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I have a computer running Windows 7 that has a weird problem: it's constantly showing the "blue screen of death", but only when the system is cold. If I leave it on for a while, after a couple blue screens/reboots, it starts to work normally, and doesn't show any other problems as long as I keep it on.
The blue screen is always of the same type: "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT". I let memtest run a couple of passes yesterday, but it didn't find any problem. I also ran a complete "chkdsk /B" (no errors) and recently switched the video card to a new one, but the problem was already happening before.
Although the problem seems to be related to the temperature (once the computer is "hot enough", the issue disappears), I don't live in a cold place at all (I live in a hot/dry city in Brazil). Computer starts at about 35 degrees celsius (according to the BIOS hardware monitor).
Is there any relation between failing memory and low temperature, or any other tests I could make? It's pretty hard to investigate this issue with common tests, because since they usually make the system hotter, the problem disappears once I start testing.
How many RAM chips do you have? – Dave – 2013-02-01T15:14:37.670
Such a failure indicates defective hardware. It doesn't necessarily have to be the memory. My guess would be that it is a part that gets significantly warmer. This would be the CPU or the graphics card. Maybe the mainboard, some parts of modern mainboards get get warm to (e.g. southbridge). – André Stannek – 2013-02-01T15:14:54.167
have you tried the MS memory checker? I've had cases where the ram passed memtestx86 testing, but the ms ram checker immediately returned an issue with the ram (something specific to windows, since the ram works fine with linux). there were all kinds of problems running win7 on those boxes until I replaced the ram. – Frank Thomas – 2013-02-01T15:26:30.260
@DaveRook 4 total, 1 pair of Kingston 1GB modules and 1 pair of Corsair 2GB modules (6GB total). It's an "older" computer, all memory modules are DDR2-800. – Rodrigo Sieiro – 2013-02-01T17:45:55.017
@André the graphics card is brand new, but the problem was already happening with the old one, so it's not it. Will try more tests with other components. – Rodrigo Sieiro – 2013-02-01T17:46:53.953
@FrankThomas never tried MS memory checker, will try it and report the results later. – Rodrigo Sieiro – 2013-02-01T17:49:29.237