# Why does my RAM fail all the time?



## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

I got a blue screen saying MEMORY_MANAGEMENT a while ago in the middle of playing Crysis and sometimes I get the blue screen saying PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Obviously those two indicate a RAM issue but I thought it wasn't my RAM but when I ran memotest, it ran for about 45 minutes and I got back and it said 1 pass and 1 error. This is so annoying. I might just buy some faster RAM at 1066MHz (PC2-8500) like Corsair Dominator or something.


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Also could 1 single error in my RAM cause blue screens then or would I need a few errors for my PC to get blue screens?


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## HTC (Jun 5, 2008)

J-Man said:


> Also could 1 single error in my RAM cause blue screens then or would I need a few errors for my PC to get blue screens?



When RAM is concerned, *1 error* is 1 too many errors, dude


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

If just one of my sticks were faulty, could OCZ just replace that one?


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## thoughtdisorder (Jun 5, 2008)

J-Man said:


> If just one of my sticks were faulty, could OCZ just replace that one?



Depends , did you buy them together as matched?


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## DanishDevil (Jun 5, 2008)

They usually replace both if purchased as a kit.  To be sure that your ram is faulty, run MemTest.


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## theonetruewill (Jun 5, 2008)

DanishDevil said:


> They usually replace both if purchased as a kit.  To be sure that your ram is faulty, run MemTest.



I think you meant to add - test memtest on each stick... the op already ran memtest once


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Thoughtdisorder - Yep I bought the OCZ Platinum 2GB Kit (2x 1GB).

DanishDevil - I ran Memtest and I got 1 pass and 1 error.

Also is the replacements free with OCZ?


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## theonetruewill (Jun 5, 2008)

J-Man said:


> Thoughtdisorder - Yep I bought the OCZ Platinum 2GB Kit (2x 1GB).
> 
> DanishDevil - I ran Memtest and I got 1 pass and 1 error.
> 
> Also is the replacements free with OCZ?



Ask OCZ - it SHOULD be free, regardless if the RAM is less than a year old they HAVE to replace it.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 5, 2008)

You have to pay to send them out.  I have a contact at OCZ's RMA Department.  PM me if you want it.  He's OCZ USA, though.


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## vega22 (Jun 5, 2008)

you might need to increase your volts to the nb to keep them stable @1066.


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

marsey99 said:


> you might need to increase your volts to the nb to keep them stable @1066.


 I... ? My RAM was never overclocked and its been 2.0V in the BIOS which it's supposed to be.


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

If I test each stick of RAM and find the stick that's the fault, do I send OCZ the one stick or would I have to send the faulty one back with any of the 3 working ones because mine came as a kit.


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

On the UK's OCZ site, I can't seem to find the part where to receive my RMA number so I can return the stick.


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## Gam'ster (Jun 5, 2008)

RMA time, OCZ Rma service is good and pretty quick i had to ram a 2 x512 mb kit a month or so ago and ocz took all 4 of my 512 sticks and gave me 2x1 GB in stead and a 4 GB ATV for free , All in all it took 2 weeks my ram had to be posted to the Netherlands and the new stuff came from sunnyvale CA so i would imagine the same will be needed for urs, not that bad of a turn around but they keep u informed every step of the way .

Gam


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

http://www.ocztechnology.com/

Where on that site can I get hold of a RMA number?


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## Gam'ster (Jun 5, 2008)

J-Man said:


> http://www.ocztechnology.com/
> 
> Where on that site can I get hold of a RMA number?




Yeah fill this in RMA/SUPPORT TICKET

gam


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks buddy. What's my trouble priority most likely - Dead product or RMA Needed? I apologise for the unnecessary questions but I wanna get it filled in perfectly.


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## Gam'ster (Jun 5, 2008)

Id use the RMA needed as ur product isnt dead jus defective


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Cheers


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## Gam'ster (Jun 5, 2008)

No problem


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Done. I put down in the description that one of the memory modules is faulty and is causing blue screen of deaths and I told them that it's the 2GB kit OCZ Platinum.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 5, 2008)

I had a run in with OCZ RAM before. Few times actually. It was back when I was on my DDR rig (Athlon64 3200+, 6800GS, etc) I bought some Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition Dual Channel memory. Had this RAM for about a month and started getting BSOD's. Ran memtest and got over 40,000 errors in just a few minutes and they just kept climbing. It was unreal. Contacted OCZ about it and they sent me a replacement set of the same stuff. RMA'd that one after another 2-3 weeks. Mentioned it on another forum because i was sick of getting the same RAM with errors only after a few weeks and wanted to get soemthign else. Someone made mention of a stepup to something better. I mentioned it to the OCZ guy on the phone and he upgraded me to the platinum version. He told me to keep the faulty RAM until the Platinum version got there and then send back the faulty RAM. I did. When the RAM arrived, i opened the package only to find that I was not upgraded and got the Gold edition AGAIN. Called them up and told them the situation. They said to send it back and that they would upgrade me. Being sick of sending the shit back I just kept it.

