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Bought a new computer back in August with 4x4 GB RAM. Had problems with the RAM. They sent me four new sticks, which also generated errors. Singled out four sticks (from the eight I now had) that didn't generate any errors. Discovered by coincident a new RAM error last week (this time no BSOD). Contacted the company. According to them there have been issues with a bad stock from last summer so I got two tested 8 GB sticks sent to me. Been running Memtest86+ over the weekend. After 20 hours I got an error (see attached photo). The test has now been running for 37 hours but so far only this one error. I contacted the company where I bought the computer. They wrote back:
I wouldn't worry about hat one fail.
We have had similar situations here whereby it passes numerous times but then fails once. We think it's an issue with memtest, after all memory is faulty or it isn't so you can't really have it pass a few times, fail the next time around and then pass again!
Please trust me on this and continue with the memory we sent you and if your problems continue we'll look at getting it replaced again.
I gather from other forum posts that many people do not accept a single error. What could this single error signify, faulty RAM or a glitch in the MEMTEST program (or other)?
Update: From the helpful comments below I conclude that an occasional (and rare) "random" error could occur and be acceptable, but repeated errors at the same address would indicate malfunction. Memtest has now run for 45 hours and I still have only one error. For everyone's information, I will keep running the test. In less than two days I am going away for a month. I will most likely leave Memtest running. As I do not have a UPS there is a risk that a power outage will ruin the experiment. The computer is a desktop so I cannot bring it with me (which would curiously have exposed it to more cosmic rays as I will be flying ;)).
+1; Personally, I think a great question, I'm sorry I can't help with an answer. I updated your question slightly to ensure it isn't off topic! – Dave – 2012-12-18T15:36:41.950
20I personally wouldn't sweat one, and only one, failure...non error correcting RAM can occasionally have a problem, it's not perfect. Now, if you can duplicate this at the same address range, then there's something wrong with that. – Shinrai – 2012-12-18T15:50:10.180
Its pretty simple. The error you posted means your memory is not holding the correct value at that given address – Ramhound – 2012-12-18T15:59:46.590
4Are you sure this is not your computer that corrupt your ram? – sanny Sin – 2012-12-18T16:04:48.607
I cannot tell for sure that it is not something wrong with the computer (say motherboard). Back in August however, the errors seemed to be linked to the RAM (I base this on the results from Memtest86+ when trying many different configurations of the RAM modules in the slots). – DustByte – 2012-12-18T16:16:26.260
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Agree with @Shinrai - if there weren't occasional intermittent glitches with normal RAM, there would be no market for error correcting RAM. Repeated errors at the same address is a different matter, that would indicate a faulty memory cell.
– j-g-faustus – 2012-12-18T19:47:33.973That one rare error - that's the one BSOD that only happens once a month which no one can figure out. Get the memory replaced. – Der Hochstapler – 2012-12-18T22:23:09.717
Do you know what brand and model of RAM it is? If it's not a well known brand, I'd tend to have less faith in it. – dangph – 2012-12-18T22:45:52.303
@dangph, the brand is Corsair and this is the model.
– DustByte – 2012-12-18T22:57:30.257@DustByte, Corsair is a well-respected brand. – dangph – 2012-12-18T23:42:55.590
@DustByte, you could check to see if there have been any relevant BIOS updates for your motherboard. – dangph – 2012-12-18T23:43:47.057
You people do know that one bad bit stops the show, right? I would not use that machine for anything. – Kaz – 2012-12-19T00:22:29.453