lower damage memory? Bear in mind their voltage doesn't work at all at this point but could something have been damaged that would have let it work back when?
Does memory suddenly go worse and fail in this manner?
If it's not a memory problem what could it be?
I've going to be dealing with Crucial soon so I would like to be certain it's a memory problem and nothing I did to it lest they feed me a line.
Thank you for any help.
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