About two weeks later, I recieved the Platinum in the mail by total surprise. So needless to say, I just got an extra gig for free and gave the gold to my dad which he is currently using and used the Platinum for myself. 

Id still buy from OCZ again, but im pretty high on G.Skill RAM now.


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## Gam'ster (Jun 5, 2008)

J-Man said:


> Done. I put down in the description that one of the memory modules is faulty and is causing blue screen of deaths and I told them that it's the 2GB kit OCZ Platinum.



Sorted it shouldnt take all that long for them to contact u and hopefully ull get a freebie like me and crash , although the extra " free " gig is nice .

Gam


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

Will they e-mail me back with the RMA number?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 5, 2008)

Yes. Along with all other information you need.


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## sneekypeet (Jun 5, 2008)

just be sure you filled your specs out to the T there...they are sticklers on knowing all the parts included with the issue.

I also would try bumping the Voltage to the NB if you are running 4 sticks of ram...Was a must with running my tracers.


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## J-Man (Jun 5, 2008)

For an example if I tested my RAM now and I got 1 error then I increase the NB a bit THEN test my RAM again and had no errors, is that possible or would my RAM have 1 error?


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## sneekypeet (Jun 5, 2008)

thats why I say add some NB voltage....where was it prior and now?


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## J-Man (Jun 6, 2008)

Well I increased the voltage in the BIOS and I tested my RAM again (4x 1GB) and I got 2 errors this time. Is it best to get the faulty stick replaced and also buy the Corsair memory cooler?


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## DanishDevil (Jun 6, 2008)

This is what I would do (and what OCZ will ask you to do).

Test one stick at a time in a slot that you know works.  Check each for errors.


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## J-Man (Jun 6, 2008)

I'll try that tomorrow after work . I'll test all 4 and hopefully only one stick is faulty then I can leave it out then leave 3GB in and play Crysis without blue screens! 

Cheers guys.


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## HTC (Jun 6, 2008)

J-Man said:


> I'll try that tomorrow after work . I'll test all 4 and hopefully only one stick is faulty then I can leave it out then leave 3GB in and play Crysis without blue screens!
> 
> Cheers guys.



Doesn't MemTest say which stick is faulty?

If so, try testing all the sticks separately in the slot that failed to rule out motherboard problems.


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## J-Man (Jun 6, 2008)

I'll try that but I doubt it's the motherboard slots itself because I've only had my board for about 2 months.


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## HTC (Jun 6, 2008)

J-Man said:


> I'll try that but I doubt it's the motherboard slots itself because I've only had my board for about 2 months.



Who knows: your problem could be a RAM slot and not the RAM.

This way, you should be able to test both and make sure if the problem lies solely with the RAM or not.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

Well I'm back for results. I tested all 4 sticks of RAM and memtest found 2 errors in one stick, 32 errors in the other and the other two passed so right now I'm back down to 2GB for now. Up on format (due to new motherboard and GPU), I have had numerous blue screens but I thought that was caused by me overclocking too high in the BIOS or something but I don't think I've had a blue screen since loading the defaults (in BIOS). OCZ sent me a email and I have my RMA number but they asked me to wrap my RAM in anti static bags and print a copy of the email they sent me but I don't have a printer and nor anti static bags so I asked if it's possible if I can pack the RAM in bubble wrap and put them in a thick envelope with bubble wrap inside that so I'm still waiting for a reply.


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## erocker (Jun 7, 2008)

The post office should have an anti-static bag for you.  I doubt they will take them only wrapped in bubble wrap.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

They will have a anti static bag in the shop to buy or some behind the counter? 

By the way, I just tested my 2GB RAM using memtest and it found 2 errors in the first 15 minutes and thing is I tested the 2 stick individually and I got no errors?


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## erocker (Jun 7, 2008)

Be sure to run things at stock settings.  The post office does charge for the bags, however they are very cheap.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

Oh so I buy one then bring it back, pack the ram then put it in a small package then send it off? I am going post office tomorrow anyway because I'm posting my Xbox 360.


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## erocker (Jun 7, 2008)

Yeah, just make sure that the RAM is safe and secure for shipping.  If the RAM gets damaged in any way, the RMA may not go through.  Put in anti-static back, wrap in bubble wrap, put in small box.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

I have some thick envelopes which have a thin layer of bubble wrap in it (ones that you can put PS2 games in and DVD's etc) Will that be ok? So I put the 2GB kit in the anti static bag FIRST then wrap the anti static bag with bubble wrap then put it in my compact envelope? They should accept it should they? How long roughly will it take for me to receive the RAM back?


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

I have found an anti static and and put the stick in it and wrap it very thick in bubble wrap and put it in a letter sort of thing that has bubble wrap already in it.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

Also what causes RAM to all of a sudden get errors? One minute I test my RAM and get no errors then the next I run memtest again and I get like 32 errors. It's strange.


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## suraswami (Jun 7, 2008)

I have the same issue.  I am running Abit AN-M2 + Phenom.  2 x 1GB Crucial DDR2 800 + 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 Centon no issues.  Rock solid for about 15 days.  Both Windows XP pro 32 bit and W2K3 64 bit.  Since this one is mainly for server purposes, I upgraded to 6gb pulling out the centons.  Bought OCZ.  Put in and always get BSOD every time I open HWMonitor and rest of the time at random even when installing or uninstalling something.  My windows was corrupt.  Re-installed W2K3 still problem.  Then Pulled out the OCZ and replaced with all Crucial same speed stick to 6GB.  Still the same issue.  In XP pro 32 bit rock solid with both the above 6GB combinations.  After lots of troubleshooting I gave up and ordered a new board.  Yet to install everything.

Do you all think its memory issue like J-Man is having.  I am thinking its bios issue.  Hey J, did you see if they have a new bios?


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

I haven't checked yet.


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## suraswami (Jun 7, 2008)

Ok I installed new board (ECS GF8200A).  Still the same.  According to Microsoft its a driver issue.  Don't know which one is crapping out.  Going to re-install windows and install one by one and see which sucker is killing the OS.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

My RAM is very strange. First off, I tested my 2GB of RAM and I tested the 1GB stick alone and it passed in memtest and the other 1GB stick passed too on it's own but when I use memtest with both 1GB sticks in, I get 2 errors. WTF Haha?


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## Gam'ster (Jun 7, 2008)

Very odd but RMA them just to be safe, if theres nothing wrong with them all u lost out on was shipping and i think it was around £6 mark to The Netherlands.

Gam


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## suraswami (Jun 7, 2008)

Finally got my machine Stable.  XP Pro 32 bit + W2K3 Ent 32 bit.  It was damn drivers for f... 64 bit Windows.  Screw that.  W2K3 with PAE sees all 6GB even if it was only 32 bit.  My NT guy said for sure it won't.  Bas....  Wasted almost 4 weeks struggling with various options New Board, New Ram, New Video card damn even new HDD.

I should have gone with my instinct (do not listen to that bas..) and went with just 32 bit.

Configuring VM now.

J - please check if you have correct drivers and mostly validated ones.  Make sure you update all the drivers from manufacturer web-site (board manufacturer).

Woo Hoo!  ECS   Always when top brands f... with me ECS comes in to help.

OCed the Phenom 9500 at default voltage to 2.6G from 2.2.


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## J-Man (Jun 7, 2008)

Gam'ster said:


> Very odd but RMA them just to be safe, if theres nothing wrong with them all u lost out on was shipping and i think it was around £6 mark to The Netherlands.
> 
> Gam


 Well I have another 2GB (that's definitely got loads of errors) and it's packed in some anti static bag with a thick layer of bubble wrap round it like OCZ told me to do. I have packed it in the jiffy that which is this:







Will OCZ accept the RAM in that or will I need it in a small box?


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## Gam'ster (Jun 8, 2008)

They'll take it like that i sent mine off wrapped in an anti static bag from my old fx5500 and loads of bubble wrap then stuffed it into a jiffy i had no probs.

Gam


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## J-Man (Jun 8, 2008)

Thanks for your replies, Gam. Thanks for you.


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## Gam'ster (Jun 8, 2008)

J-Man said:


> Thanks for your replies, Gam. Thanks for you.



No probs any time 

Gam


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## suraswami (Jun 8, 2008)

Good Luck J.  Let us know how your system responds when you get your new Ram.


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## J-Man (Jun 8, 2008)

In the meantime I'm stuck with 2GB which Vista uses about 800-1GB memory idle. I'll post back results when I receive them back yup.


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